When it was rumoured that banknotes could be spreading the coronavirus, banks that teamed up with card networks rubbed their hands with glee. Mastercard, Visa or the Internet giants like Google Pay or Apple Pay saw a unique opportunity to convince consumers to use their technology. Overnight, merchants in most European countries allowed card purchases for amounts that were sometimes less than one euro, with lower transaction fees, while supermarkets encouraged customers to pay for their groceries through contactless payment.
Without an agreement, it will be very difficult to export cars, medicines or Welsh lamb to the continent. Companies operating in these sectors are trying to prepare as best as they can.
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.
The latest ILO report shows that migrant workers have more precarious contacts and earn 13 percent less on average than domestic workers, for equal work. This gap is widening, and is particularly stark for female migrants.
The Covid-19 pandemic is a cruel reminder that ecosystem vitality and human health are closely linked. For Eloi Laurent, "the best economic policy is a good health policy and the best health policy is a good environmental policy. We see that there is no trade-off between economy and environment."
The online advertising system is based on the collection and sharing of user data, in an opaquely competitive market which rests mostly in a few powerful hands, including Google. Privacy and data protection are at issue, and Europe is debating what action should be taken.
Using data from Eurostat, the European Trade Union Confederation has analysed the slow progress of EU countries in reducing the gender pay gap.
To meet its climate targets, the EU must double the speed it is renovating its residential and office buildings. Sweden has already almost completely decarbonised its sector. But it is on its own.
Tailing ponds are among the largest and most dangerous structures engineered by humanity, but their operation is virtually unknown to those who don’t live in their vicinity. Europe is no less at risk from incidents than the rest of the world.
Fresh data released by the Migration Data Portal highlight the positive role migrant workers have played during COVID-19 crisis in Western societies, as well as their exposure to the pandemic.