“Europe’s creative content should not be locked-up, but it should also be highly protected, in particular to improve the remuneration possibilities for our creators”, said Andrus Ansip, vice-president for the Digital Single Market, following the directive’s unveiling.
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Among eye-catching small initiatives was a proposal for a European Solidarity Corps to let young people, many of whom are suffering from stubbornly high youth unemployment, volunteer to help in crises like Italian earthquakes or Greek migrant camps.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker announced measures on Wednesday to rein in the world’s technology giants, improve broadband speeds and cut the cost of internet access, trying to rally popular support for an EU battered by Brexit.
“We believe there’s a better way”, said a spokeswoman for Google.
Juncker said greater defense cooperation also makes economic sense for European Union member nations, since it would reduce as much as 100 billion euros’ worth of wasteful duplication of spending yearly.
France and Germany, the bloc’s two most influential member states, recently submitted a proposal for greater European Union defense coordination, ranging from creation of a logistics hub for pooling military transport to an European Union military headquarters.
“From an economic point of view, bringing together our military resources could be clearly justified”, Juncker said.
The EU agreed to distribute among member states some of the migrants who arrived in Greece and Italy past year, but fewer than 5,000 people have so far been relocated and around 58,000 are still stuck in Greece.
The EU leader stressed that the bloc’s actions should take place in concert with the USA -led North Atlantic Treaty Organisation defense alliance, to which 22 EU member states also belong. He said some early reality checks will come at the September 26-27 meeting of European Union defense ministers, and a summit of bloc leaders scheduled for December.
Eastern member states have been arguing against too much EU integration and the specter of a federal European superstate, and the issue is expected to be the main battleground for months, even years, to come as the EU deals with the fallout of Britain’s departure.
Set up last year to run for three years until 2018 with a target of mobilizing 315 billion euros of investment, Mr. Juncker will confirm the aim of doubling the amount and extending EFSI for three further years.
Britain still has to officially trigger the exit negotiations to become the first member state to walk away from Europe’s biggest unity project.
There are fears the European Union is facing paralysis until Britain decides to move.
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But Mr. Juncker’s address will offer few clues to the negotiations with London that the European Union insists can not start until Prime Minister Theresa May formally sets starts a two-year countdown to British departure. Juncker also warned that Britain should expect not to get the same access to the EU’s unified market as if nothing happened. Those nations that aren’t keen on the idea should not be shut out, it says, but should be allowed to form a huge, regional market that trades freely with the EU while rejecting political union.
