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Questions and Answers on the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union on 31 January 2020

The United Kingdom is set to leave the European Union on 31 January 2020 at midnight (Brussels time). It will no longer be a Member State of the European Union. This is a decision that the EU regrets but respects.

The EU and the United Kingdom have conducted intensive negotiations to agree on the terms of the UK’s withdrawal and create legal certainty once EU law ceases to apply to the UK. Throughout these negotiations, the European Commission has ensured an inclusive process, with regular meetings of the 27 EU Member States, as well as with the European Parliament and national parliaments. Additional input from EU consultative bodies and stakeholders has helped the European Commission gather evidence in the process. Unprecedented transparency was ensured throughout, as the European Commission published negotiating documents, and all other relevant documents on its website.

The result of the negotiations is the Agreement on the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community. It was today formally signed by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will sign the Agreement today in the United Kingdom.

This is one of the last steps in the ratification process of the Withdrawal Agreement, which will be concluded by the Council on 30 January, after the European Parliament’s consent on 29 January.

What happens on 1 February 2020?

When the United Kingdom leaves the European Union on 31 January 2020, after full ratification of the Withdrawal Agreement, we will enter into the transition period. This time-limited period was agreed as part of the Withdrawal Agreement and will last until at least 31 December 2020. Until then, it will be business as usual for citizens, consumers, businesses, investors, students and researchers in both the EU and the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom will no longer be represented in the EU institutions, agencies, bodies and offices but EU law will still apply in the United Kingdom until the end of the transition period. Continue reading “Questions and Answers on the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union on 31 January 2020”

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Europe to boost space sector investment for SMEs

The European Commission is partnering with the European Investment Bank Group, announcing €200 million of investments into the EU space sector, supporting ground-breaking innovation in the industry. During the European Space Policy Conference in Brussels, EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle is signing an agreement with André-Hubert Roussel, CEO of ArianeGroup, confirming a €100 million loan for the new Ariane 6 launcher programme.

The deal is backed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments, the financial pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe, and InnovFin Risk Sharing for Corporate Research backed by Horizon 2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. In addition, the Commission and the EIB are jointly announcing the first ever EU-backed InnovFin Space Equity Pilot and the first space focused tech fund supported under the pilot in Europe.

Ariane 6

Ariane 6 is the new European heavy launcher developed in the framework of a large European Space Agency (ESA) multi-annual programme for a new European family of space launchers to respond to the latest trends in the satellite market while significantly lowering production costs. The new generation heavy-launcher maintains the EU’s independent access to space, aligned with the ambition to develop crucial knowledge for the European space industry. Ariane 6 will continue to enable Europe to deliver its launch activities for missions to all orbits, from geostationary satellites to medium and low Earth orbit missions and address market dynamics for large satellites, satellite constellations and the smaller satellite segment. The €100 million financing will partially support ArianeGroup’s share of development costs through an innovative financing structure which will be contingent on Ariane 6’s commercial success, once operational.

SMEs in the space sector

The InnovFin Space Equity Pilot is a €100 million programme under InnovFin specifically dedicated to support the innovation and growth of European SMEs operating in the sector of space technologies. The programme will invest in venture capital funds across the EU which support companies commercialising new products and services in the space sector.

Primo Space, an Italian early-stage tech investor, is the first fund selected by the EIF under this pilot. With a target size of €80 million, it will be amongst the first tech transfer funds only focused on space related technologies in Europe and the first one in Italy. It will invest at proof-of-concept, seed and other early stages projects or companies and will foster the commercialisation of breakthrough innovations in the space technologies in Italy and Europe.

The European space economy is already valued €50 billion (as of 2019) and the research in aerospace technologies is one of the priority areas covered by the Industrial Leadership and Societal Challenges of Horizon 2020. Continue reading “Europe to boost space sector investment for SMEs”

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European Commission steps up protection of European intellectual property in global markets

The European Commission published today the latest report on protection and enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in third countries. While developments have taken place since the publication of the previous report, concerns persist and a number of areas for improvement and action remain to be addressed. Intellectual property rights infringements worldwide cost European firms billions of euros in lost revenue and put thousands of jobs at risk. Today’s report identifies three groups of countries on which the EU will focus its action.

Commissioner for Trade Phil Hogan said: “Protecting intellectual property such as trademarks, patents, or geographical indications is critical for the EU’s economic growth and our ability to encourage innovation and stay competitive globally. As much as 82% of all EU exports is generated by sectors which depend on intellectual property. Infringements of intellectual property, including forced technology transfer, intellectual property theft, counterfeiting and piracy threaten hundreds of thousands of jobs in the EU every year.  The information gathered in the report will enable us to become even more efficient in protecting EU firms and workers against intellectual property infringements like counterfeiting or copyright piracy.”

The geographical and thematic priorities for the EU action to protect intellectual property rights are based on the level of economic harm to EU companies. The report will help to further focus and target efforts. The updated list of priority countries in the report remains split in three categories reflecting the scale and persistence of problems: 1) China; 2) India, Indonesia, Russia, Turkey, Ukraine; 3) Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Malaysia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Thailand. Continue reading “European Commission steps up protection of European intellectual property in global markets”