ECB launches review to redefine its mission

The European Central Bank launched last Thursday a broad review of its policy that will likely end with new President Christine Lagarde redefining the bank's main goals, news wires reported. “The Governing Council decided to launch a review of the ECB's monetary policy strategy,” the bank said in a statement. The review was due after the bank has fallen short of its inflation target for years despite increasingly aggressive stimulus measures under Mario Draghi.

European Parliament members of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee approved on Thursday a resolution aimed at reducing their fear of the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) and automated decision-making (ADM) technologies by addressing several challenges arising from that issue.

China locked down two major cities in a province at the centre of a deadly virus outbreak on Thursday, banning planes and trains from leaving in an unprecedented move aimed at containing the disease which has already spread to other countries.

The EU once again urged Turkey last week to drop plans to drill for oil and gas around Cyprus and the eastern Mediterranean, saying such exploration was illegal, news wires reported. “Concrete steps towards creating an environment conducive to dialogue in good faith are needed,” EU foreign policy spokesman Peter Stano said in a statement. “The intention by Turkey to launch further exploration and drilling activities in the region goes, regrettably, in the opposite direction.”

In attempt to further spur the already lively debate around the Conference on the Future of Europe, the Commission set out onTuesday its ideas how the conference should be held in the next years, the EU press service reported. The EC stated in the communication that the conference should be launched on Europe Day, 9 May, and run for two years. The project was announced by EC President Ursula von der Leyen in order to give Europeans a greater say on what the EU does and how it works for them.

Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio on Wednesday announced he was quitting as leader of the 5-Star Movement (M5S) following a stream of defections from the ruling anti-establishment party, ANSA reported.

Currently, the EU is at 20% emission reduction - achieved within 30 years. However, this includes the collapse of industry in Eastern Europe. Most coal-fired power generation in Western Europe is closed, the low-hanging fruits of energy efficiency are already taken. But there is no way to decrease CO2 emissions by additional 30% within 10 years only, says Boyan Rashev, environmental management expert and a Managing Partner at Denkstatt.

Mercedes-Benz parent company Daimler AG said Wednesday that additional charges related to diesel emissions would weigh on its 2019 profits by between €1.1 and €1.5bn.

France's biggest hydroelectric power site at Grand'Maison was shut down on Tuesday by workers protesting against government plans to change the pension system, a branch of the CGT trade union said in a statement. The protest was launched by the CGT Énergie-Isère branch of the union, it said on its Facebook page.

The United States will impose painful tariffs on imports from the EU unless the block agrees to a trade deal, US President Donald Trump warned on Wednesday, news wires reported. "Europe has been very, very tough to deal with," Trump told US broadcaster CNBC at the World Economic Forum summit in Davos, one day after meeting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen there.