The Commission has fined the pharmaceutical companies Teva and Cephalon €60.5m for agreeing to delay for several years the market entry of a cheaper generic version of Cephalon's drug for sleep disorders, modafinil, after Cephalon's main patents had expired. Such practice is illegal under EU antitrust rules.

The Commission will convene on 30 November the first ever Schengen Forum, gathering MEPs and EU home affairs ministers, and aiming to foster concrete cooperation and political dialogue to address current challenges and build a more resilient Schengen area. 

EC Vice-President Margaritis Schinas hosted on Friday the 15th annual high-level meeting with religious leaders organised by the Commission. It gathered eight representatives of religious organisations from across Europe to discuss on ‘the European way of life'.

Successful integration and inclusion is an essential part of a well-managed and effective migration and asylum policy, says the Commission in its action plan for 2021-2027 on the topic, presented on Tuesday.

Data access and reuse can generate social and economic benefits of 1% to 2.5% of GDP and some experts even call data the ‘new gold’. To use this potential more widely, the Commission put forward on Wednesday new rules on data governance.

The European Union pledged on Tuesday to maintain its commitment of €1.2 billion ($1.43 billion) to Afghanistan at a donor conference in Geneva.

The European Commission wants to make it easier for patients to access cheaper, generic medicines, a draft EU document seen by Reuters shows, in a move that could cut the revenues of big pharmaceutical firms.

The Commission launched the purchase of 200 disinfection robots that will be delivered to hospitals across Europe in the coming weeks. For this purpose, up to €12m is available from the EU Emergency Support Instrument, helping Member States to cope with the coronavirus crisis.

Looking ahead towards the European Disability Strategy 2021-2030, the Commission published an evaluation of the outgoing one for 2010-2020. It is reviewing the implementation of the strategy and is providing conclusions that can be used as a basis for future policy development.

The Commission launched on Friday a call for proposals of €3.9m to further support cross-border investigations as well as to map and address violations of press and media freedom. The deadline for submissions is 20 January next year.