Podcasts about eu member states

European Union member states have voted in favour of imposing tariffs on some US imported goods, a statement from the European Commission confirms. Oliver O'Connor, Chief Executive of the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association and Bryan Reilly, Director of the National Taxpayers Union Free Trade Initiative.

Full presentation Title: Constitutional Change and the Rise of Fiscal Discipline in Europe: Ripple Effects on Fundamental Social Rights In March 2025, the ReArm Europe plan brought EU fiscal discipline and rules back into the spotlight of EU policymaking. In her address to the IIEA, Dr Kotsoni explores how, following the eurozone crisis, several EU Member States adopted constitutional fiscal rules – both formally and, as she will argue, informally. In her presentation, Dr Kotsoni examines how the constitutionalisation of fiscal rules has had lasting effects beyond the eurozone crisis and reflects upon its ongoing limiting impact on fundamental social rights in Europe. About the Speaker: Dr Maria Kotsoni is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Princeton University. Her research focuses on the protection of social rights at constitutional, European, and international levels. Maria obtained her PhD from the European University Institute and is a consultant to the Council of Europe's Department of Social Rights.

In episode 2 of our new Sustainably Speaking podcast, ICIS' Senior Executive, Business Solutions Group John Richardson is joined by Mark Victory, Senior Editor for Recycling, Europe, and Helen McGeough, Global Analyst Team Lead for Plastic Recycling at ICIS to talk about the importance of investment in Europe's recycling industry. Topics covered in this episode include:  Need for improvement in collection and sorting capacity Importance of high quality waste to allow chemical recycling scale up Investment needed to address Europe's structural shortages of recycled material  Imbalance between EU Member States for infrastructure investment The financial and economic cost of not investing in, and dealing with EU waste

In late 2024, Israel closed its embassy in Dublin, accusing the Irish government of extreme anti-Israel policies, antisemitic rhetoric, and double standards. Meanwhile, the small Jewish community in Ireland, numbering nearly 3,000, has faced antisemitism in the streets. AJC's Director of International Jewish Affairs, Rabbi Andrew Baker, joins us to discuss his recent meeting with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, examples of antisemitic activity in Ireland, including Holocaust inversion and the chilling impact of widespread anti-Israel sentiment on Irish Jews. He also shares insights on Ireland's adoption of the IHRA working definition of antisemitism and the future of Holocaust remembrance in the country. ___ Resources: AJC Directly Addresses Antisemitism and Vilification of Israel in Ireland with the Prime Minister Listen – AJC Podcasts: -The Forgotten Exodus: with Hen Mazzig, Einat Admony, and more. -People of the Pod:  U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff on Gaza Reconstruction, Israeli Security, and the Future of Middle East Diplomacy Why Germany's Antisemitic Far-Right Party is Thriving Instead of Disappearing Follow People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org If you've appreciated this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. __ Transcript of Conversation with Andrew Baker: Manya Brachear Pashman:   In December, Israel closed its embassy in Dublin, accusing the Irish government of extreme anti-Israel policies, antisemitic rhetoric, and double standards. Meanwhile, the small Jewish community in Ireland, numbering nearly 3000 has faced antisemitism in the streets. With us now to discuss the situation in Ireland, and his meeting with the Irish Prime Minister last week, is AJC's Director of International Jewish Affairs, Rabbi Andrew Baker, who also serves as the personal representative on combating antisemitism in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Andy, welcome to People of the Pod.  Andrew Baker:   Great to be here, Manya. Manya Brachear Pashman:   This situation did not develop overnight. Can you take our listeners back to the first clues that the relationship between Israel and Ireland was deteriorating? Andrew Baker:   Ireland has a small Jewish community, perhaps about 3000 people. And a significant number of them, maybe upwards toward 1000, also people with Israeli citizenship who moved to Ireland to work there with a number of the social media tech companies based in Ireland. Over the years, and certainly even predating October 7, in Ireland there's been a fairly high degree of anti-Israel animus. It's not dissimilar to what we may find in a number of other northern European countries. They view the political scene in the Middle East through a certain prism that creates and maybe amplifies this form of animus.  But that said, there have also been, I think, issues between this community and government policy, even as it's reflected in ceremonies marking Holocaust remembrance in Ireland. In many cases, the particular focus in that history of what happened to the Jewish people in Europe during World War II, the genocide of the Holocaust. While there may be commemoration events, in principle to market, they've really, in many ways, washed out the Jewish nature of that.  In 2016 I was an invited speaker to the official Holocaust Commemoration Day in Ireland. Almost the entire focus was on the refugees, at the time coming in from North Africa and the Middle East. I was actually the only person who spoke the word antisemitism at that event. You also had an effort through legislation to really separate out Israel, the occupied territories, as they understood it, and the name of this bill that was passed by the legislature was called the Occupied Territories Bill. Which sought to separate Israel, at least the territories commercially from Ireland, but it would have a very onerous impact, frankly, on any anyone, certainly members of the Jewish community, who would choose to visit Israel. If they purchased a kippa in The Old City of Jerusalem, brought it back with them to Ireland, under this law, if it were enacted, they could literally be arrested for that action.  So I think also at the time I made a visit there in 2019 in my OSC role, Israel was preparing to host the Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv, and there was a very public campaign in Ireland to boycott the Eurovision contest. Advertisements calling for this on the side of buses, people in the state media already indicating that they were going to refuse to attend. So you had this sort of environment in Ireland, again, a good number of years before what happened on October 7, which really changed everything throughout Europe. Manya Brachear Pashman:   And now there has been a more moderate government recently elected in Ireland. Prime Minister Micheál Martin was in the United States last week in Washington, DC, and you actually met with him when he was here, correct?  Andrew Baker:   That's correct.  Manya Brachear Pashman:   Did you share some of these concerns? Did you address, for example, the Occupied Territories Bill with him? Andrew Baker:   Yes, we spent a bit over an hour together. I was joined also by Marina Rosenberg from the ADL. Our two organizations met. There were some initial plans that other organizations would also participate, but in the end, it was the two of us. One of the most significant issues that has arisen, it's partly why Israel closed its embassy, was the fact that Ireland has joined with South Africa in the charges brought before the ICJ, the International Court of Justice, accusing Israel of genocide. So our goal at this meeting was to raise a number of these issues, including that, including the status of the Occupied Territories bill.  But also, really to impress on him that the community itself was feeling, sieged, if you will, by these developments. And so we wanted him to understand that the anti-Israel animus, which at times, crosses over to a form of antisemitism, has had a direct impact on the Jews in Ireland.  It also was brought to the fore only this past January at this year's International Holocaust Remembrance event, Michael Higgins, the Irish president, spoke, even though the Jewish community had actually urged that he not be given a platform. He used the opportunity to focus on the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza. And again, by that, drawing an analogy between Israel, between the Jewish experience during the Holocaust and somehow Israel's treatment of Palestinians today. So this, too, was an issue we brought up with the Prime Minister. Manya Brachear Pashman:   But this prime minister has made some overtures to address antisemitism, right? I mean, his administration, for example, just announced it was adopting the working definition. Andrew Baker:   Yes, in fact, several weeks before coming to Washington, the prime minister did announce that Ireland would accept the international Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, the IHRA working definition of antisemitism. And we also have a set of global guidelines that some, I think, over over 30 countries now have adopted, that lay out measures that government should take. So we did, of course, discuss this with the prime minister. He indicated to us that he was in the process of appointing a national coordinator, someone who could sort of oversee the development of national strategy to combat anti semitism. This is a very important step, by the way, it's one that almost all, with only a couple of exceptions, EU Member States, have already done. So. It is good that Ireland is doing this. Of course, it comes quite late to the game in this the IHRA definition is very important, because it offers old and new examples of antisemitism, and to digress only for a moment, this IHRA definition began as the definition endorsed presented by the European monitoring center on racism and xenophobia, already 20 years ago. And in my AJC role at that time, I worked closely with the EUMC in the drafting and the adoption of that definition. And notably, it speaks about antisemitism related to Israel. Frankly, if one had that definition in front of him or her, you would be able to look at some of the actions, even by members of government, and certainly the President's own remarks in January, and say, well, this could constitute a form of antisemitism itself. Manya Brachear Pashman:   And did he address the bill legislation that is so troublesome? Andrew Baker:   Yes, he did. He indicated to us that the Occupied Territories Bill as drafted is probably unconstitutional, since it really concerns international trade and economics. This is the purview of Brussels for all EU member states. So in that regard, they're really not expected or permitted to have their own economic international policy. He also said it was probably unenforceable.  Now I asked him to simply dispel with this bill altogether. That was not something that he could agree to, but he did inform me that it would be, at least for now, off the legislative calendar. So we know there are others in Ireland who are pushing for that law to be redrafted and enacted. So this was somewhat reassuring to be told that no, at least this will not happen this year. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Though he adopted the IRA working definition, I know that he also received some pressure from activists to dispense of that, to not adopt it and to reject it. And he assured them that it was not legally binding.  Was that discouraging to hear? Or did he seem to be willing to implement it in training of law enforcement and education of students?  Andrew Baker:   Look, these are the very elements that we speak of when we speak about employing the IHRA definition. And as you said, it's identified as a non legally binding definition, but it ought to be used to advise, to inform law enforcement, the judiciary, if and when they address incidents of antisemitism. Again, he made the decision to adopt the definition, to accept the global guidelines only, only a few weeks ago, really. So how it will be used to what extent remains to be seen. I have to say we, and my ADL colleague indicated we're certainly prepared to work with the government to offer advice on how these things can be employed. We hope that they'll consider and take up our offer, but at this point, we have to see what happens. Manya Brachear Pashman:   You mentioned that the small Jewish community there is largely Israeli expats doing business. And they were certainly uncomfortable at Holocaust Remembrance event. Are there other examples of harassment or antisemitic behavior, assaults, protests. What are they seeing on a day to day basis? Andrew Baker:   Yes, first, I mean, the majority of the community are not Israelis, but there's a significant number who are. And I think what they're finding is, it's not unique, but it's intensive for them, that in schools, in the workplace, there's a high level of discomfort. And a result of this, where people may have the choice they will try not to identify publicly in some way that would signal to others that they're Jewish. There are incidents. There haven't really been violent attacks but clearly kids in school have been harassed and made to feel uncomfortable. Because they're Jewish because of this sort of strong anti-Israel animus.  There was, only shortly after we had our meeting, an incident in one of the resort towns in Ireland where Israeli tourists in a restaurant were harassed by other patrons. They were cursed. They were spit at. It was the sort of thing, and the local council did issue a kind of apology. But I think it illustrates that when you have such a high level of anti-Israel animus, which at times can be just a harshly critical view of Israel or Israel's government, but it can spill over and create a sense that there is, as we've termed it, a kind of ambient antisemitism. It is sort of in the atmosphere, and so it does have an impact on this small Jewish community. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Last year, Israel recalled its ambassador to Dublin. It closed its embassy in December, but in May, it actually recalled its ambassador, after Ireland announced, along with other countries, Norway, Spain, Slovenia, that it would recognize a Palestinian state. And I'm curious if there's something about Ireland's history that informs this approach? Andrew Baker:   I think that's partly true. Look, first of all, Ireland had a somewhat checkered role, even during the Holocaust. You know, the Irish Ambassador government signed a condolence book when Adolf Hitler died. And it accepted German refugees after the war, but it was really quite reluctant to accept even some small number of Jewish refugees. And I think over time, Ireland in its own fight for independence with Great Britain, maybe drew the same analogy to Palestinians. This notion of being a colonialist subject. Perhaps there are those connections that people make as well.  But in the case with the Israeli ambassador first being withdrawn, and then the embassy closed, unfortunately, much of the normal diplomatic relations that an ambassador wants to do, is expected to do, were really precluded from Israeli Ambassador Erlich. Gatherings of political parties where diplomats as a kind of standard rule, invited to attend, she was not invited. Other events the same was true. So there was also a frustration to be ambassador in what ought to be a friendly country, a fellow democracy, a member of the European Union, and yet to be made a kind of de facto persona non grata was a quite troubling experience. Manya Brachear Pashman:   So whether there was an ambassador or an embassy there didn't seem to matter. They were still being excluded from diplomatic events already. Andrew Baker:   The Israeli government made the decision that they needed to do something dramatic to express the state of affairs and this discomfort, and that was first through recalling the ambassador, but ultimately, As you pointed out, essentially closing the embassy, that's a dramatic step, and some might disagree, particularly if you have Israeli citizens that would otherwise want the services of an embassy in that country, but they believe this was one way of sending a message, and I think it was a message that was received.  I would point out that following our meeting with the Prime Minister, it drew significant attention in the Irish press. Perhaps one of the most prominent read newspapers in Ireland, The Independent, this past Sunday, had an editorial that spoke about our meeting with the Prime Minister and really called on the government to reassess its relationship with Israel. In other words, to try and repair that relationship. So if it leads to that, then I think we will feel it was well worth it. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Going back to the Holocaust Remembrance events that seem to be a continuing issue. Did you speak with the Prime Minister about the Jewish community perhaps having a role in organizing those commemorations from now on? Andrew Baker:   We did. The fact is, there has been a Holocaust Educational Trust organization that had some government support, but it's separate from the Jewish community that has been responsible for organizing these events. As I noted when I was invited in 2016, this was the organization that organized it, but it has sort of fallen out of favor with the Jewish community. There have been internal tensions, and again, as a result of this last event in January, the Jewish community has asked the government to really be given the authority to to organize these events.  I have to point out that it does have, typically, the participation of senior figures in the government. When I was there, the prime minister at the time spoke, and members of the High Court participated, the Mayor of Dublin. So I think that level of participation is important and should continue. But I think the problem we're seeing is that even that history is being instrumentalized, so we need to be certain that doesn't continue. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Andy, a number of Jewish leaders declined to meet with Prime Minister Martin, given the tension and animosity Jews in Ireland have been facing. Why did you meet with him?  Andrew Baker:   AJC values, sees itself as playing an important diplomatic role, not simply with Ireland, but with various countries. And while some other organizations felt in the end, they should not participate, because by not talking to the Irish Prime Minister that was sending a message, our approach is rather quite the opposite. It's important to talk. I'm not sure that it's always the easiest conversations, and the results may not always be all that we would hope them to be, but I want to say we're in this for the long haul. We've been back and forth to Ireland, with other countries, of course, as well over the years. We hope that those visits and these meetings will continue. Frankly, it's only by this kind of ongoing engagement, I believe that we can really make a difference, and that's what we're all about. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Well Andy, thank you so much for joining us.  Andrew Baker:  You're welcome, Manya.

This week, we bring you a replay of one of our most impactful podcasts from last year, featuring Alex Cotoia and Daniela Melendez. Listen in as we discuss the EU Whistleblower Directive of October 2019. We'll return next week with one of our regular updates.Directive 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and Council dated 23 October 2019 on the “protection of persons who report breaches of Union law” (the “Directive”) is currently being implemented by EU Member States. The directive has broad applicability to organizations operating in the EU internal market and applies to both public and private sector organizations alike. Whistleblowers are guaranteed legal protection to the extent: (1) they have reasonable grounds to believe that the information reported was true at the time of the report; and (2) the whistleblower reported either internally to the organization, externally to a competent authority, or publicly. Private sector organizations with 50 or more workers are legally required to establish channels and procedures for internal reporting of EU law breaches and conduct appropriate follow-up. In this episode, Mike Volkov is joined by Daniela Melendez and Alex Cotoia from the Volkov Law Group, who bring their expertise to the table as they delve into the EU Directive and its implementation by several member states. Listen to this discussion to understand and navigate the complexities of the EU Whistleblowing Directive.The EU Whistleblower Directive shifts the burden of proof on retaliatory actions to the person taking the detrimental action, requiring them to demonstrate it was not linked to reporting concerns.Global companies are taking a proactive stance by increasingly focusing on robust ethics and compliance programs. This strategic move is aimed at mitigating risks and promoting positive corporate citizenship in today's economy, where adherence to legal and ethical standards is paramount.France signed the EU Directive into law on March 21, 2022, outlining protocols for gathering and handling whistleblower reports, including a two-month deadline for imposing disciplinary sanctions.Germany enacted the EU Directive on May 12, 2023, allowing anonymous reports and setting a three-month investigation deadline after receiving the report.Spain addressed the EU Directive on February 2023 by covering additional topics like occupational health and safety breaches. The directive established a three-month deadline for investigations and allowed anonymous reports.Italy transposed the EU Directive on August 4, 2022, including administrative, financial, civil, and criminal offenses not covered by the Directive, with a 30-day deadline to conduct investigations upon receipt of reports.Companies are advised to make resources available to conduct investigations quickly due to the short timeframes set by various countries' whistleblower protection laws.ResourcesMichael Volkov on LinkedIn | TwitterThe Volkov Law GroupAlex Cotoia on LinkedIn Email: acotoia@volkovlaw.comDaniela Melendez on LinkedInEmail: dmelendez@volkovlaw.com

This episode explores the growing threat of avian influenza, which has led to massive outbreaks in bird populations and an increasing number of cases in mammals.With nearly 70 human cases and one death confirmed in the US recently linked to the H5N1 subtype, concerns are rising about its potential to spread among humans in Europe and cause a pandemic.Experts from European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) discuss the risks to humans, the impact on animals, and the preventive measures that EU Member States can take.Listen in to Alessandro Broglia (EFSA) and Katriina Willgert (ECDC) and learn more.Read more on the highly pathogenic avian flu on ECDC portal and on EFSA's pages.

Connecting with and providing counselling to irregular migrants, especially those living on the streets or in transit, is crucial for addressing irregular migration. Yet it remains a challenging and underexplored area, due in part to the difficulty engaging with a population often living in precarity and avoiding contact with authorities due to fear of deportation or past negative experiences. A pervasive lack of trust coupled with a concealed lifestyle often prevents irregular migrants in Europe from accessing critical information about existing services, pathways to regularization, and voluntary return options. As a result, many remain unaware of the support available to help them exit irregularity. In recent years, various stakeholders have sought to strengthen outreach and counselling for irregular migrants, whether to encourage voluntary return, provide information on regularization, or raise awareness about access to services. However, the fragmented nature of these initiatives, combined with a lack of evidence on their effectiveness, highlights the need for greater collaboration and dialogue. This webinar brings together policymakers, practitioners, and other experts to explore the value of outreach and counselling to irregular populations and the policy goals and approaches used. The conversation includes key findings from an MPI Europe brief, offering valuable insights into challenges for those involved in outreach and counselling activities aimed at irregular migrants. The brief offers some recommendations as well as a proposed framework to advance the knowledge base in the field. The conversation also discusses the first steps towards a more solid evidence base made under the Reaching Undocumented Migrants (RUM) project carried out by the Return and Reintegration Facility (RRF), an EU-funded entity that supports EU Member States and other Schengen countries as they seek to increase the effectiveness of their return and reintegration programming. The RUM project aims to develop and promote evidence-based tools, datasets, and processes that can be used by a wide European community of practice to improve outreach to irregular migrants within the European Union. Speakers include: Jan Braat, Senior Policy Advisor, Migration, Diversity, and Integration, Municipality of Utrecht, the Netherlands Giulia Bruschi, Data and Research Project Manager Europe, Mixed Migration Centre Christina Jespersen, Senior Project Manager, Return and Reintegration Facility Jeroen Vandekerckhove, Head of International Relations, Fedasil, Belgium Moderator: María Belén Zanzuchi, Policy Analyst, Migration Policy Institute Europe

An anniversary can be a good occasion for reflection. 20 years ago, in 2004, eight central and eastern European countries joined the European Union. Followed by the accession of Bulgaria and Romania in 2007 and Croatia in 2013, these successive enlargements nearly doubled the number of EU Member States. And they came with many hopes for economic and social cohesion, as well as for strengthened industrial relations in the region. So to what extent have these hopes been met?   Discussion with Vera Scépanović, lecturer in International Relations and European Studies at Leiden University and co-editor of Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, the ETUI's quarterly journal published by Sage Publishing.   This conversation is based on the issue of Transfer, ‘20 years after: perspectives on industrial relations in Central and Eastern Europe 20 years after the EU enlargement'.

In this episode of the Safer Chemicals Podcast, we dive into ECHA's new initiatives in advancing non-animal testing methods through the New Approach Methodologies Framework Contract.Our guests, Sylvia Escher from the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine, and Tomasz Sobanski from ECHA's Alternative Methods Team, discuss research projects aimed at transforming how chemicals are assessed for safety.Useful linksECHA to investigate new test method potentially replacing toxicity testing with fish - ECHA news 13 November 2024Animal testing under the REACH Regulation**************Subscribe to our YouTube channelSubscribe to our Safer Chemicals PodcastSubscribe to our newsFollow us on:TwitterFacebookLinkedInVisit our website Disclaimer: Views expressed by interviewees do not necessarily represent the official position of the European Chemicals Agency. All content is up to date at the time of publication.Hosted by Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

In our new podcast, Roland Freudenstein, Director of the Free Russia Foundation Brussels, and Founder and Executive Officer of the Brussels Freedom Hub discusses Russia's geopolitical ambitions, how the war in Ukraine may end, and the potentials for a regime change in Moscow; reflects on democratic backsliding in EU Member States; and shares his thoughts about autocrats and how societies can be more resilient against authoritarianism.

This week on EMBARGOED!, host Tim O'Toole is joined by BLOMSTEIN's Dr. Florian Wolf and Hanna Sophie Kurtz to discuss the 14th EU sanctions package against Russia and other sanctions topics. Roadmap: Introduction Background to the 14th EU sanctions package against Russia: Why was it necessary? Why was it delayed? What is its purpose, scope, and applicability? What are details of its legal framework and implementation in EU Member States? Content of the 14th sanctions package (best-effort obligation (Article 8a), prohibition to circumvent restrictive measures (12), No-Russia clause and No-Belarus clause (12g and 12ga), due diligence for export of common high-priority items and impact on companies (12gb), broadened listed goods (3k) and prohibition to provide services (5n) Parallel U.S. sanctions and an update on U.S. sanctions against Russia ******* Thanks to our guests for joining us: Dr. Florian Wolf: https://www.blomstein.com/en/team/dr-florian-wolf  Hanna Sophie Kurtz: https://www.blomstein.com/en/team/hanna-sophie-kurtz    Questions? Contact us at podcasts@milchev.com. EMBARGOED! is not intended and cannot be relied on as legal advice; the content only reflects the thoughts and opinions of its hosts. EMBARGOED! is intelligent talk about sanctions, export controls, and all things international trade for trade nerds and normal human beings alike. Each episode will feature deep thoughts and hot takes about the latest headline-grabbing developments in this area of the law, as well as some below-the-radar items to keep an eye on. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts for new episodes so you don't miss out!

I am an EU pharma/device lawyer and problem solver. My practice focuses on European Union (EU) and national regulatory matters involving medical devices and pharmaceutical laws and guidelines. I am following very closely the new regulations on medical devices (MDR and IVDR), the GDPR and regularly advise clients in relation to the requirements applicable to their digital health technologies. I focus particularly on the different stages of the medical device CE marking process and advise on a wide variety of topics which include the following: - determination of the appropriate classification of individual products; - clinical investigation procedure (e.g. authorisation from the EU Member States competent authorities, opinion from Ethics Committee, amendment to the Protocol, informed consent, serious adverse event qualification and notification, handling of personal data); - drafting of clinical investigation and clinical trial agreements, distribution agreements and contract manufacturing agreements; -clinical data requirements and clinical evaluation; - conformity assessment procedure; - review of Instruction For Use, products' labelling and promotional material including websites; - post-marketing surveillance activities including the notification of adverse event, product recall or product withdrawal; - preparation and review of technical documentation; - reimbursement. I also advise on questions regarding marketing authorisation procedures, variation procedures, and clinical trials, promotional and marketing activities in the pharmaceutical sector. Specialties: Regulation of medical devices and medicinal products in the EU  Who is Monir El Azzouzi? Monir El Azzouzi is a Medical Device Expert specializing in Quality and Regulatory Affairs. After working for many years with big Healthcare companies, particularly Johnson and Johnson, he decided to create EasyMedicalDevice.com to help people better understand Medical Device Regulations worldwide. He has now created the consulting firm Easy Medical Device GmbH and developed many ways to deliver knowledge through videos, podcasts, online courses… His company also acts as Authorized Representative for the EU, UK, and Switzerland. Easy Medical Device becomes a one-stop shop for medical device manufacturers that need support on Quality and Regulatory Affairs.  Links from the Video Fabien Roy Linkedin Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabien-roy-83b55021/ Company Website:    Ai Act text:   Social Media to follow  Monir El Azzouzi Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/melazzouzi  Twitter: https://twitter.com/elazzouzim  Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/easymedicaldevice  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/easymedicaldevice  

Most episodes of this podcast talk about cases. We've spoken about taking down terrorist propaganda, thwarting cybercrime operations, intercepting ton after ton of drug shipments, and all kinds of other high-stakes, global, police operations. But behind all these cases is weeks and months of analysis, research, and innovation. At Europol HQ, there are entire departments dedicated solely to finding trends and innovations that will make investigations more effective. This is one of Europol's core services to police in the EU Member States – providing a platform for innovation, technological research, and the sharing of methods and data. In this episode, we will look at some of the innovations that have been happening at Europol in recent years, and how these have translated into real, operational results. Speakers:Julia, Head of the Operational Analysis Centre, EuropolDanny, Investigator at EuropolCatherine De Bolle, Executive Director of EuropolLinks:EU Most Wanted: https://eumostwanted.eu/Trace an Object: https://www.europol.europa.eu/stopchildabuseTrace an Object Australia: https://www.accce.gov.au/what-we-do/trace-an-objectFBI Endangered Child Alert Programme: https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/ecap

EU Member States have passed a nature restoration law as the Australian Minister defies coalition partners but what does this law mean, and what impact will it have in Ireland?To discuss, Kieran is joined by Micheal Fitzmaurice, Independent TD for Roscommon-Galway and Pippa Hacket, Minister of State for Land Use and Biodiversity in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

In this episode of the Safer Chemicals Podcast, we explore the vital work carried out by the European Chemicals Agency's Member State Committee. Host Päivi Jokiniemi is joined by Katinka van der Jagt, Chair of the Member State Committee, alongside two of the committee's national members, Katarzyna Malkiewicz from the Swedish Chemicals Agency KEMI, and Agnieszka Dudra from the Polish Bureau for Chemical Substances.The European Union, a partnership of 27 countries, is committed to building a safer and healthier future. ECHA's Member State Committee exemplifies this commitment by bringing together representatives from all EU member states to reach consensus on key chemical safety decisions. Throughout the episode, our guests talk about the unique aspects of the Member State Committee, discussing its tasks, responsibilities, and the collaborative nature of its decision-making process. They highlight the importance of science-based decisions, transparency, and the committee's role in promoting the substitution and minimisation of harmful substances.Key topics:Committee voting procedure and its impact on committee collaborationGeneration of experimental data for industrial chemicals and its significance in identifying hazardous substancesIdentification of substances of very high concern, particularly those with endocrine-disrupting propertiesNational perspectives on chemical safety priorities and how they influence committee decisionsImportance of science and legal frameworks in resolving divergences and achieving consensusFuture challenges, including emerging chemical concerns like nanomaterials, neurotoxicity, immunotoxicity, and the development of non-animal testing methodsUseful linksGive us feedbackMember State Committee - who we areMember State Committee - meeting agendas and minutes**************Subscribe to our YouTube channelSubscribe to our Safer Chemicals PodcastSubscribe to our newsFollow us on:TwitterFacebookLinkedInVisit our website Disclaimer: Views expressed by interviewees do not necessarily represent the official position of the European Chemicals Agency. All content is up to date at the time of publication.Hosted by Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Emmanuelle PorcherCollège de FranceBiodiversité et écosystèmesAnnée 2023-2024Colloque - Nouvelles approches pour le suivi des plantes, des pollinisateurs et de leurs interactions dans un monde en changement : European Initiatives for Pollinator MonitoringDenis MichezLaboratory of Zoology, University of Mons, Mons, BelgiumRésuméSeveral studies have now shown at different spatial scale that certain species of the wild bee fauna are in decline in Europe. In response, some European countries and the European commission are implementing action plans to mitigate negative population trends. To evaluate the efficiency of these actions we need an accurate estimation of population. One of the first actions proposed is therefore an ambitious monitoring program, which involves the development of taxonomic recognition tools and training to use them. Several projects started in 2021 and concern the whole of European continent. We will present here the initiatives on taxonomy (ORBIT project) and on capacity building (SPRING project). ORBIT and SRPING are three-years projects commissioned by the General Directorate for Environment of the European Commission. Orbit aims to develop taxonomic resources for facilitating European bee inventory and monitoring. SPRING aims to strengthen the taxonomic capacity in EU Member States, and support preparation for the implementation of the EU Pollinator Monitoring Scheme "EU-PoMS", notably by organising training sessions for different level of expertise. The trainings aimed at 4 different levels: (i) identifying large pollinator groups, (ii) identifying bees and hoverflies to genus level, (iii) identifying bees or hoverflies to species group level, (iv) identifying bees or hoverflies to species level. Trainings at level (i) were developed at the national scale; levels (ii) and (iii) were covering multiple countries; and level (iv) considered the whole Europe. Moreover, the project created a series of e-learing materials on pollinator identification at different levels, focusing on the needs of people involved on the monitoring. All this material will be open to the public on the online portal 'Pollinator Academy', that will act as a hub to centralise information about already available tools related to pollinator identification (articles, online keys, books, interesting links, other courses, etc.).Denis MichezJe suis professeur de botanique et de zoologie à l'université de Mons où j'enseigne depuis 2008. Je développe des recherches sur les abeilles sauvages, leur taxonomie, leur distribution, leur écologie ou encore leur conservation. Je suis impliqué dans plusieurs projets européens, notamment sur le développement de liste rouge et sur l'impact des pesticides ou du changement climatique.

Directive 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and Council dated 23 October 2019 on the “protection of persons who report breaches of Union law” (the “Directive”) is currently being implemented by EU Member States. The directive has broad applicability to organizations operating in the EU internal market and applies to both public and private sector organizations alike. Whistleblowers are guaranteed legal protection to the extent: (1) they have reasonable grounds to believe that the information reported was true at the time of the report; and (2) the whistleblower reported either internally to the organization, externally to a competent authority, or publicly. Private sector organizations with 50 or more workers are legally required to establish channels and procedures for internal reporting of EU law breaches and conduct appropriate follow-up. In this episode, Mike Volkov is joined by Daniela Melendez and Alex Cotoia from the Volkov Law Group, who bring their expertise to the table as they delve into the EU Directive and its implementation by several member states. Listen to this discussion to understand and navigate the complexities of the EU Whistleblowing Directive.The EU Whistleblower Directive shifts the burden of proof on retaliatory actions to the person taking the detrimental action, requiring them to demonstrate it was not linked to reporting concerns.Global companies are taking a proactive stance by increasingly focusing on robust ethics and compliance programs. This strategic move is aimed at mitigating risks and promoting positive corporate citizenship in today's economy, where adherence to legal and ethical standards is paramount.France signed the EU Directive into law on March 21, 2022, outlining protocols for gathering and handling whistleblower reports, including a two-month deadline for imposing disciplinary sanctions.Germany enacted the EU Directive on May 12, 2023, allowing anonymous reports and setting a three-month investigation deadline after receiving the report.Spain addressed the EU Directive on February 2023 by covering additional topics like occupational health and safety breaches. The directive established a three-month deadline for investigations and allowed anonymous reports.Italy transposed the EU Directive on August 4, 2022, including administrative, financial, civil, and criminal offenses not covered by the Directive, with a 30-day deadline to conduct investigations upon receipt of reports.Companies are advised to make resources available to conduct investigations quickly due to the short timeframes set by various countries' whistleblower protection laws.ResourcesMichael Volkov on LinkedIn | TwitterThe Volkov Law GroupAlex Cotoia on LinkedIn Email: acotoia@volkovlaw.comDaniela Melendez on LinkedInEmail: dmelendez@volkovlaw.com

Malcolm Noonan, Minister for Nature and Heritage, discusses the moves by Ireland to get member states onboard to adopt the Nature Restoration Law

The European Single Market - one of the EU's greatest achievements - is stuttering, according to several industry stakeholders. Their concerns include too much fragmentation, excessive bureaucracy, and lack of harmonised rules. Former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta was tasked with preparing a report on the future of the Single Market, set to be discussed by European heads of government in the coming months.In today's geopolitically tense landscape, the Single Market is designed to ensure European economic power and industrial strength. But the impact of this varies across EU Member States and European companies, particularly SMEs. Recognising these disparities is crucial, especially when considering the cost burden of the green and digital transitions.With the upcoming EU elections and a new European legislature on the horizon, significant shifts are anticipated in the Single Market and its development. Some industries, like the mechanical and plant engineering sector, even call for a radical masterplan to deepen the Single Market. How this could look is still uncertain. But the new setup of the EU institutions could influence integration levels, cooperation dynamics, and competitiveness among Member States, shaping the market's future and its ability to confront evolving economic challenges.

As our planet grapples with the devastating effects of climate change, the indispensable role of environmental journalism becomes increasingly apparent. Yet, the right to cover environmental issues remains under siege, not least in Italy: In the last months of 2023, articles dedicated to the climate crisis in the main Italian newspapers decreased compared to the previous months.  At the same time, advertisements from polluting companies reached record levels, increasing the print media's dependency on them at a moment of historical low sales.  Meanwhile, in the evening TV news, “influenced by the Meloni government's impact on Rai” according to Greenpeace Italy, space for those opposing the ecological transition has doubled. How can journalists inform the public effectively when the fossil fuel industry has a growing influence on the media platforms? On Earth Day, we confront this question head-on. Guests: Barbara Trionfi, former Executive Director at IPI and current Fellow, is the author of the report Climate and Environmental journalism under fire.  Marta Frigerio is the Editor-in-Chief of RADAR Magazine, a media focusing on environmental issues that is a part of Greenpeace Italy's new initiative Free Press for Climate. Producer and Host: Beatrice Chioccioli, Europe Advocacy Officer at the International Press Institute (IPI) Editor: Javier Luque, Head of Digital Communications at IPI Other episodes in this series: Media Freedom in Focus: Untangling media capture in Greece Navigating Hungary's Sovereignty Protection Act – Media Freedom In Focus Related links: New IPI report reveals safety crisis faced by climate and environmental journalists Voices for Climate - The first network of voices against greenwashing Environmental journalism: pursuing quality coverage of a global crisis This podcast series is part of the Media Freedom in Focus project, sponsored by Media Freedom Rapid Response(MFRR), which tracks, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and Candidate Countries. The MFRR is organized by a consortium led by the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom (ECPMF) including ARTICLE 19 Europe, the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), Free Press Unlimited (FPU), the International Press Institute (IPI) and Osservatorio Balcani e Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT).

This week we ask: how should the European Union handle the political, social, and economic diversity amongst its member states – and what can it do about democratic backsliding? Date of episode recording: 2024-02-15T00:00:00Z Duration: 39:08 Language of episode: English Presenter: Dr Emily McTernan Guests: Richard Bellamy Producer: Eleanor Kingwell-Banham

EU member states are meeting to discuss how they can bolster their defence capabilities. Leaders from the 27 member bloc are gathering in Brussels, and they'll also discuss military assistance for Ukraine and the situation in the Middle East. A proposal to take profits from frozen Russian assets to buy weapons for Ukraine is also expected to be on the agenda. Brussels correspondent Ishan Garg spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

The FTC fines Avast over privacy violations. ConnectWise's ScreenConnect is under active exploitation. AT&T restores services nationwide. An Australian telecom provider suffers a data breach. EU Member States publish a cybersecurity and resilience report. Microsoft unleashes a PyRIT. A new infostealer targets the oil and gas sector. A cyberattack cripples a major US healthcare provider. Our guest is Kevin Magee from Microsoft Canada with insights on why cybersecurity startups in Ireland are having so much success building new companies there. And  a USB device is buzzing with malware. Remember to leave us a 5-star rating and review in your favorite podcast app. Miss an episode? Sign-up for our daily intelligence roundup, Daily Briefing, and you'll never miss a beat. And be sure to follow CyberWire Daily on LinkedIn. CyberWire Guest Guest Kevin Magee from Microsoft Canada talks about recently meeting 15 cybersecurity startups in Ireland and finding out why they are having so much success building new companies there.  Selected Reading FTC Order Will Ban Avast from Selling Browsing Data for Advertising Purposes, Require It to Pay $16.5 Million Over Charges the Firm Sold Browsing Data After Claiming Its Products Would Block Online Tracking (FTC) Cybercriminal groups actively exploiting ‘catastrophic' ScreenConnect bug (The Record) AT&T services resume, company blames "incorrect process" (Data Center Dynamics) 230k Individuals Impacted by Data Breach at Australian Telco Tangerine (SecurityWeek) EU releases comprehensive risk assessment report on cybersecurity, resilience of communication networks (Industrial Cyber) Microsoft Releases Red Teaming Tool for Generative AI (SecurityWeek) New Infostealer Malware Attacking Oil and Gas Industry (GB Hackers on Security) UnitedHealth says Change Healthcare hacked by nation state, as US pharmacy outages drag on (TechCrunch) Vibrator virus steals your personal information (Malwarebytes) Share your feedback. We want to ensure that you are getting the most out of the podcast. Please take a few minutes to share your thoughts with us by completing our brief listener survey as we continually work to improve the show.  Want to hear your company in the show? You too can reach the most influential leaders and operators in the industry. Here's our media kit. Contact us at cyberwire@n2k.com to request more info. The CyberWire is a production of N2K Networks, your source for strategic workforce intelligence. © 2023 N2K Networks, Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For around a decade, the EU – which was founded by the principles of freedom, democracy and the rule of law – has been struggling to contain anti-democratic developments in some member states. More broadly, the European Union faces a challenge of how to create unity, and yet accommodate the significant political, social, and economic diversity of its member states. Can it accommodate this diversity? And can it do so without risking being unfair or undermining its own legitimacy? Addressing these big questions is Professor Richard Bellamy, Professor of Political Science here at in the Department of Political Science and a Senior Fellow at the Hertie School in Berlin. He has recently co-authored a book on the subject, called Flexible Europe: Differentiated Integration, Fairness, and Democracy.Mentioned in this episode:Richard Bellamy. Flexible Europe: Differentiated Integration, Fairness, and Democracy.  UCL's Department of Political Science and School of Public Policy offers a uniquely stimulating environment for the study of all fields of politics, including international relations, political theory, human rights, public policy-making and administration. The Department is recognised for its world-class research and policy impact, ranking among the top departments in the UK on both the 2021 Research Excellence Framework and the latest Guardian rankings.

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Migration & Diaspora Podcast, a show about all things migration hosted by yours truly, Loksan Harley from Homelands Advisory.  Today, we've got a fascinating episode featuring my friend Salvatore Petronella from Labor Mobility Partnerships (LaMP). About Salvatore  Salvatore Petronella is a migration governance specialist focusing on the EU external dimension, with a special focus on labour mobility and the smuggling of migrants. He is currently the Knowledge and Influence Lead at LaMP, developing proof-of-concepts for EU Member States and engaging with industry representatives and international institutions.  Salvatore previously coordinated the launch and implementation of the Migration Partnership Facility (MPF) at the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD). He also worked at ICF International, leading various evaluation and impact assessments as well as serving as a senior expert to the European Migration Network (EMN). He previously worked at the European Commission (DG HOME) as a seconded national expert on integration policies.  What we talk about I was keen to get Salvatore on the show to talk about his work at LaMP, as I'd been seeing and hearing a lot about this relatively new organisation and was curious to learn more. And because I was curious, well, I thought some of you might be curious about LaMP as well.  So listen closely as Salvatore and I talk all about: LaMP and their work to develop new labour mobility schemes and partnerships.  The broader demographic trends that are creating a need for labour mobility partnerships.  How labour mobility is currently regulated.  How labour mobility partnerships have the potential to match growing labour demands and shortages around the world.  As always, I'd like to thank you very much for tuning in and hope you enjoy the show.  Connect with Salvatore: https://www.linkedin.com/in/salvatore-petronella/  Labor Mobility Partnerships (LaMP): https://lampforum.org/  All the MDPcast episodes: https://homelandsadvisory.com/podcast

Families in the European Union (EU) are increasingly likely to move and travel between the EU Member States. Yet, given the differences in Member States' laws, parents can face difficulties in having their parenthood recognised when crossing borders within the EU. Non recognition in one Member State of parenthood established in another Member State can have significant adverse consequences for children and their parents who are moving to another Member State or returning to their Member State of origin. - Original publication on the EP Think Tank website - Subscription to our RSS feed in case your have your own RSS reader - Podcast available on Deezer, iTunes, TuneIn, Stitcher, YouTube Source: © European Union - EP

In this episode of War & Peace, Olga and Elissa talk with Julien Barnes-Dacey, Middle East and North Africa Program Director at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), to assess Europe's response to the Gaza war. They unpack different EU Member States' positions on the war and why it has been difficult for European leaders to find common ground on policies toward Israel-Palestine. They ask how much leverage Europe has over the conflict actors and what its role might be in Gaza once the war is over. Their conversation also covers the fallout of the fighting on domestic politics across the EU and how it might influence the debate around migration policy. Finally, they weigh the implications of Europe's lacklustre response for the EU's global standing and whether a fundamental change in its policy in the Middle East is in the cards in the foreseeable future.For more of Crisis Group's analysis on the topics discussed in this episode, check out our Israel/Palestine page. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris TD has today secured Government approval to submit Ireland's formal application to join the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) as an Associate Member. CERN is one of the world's largest and most respected centres for scientific research. Ireland to join CERN Speaking at Government Buildings today, Minister Harris said: "This is a development that has been, for decades, eagerly awaited by our academic community and I would like to thank them for their assistance in bringing us to this milestone in Irish science and in preparing Ireland's formal application. "I am so pleased we have reached this milestone moment. CERN will consider the application in mid-December. I really want to thank my Department officials for all of their work. We are on the cusp of something significant." Membership of CERN can be expected to bring benefits to Ireland across research, industry, skills, science outreach, and international relations. It will open doors for Ireland's researchers to participate in CERN's scientific programmes and will make Irish citizens eligible for staff positions and fellowships at CERN. With CERN membership, Irish citizens will gain access to CERN's formal training schemes. These include masters and PhD programmes, apprenticeships, a graduate engineering training scheme, internships for computer scientists and engineers, and technical training experience. These skills will be developed far beyond what is possible in Ireland and are in industry-relevant areas such as electronics, photonics, materials, energy systems and software. Membership will also allow Ireland's enterprises to compete in CERN procurement programmes. Much of CERN's instrumentation and equipment requires the development or exploitation of novel technologies, which spurs enterprise innovation. Many of these technologies have applications in other spheres such as medicine, space, energy and ICT. Minister Harris added: "My Department will continue to work closely with CERN, in order to expedite the application process and we hope that Ireland's membership can commence in late 2024. We will continue to work with the academic community to make the necessary preparations for the Irish researchers to participate effectively at CERN from day one of Irish membership." It is hoped that CERN Council may be in a position to agree this December to send a fact-finding Task Force to Ireland in March 2024 to carry out their formal assessment. The Department will then formally establish the National Advisory Committee on CERN to prepare for membership and to coordinate with CERN's fact-finding Task Force. The Task Force will submit a report on Ireland's suitability for Associate Membership to the Director-General and the President of the CERN Council. In June 2024, the CERN Council may take a final vote on whether to admit Ireland as an Associate Member. Notes to editors CERN is an intergovernmental organisation that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. CERN is the leading global collaboration investigating the fundamental composition of matter. It was established in 1954 and straddles the Franco-Swiss border, just outside Geneva. CERN currently has 23 Member States (including most of the EU Member States) and has co-operation agreements with over 40 other states. The main focus of activity in CERN is the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This is an underground ring which is 27km in circumference in which protons, one of the constituent particles of an atom, are accelerated to 99.9999991% of the speed of light and collided into one another. The Large Hadron Collider was used to discover the Higgs boson in 2012. CERN also plays a leading role in promoting and organising international cooperation in scientific research The CERN Convention specifically stipulates that CERN "shall have no concern with work for military requirements and the results of...

Each Member State independently decides on its own energy mix and use of nuclear energy. However, there are common rules and standards on nuclear energy, the basis for which is the Treaty on the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom Treaty) signed in 1957. All current EU Member States are party to it and it has remained largely unchanged throughout the years. - Original publication on the EP Think Tank website - Subscription to our RSS feed in case your have your own RSS reader - Podcast available on Deezer, iTunes, TuneIn, Stitcher, YouTube Source: © European Union - EP

EU member states have come to an agreement on overhauling their rules on responding to big increases in irregular migration. The deal comes after lengthy negotiations and a steep rise in arrivals. Europe Correspondent for the Irish Times, Naomi O' Leary spoke to Pat.

Recent events have multiplied concerns about potential fragmentation of the internet into a multitude of non-interoperable and disconnected 'splinternets'. Composed of thousands of compatible autonomous systems, the internet is by definition technically divided. Yet, the internet was also designed to be an open and global technical infrastructure. The unity and openness of the internet appear to be under great pressure from political, commercial and technological developments. This report explores the implications of the EU's recent policies in this field as well as the opportunities and challenges for EU Member States and institutions in addressing internet fragmentation. It underlines how recent EU legislative proposals – on the digital services act, digital markets act, artificial intelligence act, and NIS 2 Directive – could help to address patterns of fragmentation, but also have limitations and potentially unintended consequences. Four possible strategies emerge: stay with the status quo, embrace fragmentation, resist patterns of divergence, or frame discussions as a matter of fundamental rights. - Original publication on the EP Think Tank website - Subscription to our RSS feed in case your have your own RSS reader - Podcast available on Deezer, iTunes, TuneIn, Stitcher, YouTube Source: © European Union - EP

With the pandemic lessons in mind, steps are taken for Europe to be stronger and better prepared to tackle current and emerging threats of infectious diseases. ECDC's new reinforced mandate gives the agency a stronger role to support the EU Member States with surveillance, joint preparedness and response planning and issue stronger guidance during emergencies. Orla Condell, an Emergency Preparedness and Response expert from ECDC, shares in this episode her insights on the process of building an EU Health Task Force to mobilise and deploy outbreak assistance teams and to strengthen preparedness capacities. For more on the EU Health Task Force visit the dedicated page here. For general information about ECDC, please visit ⁠⁠⁠ecdc.europa.eu⁠⁠⁠, or follow us on ⁠⁠⁠social media⁠⁠⁠.

In this week's episode, we delve into the subject of foreign direct investment (FDI) screening in Europe and explore the reasons behind its current prominence as a hot topic. Joining us for this insightful conversation are Jacob Parry, chief regulatory correspondent for PaRR and DealReporter, and Paris-based Arezki Yaïche, head of French coverage for Mergermarket. Dealcast is presented by Mergermarket and SS&C Intralinks. Dealmakers, download the Q2 2023 Deal Flow Predictor here.

Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:• Central European University: CEU• The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD• The Podcast Company: Novel Follow us on social media!• Central European University: @CEU• Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentreSubscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks!  DiQ S6 EP9Daniela Schwarzer on Europe's Strategic Conundrums (Part 1)GlossaryWhat is the Visegrád Group?(20:22 or p.5 in the transcript)The Visegrád Group, Visegrád Four, or V4, is a cultural and political alliance of four Central European countries – the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, that are members of the European Union (EU) and NATO – for the purposes of advancing military, cultural, economic and energy cooperation with one another along with furthering their integration in the EU. The Group traces its origins to the summit meetings of leaders from Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland held in the Hungarian castle-town of Visegrád on 15 February 1991. Visegrád was chosen as the location for the 1991 meeting as an intentional allusion to the medieval Congress of Visegrád in 1335 between John I of Bohemia, Charles I of Hungary and Casimir III of Poland. After the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, the Czech Republic and Slovakia became independent members of the group, thus increasing the number of members from three to four. All four members of the Visegrád Group joined the European Union on 1 May 2004. sourceWhat is the NextGenerationEU?(25:44 or p.6 in the transcript)NextGenerationEU is the EU's €800 billion temporary recovery instrument to support the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and build a greener, more digital and more resilient future. The centrepiece of NextGenerationEU is the Recovery and Resilience Facility- an instrument that offers grants and loans to support reforms and investments in the EU Member States for a total of €723.8 billion in current prices. Part of the funds – up to €338 billion – are being provided to Member States in the form of grants. Another part – up to €385.8 billion– funds loans to individual Member States. These loans will be repaid by those Member States. Should Member States not request the full envelope of loans available under the facility, the remaining amount of loans will be used to finance REPowerEU, a programme to accelerate the EU's green transition and reduce its reliance on Russian gas. Funds under the Recovery and Resilience funds are being provided to Member States in line with their national Recovery and Resilience plans – the roadmaps to reforms and investments aimed to make EU economies greener, digital and more resilient. Part of the NextGenerationEU funds are being used to reinforce several existing EU programmes. source

The first action plan on geographical balance was signed by the Director General of the European Commission (EC) for Human Resources and Security, Gertrud Ingestad, together with the State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic, Andrej Stančík. Slovakia, along with 14 other EU Member States, is considered geographically under-represented. On the occasion of the World Water Day, the Slovak State Nature Conservancy launched two floating bird islands on the surface of the Sĺňava reservoir near Piešt'any. The unique project will replace the original nesting sites of endangered bird species.

With Nina Müller, Ethical Commerce Alliance Director and host of the Ethical Allies podcast. __ This was a pretty active season in terms of regulatory updates and decisions or guidelines coming out of supervisory bodies:  Spain's AEPD issued a decision on the use of Google Analytics by the Royal Academy of Spanish Language (“RAE”), becoming the first EU Data Protection Agency to see the glass half full in the use of the widespread digital data collection service (having been considered high-risk in Denmark, Italy, France, the Netherlands and Austria). It must however be noted that the RAE was only using the most basic version of the tool, without any AdTech integrations or individual user profiling - and in this regard aligned with the CNIL's long-standing guidelines for the valid use of the tool. At EU level, the Artificial Intelligence Act (which we have covered this quarter in a couple of Masters of Privacy interviews) made fast progress with the Council adopting its final position. At the same time, new common rules on cybersecurity became a reality with the approval of the NS2 Directive (or v2 of the Network and Information Security Directive) on November 28th. The updated framework covers incident response, supply chain security and encryption among other things, leaving less wiggle room for Member States to get creative when it comes to “essential sectors” (such as energy, banking, health, or digital infrastructure). Across the Channel, the UK's Data Protection Agency (ICO) issued brand new guidelines on international data transfers, providing a practical tool for businesses to properly carry out Transfer Risk Assessments and making it clear that either such tool or the guidelines provided by the European Data Protection Board will be considered valid.  Already into the new year, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) issued two important reports, on valid consent in the context of cookie banners (in the hope to agree on a common approach in the face of multiple NOYB complaints across the EU) and the use of cloud-based services by the public sector. The former concluded that the vast majority of DPAs (Supervisory Authorities) did not accept hiding the “Reject All” button in a second layer - which most notably leaves Spain's AEPD as the odd one out. They did all agree on the non-conformity of: a) pre-ticked consent checkboxes on second layer; b) a reliance on legitimate interest; c) the use of dark patterns in link design or deceptive button colors/contrast; and d) the inaccurate classification of essential cookies. The latter concluded that public bodies across the EU may find it hard to provide supplementary measures when sending personal data to a US-based cloud (as per Schrems II requirements) in the context of some Software as a Service (SaaS) implementations, suggesting that switching to an EEA-sovereign Cloud Service Provider (CSP) would solve the problem and getting many to wonder whether it also refers to US-owned CSPs, which would leave few options on the table and none able to compete at many levels in terms of features or scale.  All of which can easily lead us to the latest update on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework: The EDPB released its non-binding opinion on the status of the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (voicing concerns about proportionality, the data protection review court and bulk data collection by national security agencies). The EU Commission will now proceed to ask EU Member States to approve it with the hope of issuing an adequacy decision by July 2023. This would do away with all the headaches derived from the Schrems II ECJ decision (including growing pressure to store personal data in EU-based data centers), were it not for the general impression that a Schrems III challenge looms in the horizon. In the United States, long-awaited new privacy rules in California (CPRA) and Virginia (CDPA) entered into force on January 1st. Although both provide a set of rights in terms of ensuring individual control over personal data being collected across the Internet (opt-out, access, deletion, correction, portability…), California's creates a private right of action that could pave the way for a new avalanche of privacy-related lawsuits.In any case, only companies meeting a minimum threshold in terms of revenue or the amount of consumers affected by their data collection practices (both of them varying across the two states) will have to comply with the new rules. Lastly, Privacy by Design will become ISO standard 31700 on February 8th, finally introducing an auditable process to conform to the seven principles originally laid out by Anne Cavoukian as Ontario(Canada)'s former Data Protection Commissioner.    Enforcement updates It's been interesting to see how continental Data Protection Agencies (“DPAs”) keep milking the cow of the ePrivacy Directive's lack of a one-stop-shop for US or China-based Big Tech giants. The long-awaited ePrivacy Regulation never arrived to keep this framework in sync with the GDPR (which does have a one-stop-shop), and this leaves an opening for any DPA to avoid referring large enforcement cases involving such players to the Irish Data Protection Commissioner (“DPC”) whenever cookie consent is involved. This criterion has been further strengthened by the recent conclusions of EPDB cookie banner task force. Microsoft was the last major victim of this particular gap (following Meta and Google), receiving a 60-million euro fine from France's DPA (CNIL), which shortly after honored TikTok with a 5m euro fine (once again, due to the absence of a “Reject All” button on its first layer - or “not being as easy to reject cookies as it is to accept them”) and, not having had enough, went on to give Apple an 8m euro fine for collecting unique device identifiers of visitors to its App Store without prior consent or notice, in order to serve its own ads (which is akin to a cookie or local storage system when it comes to article 5.3 of the ePrivacy Directive).  The CNIL ePrivacy-related enforcement spree did not stop short at Big Tech. Voodoo, a leader in hyper-casual mobile games, was also a target, receiving a 3 million euro fine for lack of proper consent when serving an IDFV (unique identifier “for vendors”, which Apples does allow app publishers to set when IDFA or cross-app identifiers have been declined via the App Tracking Transparency prompt).  Putting the ePrivacy Directive aside, and well into pure GDPR domain, Discord received a 800k euro fine (again, at the hands of CNIL) on the basis of: a) a failure to properly determine and enforce a concrete data retention period; b) a failure to consider Privacy by Design requirements in the development of its products; c) accepting very low security levels for user-created passwords; and d) failing to carry out a Data Protection Impact Assessment (given the volume of data it processed and the fact that the tool has become popular among minors).  And yet, one particular piece of news outshined mostly everything else in this category: Ireland's DPC imposed a 390 euro fine on Meta following considerable pressure from the EDPB for relying on the contractual legal basis in order to serve personalized advertising - itself the core business model of both social networks. We had a debate on the matter with Tim Walters (English) and Alonso Hurtado (Spanish) on Masters of Privacy, and published an opinion piece on our blog.  This last affair is a good segue into Twitter's latest troubles. Its new owner, Elon Musk, not content with having fired key senior executives in charge of EU privacy compliance (including its Chief Privacy Officer and DPO), has suggested that he will oblige its non-paying users to consent to personalized advertising. The Irish DPC (once again, in charge of its supervision under the one-stop-shop rule) asked Twitter for a meeting in the hope to draw a few red lines.  Meanwhile, the Spanish AEPD, still breaking all records in terms of monthly fines, sanctioned UPS (70,000 euros) for handing out a MediaMarkt (consumer electronics) delivery to a neighbor, thus breaching confidentiality duties. This will have a serious impact on the regular practices of courier services in the country.  Back in the United States, Epic Games and the FTC agreed to a $520m fine for directly targeting children under the age of 13 with its Fortnite game (a default setting that allows them to engage in voice and text communications with strangers has made it worse), as well for using for “dark patterns” in in-game purchases. Separately, in what we believe it is a first case of its kind, even in the EU (with the ECJ FashionID case possibly being the closest we have been to it). Betterhelp has received an FTC $7,8m fine for using the Facebook Lookalike Audiences feature (and alternative offerings in the programmatic advertising space, including those of Criteo, Snapchat or Pinterest) to find potential customers on the basis of their similarity with the online mental health service's current user base. This involved sensitive data and follows repetitive disclaimers by Betterhelp that data would in no case be shared with third parties.   On the private lawsuits front (especially important in the US), Meta agreed to pay $725m after a class action was brought in California against Facebook on the back of the ever-present Cambridge Analytica scandal. Also, the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) kept putting money into the pockets of claimants and class action lawyers, in this case forcing Whole Foods (an upscale organic food supermarket chain owned by Amazon) to settle for $300.000 - we have previously previous cases against TikTok, Facebook or Snapchat, albeit it was the monitoring, via “voiceprints”, of its own employees (rather than its customers) that triggered this particular lawsuit. Legitimate Interest strikes back  To finish with this section, very recent developments justify turning our eyes back to the UK and the EU as there is growing momentum for the acceptance of the legitimate interest as a legal basis for purely commercial or direct marketing purposes:  While the CJEU decides on a question posed by a Dutch court in January, in which the DPA issued a fine to a tennis association for relying on legitimate interest to share member details with its sponsors (who then sent commercial offers to them), a UK court (First-Tier Tribunal) has ruled against the ICO (UK DPA) and in favor of Experian (a well-known data broker) for collecting data about 5.3m people from publicly available sources, including the electorate register, to build customer profiles and subsequently selling them to advertisers. Experian has relied on legitimate interest and found it too burdensome to properly inform every single individual (this being the ICO's main point of contention). The decision does appear to indicate that using legitimate interest would not be possible if the original data collection had been based on consent, but even this is not entirely clear. So, just to make it even more clear and simple, the UK Government presented a new draft of a new UK Data Protection Bill on March 8th that includes a pre-built shortcut to using legitimate interest without need for the so-called three part test (purpose, necessity, balancing). Data controllers can now go ahead with this legal basis if they find their purpose in a non-exhaustive list provided - which includes direct marketing.  Competition and Digital Markets Google was sued by the Department of Justice for anti-competitive behavior in its dominance of the AdTech stack across the open market (or the ads that are shown across the web and beyond its own “walled gardens”), using its dominance of the publisher ad server market (supply side) to further strengthen its stranglehold of the demand side (advertisers, many of them already glued to its Google Ads or DV360 platforms in order to invest in search keywords or YouTube inventory) and, worse, artificially manipulating its own ad exchange to favor publishers at the expense of advertisers - thereby reinforcing the flywheel, as digital media publishers found themselves with even less incentives to work with competing ad servers.  Zero-Party Data and Future of Media (The piece of news below obliges us to combine both categories this season) The BBC has rolled out its own version of SOLID pods to allow its own customers to leverage their own data (exported from Netflix, Spotify, and the BBC) in order to obtain relevant recommendations while staying in full control of such data. Perhaps a little step towards individual agency, but a giant one for a digital media ecosystem mostly butchered by the untenable notice-and-consent approach derived from the current legal framework - which takes us back full circle to Elizabeth Renieris' new book.  

The European Union's new Unified Patent Court is an international body set up by participating EU Member States to deal with the infringement and validity of both Unitary Patents and European patents. The court's objective is “putting an end to costly parallel litigation and enhancing legal certainty.” Unitary patents are intended to make it possible to get patent protection in up to 25 EU Member States by submitting a single request to the European Patent Office, making the procedure simpler and more cost effective for applicants. The new system goes live on June 1, 2023. What must U.S. and multi-national U.S.-based companies understand about the court? Why should inventors and their organizations factor it in to any existing or new patent strategy they may be developing?For answers to these questions and more listen to my interview with attorneys Marianne Schaffner and Thierry Lautier who practice out of the Paris office of Reed Smith. Marianne heads the intellectual Property team in Paris and the patent practice in Europe. She manages complex national and transnational patent, trade secrets and trademark disputes in the healthcare, chemistry, technology and telecommunications sectors. Thierry is part of the firm's global Intellectual Property Group. With a dual legal and engineering/scientific background, Thierry uses his understanding, knowledge, and experience to provide clients with creative, technically robust, and business-oriented patent strategies. This podcast is the audio companion to the Journal on Emerging Issues in Litigation. The Journal is a collaborative project between HB Litigation Conferences and the Fastcase legal research family, which includes Full Court Press, Law Street Media, and Docket Alarm. The podcast itself is a joint effort between HB and our friends at Law Street Media. If you have comments or wish to participate in one our projects please drop me a note at Editor@LitigationConferences.com. Tom Hagy Litigation Enthusiast and Host of the Emerging Litigation Podcast Home Page LinkedIn 

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Main paths to impact in EU AI Policy, published by JOMG Monnet on December 8, 2022 on The Effective Altruism Forum. Epistemic status This is a tentative overview of the current main paths to impact in EU AI Policy. There is significant uncertainty regarding the relative impact of the different paths below The paths mentioned below were cross-checked with four experts working in the field, but the list is probably not exhaustive Additionally, this post may also be of interest to those interested in working in EU AI Policy. In particular, consider the arguments against impact here This article doesn't compare the potential value of US AI policy careers with those in the EU for people with EU-citizenship. A comparison between the two options is beyond the scope of this post Summary People seeking to have a positive impact on the direction of AI policy in the EU may consider the following paths to impact: Working on (enforcement of) the AI Act, related AI technical standards and adjacent regulation Working on the current AI Act draft (possibility to have impact immediately) Working on technical standards and auditing services of the AI Act (possibility to have impact immediately) Making sure the EU AI Act is enforced effectively (possibility to have impact now and >1/2 years from now) Working on a revision of the AI Act (possibility to have impact >5 years from now), or on (potential) new AI-related regulation (e.g. possibility to have impact now through the AI Liability Directive) Working on export controls and using the EU's soft power (possibility to have immediate + longer term impact) Using career capital gained from a career in EU AI Policy to work on different policy topics or in the private sector While the majority of impact for some paths above is expected to be realised in the medium/long term, building up career capital is probably a prerequisite for making impact in these paths later on. It is advisable to create your own personal “theory of change” for working in the field. The list of paths to impact below is not exhaustive and individuals should do their own research into different paths and speak to multiple experts. Paths to impact Working on (enforcement of) the AI Act, related AI technical standards and adjacent regulation Since the EU generally lacks cutting edge developers of AI systems, the largest expected impact from the EU AI Act is expected to follow from a Brussels effect of sorts. For the AI act to have a positive effect on the likelihood of safe, advanced AI systems being developed within organisations outside of the EU, the following assumptions need to be true: Advanced AI systems are (also) being developed within private AI labs that (plan to) export products to EU citizens. The AI-developing activities within private AI labs need to be influenced by the EU AI Act through a Brussels Effect of some sort (de facto or de jure). This depends on whether advanced AI is developed within a product development process in which AI-companies take EU AI Act regulation into account. Requirements on these companies either have a (1) slowing effect on advanced AI development, buying more time for technical safety research or better regulation within the countries where AI is developed (2) direct effect, e.g. through risk management requirements that increase the odds of safe AI development Working on the final draft of the AI Act Current status of AI Act The AI Act is a proposed European law on artificial intelligence (AI) – the first law on AI by a major regulator anywhere. On April 21, 2021 the Commission published a proposal to regulate artificial intelligence in the European Union. The proposal of the EU AI Act will become law once both the Council (representing the 27 EU Member States) and the European Parliament agree on a common version of the te...

While the African Medicines Agency (AMA) plans and plants its inaugural headquarters in Rwanda, the European Commission, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), several EU Member States, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation continue to mobilize more than €100 million in support. “The idea is to use the AMA as a platform that will further advance the capacities of the African continent to regulate medical products as a collective. It's a network approach to regulation of medical products on the continent,” explains David Mukanga (Deputy Director, Africa Regulatory Systems, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) in this conversation with EMA Head of International Affairs Martin Harvey Allchurch.

For this week's session, we were thrilled to welcome back  Rob West. Rob is the lead analyst at his own firm, Thunder Said Energy. Rob had a career in research at Redburn and Sanford C. Bernstein before leaving to start Thunder Said in 2019 and first joined us for COBT on January 4, 2022. He has immersed himself in the technology details of the energy transition and brings a unique "how are we going to accomplish all of this" perspective to all of his analysis. Even though there are immense challenges, and we have dug ourselves in a hole in many ways, hang in there as you will hear Rob's optimism in particular towards the end of the discussion. Rob joined us today from his home in Tallinn, Estonia. In our conversation, we pull from Rob some thoughts on the Russia-Ukraine war and delve into the sentiment in Eastern Europe and the Baltics about Russia's aggression. Rob recently wrote a research piece entitled "Energy Shortage: Fear in a Handful of Dust?" At the heart of the paper is that the road to a better world, including a successful transformation of our energy system, goes through having energy "surplus" and not through energy "shortage." Quite the contrary, he points out the dangers of energy shortage in a number of areas including higher food prices, the negative climate effects of more wood use, diminished economic prosperity, reduced security, and the instability of democracies during periods like the one we are in. Rob reminds us of the serious bottlenecks to be solved, the second law of thermodynamics (and the implications for energy loss), that we need energy to build new energy systems, and the importance of innovation. In total, Rob points to ten key reasons why the world needs energy surplus, and why such surplus not only helps us achieve our environmental goals, but also helps us avoid a world that would ultimately be more dangerous and also more painful, especially for those who have less. To kick us off, Mike Bradley took a look back at what oil and gas prices looked like in January of 2022 when Rob last joined us and shared current bond, commodity, and equity performance. He noted that the last few days of energy equity volatility was predominately related to the direction OPEC might pursue at its December meeting and wrapped up his discussion by laying out both the failure and success coming out of COP 27. Colin Fenton noted the European Union has put a number on its proposed price cap for natural gas: €275 per MWh, as measured by the TTF month-ahead price in the Netherlands. The proposed cap would begin on January 1, 2023, last for one year, and activate only in the event of emergency conditions locally, as determined by the spread between spot prices in Europe and a basket of spot LNG prices from around the world. EU Member States would need to approve the proposal before it could take effect. Veriten's head of nuclear research and strategy, Brett Rampal, also joined the team today. As we pause and reflect about Thanksgiving, we want to wish you all the best and reiterate how grateful we are for your friendship. Be on the lookout for a special message on Thanksgiving Day!  Thank you again to Rob for joining and thanks to you all! 

EU Commissioner for the Economy and former Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni recently joined the Europe Desk to discuss the state of the economy and the proposed recovery strategies. We asked him about potential fragmentation amongst EU Member States and what this means for solidarity. We also asked him about the additional economic challenges some countries face in the form of high debt levels and increasing borrowing costs.  The Europe Desk is a podcast from the BMW Center for German and European Studies at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. It brings together leading experts working on the most pertinent issues facing Europe and transatlantic relations today. Music by Sam Kyzivat and Breakmaster Cylinder Design by Sarah Diebboll Leadership: Flora Adamian, Jakob Winkler Production by Hailey Ordal and Josephine Sylvestre Communications by Shelby Emami, Ryan Conner, Mason Kane, Sophie al-Mutawaly, and Flora Adamian https://cges.georgetown.edu/podcast Twitter and Instagram: @theeuropedesk If you need more information about the Center's events, or have any questions or feedback, please email: theeuropedesk@georgetown.edu.

EU prepares sanctions package aimed at banning Russian travel to EU member states Duran: Episode 1354

Dr. Moira Gilchrist is the Vice President of Strategic and Scientific Communications at Philip Morris International (PMI). She has a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences and in 2006, came to PMI to help launch the company's smoke-free products, which were developed as better alternatives to cigarettes for adult smokers who would otherwise continue to smoke. Her journey to PMI was as personal as it was professional: as a smoker, she understood the potential for these better alternatives to become a breakthrough for smokers like herself who would otherwise not quit. Episode NotesMoira shares her personal and professional journey of getting a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences, starting her career in cancer research and then working in the pharmaceutical industry before joining PMI – which as she will share in this episode – was not a place she ever thought she'd work. Today, she leads a team whose job it is to translate the robust science behind the company's smoke-free alternatives into information policymakers and the public can easily understand.Ok…so getting beyond the tobacco conversation…Moira shares how she got interested in becoming a pharmacist – almost left her major – and then had a class in industrial pharmacy that redirected her and led to her getting a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences. We talk about the importance of developing communication skills and how having the backs of other women in the rooms we are in can have a big impact.Music used in the podcast: Higher Up, Silverman Sound StudioAcronyms, Definitions, and Fact CheckWomen's share of jobs in the largest STEM category—Computers and Math— decreased from 44% in 1990 to 27% in 2018 and women hold the fewest share of STEM jobs in the Engineering and Surveying sector at 16%(https://extension.ucsd.edu/getattachment/community-and-research/center-for-research-and-evaluation/Accordion/Research-Reports-and-Publications/Women-in-STEM-Workforce-Index-FINAL-for-CRE-7_22_20.pdf.aspx?lang=en-US)In 2020, there were almost 6.6 million female scientists and engineers in the EU, 254 500 more than in 2019, accounting for 41% of total employment in science and engineering. By sector, women were underrepresented in manufacturing (where only 22% of scientists and engineers were female), while there was more of a gender balance in the services sector (46%). Among the EU Member States, the proportion of female scientists and engineers varied widely in 2020, ranging from 52% in Lithuania, Portugal and Denmark to 30% in Finland and 31% in Hungary. (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/-/edn-20220211-2)"Lean In" by Sheryl Sandberg. https://leanin.org/bookNeuro Linguistic Programming - a pseudoscientific approach to communication, personal development, and psychotherapy created by Richard Bandler and John Grinder in California, United States, in the 1970s. (Wikipedia)

The EU Temporary Protection Directive enables EU Member States to move rapidly to offer protection and rights to people in need of immediate protection and to avoid overwhelming national asylum systems in cases of mass arrivals of displaced persons. Although invoked several times in the past, the directive has never been activated before. Russia's military aggression prompted a unanimous decision in the Council to grant temporary protection (for an initial period of one year) to people fleeing the war in Ukraine. This temporary protection may be extended automatically by two six-monthly periods, for a maximum of another year. The EU's decision to grant temporary protection has been widely welcomed and the directive is considered the most appropriate instrument under the current exceptional circumstances. There are, however, still many open questions as to its practical implementation in the EU Member States. - Original publication on the EP Think Tank website - Subscription to our RSS feed in case your have your own RSS reader - Podcast available on Deezer, iTunes, TuneIn, Stitcher, YouTube Source: © European Union - EP

In this video, Dr. Marcin Romanowski discusses "Current Discussions on the Rule of Law in Poland – In Light of Changes in the Judiciary after 1989." This lecture is part of the 12th Annual Kościuszko Chair Spring Symposium in honor of Lady Blanka Rosenstiel sponsored by the Kościuszko Chair in Polish Studies and the Center for Intermarium studies. About the lecture: Since 2015, the United Right (Zjednoczona Prawica) has won the presidential and parliamentary elections twice, gaining a majority that allows for self-rule. The reforms, in particular in the area of the judiciary, met with fierce resistance from liberal and post-communist opposition parties and judges from higher courts. The central institutions of the European Union (the Commission, the EU Parliament, and the CJEU) are also involved in the dispute, interfering – in the opinion of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal – with the constitutional competencies of the EU Member States in a way that goes beyond scope of the competences conferred upon the EU by its Members in the Treaties. However, the real source of the aggressive opposition to judicial reforms is the fact that the Polish judiciary has not been transformed since 1989 when communism has officially fallen in Poland. As a result of the so-called “Round Table,” agreements were made in 1989 between a part of the opposition and the communist party, leaving the judiciary unchanged, becoming a de facto guarantee of the status quo for post-communist interest groups. Since 2015, Poland has been struggling with many unresolved problems from the communist era. Settlements with the past were implemented after 1989 to a very small extent, which influenced and still affects the quality of political, social, and academic life, and media, making Poland a country of “late post-communism.” The judiciary, the reform of which is under dispute, is one of the most important areas of this “late post-communism.” The lecture will present the causes of contemporary disputes over the Polish rule of law. About the speaker: Dr. Romanowski is an assistant professor at the Department of Theory and Philosophy of Law of the Faculty of Law and Administration within the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw. He has a doctoral degree in law from the Faculty of Law and Administration at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun. The main areas of his research interest are the law of settlement with the past lawlessness in countries, the natural law and the non-positivist concepts of law, the theory of European and global law, and legal anthropology and its applications in the creation and application of the law. During his professional career, Dr. Romanowski was the Director of the Institute of Justice (2016-2019), an expert of the parliamentary investigative commission to investigate allegations of corruption cases disclosed in the media during work on the amendment of the Broadcasting Act (2003-2004) and a co-author of the report prepared by this commission and, in the years 2005-2007 and 2015-2019, advisor to the Minister of Justice. Since 2019, he has served as Poland's Deputy Minister of Justice. Make a gift to IWP: https://www.iwp.edu/donate/ IWP admissions: https://www.iwp.edu/admissions/

EU member states' mixed opinions on recognizing Ukraine as a EU memberGuest: Professor Kochenov Dimitry, Department of Legal Studies; Lead Researcher, Rule of Law Group, Central European UniversitySee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Is the European Union Relevant for AGI Governance?, published by Nico on January 31, 2022 on The Effective Altruism Forum. Whether Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) is safe will depend on the series of actions carried out by relevant human actors that eventually results in more or less safe AGI. Artificial Intelligence (AI) governance refers to all the actions along that series that help humanity best navigate its transition towards a world with AGI, excluding the actions directly aimed at technically building safe AI systems. This post compiles and briefly explains arguments in favor and against the relevance for AI governance of actors based in the European Union (EU). It builds on previous attempts to help EAs determine whether to work on AI governance in the EU. In doing so, I hope to contribute to a knowledge gap in the EA community's collective assessment of the importance of the EU and initiate a discussion on the various arguments with individuals exploring career, research, or funding opportunities. The arguments listed have affected career and funding decisions in the past. Note that several of these arguments apply to the field of AI governance in general, but are included because they are especially salient for EU AI governance. Note also that no attempt is made in this post to weigh the arguments against one another, even though in fact, I disagree with several of these arguments (I disagree with 1 argument in favor and 2 arguments against). As a disclaimer, on balance, I believe that the EU is relevant for AGI governance so, please, keep me on my toes: I have tried hard to strengthen the arguments against and the arguments with which I disagree to provide a solid basis for discussion and reflection. You can use the table of content on the left to navigate to the arguments you want to read about (on desktop browsers, not mobile). I welcome additional input! You can help by answering these questions: What are additional arguments (for or against) that have not been included in this list? If you think I don't do justice to an argument you are familiar with, how would you explain it differently? What are the nuances I miss? Which of the arguments do you think are the strongest? Notes for those unfamiliar with the EU: “Member States” refer to nations that are part of the EU. There are 27 Member States in the EU, for around 450 million citizens and accounts for 16% of global GDP in purchasing power standards (PPS). Neither the UK nor Switzerland is part of the EU. For comparison, the US has 332 million citizens and accounts for 16.3% of global GDP PPS and China, with 1.423 billion citizens, accounts for 16.4% of global GDP PPS.[4] I thank Risto Uuk, Laura Green, Andrea Miotti, Mathias Bonde and Daniel Schiff for their valuable feedback on this post, as well as everyone who have helped me map or better understand these arguments throughout the years. Arguments in favor 1. The Brussels Effect The Brussels Effect refers to the EU legislative decisions having impact outside of the EU. There are two types of Brussels Effect: de facto effect (i.e. market players adapting to EU's decisions in non-EU markets even when it is not legally required) and de jure effect (i.e. foreign regulators adapting their own legislation to match EU's decisions). These effects arise through the EU's deliberate use of administrative and legal mechanisms to ensure extraterritorial impact. Whether a Brussels Effect also kicks in for AI governance has been explored here and in an upcoming paper by FHI/GovAI. The preliminary answer seems to be yes. How does it affect the EU's relevance? The Brussels Effect would multiply the impact of EU decisions on regulatory and market players worldwide. This would make EU AI policymakers' actions more important for safe AGI development, and therefor...

*This will be the last Full Episode of the Year!! We are excited to bring you new stories and interviews in 2022! Until then, everyone stay safe and stay healthy! In this episode, Jane chats with three whistleblower experts to round out 2021: Georgina Halford-Hall, Chief Executive of WhistleblowersUK, Siri Nelson, Executive Director of National Whistleblower Center, and Paul Milata, General Manager of Nemexis. The group talks about the whistleblower and whistleblower advocate community at large, efforts to establish an Office of the Whistleblower in the UK, and the idea of a world whistleblower office and centralized whistleblower programs. The group also talks about the EU Whistleblowing Directive. They discuss the status of different EU Member States transposing the directive and where some Member States are falling short. Additionally, they discuss whistleblower awards and the issue of restrictive labor contracts. Finally, they talk about what they want for whistleblower legislation and initiatives in 2022. Listen to the podcast here on WNN or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Google Podcasts. Subscribe on your favorite platform!