The European Union’s failure to prepare for the Covid-19 pandemic was due to a lack of research funding, argue several prominent researchers. This has resulted in the spending of billions of euros to fight the virus and its consequences.
As the EU sets its sights on harmonising taxation of the rising e-cigarette and heated tobacco products market, lobbyists fight to keep prices down and smokers hooked. The forthcoming negotiations are intertwined with the bitter competition between the two industry giants.
Financial institutions from European countries have provided large sums of money to palm oil companies responsible for illegal fires and possibly deforestation in Indonesia.
The EU’s vaccine distribution delays could be solved through voluntary collaborations established by pharmaceutical giants. However, civil society and several EU countries are calling for the liberalization of patents, to be able to independently produce doses and ensure vaccine coverage for the largest possible number of people. The second part of Stefano Valentino’s report on the monopolistic practices of pharmaceutical companies.
The European Union shifts between defending citizens’ health and defending pharmaceutical industry monopoly by opposing the liberalization of vaccine production. This might only delay achieving the immunisation necessary for economic recovery. We delve into this issue in a three-part investigation.
Pharmaceutical giants producing COVID-19 vaccines are open to collaboration with third parties, as long as they retain control on vaccine licenses and profits. EU member states complain about supply shortages, but fail to question the power of Big Pharma.
The clash between the EU and AstraZeneca over delayed vaccines has revealed a stack of questionable contracts signed with Big Pharma. Problems include manufacturers’ ambiguous delivery dates, but lawyers investigating the deals show that companies have a clear advantage over the EU.
Five years after the Dieselgate scandal, new research puts some figures on the social costs of vehicle emissions in over 400 European cities. It turns out that the annual damage to each city is worth €385 million on average.
The data on global warming suggests that many seaside resorts in Atlantic and Mediterranean Europe could lose their beaches due to sand erosion caused by rising sea levels and human activity.
European countries are set to invest up to €2.82 billion per year until 2100 to avoid losing as much as €1.27 trillion due to climate-driven coastal flood damage, a new analysis by the EU Joint Research Center shows.
