Friday
22nd Jun 2018
The European Union's fund for free wireless internet connection hotspots is most popular in Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy, Malta, Slovenia and Romania. Check if your municipality pre-registered.
In this edition of EUobserver's Regions & Cities magazine, we take a closer look at some of the EU agencies, exploring how their location matters and the benefits for cities and regions to host them.
As leaders focus on strategic issues, the other EU, the EU of city-states, is evolving and shaping Europe's future from the bottom up.
The president of the EU's Committee of the Regions, Karl-Heinz Lambertz, said that both the separatists and Spanish authorities made mistakes.
"A Europe of regions created by the state is like electrical cars created by oil companies," Catalan separatist leader Carles Puigdemont told EUobserver.
The staff of the London-based EMA will move to the Dutch city of Amsterdam after Brexit, following a coin toss. Chance also decided the new home of the European Banking Authority: Paris.
Committee of the Regions president Karl-Heinz Lambertz tells EUobserver why he is not happy with proposed cuts to the EU's cohesion policy. France has already spoken up against Common Agriculture Policy, but who will speak for the regions?
UK municipalities that want to be sure that their free wifi systems are paid for by the EU will have to make sure everything is up and running before Brexit date.
The ruling is bad news for the future of diesel engines in passenger cars. The EU has, however, taken a backseat on coordinating the EU's 200+ low-emission zones.
The Italian government and the city of Milan want the Court of Justice to annul the decision the move the medicines agency to Amsterdam, while Italian MEPs suggest that the EMA should go to Milan instead.
Staff of the European Medicines Agency will be temporarily housed in another building for almost a year, which its director said was 'not ideal'.
The decision to move the European Medicines Agency to Amsterdam still needs to be approved by the European Parliament, which was hardly involved in the process.
The European Medicines Agency and, to a lesser extent, the European Banking Authority, was the most sought-after EU agencies in 2017, as no less than 21 member states competed to host them after Brexit.
EU ministers will decide on the future location of two London-based EU agencies on Monday. In this edition of EUobserver's Regions & Cities magazine, we take a closer look at some of the EU agencies.
The ballot papers that will be used by EU ministers to vote for the new location of two London-based EU agencies will then be destroyed, raising questions of accountability.
Four countries that want to host the London-based EU agencies do not offer registered partnership for same-sex couples.
Young people in the gig economy in big cities need 'one-stop shops', as pioneered in Rotterdam, to help them access all their rights - but that requires funding.
The official agenda point on where to relocate the EU medicines and banking agencies after Brexit was over in "one minute", but lobbying took place in the corridors.
Spanish and Catalan politicians came to Brussels to show their unity in their bid to move the European Medicines Agency from London to Barcelona.
Two EU agencies need a new home after Brexit - but member states have spent demonstrably less effort on their public bids to host the EBA.
Because of Brexit, the EMA has to leave London. Some health ministers lobbying to host it have made an emotional appeal, warning that patient safety could be at risk.
Some member states were disappointed with the neutral nature of the commission's "assessment" of bids to host the EU agencies currently based in London.
According to a survey of European Medicines Agency employees, more than two-thirds of them would not want to move to Bratislava.
Staff said they preferred to move to Amsterdam, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Milan, or Vienna. More than 70% said they would quit if the agency moved to Athens, Bratislava, Bucharest, Helsinki, Malta, Sofia, Warsaw, or Zagreb.
Frontex, the EU border and coastguard agency, will grow three-fold in five years. It will build a new office in the Polish capital despite rising tensions over migration policy between Warsaw and Brussels.
The commission said it did not have time to look beyond the documents each of the contending member states sent to the Council of the EU, which were already public.
The relocation of the EMA and the EBA after Brexit will leave a hole that will need to be filled, but opinion is divided among local business people as to whether the agencies will be missed.
Agencies expert Ellen Vos thinks "a lot of politics" will be involved in EU decision on new location for EMA and EBA, but accessibility should be a bigger factor.
Finland wants to host the European Medicines Agency and create "synergies" with the European Chemicals Agency.
With the Commission set to publish its assessment of EMA and EBA relocation bids, EUobserver looks at some of the perks that hopeful hosts purport to offer.
Deputy minister for European affairs highlights that Romania is 'the biggest country not having an agency', as one of the arguments to vote for Bucharest to host the medicines agency.
The EU's highest-staffed agency is based in Alicante. What benefits does hosting the intellectual properties office bring to the city and the region?
EU social and urban policies should be more linked together and involve local authorities, in order to help people find affordable homes.
