European Union

"This evening's discussion with PM Viktor Orban was helpful to clarify issues related to sanctions and energy security," von der Leyen tweeted on Monday night following the 90-minute-long working dinner at the Hungarian leader's residence in the Castle District of Budapest. "We made progress, but further work is needed. I will convene a VC (video conference) with regional players to strengthen regional cooperation on oil infrastructure," she added.

The European Commission has proposed an outline of a plan to make Europe independent from Russian fossil fuels well before 2030, starting with gas, in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This plan, passed on Tuesday, also outlines a series of measures to respond to rising energy prices in Europe and to replenish gas stocks for next winter. Europe has been facing increased energy prices for several months, but now uncertainty on supply is exacerbating the problem.

"The EU as a whole reached its pre-pandemic level of GDP in the third quarter of 2021 and all Member States are projected to have passed this milestone by the end of 2022," said a statement on the forecast.The EU's economy grew by 5.3 per cent in 2021.

The European Commission will "enable 15 billion euros ($17.11 billion) in additional public and private investment until 2030" in semiconductor production, senior EU officials said in Brussels on Tuesday as they presented the Commission's "European Chips Act". "Without chips, no digital transition, green transition, technological leadership," said Thierry Breton, European Commissioner for the internal market.

Preliminary data from Eurostat on Friday revealed shows that the latest figure broke the record of 4.9 per cent set in November, reports Xinhua news agency. The increase was mainly driven by the spike in energy costs, which shot up again in December, jumping at an annual rate of 26 per cent. However, that was somewhat lower than the previous month.

The two countries have long held different views on the EU's budget and public debt rules (i.e. on how the bloc's member states should manage their public spending), with Italy pursuing a more flexible approach and Germany a stricter one, reports Xinhua news agency. "Next Generation EU" recovery instrument -- the Italian Prime Minister said the bloc needed to proceed further with its integration process and find an agreement on the rules of the Stability and Growth Pact.

In a 2017 ruling, the European Commission had said that Google abused its dominant position on the market for online general search services in 13 countries in the European Economic Area, by favouring its own comparison shopping service, a specialised search service, over competing comparison shopping services.

EU Parliament Member Luis Garicano explained the concerns over human rights issues in Pakistan following a visit to the country in a series of tweets. Garicano is a Spanish economist and politician who is a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Spain since 2019. "The @EUParl is very concerned about the deteriorating human rights situation, which puts into question the continuation of the preferred trade status of the country (GSP+)," Garicano said.

Across the EU, the inflation rate rose to 4.1 per cent in the year through October, up from September's equivalent rate of 3.4 per cent, reports Xinhua news agency. The 4.1 per cent increase is more than double the European Central Bank's (ECB) target as energy prices jumped 23.5 per cent in September, the agency said.

The Nvidia deal to purchase the UK-based company Arm from SoftBank for $40 billion was announced in September last year. The Commission said in a statement late on Wednesday that the merged entity would have the ability and incentive to restrict access by Nvidia's rivals to Arm's technology, and that the proposed transaction could lead to higher prices, less choice and reduced innovation in the semiconductor industry.