European Union countries on Tuesday considered the latest proposal for a lower gas price gap of 220 euros ($231), a week away from a meeting when the bloc hopes to resolve an issue that has deeply divided the 27 member states, Reuters reported. A handful of states, including Europe's biggest economy Germany, has opposed the idea of any cap, saying it could make it harder to secure supplies, while Belgium, Italy and Poland see it as a way to protect consumers and economies from the shock of high energy prices.
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European Union member states on Thursday reached a deal on rules that would force large companies to check whether their suppliers use slave or child labour, or pollute the environment, but with an optional exemption for financial services, Reuters reported. Known as corporate sustainability due diligence, the rules were proposed by the European Commission earlier this year and would be applied to around 13,000 large companies, requiring them not just to identify impacts but also take measures to mitigate or end them.
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European Union states are starting to coalesce around a plan to cap the price of Russian crude oil at $60 a barrel, their latest attempt to clinch an agreement before a Monday deadline, Bloomberg News reported. The bloc is also looking at a mechanism that would allow for regular evaluations and potential revisions of the price every two months from mid-January 2023, the people added. Two of the people said that there should be an agreement that any future resetting of the cap should leave it at least 5% below average market rates. They didn’t go into detail.
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Financial firms in the European Union will have to show how quickly they could recover from a cyber attack as they rely more for key services on 'cloud computing' giants such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google and IBM, the EU said on Monday, Reuters reported. Regulators worry about the speed and scale at which banks, insurers and investment firms are moving critical functions and market operations onto a handful of cloud platforms. A glitch at one cloud company could potentially bring down services across many financial firms, regulators have said.
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The European Commission proposed introducing a gas price cap for one year from Jan.1, 2023, according to draft legislation seen by Reuters that has so far left the actual ceiling level blank. The idea to cap prices has divided EU countries for many months. The Commission's latest proposal will be debated by energy ministers from the bloc's 27 member countries on Thursday. An EU official said the Commission would propose a price higher than backers of the cap want.
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Some European Union lawmakers warned the bloc's executive Commission against unlocking billions of euros in funds for Hungary, saying Prime Minister Viktor Orban was trampling on democratic norms, Reuters reported. The Brussels-based European Commission is expected next week to endorse giving to Hungary funds worth as much as a tenth of the country's estimated 2022 GDP after Budapest moves to improve anti-graft safeguards and the independence of its judiciary.
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The European Commission plans to propose a cap on natural gas prices after Nov. 24, as it seeks to contain an energy crisis stemming from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the EU's energy policy chief told Reuters on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The 27-country European Union has for months debated whether to cap gas prices, as the bloc struggles to contain soaring inflation and energy prices driven by Russia slashing gas supplies to Europe. EU energy commissioner Kadri Simson said the Commission, which drafts EU policies, would propose a cap after a meeting of EU energy ministers on Nov.
The European Union is considering more lenient economic recovery proposals that veer away from the grinding, top-down austerity rules that hit Greece and several other countries during the debt crises a decade ago and helped push millions into poverty, homelessness and unemployment, the Associated Press reported.
Banks in the euro zone would be required to provide 'instant payments' in the single currency 24/7 under draft European Union rules seen by Reuters. The EU wants to modernise payments so that money can be transferred from one account to another in seconds, at any time of the day or night, compared with existing card payments and direct deposits which can take up to several business days. The new rules form part of the bloc's policy of "fostering the development of competitive home-grown and pan-European market-based payments solutions" in a region where U.S.
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European Union leaders struggled to find immediate practical solutions on how to deal with an energy crisis but avoided an open rift between Germany and France on Friday that would have exposed a divided bloc as it confronts Russian President Vladimir Putin over his war in Ukraine, the Associated Press reported. After daylong talks in Brussels dragged well into early Friday, the 27 EU leaders papered over divisions between some of the biggest member states and at least agreed to continue working on ways to impose a natural gas price cap in case of volatility.
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