Europe Daily News, 11 January 2021

EU CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE

• Coronavirus: rescEU medical stockpile expands in four Member States - IP/21/45
• COVID-19: Commission supports blood services to increase COVID-19 convalescent plasma collection - IP/21/50
  
• COVID-19 vaccines: Public Health Committee MEPs to quiz Commission
  
• EMA - Extra dose from vials of Comirnaty COVID-19 vaccine
• Answer given by Ms Kyriakides to a MEP written question - Conflicts of interest and total lack of transparency in relation to negotiations with pharmaceutical companies on COVID-19 vaccines

COMPETITION

• Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.9945 - Siemens Healthineers AG/Varian Medical Systems)
• Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.9857 - Volvo/Daimler/JV)
• Commission clears acquisition of Ahlstrom-Munksjö by Bain Capital (M.9981) - Midday Express
• Publication of the text of the Decision in Case M.8964 - Delta/Air France-KLM/ Virgin Group/ Virgin Atlantic
• Answer given by Ms Vestager to a MEP written question - Acquisition by London Stock Exchange of US financial data provider Refinitiv

STATE AID

• Case T-677/20: Action brought on 13 November 2020 - Ryanair and Laudamotion Vs. Commission
  Re: Annulment the European Commission’s decision (EU) of 6 July 2020 on State Aid SA.57539 (2020/N) - Austria - COVID-19 - Aid to Austrian Airlines
• Commission approves support scheme for energy-intensive companies in Spain (SA. 54558) - Midday Express

INTERNAL MARKET & INDUSTRY

• EIB helps Livie accelerate affordable housing construction in France - IP/21/62
• SME vouchers: €20 million grant fund to help SMEs maximise their intellectual property assets - Midday Express
• EU Cohesion policy: €160 million to modernise the rail transport in Czechia  - Midday Express
• Kick-Off meeting of the 19th European Week of Regions and Cities

FINANCIAL SRERVICES

• ESMA working paper on funds and single-name CDS: Hedging or Trading?
• ESMA - Publication of transparency calculations update after the end of the Brexit transition period

AGRICULTURE & FISHERIES

• Agenda for: Council of the European Union (Agriculture & Fisheries) of 25 January 2021 - See the "List of A Items"

ENERGY

• Gazprom to restart Nord Stream 2 construction - Russia restarts pipe laying in face of US sanctions that paused construction - Financial Times

ENVIRONMENT & CLIMATE CHANGE

• Agenda for: Working Party on International Environment Issues (Global) of 14 January 2021
• European Green Deal: Commission consults on EU targets to restore Europe's biodiversity - Feedback period: 11 January 2021 - 05 April 2021
• Evaluation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 - Public consultation - Feedback period: 11 January 2021 - 05 April 2021

DIGITAL SINGLE MARKET

• Agenda for: Audiovisual Working Party of 13 January 2021
• Agenda for: Working Party on Telecommunications and Information Society of 14 January 2021
  

DATA PRIVACY & CYBERSECURITY

• Agenda for: Horizontal Working Party on cyber issues of 12 January 2021

AREA OF FREEDOM, SECURITY & JUSTICE

• Agenda for: Working Group on
• E-evidence: internal rules - examination of the EP's position - Presidency note
• Modernising judicial cooperation between EU countries – use of digital technology - Roadmap - Feedback period: 08 January 2021 - 05 February 2021

ECB, EURO & ECONOMY

• Recommendation for a Council Recommendation on the economic policy of the euro area
• Alert Mechanism Report 2021 - Draft Council Conclusions
• ECB appoints Claudia Plattner as Director General Information Systems
• Nowcasting in a pandemic using non-parametric mixed frequency VARs - ECB Working Paper Series No.2510
• Total labour market slack drops slightly to 13.9%

BREXIT

• Unilateral Declarations of the EU and the UK on:
  - the application of the Union’s State Aid rules under Article 10 of the IE/NI Protocol)
  - the certification required for the import of food products into Northern Ireland
  - the export procedures for goods moving from Northern Ireland to Great Britain
  - the application of Union law related to medicinal products in respect of Northern Ireland after the end of the transition period
  - the application of Union law related to meat products in Northern Ireland after the end of the transition period

FUTURE OF EUROPE

• Agenda for: Meeting of the Coreper (Part.1 & Part.2) of 13 January 2021
• Revised of the List of meetings taking place between 1 and 31 January 2021

EXTERNAL RELATIONS

• Agenda for: Council of the European Union (Foreign Affairs) of 25 January 2021 - See the "List of A Items"
• The Council has extended the mandate of EUCAP Sahel Mali until 31 January 2023 with an allocated budget of over €89 million.
• Answer given by HR/VP Borrell to a written question - Systematic breaches and restrictions of human rights by the Islamic Republic of Iran