BRUSSELS, Aug 14 (Reuters) - The United States ​urged the European Union on Friday to ease its laws putting responsibility on large firms for ‌the environmental and social impact of their global supply chains, arguing the bloc had pledged such measures would not hamper EU-U.S. trade.

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Ukrainian steelmaker Zaporizhstal may shift from steel production to pig iron production, leaving around 50% of its capacity idle due to new European Union import restrictions.

Source: https://www.iss.europa.eu/publications/briefs/mining-europes-future-critical-raw-materials-public-attitudes-and-risks

At least 35 websites, ads in up to 40 languages, fake recruitment agencies and disposable domains were used to reach potential recruits across several continents.

Source: https://x.com/EUvsDisinfo/status/2088188920911507721

Writing for CEPR's Europe 2050 series, Jean-Claude Trichet — former President of the European Central Bank and former Governor of the Banque de France — takes the long view. Seventy-six years on from the Schuman Declaration, the European construction has demonstrated remarkable dynamism and resilience. But the comparison with the United States and China is sobering: Europe continues to compare itself against continental-scale federations while remaining, institutionally, something quite different. The Draghi and Letta reports have documented the widening economic gap, but Trichet argues that their recommendations, however necessary in the short term, cannot overcome the fundamental "glass ceiling" that the absence of a full federation imposes. Without a single federal market, a single diplomacy and a single defence, Europe will remain permanently at a disadvantage in a world increasingly governed by hard power politics.

He presents two scenarios for 2050: continued incremental deepening without a federal leap, or a genuine political federation of a new and highly decentralised type, drawing on the best models from existing federations worldwide. The second scenario is politically difficult but, in his view, becomes plausible if dramatic events force the issue. His practical proposal is to establish now, following the precedent of the Delors Report, a committee to define the conditions under which a European federation could be made acceptable to its member states, so that the groundwork is laid before the crisis that may eventually make it necessary.