Europe Daily News, 23 December 2024

COMPETITION

• Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.11789 - Apollo / Barnes Group)
• Non-opposition to a notified concentration (Case M.11724 - Schwenk / Goldbeck / Confinity JV)
• Non-opposition to a notified concentration (Case M.11765 - Segro / PSPIB / Regensburg Asset)
• Summary of Commission Decision of 4 May 2023 declaring a concentration compatible with the internal market and the functioning of the EEA Agreement (Case M.10658 - Norsk Hydro / Alumetal) - See the Opinion of the Advisory Committee on mergers & Final Report of the Hearing Officer
• Germany - Bundeskartellamt clears acquisition of Altair Engineering by Siemens
• Italy - Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR / Acquisition of Vodafone Italia - AGCM and Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy approve transaction
• UK - Investigation into Google’s ‘Privacy Sandbox’ browser changes - The CMA is continuing to engage in discussions with Google on changes to the commitments

STATE AID

• Authorisation for State aid pursuant to Articles 107 and 108 of the TFEU – Cases where the Commission raises no objections – SA.107553; SA.115250; SA.116674 & SA.116220
• Commission approves €4.06 billion German State aid measure to support the operation of four Floating LNG Terminals (SA.105137)

TRADE & CUSTOMS

• Agenda for: 662nd meeting of the Export Credits Group - 15 January 2025
• Notice concerning the date of entry into force of the Interim Agreement on Trade between the European Union and the Republic of Chile
• Notice to the reader: the signature pages of the Partnership Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and the Members of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, of the other part [2024/…]
• Council Decision (EU) 2024/3222 of 12 December 2024 on the position to be adopted on behalf of the European Union within the Association Council set up by the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement establishing an Association between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria, of the other part, as regards the amendment of that Agreement by replacing Protocol No 6 thereto concerning the definition of the concept of ‘originating products’ and methods of administrative cooperation
• Regulation (EU) 2024/3234 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 2024 amending Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 as regards provisions relating to the date of application (EU Deforestation Regulation)
• The Commission and Switzerland complete negotiations to bring the EU-Switzerland bilateral relationship to a new level - QaA
  - Press statement by President von der Leyen with President Amherd of the Swiss Confederation & Remarks by Commissioner Šefčovič
• WTO - Committee on Safeguards - Notification under Article 12.1(a) of the Agreement on Safeguards on initiation of an investigation and the reasons for it - European Union - Manganese and silicon-based alloying elements
• US launches probe into Chinese semiconductor industry - Investigation comes just weeks before Biden administration hands over to president-elect Donald Trump - Financial Times
• Starmer must agree youth mobility pact with EU, says business group - British Chambers of Commerce makes 13 recommendations ahead of ‘reset’ talks on trading relationship next year - Financial Times

INTERNAL MARKET & INDUSTRY

• Decision (EU) 2024/3244 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 December 2024 amending Council Decision 2008/971/EC as regards the forest reproductive material of the ‘tested’ category, its labelling and the names of the authorities responsible for the approval and control of the production

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

• Agenda for: Working Party on Intellectual Property - 15 January 2025
• Revised Summary of Member States contributions on the policy Questionnaire on the relationship between generative artificial intelligence and copyright and related rights Prepared by the Hungarian Presidency

ENERGY

• Qatar will ‘stop’ EU gas sales if fined under due diligence law - Energy minister warns Doha ‘not bluffing’ over hefty penalties in corporate sustainability directive - Financial Times & Politico.eu

AREA OF FREEDOM, SECURITY & JUSTICE

• Council Decision (EU) 2024/3212 of 12 December 2024 setting the date for the lifting of checks on persons at internal land borders with and between the Republic of Bulgaria and Romania
• Council Decision (EU) 2024/3218 of 12 December 2024 on the position to be taken on behalf of the European Union within the Committee of the Parties of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence with regard to matters related to judicial cooperation in criminal matters
• Council Decision (EU) 2024/3219 of 12 December 2024 on the position to be taken on behalf of the European Union within the Committee of the Parties of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence with regard to matters related to institutions and public administration of the Union
• Implementation of Council Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA of 13 June 2002 on the European Arrest Warrant and the surrender procedures between Member States - Information provided to the General Secretariat

DATA PRIVACY, CYBERSECURITY & INFORMATION SOCIETY

• Agenda for: Working Party on Telecommunications & Information Society - 09 January 2025
• Agenda for: Horizontal Working Party on Cyber Issues - 08 January 2025
• EDPS: Data Protection Day: "A New Mandate for Data Protection.”
• ENISA’s 2023 report on "trust services security incidents" provides the seventh round of security incident reporting for the EU’s trust services sector, analysing root causes, statistics and trend

ECB, EURO & ECONOMY

• NextGenerationEU reaches €300 billion in RRF payments with new disbursements to Czechia, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Romania

FUTURE OF EUROPE

• Draft agendas for Council meetings during the first semester of 2025 (Polish Presidency)
• Legislative programming: Commission work programme for 2025 and multiannual programming - Letter from the Presidency to the Commission

EXTERNAL RELATIONS

• Saudi Arabia: 4th EU-KSA Human Rights Dialogue held in Riyadh
• Guatemala: Statement by the Spokesperson on latest developments
• North-South Summit: Press remarks by High Representative/Vice-President Kallas
• Pakistan: Statement by the Spokesperson on the sentencing of twenty five civilians by a military court
• Putin meets Slovakia’s Fico in rare visit by an EU leader since Ukraine invasion - Slovak prime minister has ‘one-on-one’ meeting at Kremlin as Ukraine prepares to halt transit of Russian gas - Financial Times