Europe Daily News, 27 January 2021

EU CORONAVIRUS RESPONSES

STATE AID

• Commission approves €230 million Czech scheme to support companies affected by coronavirus outbreak (SA.61234) - Midday Express

AGRICULTURE

• Commission delegated Regulation (EU) …/... amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/884 derogating in respect of the year 2020 from Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/891 as regards the fruit and vegetables sector and from Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1149 as regards the wine sector in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, and amending Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1149

EMPLOYMENT & SOCIAL POLICY

• European Commission successfully places first EU SURE bond in 2021 - IP/21/209

EXTERNAL RELATIONS

• COVID-19: Team Europe supports African, Caribbean and Pacific countries to access finance through digital technology - IP/21/188

COMPETITION

• Judgment of the Court of 27 January 2021 in Case C‑595/18 P, The Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Vs. European Commission, Prysmian SpA, established in Milan (Italy), Prysmian Cavi e Sistemi Srl
  Re: Appeal - Competition - Agreements, decisions and concerted practices - European market for power cables - Market allocation in connection with projects - Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 - Article 23(2) - Attributability of unlawful conduct of one company to another company – Presumption of actual exercise of decisive influence - Entity controlling 100% of the voting rights associated with the shares of another company
• Judgment of the Court of 27 January 2021 in Case  T‑691/18, KPN BV, Vs. European Commission, supported by VodafoneZiggo Group Holding BV, Vodafone Group plc, established in Newbury (United Kingdom), and Liberty Global Europe Holding BV
  Re: Competition - Concentrations – Netherlands market for television services and telecommunications services – Decision declaring the concentration compatible with the internal market and the EEA Agreement – Relevant market – Vertical effects – Manifest error of assessment – Obligation to state reasons
• Non-opposition to a notified concentration (Case M.9977 - EPGC/Metro)  
• Non-opposition to a notified concentration (Case M.10107 - BlackRock/Mubadala/Goldman Sachs/Calisen)  
• Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.10112 - CVC/Riverstone Europe)
• EU published clearance decision re: Case M.9843 - COLONY CAPITAL / PSP / NGD
• Commission clears the acquisition of the rail division of the Consolis Group by TowerBrook Capital Partners (M.10103) - Midday Express
• Portugal - AdC Council adopts non-opposition decision on merger 50/2020 - Pluris Investments /Média Capital  
• Portugal - The PCA Council adopted a non-opposition decision on the merger 49/2020 - JMC*Farminveste/CUF 
• Slovakia - PMÚ SR initiated administrative proceedings in the matter of concentration of companies FARMA INVEST, p. r. o., KRATKY GLOBAL: Private Equity, a.s., and Slovenské farmárske, družstvo 
• Slovakia - PMÚ SR initiated administrative proceedings in the matter of concentration of companies Union poisťovňa and Poštová poisťovňa 

STATE AID

• Commission notice on current State aid recovery interest rates and reference/discount rates applicable as from 1 February 2021( OJ C 140, 21.4.2004 )  
• Commission approves €2.9 billion public support by twelve Member States for a second pan-European research and innovation project along the entire battery value chain – IP/21/226 & Statement by EVP Vestager

TRADE & CUSTOMS

• Proposal for a Council Decision on the position to be adopted, on behalf of the European Union, in the Trade Committee regarding the amendment of Appendix 1 of Annex XII (Government Procurement) to the Trade Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and Colombia, Peru and Ecuador, of the other part
• Proposal for a Council Decision pursuant to Article 218 (9) TFEU on the Union position concerning the draft Joint Committee Decision on the determination of goods not at risk - See the Annex
• EU navigates rocky start to Biden trade relationship - Public procurement risks becoming latest point of tension with US – Financial Times 
• WTO - Members consider panel requests regarding Indonesian, US trade measures

INTERNAL MARKET & INDUSTRY

• Agenda for: Working Party on Competitiveness and Growth (Internal Market) of 01 February 2021 
• Minutes of the Company Law expert group - sustainable corporate governance of 16 December 2021
• Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2021/76 of 26 January 2021 on harmonised standards for lifts and safety components for lifts drafted in support of Directive 2014/33/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council 
• Statement by Vice-President Šefčovič on the second IPCEI on batteries in the context of the European Battery Alliance

FINANCIAL SERVICES

• Financial services: Commission adopts equivalence decision for US central counterparties - IP/21/205
  

TAXATION

• Minutes of the 14th Plenary Session EU VAT Forum of 16 January 2020

ENVIRONMENT & CLIMATE CHANGE

• Espoo Convention: Eighth session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context and Fourth session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment (virtual, 8 – 11 December 2020) - Statements by the EU and its Member States 
• Answer to a written question - Wind turbines imported from non-EU countries to the detriment of Europe’s ecology and environment  
• Answer to a written question - The carbon footprint of artificial intelligence 

HEALTH, FOOD & PRODUCT SAFETY

• Draft - Commission Regulation (EU) …/… of XXX amending and correcting Annex II and amending Annexes III, IV and VI to Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on cosmetic product - See the Annex 
• Draft - Commission Directive (EU) .../… of XXX amending Directive 2009/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards specific limit values for aniline in certain toys 

DATA PRIVACY & CYBERSECURITY

• Joint Statement by Vice-President Jourová and Commissioner Reynders ahead of Data Protection Day
• Italian DPA imposes limitation on processing on TikTok after the death of a Girl from Palermo  
• Norwegian DPA: Intention to issue € 10 million fine to Grindr LLC  
• State Commissioner for Data Protection in Lower Saxony imposes € 10.4 million fine against notebooksbilliger.de  
• Dutch DPA issues formal warning to a Supermarket for its use of Facial Recognition Technology 
• Dutch DPA imposes order subject to penalty on health insurer CZ 
• Polish DPA: University fined for the lack of Data Breach Notifications 
• ENISA - 2020 Report on CSIRT-LE Cooperation: study of roles and synergies among selected countries 

CONSUMER PROTECTION

• BEUC launches Europe-wide complaint against Nintendo for premature obsolescence

AREA OF FREEDOM, SECURITY & JUSTICE

• Rule of Law: Commission adopts next step in the infringement procedure to protect judicial independence of Polish judges - IP/21/224
• Joint statement by Presidents Michel, Rivlin and Steinmeier on the eve of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day 
• Message by President Charles Michel for the EJA International Holocaust Remembrance Day event 
• Seven suspects linked to an international criminal network trafficking drugs arrested in Poland – See Europol Statement 

ECB, EURO  & ECONOMY

• LSIs’ exposures to climate change related risks: an approach to assess physical risks - ECB Working Paper Series No.2517
• Text-based recession probabilities - ECB Working Paper Series No.2516

BREXIT

• Will Brexit lead to higher funding costs? Companies aren’t sure - Wall Street Journal 

FUTURE OF EUROPE

• Read-out of the College meeting by Vice-President Dubravka Šuica
• Commission launches debate on responding to the impact of an ageing population - IP/21/191

EXTERNAL RELATIONS

• Declaration by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on the alignment of certain countries concerning restrictive measures against Belarus 
• The European Commission appoints three new Heads of Representation - IP/21/241