Europe Daily News, 17 April 2025

COMPETITION

• Belgium: Notification - MEDE.CCS.25/0001: Mitsui & Co Europe LTD / ITC Rubis Terminal Antwerp NV
• France - Freedom of establishment for lawyers to the French Administrative Supreme Court (Conseil d'État) and French Supreme Court (Cour de cassation): The Autorité issues its opinion for the years 2025-2027
• Germany - The Bundeskartellamt has cleared the acquisition of shares in RENK Group AG, Augsburg, by KNDS N.V., Amsterdam, Netherlands.
• Greece - Notification of the acquisition of exclusive control by Piraeus Bank S.A. over Ethniki Holdings S.à.r.l. and, thereafter, the company named S.E.E.G.A. "Ethniki"
• Lithuania: Competition Council's 2024 Activity Report presented to the Government
• Romania: The Competition Council has raised eight concerns regarding the transactions through which Vodafone Romania S.A. intends to acquire Telekom Romania Mobile Communications S.A., and Digi Romania S.A. would acquire certain assets of the same company
• Spain: Differentiating between scales and guidance criteria is key in the documentation to be prepared by bar associations

STATE AID

• Romania - Increase in State Aid (€16 million) for the rehabilitation of Bucharest's district heating system, approved by the European Commission

TRADE & CUSTOMS

• Agenda for: Working Party on Customs Union - 28 April 2025
• Agenda for: Working Party on Customs Union - 29 April 2025
• Agenda for: Working Party on Trade Questions - 29 April 2025
• Agenda for: Law Enforcement Working Party (Customs) - 30 April 2025
• Minutes of the TBR Committee meeting under Regulation 654/2014 - 26 March 2025
• Answer given by Mr Šefčovič to a MEP written question - Pakistani exports stifling the Beet sector
• Answer given by Mr Hansen to a MEP written question - EU agricultural producers and the Mercosur Agreement
• WTO - Council for Trade in Goods - Committee on Safeguards - Immediate notification under article 12.5 of the Agreement on Safeguards to the Council for Trade in Goods of proposed suspension of concessions and other obligations referred to in paragraph 2 of article 8 of the Agreement on Safeguards - European Union - Supplement
• Views of the WTO Chief Economist - Global trade faces setback amid rising tariffs
• WTO forecasts decline of at least 0.2% in merchandise trade in 2025 - See the Report

EU/US TARIFFS

• Facing off Trump’s coercive bargaining: Preparing Europe’s response and retaliation to ‘Liberation Day’ - See EPC Discussion Paper
• Trump’s tariff policy has nothing to do with trade - The president is using economic warfare to compel corporate loyalty - Financial Times
• Italy’s Giorgia Meloni aims to jump-start US-EU trade talks - Italian prime minister to meet Donald Trump as Brussels says it was left in dark about Washington’s demands - Financial Times
• China seeks reset with EU amid Donald Trump’s trade war - Beijing eyes rapprochement with Brussels to compensate for loss of US market but significant hurdles remain - Financial Times
• European chips champion ASML warns of Trump tariff ‘uncertainty’ - The Dutch company is key to Europe’s pitch to become technologically sovereign - Politico.eu
• Amid Trump’s tariff war, Germany’s next leader keeps faith in free trade - Despite Donald Trump’s lurch into protectionism and coercion, Friedrich Merz believes a transatlantic trade deal can still be done - Politico.eu

INTERNAL MARKET & INDUSTRY

• Commission rolls out plan to boost circular and efficient products in the EU
  - ESPR and Energy Labelling working plan 2025-2030
• Inside the factory making Europe’s machine guns — by hand - FN Herstal’s small arms are back in demand. But the Belgian gunmaker can only move as fast as its artisanal labour - Financial Times

CHEMICAL

• Agenda for: Meeting of the REACH Committee - 29 April 2025
• Agenda for: 66th meeting of the Committee for Socio-economic Analysis - 10 to 13 June 2025
• ECHA - Reporting requirements for microplastics restriction
• Latest ECHA Weekly Newsletter published
• ECHA's Annual Report 2024

EMPLOYMENT & SOCIAL AFFAIRS

• Main Results of the Informal meeting of gender equality ministers - 16 April 2025
• Main Results of the Informal meeting of social affairs ministers - 15 April 2025
• Improving VET leadership in Serbia at their EQAVET peer review
• Hungary hosts the EQAVET peer review on graduate tracking for initial VET
• EVP Mînzatu kicks off exchanges with social partners on the Quality Jobs Roadmap

AGRICULTURE & FISHERIES

• Agenda for: Commission Expert Group on EU Fertilisers Market Observatory - 19 May 2025
• Presentations for the Commission Expert Group for Agricultural Markets - Animal Products - 16 April 2025
• Working Document as discussed during the Expert Group EU Agri-Food Chain Observatory - 11 April 2025
• Answer given by Mr Hansen to a MEP written question - Egg crisis in the EU
• Answer given by Mr Hansen to a MEP written question - Roadmap for EU action in the farming and agri-food sector
• EEB assessment on agriculture in the EU National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) - See the Report

ENERGY

• Fusion Expert Group calls for urgent presentation of EU strategy for commercial deployment of fusion energy - See the Opinion paper
• Minutes of the Energy Union Committee Meetings - 12 March 2025
• ACER welcomes simplified Lithuanian gas transmission tariff proposal
• ACER - Gas winter 2024-25 season: prices and demand up, storage down
• ACER believes Czech Republic’s gas transmission pricing methodology meets EU requirements
• Ukraine Energy Market Observatory – Assessment 2/25: Suspension of Electricity Market Data Publication
• Ending EU imports of Russian uranium - Continuing to do business with Rosatom, the company responsible for the commercial relationship on uranium with the EU, raises four issues - See Bruegel Analysis

HEALTH, FOOD & PRODUCT SAFETY

• Minutes of the 87th Standing Committee on Biocidal Products - 19 March 2025

ECDC

• Communicable Disease Threats Report (CDTR) (Including mpox and measles) for the period 12-18 April 2025

EFSA

• Pest survey card on Neofusicoccum laricinum
• Safety and efficacy of a feed additive consisting of Kieselguhr (diatomaceous earth) for all animal species (Imerys France)
• Guidance for reporting methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) data in the context of the baseline survey in fattening pigs
• Exploration of weather and tracking data for the wild bird abundance and movement models of the early warning system for avian influenza in the EU
• Assessment of the feed additive consisting of Saccharomyces cerevisiae NCYC R404 for dairy cows for the renewal of its authorisation (Volac International Ltd)
• Safety and efficacy of a feed additive consisting of Bacillus subtilis DSM 32324, Bacillus subtilis DSM 32325 and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens DSM 25840 (GalliPro® Fit & GalliPro® Fit 10) for all poultry (Chr. Hansen A/S)
• Safety and efficacy of the feed additives trans‐anethole and eugenol for use in all avian species (Adisseo, ADM, Agolin (Ireland) Ltd, Cargill, DSM Nutritional Products Ltd., Laboratories Phode, Norel S.A.)

DIGITAL, DATA PRIVACY & INFORMATION SOCIETY

• Agenda for: 24th Meeting of the GDPR Committee - 28 April 2025
• Minutes of the 89th meeting of the Radio Spectrum Committee - 31 March 2025
• Answer given by EVP Virkkunen to a MEP written question - Germany’s legal demands for user data and the Digital Services Act
• Answer given by EVP Virkkunen to a MEP written question - Freedom of speech and the Commission’s actions against the X platform
• EU pledged to improve GDPR cooperation - and made it worse - See noyb statement

ECB, EURO & ECONOMY

• Digital euro - Letter by ECB Executive Board Member Cipollone to the ECOFIN President - Update on work of digital euro Rulebook Development Group
• Economic reform programme (2025–2027) of: Albania; Kosovo; Republic of Moldova; Montenegro; North Macedonia; Serbia & Türkiye - Commission assessment
• ECB - Euro area monthly balance of payments: February 2025

EXTERNAL RELATIONS

• EU and Zambia Partnership Dialogue marks the 50 years of strong and committed partnership
• With EU support Odesa Oblast improves emergency services with safety centre expansion
• EU Election Observation Mission deploys 72 long-term observers across the Philippines
• Will EU enlargement create new models for the EU-UK relationship? - See CPR Policy Brief