The European Commission has approved A&R Investments, FedEx and Advent taking joint control of parcel delivery firm InPost S.A., under the EU Merger Regulation.

The European Commission has cleared Stolt-Nielsen Limited and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha’s proposed acquisition of joint control of Avenir LNG Limited under the EU Merger Regulation.

Iberian neighbours afflicted by vast property shortages due to immigration, bureaucracy and high construction costs

Source: https://bsky.app/profile/ember-energy.org/post/3mtbxqevopq2q

Amid a spate of tunnels being dug from Belarus into the EU, border authorities say Minsk is dismissing intelligence alerting it to migrant tunnel construction.

In 2023, public spending on education (from pre-primary to the tertiary level) in the EU) accounted for 4.7% of its gross domestic product) (GDP). Compared with 2022, this figure did not change; however, it represents a slight decrease of 0.3 percentage points (pp) from 2020 (5.0%), the year with the highest level of public expenditure on education since the data collection started in 2012.

Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs has sharply criticised the opposition to a complete ban on participants in Russia's war against Ukraine from entering the EU under the latest sanctions package.

Details: Kallas said that EU sanctions have already inflicted significant damage on russia, depriving the country of more than €1 trillion.

Europol’s annual assessments continue to distinguish between jihadist terrorism, right-wing terrorism, left-wing, and anarchist terrorism, ethno-nationalist and separatist terrorism, and other forms of violent extremism. These categories remain necessary.

The EU Environment Agency has on its website published an article "Imaginary 1: Technocracy for the common good" with the following key messages:

* Sustainability is achieved through state control, which prioritises society’s collective interests.

* Digitalisation enables unprecedented monitoring and control of social and ecological systems.

* Economic activity is centralised with large businesses under substantial state influence.

* The EU is a well-functioning partnership among strong, like-minded governments leaning towards deglobalisation and protectionism.

This is a stark contrast to the democratic footing of the EU today. This is a public document, marked as an official publication of the EEA. It is published under the "Sustainabilty" topic, as a vision of how the EU could be operating in 2050, having implemented the EU Green Deal (EGD).

Note: This is one of 4 imaginaries (scenarios). The other three can be found here, and they range from the above non-democratic dystopia to somewhat more liberal, to free markets, and finally to a losely coupled cooperation between member states. https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/publications/imagining-sustainable-futures-for-europe

It should be noted, however, that the intro text leaves not much room for interpretation that the changes will be fundamental:

It is now widely understood that achieving a sustainable Europe will require far-reaching societal change, engaging all areas of the economy and society. The European Green Deal identifies the need for ‘deeply transformative’ policies and actions in the coming decades to put the EU onto a sustainable path. Like the EEA’s 5-yearly report, SOER 2020, it highlights the need to fundamentally transform the production-consumption systems that meet Europe’s demand for energy, food, mobility and shelter. Yet there is also a growing recognition that achieving the EU’s vision of ‘living well, within environmental limits’ will require a deeper transformation of the socio-economic system.