Commission issues a €17bn SURE social bond emission

The European Parliament will hold its first ever European Gender Equality Week from 26 to 29 October, initiated by the Women’s Rights Committee. All events will be livestreamed. 

On 24 October, the UN Day, the United Nations marked its 75th anniversary. This date commemorates the signing in 1945 of the UN Charter in San Francisco. On this occasion, the key buildings and places in Brussels turned blue on Saturday evening. Among them were the seat of the EC – Berlaymont Building, the Council’s Europa Building and the iconic Grand Place.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell, and US Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, met via telephone to discuss a range of issues of common interest in the context of the Transatlantic Partnership, the EEAS and Department of State announced in a joint press release, published Friday evening.

A major customs operation has uncovered illicit cross-border currency flows of €17m potentially linked to money laundering, transnational criminal networks and terrorism financing, OLAF Press Office announced. Operation Daphne, led by the Italian Customs and Monopolies Agency and the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), with the support of Europol, involved 24 EU countries. 

Bulgaria and the US signed key documents on 5G wireless communication networks security and civil nuclear power, the Government Information Service announced. The signing took place in the presence of the Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, and the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, joined via video conference.

The request of 150 ventilators from Czechia of 22 October is fully answered with 15 ventilators from Austria and 105 from the Netherlands dispatched on Saturday, on top of 30 devices from rescEU delivered two days ago. Austria has also offered 30 high-flow nasal oxygen therapy devices.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Friday announced tougher rules designed to stem the spread of the coronavirus as infections in the country hit a daily record, Radio Poland reported. From Saturday, all restrictions that were in effect in areas most affected by the coronavirus, will apply throughout the country, Morawiecki said.

Lawmakers on Friday decided on the upcoming seven years of the common agricultural policy (CAP), one of the main EU's spending programmes. Voting on three regulations – about strategic plans, common market organisation and financing, management and monitoring of the CAP, they said that post-2020 EU farming should be greener, fairer, and more robust.

During the coronavirus pandemic Europeans trust the EU to make the right decisions in response to the pandemic in the future, shows the new Standard Eurobarometer survey released on Friday. European citizens identify the economic situation, the state of Member States' public finances and immigration as the three top concerns at EU level.

For ensuring that tap water across the EU is safe to drink, on Friday the Council formally adopted its position at first reading to revise the drinking water directive. The position is based on the compromise reached in the negotiations between the Council and the European Parliament, facilitated by the Commission.