Archive
News & Opinions
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Jim Brunsden to Join FleishmanHillard EU Office in Brussels
June 15, 2021
Brunsden Joins the Agency After a Career Reporting on EU Policy for the Financial Times and Bloomberg Brussels, 15th June 2021 – Today, FleishmanHillard announced that Jim Brunsden will join its Brussels-EU office as a senior vice president, Financial Services, beginning 1st July 2021. Brunsden has worked as a journalist reporting on EU policy and politics for more than 15 years, most recently with the Financial Times and previously with Bloomberg News. His coverage included...
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When co-legislation meets adult EU ETS Reform and baby CBAM together: navigating the ultimate risk of climate change negotiations
June 8, 2021
The dawn of a new era All EU ETS reform scenarios suggest we are about to see a fundamental break from the past. The price of CO2 is set to hit a historic high, while new sectors will have their own parallel cap-and-trade systems. Meanwhile, the linkage to the UK ETS system, currently in limbo, will have its own political weight. The cap-and-trade parameters that govern the market-based system will be extensively reworked, and new...
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The revision of REACH: How will a post-Lisbon REACH Regulation look like?
June 4, 2021
The revision of the EU's REACH Regulation is becoming a reality. The European Commission intends to reopen REACH with a legislative proposal due at the end of 2022. Besides the many changes outlined in the initial impact assessment to ensure that REACH is fit to meet the ambitions of the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, the revision will no doubt raise the question of how to adopt decisions under the REACH as the Regulation is still...
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Revision of the EU’s REACH Regulation – FH Online Roundtable
May 11, 2021
Register now | 20th May 2021 | 15:00 – 16:00 CET Revision of the EU’s REACH Regulation FleishmanHillard Online Roundtable The European Commission is reopening the EU’s REACH Regulation to meet the ambitions of the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability. The inception impact assessment for the revision of REACH is now open to public consultation. This is a key moment for stakeholders to make their voices heard as the European Commission prepares its proposal for the...
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What are essential use criteria for chemical substances?
May 3, 2021
Everybody is talking about essential uses in Brussels, but how can we actually define which chemicals are essential for our society? Is it essential to use chemical substances that ensure durability for coatings but may be persistent in the environment? Or is it essential to use potentially harmful substances in medical devices if no alternatives are available? Defining the essential use concept will ultimately mean being able to answer these questions, balancing out the trade-offs...
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When institutions collide: how conflicting narratives have impacted Italy’s COVID-19 vaccination efforts
April 15, 2021
Words by Anna Vuillerod When institutions collide: how conflicting narratives have impacted Italy's COVID-19 vaccination efforts While Italy was the first and most severely hit country in the EU, it is currently among the European country with the highest vaccination rates in the EU. Around 16% of the population has been vaccinated against COVID-19. While a successful vaccination campaign is underway, Italy is also known for being one of the most vaccine-skeptical country in Europe. Indeed, one of its ruling parties has been spreading an anti-vax narrative since the years of Beppe Grillo beginning in 1998. Vaccine skepticism is not just...
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Regulatory Scrutiny Board raises Better Regulation concerns: impact assessments decreased in quality and became more political in 2020
April 13, 2021
The quality of the European Commission's impact assessments decreased in 2020. The initial rejection rate was 46 %. That's the conclusion by the EU’s Regulatory Scrutiny Board (RSB) in its annual report. The RSB is the College of Commissioners’ independent in-house advisory body on quality of impact assessments and evaluations before proposals go out the door. The RSB’s stats on the quality of impact assessments in 2020 are very clear: (Source: Regulatory Scrutiny Board) Why...
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Why are the French the most skeptical about COVID-19 vaccines in the EU?
April 7, 2021
Words by Anaïs Ronchin France became the birthplace of modern immunology when Louis Pasteur created a vaccine for rabies in the 1880s. This vaccine proved to be so effective that people bitten by rabid animals came from all over France and even from abroad to be vaccinated at his research facility in Paris, which would be transformed into a vaccination clinic and teaching center for this new field of science. However, despite this rich scientific history, contemporary France is experiencing the lowest levels of...
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Vaccine hesitancy and conspiracy mentalities in German: a deadly duo?
April 1, 2021
Words by Fabianne Bamberger As we find ourselves at the one-year anniversary of the most severe health emergency of the modern era, we are still confronted with high infection levels and death rates overburdening our healthcare systems and economies. Vaccines offer a glimpse of light at the end of the long tunnel but rising anti-vaccine sentiments in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic give cause for concern. This threat is particularly evident in one of...
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Regional approaches and shared competences, the kryptonite for anti-vaxxers in Spain?
March 30, 2021
Words by Enrique Marcos Collado Vaccine trends in all EU countries are not entirely discouraging, offering some hope that summer holidays in a preferred destination for many European may be possible yet. In Spain, the number of individuals who say they would not take the vaccine immediately fell from 47% in November to 28% in late December, according to a barometer conducted by the Sociological Research Centre (CIS). As vaccination efforts have launched around the...