The European Commission tabled a root-and-branch review of the EU’s energy and climate laws on Wednesday, aiming to cut carbon emissions by 55% before the end of the decade and initiate a decisive break away from fossil fuels. At the centre of the reform is a review of the bloc’s carbon market, the emissions trading scheme (EU ETS), which puts a price on each tonne of CO2 emitted by around 10,000 installations in the power sector, the manufacturing industry, as well as intra-EU flights. As part of a broad package…
Read MoreDay: July 23, 2021
France launches investigation into Pegasus spying allegations
The French government said on Thursday (22 July) that it had launched an investigation into allegations that Morocco mounted surveillance of President Emmanuel Macron’s mobile phone using the Israeli Pegasus software. “The President of the Republic is following this Pegasus file as closely as possible,” with “an exceptional defence council,” government spokesperson Gabriel Attal told broadcaster France Inter. “A number of cell phones, politicians, journalists have been targeted, and this investigation does not say whether these phones were all actually infected, whether data was removed from them. So that’s what…
Read MoreCyprus warns citizens to reject Turkey’s calls for property claims
The National Council of Cyprus has called on Greek Cypriots to avoid appealing to a commission established by the pseudo-state occupied by Turkey in northern Cyprus in order to take back their properties, saying this would pose severe threats for national security. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on 20 July paid a visit to Varosha, a resort fenced off by the Turkish army immediately after the invasion of Cyprus in 1974. The Greek Cypriots who fled from Varosha were not allowed to return and with public entry prohibited, it has…
Read MoreECB will allow inflation to exceed 2% for a ‘transitory period’
Speaking after the first meeting of the Governing Council since the ECB presented its strategic review, President of the ECB Christine Lagarde announced that inflation may exceed the 2% target for a “transitory period”, but stabilise at 2% in the medium term. The strategic review has adopted what is called a symmetric inflation target of two per cent over the medium term. In the past, the central bank for the eurozone took a position that the target should never be overshot. The new flexibility which has received unanimous support, is…
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