PAOLO GENTILONI

The European Union is launching legal action against Poland over recent decisions by one of the country’s top courts which have raised troubling questions about the 27-nation bloc’s legal order.

The chief of the European Union’s executive arm says EU nations should consider making COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory because too many people still refuse to get shots voluntarily.

The European Union says the massive spike in COVID-19 cases in recent weeks is threatening the bloc's recovery from the deep economic slump caused by last year’s onset of the pandemic.

Last week, the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, projected growth of 5% for both the EU and the euro area this year.

The European Commission has raised its growth forecast for the year for the 19 countries using the euro, saying the economy was bouncing back from the worst of the coronavirus pandemic as people went back to work in consumer-facing jobs.

France and Spain are pressing for changes to rules governing the European Union’s energy markets as prices for gas and electricity surge.

When European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen was at a loss for words to capture the true spirit of Europe's young, she introduced a special guest of honor at her State of the Union address.

Paolo Gentiloni, the EU's commissioner for economics and taxation, has spoken to CNBC about a need for the bloc to develop on the geopolitical stage.

European Union nations have approved the pandemic recovery plans of the bloc’s four biggest economies and eight other member countries.

The World Bank is upgrading the outlook for global growth this year, predicting that COVID-19 vaccinations and massive government stimulus in rich countries will power the fastest worldwide expansion in nearly five decades.

The Group of Seven wealthy democracies have agreed to support a global minimum corporate tax of at least 15% to deter multinational companies from avoiding taxes by stashing profits in low-rate countries.

The European Union economy is set to bounce back strongly this year after the deep coronavirus recession and member states are forecast to regain lost ground by the end of next year.

The European Union’s top economy official says that the recovery measures the EU and its 27 member states have in the works to emerge from the pandemic total around $5.85 trillion.

The Commission, the EU’s executive arm, reckons that fiscal support worth around 8% of GDP was provided in 2020, far more than during the financial crisis of 2008-2009. “There is hope on the horizon for the EU economy, but for now the pandemic continues to hurt people’s livelihoods and the wider economy,” Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis said Wednesday. Ad“To cushion this impact and to promote a resilient and sustainable recovery, our clear message is that fiscal support should continue as long as needed. Based on current indications, the general escape clause would remain active in 2022 and be deactivated in 2023,” Dombrovskis said. The decision to extend the general escape clause is a sign of just how uncertain things are.

European Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni speaks during an online news conference at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021. Growth in the wider 27-nation EU is predicted to hit 3.7% this year and 3.9% in 2022 following last year's 6.3% slide. We will still have a great deal to do to contain the wider socio-economic fallout.”Gentiloni conceded though that the virus is posing major economic and social challenges. “None of the member states is expected return in 2022 to the growth path projected before the crisis. In 2022, GDP in the EU and the euro-area will remain about 4% below what pre-pandemic forecasts had projected,” he said.

BRUSSELS The European Union's executive forecasts that the bloc's economy will contract more than previously expected because of the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused lockdowns on business and public life that are only slowly being eased. The 27-nation EU economy is predicted to contract by 8.3% this year, before growing 5.8% in 2021, according to the latest predictions released Tuesday. The road to recovery is still paved with uncertainty," EU Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni told reporters in Brussels. In the previous forecasts released in May, when most of the continent was under lockdown, the blocs GDP was forecast to contract by about 7.5% this year, and to bounce back by 6% in 2021. In May it had forecast a 7.8% decline this year, and growth of 6.3% in 2021.

WASHINGTON Russia's defense minister on Friday declared a new hypersonic weapon, which is said to be capable of striking the United States, ready for war. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a conference call with Russian military leaders that the first missile unit equipped with the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle entered combat duty. Avangard can travel at least five times the speed of sound, or about one mile per second. It was one of the six new weapons that Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled in March 2018. At the time, the Russian leader claimed the hypersonic weapon was capable of reaching targets at 20 times the speed of sound and that it could strike "like a fireball."