The United Kingdom last week has voted to leave the European Union and thus opened the most uncertain chapter of its modern history. The business side of the complicated Brexit drama is indeed where the whole world is currently looking at, as the main economic players are still trying to figure out the way they will be influenced by all […]Biggest London City Banks ready to move core European operations to Frankfurt or Dublin?
June 28, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The United Kingdom last week has voted to leave the European Union and thus opened the most uncertain chapter of its modern history. The business side of the complicated Brexit drama is indeed where the whole world is currently looking at, as the main economic players are still trying to figure out the way they will be influenced by all […]The IMF sees Brexit’s ‘substantial impact’ while the world’s economy holds its breath
June 21, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The International Monetary Fund last Friday published what will most likely remain its most detailed analysis on a “Brexit” scenario, calling the impact of Britain’s departure from the European Union “negative and substantial”. With only two days to go until the referendum, it is clear more than ever that the economic field now is where […]The EU finally seizes the opportunity to support the sharing economy?
June 7, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last week, the much awaited response around the fate of the so-called “sharing economy” in Europe arrived from Brussels, and big players such as Uber and Airbnb can finally take a sigh of relief. On June 2 the European Union came up with a list of guiding principles for its Member States on how to “engage […]Bayer-Monsanto merger: the story of the rise of the “endless company”
May 31, 2016 by Leave a Comment
When about two weeks ago the world learnt that the German multinational company Bayer, leader in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry, had made an offer to acquire Monsanto, the world’s largest seed company, no one could believe it at first. It sounded so crazy and complex it might have as well needed some time for people […]Google once more under EU crossfire from a possible record fine and new Right to be forgotten case
May 24, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Many years have passed but the controversial conflict between the European Commission and Google doesn’t seem to be reaching any equilibrium. Indeed the long story is now ready to land to a new turning point. According to the Sunday Telegraph, Google may soon be hit with a 3 billion euros ($3.4 billion) fine by the European Commission for market monopoly, […]The EU cuts roaming charges further while the UK weighs Brexit impact
May 3, 2016 by 1 Comment
Since April 30, using a mobile phone within the EU is significantly cheaper for European citizens. Last Saturday, 30 of April, a new interim cap on mobile roaming charges in the European Union came into effect, with cuts the bill up to nearly 75 per cent. The new cost cap is the latest move in the […]The 13th round of TTIP negotiations hits a wall of intense protests and growing concerns
April 26, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The week of the 13th round of the Transatlantic Trade and Investments Partnership negotiations, which are currently held in New York City, did not start too well for the EU-US deal. About 35,000 demonstrators marched in the streets of Hannover last Saturday, a day ahead of US President Barack Obama’s visit to the German city, to […]Dutch voters reject EU-Ukraine partnership and open a new pandora’s box for the EU
April 12, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last Wednesday, April 6, a vast majority of Dutch voters clearly said “no” to a European Union-Ukraine pact on tighter political and economic ties. Despite a very low turnout (32.2%), which was anyway above the 30% threshold for the vote to be valid, the Dutch referendum delivered a very strong message to the European Parliament, […]EU and India re-open talks over strategic partnership while prepare for a Free Trade Agreement
April 5, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last Wednesday, on the 30th of March, the European Union and India officially resumed a long-standing conversation over their strategic partnership, holding the 13th EU-India Summit in Brussels. After four years of stagnation, the Asian giant and the 28-member bloc met to set out concrete priority actions for the strategic partnership in areas like trade […]Latest leaked TTIP document confirms EU sovereignty may be under threat
March 22, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Days have passed since the Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström gave an ambitious push to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), and the supporters of the EU-US trade pact are now bound to see another possible sharp slowdown in the big ongoing negotiation match. A leaked document obtained by campaign group Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) reportedly revealed […]Federalist EU ‘naively’ believes Washington shares her TTIP high fever
March 15, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last week, fifteen days after the conclusion of the 12th round of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations, the European Union Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström decided to make her point on the mammoth EU-US trade pact. While on a visit to her American counterpart, US Trade Representative Michael Froman, in Washington DC she gave […]Cameron’s “No Brexit” campaign wins top business support as Tory front breaks
March 1, 2016 by Leave a Comment
A few days ago, a bit after London’s Mayor Boris Johnson openly declared his support for a “Brexit”, UK’s Prime Minister David Cameron’s campaign to keep Britain inside the European Union won a priceless boost. Last Thursday, the chairman of the manufacturers’ organisation EEF, Martin Temple, said Brexit would lead to an “abyss of uncertainty and […]After swallowing effortlessly the right to be forgotten time for Google Ads now to behave
February 23, 2016 by Leave a Comment
2016 is not yet 60 days old and it already seems that this will be another tough year for Google in the EU. Only days after the world learned that Google swallowed the right to be forgotten effortlessly by hiding search results from all its websites to better appease the European Union’s privacy regulators, the news broke out that […]Google succumbs unconditionally to EU’s “right to be forgotten” ruling
February 16, 2016 by Leave a Comment
With an unprecedented move, Google has recently made a new, decisive turning decision to its never-ending story with the European Union. As reported last week, the American tech giant is about to take the “Right to be Forgotten” case to the next level. Google indeed will soon hide content from all its global domains, including the American […]The New EU-US “Shield” for data privacy is full of holes
February 9, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last week the “post-Safe Harbour era” was officially launched. On February 2 the European Union and the United States have agreed on a new framework for transatlantic data flows, the so-called Privacy Shield. The two sides have now a brand new data-sharing deal, which will allow websites like Facebook, Apple and Google to transfer EU citizens’ […]“BEUC cautions against TTIP that would seek to align EU and US chemicals management frameworks”
February 2, 2016 by Leave a Comment
As it happened several times in the past, the closer a TTIP negotiation round gets, the bigger the debate over the main questions intensifies. With the next round of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership talks due to take place this month in Brussels, this time was the turn of the European Consumer Organisation, BEUC, to […]“Airbnb and YouTube are two great examples of a crowd based capitalism”, key stakeholders outline the boundaries of the 4th Industrial Revolution in Davos
January 26, 2016 by Leave a Comment
On the second day of the World Economic Forum 2016 there was a truly interesting session on how digital platforms can increase innovation and help the digital economy grow. The lively session, named “A New Platform for the Digital Economy”, focused indeed on the core theme of 2016 Davos annual event, by analysing some of the key-aspects […]TTIP wins Merkel’s endorsement ahead of 2016 tough deadline
January 12, 2016 by 1 Comment
Last year has been definitely a difficult one for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership deal, or else TTIP. It’s not a secret that the huge protests that the EU-US trade agreement had to face this year and that the momentum that other mammoth trade pacts like the TPP have gained have somehow weakened the trans-Atlantic […]EU-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement sees the light as Moscow’s reaction once more looms
January 5, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The new year started with big news on trade for the European Union, and not just for the economic relevance of the matter. On January 1st, the free trade deal between Ukraine and the EU officially came into effect, as part of a broader EU Association Agreement, which was signed at the end of June 2014 by […]EU Commission announces Safe Harbour 2.0 and a wider Data protection reform
December 15, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The new EU-US data transfer deal, currently under development, will give the European Union the right to suspend the pact if privacy concerns are raised again, EU Justice Commissioner Věra Jourová said in a statement last week. For the first time, such right is formally guaranteed, and even though the pact is still a draft, the […]COP21 Business update: Companies urge now for carbon pricing as coal is still a big issue
December 9, 2015 by Leave a Comment
As the Paris COP21 is rapidly getting close to its conclusion, one thing is becoming clearer than ever: the role that businesses will play. The role of the global finance world has in order to get to a substantial change, is crucial. Basically, it is unlikely that an effective agreement will be possible without a meaningful […]The ASEAN Community sees the light: the genesis of a new powerful economic and political bloc and EU’s big opportunity
November 24, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The global “trade gold rush” we analysed last week doesn’t seem to be limited to the European Union solely, but indeed it’s expanding on a larger scale around the globe. Already on 16 November during G20 Leaders Summit, where the Sting was the only Brussels-based EU media to attend and cover extensively the top world summit in […]G20 LIVE: the EU trade gold rush continues as EU and Australia agree to launch Free Trade Agreement (FTA) live from Antalya Turkey
November 19, 2015 by Leave a Comment
While the outcomes of the last round of the TTIP negotiations and the many recent turning points are still dominating the conversation on the trade side in Brussels, another major happening broke a few days ago. Following talks at G20 Leaders Summit in Antalya Turkey last Sunday morning with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, the President of […]David Cameron’s formal letter/threat that officially opens pandora’s box for the UK
November 10, 2015 by Leave a Comment
One of the most ambitious promises UK’s Prime Minister David Cameron made during the last years was to hold a referendum on the UK’s relationship with the European Union. But after some time in which the attention was being dragged away by some major evolutions in the news agenda like the escalation of the migrants crisis or the […]October’s EU strong digital mix: From Safe Harbour to Net Neutrality, Roaming and Snowden
November 3, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The month of October 2015, which began with another turning point in the Google-EU question and with a decisive judgment on data protection legislation will be remembered for a long time as a milestone for the digital European Union. On Net Neutrality First, last week, the European Parliament passed new rules on net neutrality which […]TTIP’s 11th round major takeaways and the usual “leaked” document
October 27, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The 11th round of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) talks between the European Union and the United States concluded last Friday in Miami. The many variables and questions around the latest round of negotiations, as we reported last week, made the road to Miami’s meeting, as well as its outcome, very uncertain. It […]TTIP’s 11th round starts in Miami but EU-US businesses see no sunny side
October 20, 2015 by Leave a Comment
After almost three months since the last official meeting between the senior negotiators of the European Union and the United States, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations resumed yesterday in Miami. Unfortunately, at least for those who still believe in this gigantic trade agreement between the two blocs, the nice and warm location is just one […]EU Court of Justice invalidates Safe Harbour and the game for thousands US businesses suddenly changes
October 13, 2015 by Leave a Comment
In what some American media already call a “dramatic judgement”, the European Court of Justice last week changed the course of history for data protection and handling between the EU and the United States. After having declared the “Safe Harbour” data transfer agreement invalid earlier last week, on October 06, the EU’s highest court last Friday […]Google and Apple suddenly realise that doing business in EU is tough?
October 6, 2015 by 1 Comment
Last week was definitely a reference for digital European Union. For those who have felt that the European Commission has specifically targeted Google for some reason, or are particularly interested in the impact that regulators can have on big companies like Google last week must have truly paid off in terms of newsfeed. The Google bias? Let’s start with Google’s story. Last week, European Competition Commissioner […]Catalan Pro-Independence vote: how many hits can Brussels sustain at the same time?
September 29, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The Catalan separatist parties won last Sunday a majority of the seats in the regional parliamentary elections. September 27 elections saw the separatist alliance winning 72 seats in the 135-seat regional parliament. Pro-independence parties did not win the absolute majority of votes though, as the 1.9 million victory out of 4 million ballots cast does not […]EU finally agrees on target for 40% greenhouse emission cuts ahead of Paris climate talks
September 22, 2015 by Leave a Comment
“Today’s extraordinary meeting of the Environment Council set out the EU’s position for the new global climate agreement”. Those are the words that European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Cañete chose at the end of the Environment Council, last Friday, where the EU officially set out its position for the Paris climate conference […]From Russia with love: Brussels and Moscow close to an agreement on Ukraine’s gas supplies
September 15, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Following a few months of mere “meditation”, the European Commission and Russia held a bilateral meeting in Vienna last week where they finally made progress on Ukraine gas supplies and energy security. Russia was represented by the Minister for Energy, Mr. Alexander Novak and the CEO of Gazprom, Mr. Alexej Miller. The EU was represented by Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President […]Pharmaceuticals spend millions to push TTIP while consumer groups spend peanuts
September 8, 2015 by Leave a Comment
While the EU is dramatically exposed to an unprecedented migration crisis, a new report by the Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) reveals something that is destined to be largely discussed in the immediate future. The Brussels-based, non-profit research and campaign group, whose aim is to expose any effects of corporate lobbying on EU policy making, last week […]
