[Source: Research & Innovation] The Danish island of Bornholm is the first ever winner of the EU RESponsible Island Prize. The Danish island won the title in recognition for its innovative energy solutions and its contribution to a sustainable and climate-friendly Europe, the European Commission announced today. The second prize went to the island of Samsø, also in Denmark, and the third prize to the Orkney Islands in the United Kingdom.

[Source: Research & Innovation] A total of 117 innovative solutions to tackle the coronavirus have been selected as winners of the European Innovation Council-led #EUvsVirus Hackathon.

[Source: Research & Innovation] The European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator Pilot will work with an extra €150 million to support game-changing innovations to tackle the coronavirus crisis. The additional budget, approved by the European Commission today, will fund the best start-ups and SMEs who applied under the March cut-off.

On the same day the Court ruled against Fiat's appeal, the EU General Court has decided that Starbucks was not in fact granted a selective tax advantage in a Dutch tax ruling, contrary to a European Commission conclusion.

The European Commission has asked the Netherlands to amend taxation rules that it says amount to obstacles to the cross-border transfer of pensions.

The European Commission has concluded that an exemption for transfer and transit passengers from the Irish air travel tax was in line with EU state aid rules.

The European Commission and the Swiss Federal Council have each approved proposals to link their emissions trading systems, meaning formal signature of a new agreement could take place by the end of the year.

Members of the European Parliament have preliminarily agreed to continue with the aviation industry's current treatment under the EU's emissions trading scheme to allow for the development of a new industry-specific carbon tax arrangement.

The European Council on November 10 authorized the signing of an agreement with Switzerland to link their emissions trading systems.

The Swiss Federal Council is consulting on proposed changes to the CO2 Ordinance, which would link the Swiss and EU emissions trading systems.

The newly elected President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who was formerly Germany's defense minister, has proposed the introduction of a new Carbon Border Tax, which would be included in a new "Green Deal for Europe" she has promised to deliver within her first 100 days in office.

Switzerland and the EU are to link their emissions trading systems from next year, after the Swiss Federal Council approved revisions to the country's Ordinance on the Reduction of CO2 Emissions.

Luxembourg's Government Council, comprising government ministers, has approved legislative changes to the territory's VAT regime to introduce the four quick fixes to improve the functioning of VAT rules in the European Union.

The EU General Court has dismissed an appeal brought against the European Commission's decision that a tax ruling granted by Luxembourg to Fiat Chrysler Finance Europe was unlawful.

The European Commission's ruling directing the Government of the Netherlands to repeal corporate tax exemptions benefiting six seaports will be appealed by the ports in question.

New chemical markers intended to be used in gas oil (diesel) and kerosene in the EU are more resilient to fraud than the one currently applied, and introducing a new marker might cost less than member states currently lose in tax revenues, a new EU report says.

Having endorsed the deal, the President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, has forwarded on a bill to ratify the free trade agreement with the European Free Trade Association states to the Senate.

The European Free Trade Association states (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland), and the South African Customs Union have begun negotiations to review their existing free trade agreement.

The European Free Trade Association, which comprises Liechtenstein, Iceland, Switzerland, and Norway, intends to take forward free trade negotiations with India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Ecuador this year.

The European Union Code of Conduct Group (Business Taxation) has warned the Government of Belize that the jurisdiction will be placed on the EU's blacklist of non-cooperative territories unless it commits to amend or abolish certain tax rules considered "harmful."

Nearly three quarters of the sample reported having been "humorously" accused of promoting death; for example, being called "Dr. Death," in a recent survey of palliative care medicine practitioners.

Nafamostat mesylate, a tryptase inhibitor, can treat severe dengue disease, according to the team of researchers from Duke-NUS Medical School. The

Three-quarters of Europeans want the European Union to do more to tackle tax evasion, according to a new survey by Eurobarometer.

The European Commission has released a paper recommending improvements to France's "inefficient" value-added tax system, including that the country do away with broadly applying reduced VAT rates.

The European Parliament has begun its inquiry into the Panama Papers with a hearing with the investigative journalists behind the leak.

On October 12, the Italian financial police said it had broke up a value-added tax fraud ring allegedly involved in transactions totaling EUR930m, through 180 companies in 15 European Union (EU) countries.

The European Union statistics agency, Eurostat, has released new figures concerning member states' tax revenue collections and their tax mixes for 2015.

The total loss to EU member states from the schemes revealed in the Panama Papers could be in the region of between EUR109bn (USD119bn) to EUR237bn, according to a new study commissioned by the European Parliament's PANA committee.

Twenty EU member states have reached a deal on the establishment of a new European Public Prosecutor's Office that will have the power to investigate and prosecute criminal cases affecting the EU budget.

The European Commission has released the 2017 edition of its survey of Tax Policies in the European Union, looking at the reforms undertaken by EU member states during the year.

The EU has approved under state aid rules the introduction of a tonnage tax scheme in Estonia and the prolongation of a tonnage tax scheme in Cyprus.

China's Ministry of Commerce has objected to the EU's new anti-dumping methodology, claiming that it violates World Trade Organization rules.

The EU is to apply existing anti-dumping measures on Chinese imports of seamless pipes and tubes of stainless steel for another five years.

A new pneumonia vaccine that is more effective and less expensive than those currently used in Brazil is being tested in human patients, said researchers

On October 23, 2018, the European Commission issued a request to the Italian Government that it revise its draft budgetary plan for 2019 because it breaches European Union fiscal rules.

An invitation to submit comments with regards to the corporate tax exemption provided to ports in Italy was published in the January 10, 2020, issue of the Official Journal of the European Union.

The European Council has approved new rules for the exchange of VAT payment data relating to cross-border e-commerce transactions.

The finance ministers of France, Germany, Italy, and Spain have put their names to a statement calling for countries to reach an agreement on solving the tax challenges of the digital economy by the end of 2020.

The European Commission has published its annual taxation trends report.

European car manufacturers have called on governments to ensure that a new test for measuring vehicle emissions does not create tax distortions for new cars entering the market.

A delegation from the European Parliament's PANA Committee will travel to Switzerland to discuss the efforts being taken to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and tax offences.

The European Union value-added tax gap – the overall difference between expected VAT revenue and actual EU member state collections – was EUR152bn in 2015, says the European Commission, highlighting the need for further reforms to tackle avoidance, error, and evasion.

Malta's tonnage tax scheme has been conditionally approved for a period of 10 years by the European Commission under EU state aid rules.

Greens/EFA members of the European Parliament have called on the EU Code of Conduct Group to be more transparent about the criteria it used to create the EU's new blacklist of non-cooperative territories and how it will manage it going forward.

The European Commission has sent letters of formal notice to Cyprus, Greece, and Malta for not levying the correct amount of value-added tax on yachts.

The number of advance pricing agreements between EU member states and companies rose by 64 percent from 2015 to 2016, according to research by Eurodad.

Malta has reiterated its commitment to fighting aggressive tax planning, joining other EU member states who have unanimously agreed to amend the EU's tax information sharing law, the Directive on Administrative Cooperation.

On February 14, 2019, the General Court of the European Union annulled the European Commission's decision that the Belgian tax regime relating to the excess profit of multinational companies is contrary to EU law.

The overall tax burden in the European Union relative to GDP rose slightly in 2018, to 40.3 percent, the Eurostat has announced.

Nine EU member states have called on the European Commission to draw up proposals for an EU-wide aviation tax.