Europe Daily Ne, 16 October 2025

COMPETITION

• Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.12050 - KBC / 365.Bank)
• Non-opposition to a notified concentration (Case M.12074 - First Dutch Group / Cefetra)
• Non-opposition to a notified concentration (Case M.11253 - Safran / Part of Collins Aerospace's Actuation and Flight Control Activities)
• Greece - Interim Report of the Hellenic Competition Commission’s Sectoral Inquiry into Coastal Shipping
• UK - CMA consults on proposed changes to its merger remedies approach

STATE AID

• Judgment of the Court of 16 October 2025 in Case C‑59/24 P, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Vs. European Gaming and Betting Association, European Commission
  Re: Appeal - State aid - State measure extending gambling licences granted by the Kingdom of the Netherlands - Decision of the European Commission not to raise objections - Rejection of a complaint - No examination of the existence of a potential indirect advantage - Scope of the Commission’s duty to carry out an examination - Obligation to state reasons
• Judgment of the Court of 16 October 2025 in Case C‑391/23, Brăila Winds SRL Vs. Direcția Generală Regională a Finanțelor Publice București – Administrația Fiscală pentru Contribuabili Mijlocii București, Ministerul Finanțelor, Președintele Agenției Naționale de Administrare Fiscală, Agenția Națională de Administrare Fiscală
  Re: Preliminary ruling - Article 191(2) TFEU - Union policy in the field of the environment - Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 - Union climate neutrality objective - Directive (EU) 2019/944 - Common rules for the internal market in electricity - National legislation requiring producers of electricity from renewable sources to pay income tax - Exemption for producers of electricity from fossil fuels and biomass

TRADE & CUSTOMS

• Opinion of Advocate General Szpunar of 16 October 2025 in Case C‑307/23, G GmbH Vs. Hauptzollamt H
  Re: Reference for a preliminary ruling - Customs union - Import and export procedures - Regulation (EEC) No 2913/92 - Determination of customs value - Costs associated with the templates of labels for tinned food
• Agenda for: Trade Policy Committee (Experts - Services & Investment) - 21 October 2025
• Agenda for: Meeting of the “Data Analytics, Indicator Definition and Guidance Notes” sub-group of the Customs Union Performance Expert Group - 30 October 2025
• EU-Kenya: First meeting of the Special Committee on Trade and Sustainable Development - 08 July 2025
• New Centralised Clearance for Import (CCI) system is expanding across the EU,  Belgium and Sweden joined the system
• Report of the Fourteenth Round of Negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and India - 6 to10 October 2025
• WTO - China - Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights - Communication from China and the European Union
• WTO - The Fifth review of the "trade policies and practices" of Sri Lanka takes place on 15 and 17 October 2025

INTERNAL MARKET & INDUSTRY

TOYS SAFETY

• Position of the Council at first reading with a view to the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the safety of toys and repealing Directive 2009/48/EC – Statement of the Council's reasons – Adopted by the Council on 13 October 2025

CHEMICAL

• Commission strengthens European Chemicals Agency - See Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2067

DEFENCE

• Europe must rethink military procurement says drone maker’s new boss - Uwe Horstmann becomes first chief executive of Stark, a German start-up backed by investors including Peter Thiel - Financial Times

FINANCE

• ESAs’ Joint Committee publishes Work Programme for 2026
• The EBA publishes its 2024 Report on supervisory convergence
• German Chancellor Friedrich Merz calls for single European stock exchange -Endorsement comes after Berlin signals readiness to allow more centralised markets supervision - Financial Times

ENERGY

• Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on phasing out Russian natural gas imports, improving monitoring of potential energy dependencies and amending Regulation (EU) 2017/1938 - General approach
• Energy transition in the Western Balkans gains further momentum - Energy Community Secretariat
• Ukraine braces for yet another winter at war as Energy Support Fund steps up aid - Energy Community Secretariat
• Energy Community Secretariat hails milestone supporting long-term planning, investment, and alignment with EU standards in the heating and cooling sector

ENVIRONMENT CLIMATE CHANGE

• Agenda for: Working Party on International Environment Issues (CITES) - 20 October 2025
• Twenty seventh meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice to the Convention on Biological Diversity (SBSTTA-27) (Panama City, Panama, 20–24 October 2025) - First EU Consultation meeting
• Draft Recommendation for Second Reading by MEP Martin Hojsik on the Council position at first reading with a view to the adoption of a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on Soil Monitoring and Resilience (Soil Monitoring Law)
• Draft Recommendation for Second Reading by MEP César Luena on the Council position at first reading with a view to the adoption of a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on preventing plastic pellet losses to reduce microplastic pollution
• 130 kg of food wasted per person annually in the EU - See Eurostat Briefing
• Climate action should form basis for renewed cooperation in Mediterranean region according to networks MATTCCh and EuroMed Rights - See the Report
• EU makes fresh push for global carbon pricing ahead of 2026 levy - Countdown to introduction of tax on imported goods from countries without an emissions scheme - Financial Times

TRANSPORT & MOBILITY

• Air carrier liability: pets are not excluded from the concept of ‘baggage’ (See CPR No.133/25, Judgment of the Court in Case C-218/24,Iberia Líneas Aéreas de España (Concept of ‘baggage’))
• A lightning strike to an aircraft may constitute an extraordinary circumstance (See CPR No.132/25, Judgment of the Court in Case C-399/24 | AirHelp Germany (Aircraft struck by lightning))
• Agenda for: Working Party on Transport - Intermodal Questions and Networks - 21 October 2025
• Agenda for: Working Party on Shipping - 20 October 2025

DATA PRIVACY & DIGITAL SOCIETY

• Opinion of advocate General Spielmann of16 October 2025 in Case C-484/24, NTH Haustechnik GmbH Vs. EM
  Re: Reference for a preliminary ruling - Data protection - Lawfulness of the processing of data in judicial proceedings concerning employment - Data collected by the employer in order to prove a serious failure by the employee to comply with her obligations - Processing of unlawfully obtained evidence - Principle of storage limitation - Procedural autonomy of the Member States
• Agenda for: Attachés - Horizontal Working Party on Cyber Issues - 20 October 2025
• New EU measures needed to make online services safer for minors - See the EP Statement
• Coordinated Enforcement Framework: EDPB selects topic for 2026

ECB, EURO & ECONOMY

• Jordan: Council adopts negotiating position for EU assistance of €500 million in loans

EXTERNAL RELATIONS

• Judgment of the Court of 16 October 2025 in CaseC‑805/24 P, Gennady Nikolayevich Timchenko, Elena Petrovna Timchenko Vs. Council of the European Union, European Commission
  Re: Appeal - Restrictive measures taken in view of the situation in Ukraine - Regulation (EU) No 269/2014 - Article 2 - Freezing of funds and economic resources - Article 9(2) - Obligation to declare funds and economic resources by persons subject to a restrictive freezing measure - Legal classification of such an obligation - Legal basis - Article 215(2) TFEU - Articles 24, 26 and 29 TEU - Implementation of the CFSP by the Member States
• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2123 of 14 October 2025 amending for the 350th time Council Regulation (EC) No 881/2002 imposing certain specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities associated with the ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida organisations
• Main results - Foreign Affairs Council (Defence) - 15 October 2025, Press Remarks by HR/VP Kaja Kallas