European Commission

The EU is undergoing a historic shift in economic and tech policy, embracing industrial policy to shape Europe’s digital future. However, public investments in large-scale AI risk reinforcing dominant players and undermining climate goals. Europe must align these investments with societal goals, tackle tech sector monopolies, and ensure innovation serves the public interest.

What a show these last couple of weeks have been. The return of Donald Trump, the rupture of the German federal government, and then the ridicule of the Commissioner-designate hearings in the European Parliament. Challenges are rising, but stable majorities in Europe are eroding. It is increasingly difficult to build consensus and have a stable centre of political gravity.

On 18 July 2024, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was elected for a second mandate and presented to the European Parliament her Political Guidelines for the next European Commission. A new European Commission will kick-off its work on 1 December 2024, after its approval by the European Parliament. We take a look at von der Leyen's promises for the first 100 days (and beyond) of the new European Commission.

35 to 72 million people across the EU are facing energy poverty. These issues already have powerful implications today from a public health or productivity point of view. Over the years, the EU has constructed a series of policy instruments to assess better and comprehensively address the phenomenon.

A just energy transition must, in essence, address the three foundations of energy justice (distributive, recognitional, and procedural) as well as the systematic problems that are present in energy access issues, in consumer rights enforcement, or the fact that some people cannot reap the full benefits of services available to them.

DSA launch, platform obligations, and enforcement challenges – the Digital Services Act is another piece of transforming online regulation in Europe. With the DSA rolling out new rules, many are asking how effectively they’ll be implemented. We posed three key questions to Dr. Tobias Mast, expert advisor to the German Bundestag on the DSA, to get his insights on the launch, the hurdles ahead, and how the DSA aims to balance the scales between platforms and users.

There is a real risk that the European Green Deal will be weakened this new European policy cycle. What exact changes will be made to it? And will or won’t these changes ensure that we stay “the course on all of our goals”, as promised by re-elected European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen? Our new European Green Deal Risk Radar looks into that.

The EU has already taken important actions for private finance to support the transition to a greener economy, and it cannot waste this one chance to finish the work. The sustainable finance legislative framework could help boost the European economy going forward – it is the last stretch before reaping the benefits of the efforts made so far.