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Following the previous legal proceedings filed by the European Commission against the United Kingdom, four more legal proceedings were launched. This time, the suits were in response to the passage of a Northern Ireland bill from the British parliaments lower chamber.

The European Commission filed four additional legal proceedings against the United Kingdom Friday last week. The new legal proceedings came after the House of Commons passed the legislation that would scrap some of the regulations over post-Brexit trade with Northern Ireland.

The European Commission cited the UKs unwillingness to engage in dialogue over the protocol that makes up the arrangements for trade with Northern Ireland in its new legal proceedings. The passage of the legislation that would scrap some of the arrangements by the House of Commons also undermined cooperation, according to the EU.

The four new suits bring the total to seven filed by the European Union against the UK over what it deems is a failure to respect the post-Brexit trade agreement with Northern Ireland.

This could lead the European Court of Justice to impose fines. However, this may not happen for at least a year. The Commission also said it is prepared to launch additional legal procedures to protect the EUs single market from the UKs violations of the protocol.

A legal dispute is in nobodys interest and will not fix the problems facing the people and businesses of Northern Ireland. The EU is left no worse off as a result of the proposals we have made in the Northern Ireland Protocol bill, a spokesperson for the British government said in response to the four new legal proceedings.

Thursday last week, the European Union has imposed sanctions on 10 Syrians accused of enlisting Russian mercenaries as part of its widening sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine that began in February.

The new additions were part of the blocs new sanctions against Moscow, which targeted lender Sberbank as well as a ban on Russian gold imports, additional companies and individuals, and increased export controls.

The Syrian regime provides support, including military support, for Russias unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine, an EU official said Thursday.

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European Union files additional legal proceedings against UK over Northern Ireland bill - EconoTimes

EU looks to replace gas from Russia with Nigerian supplies

The European Union is seeking additional gas supplies from Nigeria as the bloc prepares for potential Russian supply cuts, Matthew Baldwin, deputy director general of the European Commission's energy department, said on Saturday.

Baldwin was speaking in Nigeria where he held meetings with officials from Africa's largest oil producer this week.

He was told that Nigeria was improving security in the Niger Delta and planned to re-open the Trans Niger pipeline after August, which would yield more gas exports to Europe.

The EU imports 14 per cent of its total LNG supplies from Nigeria and there is potential to more than double this, Baldwin told Reuters by phone.

Oil and gas output in Nigeria is being throttled by theft and vandalism of pipelines, leaving gas producer Nigeria LNG Ltd's terminal at Bonny Island operating at 60per cent capacity.

"If we can get up to beyond 80%, at that point, there might be additional LNG that could be available for spot cargoes to come to Europe," Baldwin said.

"They (Nigerian officials) said to us, 'Come and talk to us again at the end of August because we think we can deliver real progress on this'."

Nigeria NLG is owned by state-oil company NNPC Ltd, Shell, TotalEnergies and Eni.

The European Commission said on Wednesday that EU member states should cut their gas use by 15per cent from August to March. The target would initially be voluntary, but would become mandatory if the Commission declared an emergency.

Last year, Nigeria exported 23 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas to the EU, but the figure has been declining over the years. In 2018 the bloc bought 36 bcm of LNG from Nigeria, Baldwin said.

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European Union Seeks To Replace Russian Gas With Nigerian Supplies - NDTV Profit

The European commission is taking legal action against Hungary at the European court of justice (ECJ), escalating a longstanding dispute over the countrys anti-LGBT laws. This is an unprecedented step for the EU, but it isnt a sure win for LGBT rights in Europe and even has the potential to endanger them.

Hungary (under Prime Minister Viktor Orbns leadership) and the EU have been at odds for years over the wider issue of the rule of law. This intensified in 2021 when Hungary adopted a new law banning the depiction or promotion of LGBT-related material to minors. Commission president Ursula von der Leyen called it a shame that goes against all the fundamental values of the European Union.

In July 2021, the commission launched official infringement procedures against Hungary for failing to implement and comply with EU law. Later in the year, it also froze Hungarys access to the COVID recovery fund. Unsatisfied with Hungarys responses, the commission has now escalated the matter and referred the matter to the ECJ. This is the first time the EU has taken a member state to court over LGBT rights.

In recent decades, Europe has seen an increase in the use of homophobia to score political points. Examples include the manif pour tous demonstrations against same-sex marriage in France, and Croatias referendum to constitutionally define marriage as a heterosexual union. Hungarys law has also inspired other countries, like Romania, to try and ban so-called homosexual propaganda.

The outcome of this case could have far-reaching consequences for LGBT rights in Europe. In effect, the commission is asking the court to enshrine LGBT rights as part of the EUs fundamental values, on a par with other principles such as freedom of movement.

Perhaps by taking legal action, the commission is enacting its own LGBTIQ equality strategy, launched in 2020. However, the commissions claims frame the case as a breach of the EUs internal market rules, rather than LGBT rights. This should not come as a surprise the EU has very few direct laws on LGBT rights. By framing the case around core EU rules, the commission has a stronger chance of succeeding. In the past, the court has ruled on LGBT rights by invoking other fundamental EU principles.

The EU claims that by enacting this law, Hungary is violating both the EU charter of fundamental rights and Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union.

Here is where the case becomes interesting. Although the charter of fundamental rights has clauses that explicitly protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation, it only applies to Hungary when it is implementing EU directives. Article 2, on the other hand, has much broader applicability, but does not refer to LGBT rights at all. By submitting this court case to the ECJ, the commission is not only asking the court to determine when EU rules have primacy over member state rules but also to clarify that the rather ambiguously defined European values explicitly include LGBT rights.

There are three possible outcomes of this case.

First, the ECJ could rule (for the first time) that the values outlined in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union also include LGBT rights. This would be the more activist ruling going beyond established case law for a more political statement. Hungary would then be required to adjust the law and remove its discriminatory nature. More widely, this would also be a watershed moment in European LGBT politics it would not only provide a strong mandate for the commission to take bolder steps on LGBT rights, but it might also lead to more challenges of discriminatory laws across Europe.

Second, in a (unlikely) doomsday scenario, the ECJ could side with Hungary. This would provide nearly free rein for anti-LGBT actors in Hungary, and across the EU more widely, to enact more homophobic laws. This would leave the gains made in the last 50 years for LGBT people in Europe on shaky ground.

Finally, in the most likely scenario, the ECJ would deliver a ruling that sits somewhere in between. Based on previous case law, we might expect that the ECJ would rule that the Hungarian law violates EU rules, but only to the extent where the law has cross-border implications. In this scenario, the ECJ ruling would signal to Hungary (and other countries) that is it acceptable to discriminate against homosexuality, as long as they are smart in their wording.

Such a ruling would not clearly and unequivocally clarify that LGBT equality is a fundamental EU value, but rather leave LGBT rights as a secondary principle, subject to the more established EU principles of the internal market and freedom of movement. This would create ambiguity as to when homophobic laws are a matter of member state policy, or when the EU has to (or can) intervene, giving homophobic governments license to enact more laws like Hungarys.

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EU sues Hungary over anti-gay law what it could mean for LGBT rights in Europe - The Conversation

Patients in Europe who have multiple myeloma and have received at least 1 previous therapy can now receive treatment with selinexor plus bortezomib and low-dose dexamethasone following its full marketing authorization by the European Commission.

The European Commission has granted full marketing authorization to selinexor (Nexpovio) plus bortezomib (Velcade) and low-dose dexamethasone (SVd) for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma following treatment with at least 1 previous therapy, according to a press release from Karyopharm Therapeutics.1

The decision has converted the regimens conditional marketing authorization to a full approval, marking the second approval for selinexor in the European Union. The European Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use gave a positive opinion of the combination following readout of findings from the phase 3 BOSTON trial (NCT03110562), which indicated that once weekly SVd yielded a significant reduction in the risk of disease progression or death vs twice weekly Vd (HR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.53-0.93; P = .0075).2

The European Commissions approval of an expanded use of [selinexor] provides another option for patients with multiple myeloma who have relapsed or become resistant to current treatment regimens, Richard Paulson, president and chief executive officer of Karyopharm, said in a press release. Our decision to pursue approval for this patient population is indicative of our commitment to expand access to selinexor across the globe and we look forward to working closely with Menarini who will commercialize Nexpovio in Europe.

The FDA approved SVd as a treatment option for multiple myeloma following 1 prior therapy in December 2020 based on results from the BOSTON trial.3

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Full Marketing Authorization Granted to Selinexor Combo by European Commission for Pretreated Multiple Myeloma - Cancer Network

The European Union (EU) wants crypto trading to stop being a chaotic mess. EU negotiators published a provisional agreement that marks the blocs first rules regarding tracing transfers of crypto assets, clamping down on illicit transfers and suspicious transactions.

Despite what the crypto bros will tell you, cryptocurrency is not the safest investment on the market right now. In fact, not only is it one of the most volatile places to put your money in, but its also riddled with scams. But this doesnt mean that crypto cant play a role in our economy just that it needs to be more closely regulated. At least thats what the European Union believes.

Perhaps the most important part of the legislation is something that would force crypto trading platforms to store more data about transactions. When a crypto asset is passed from one person to another, information on both the sender and the receiver would have to be stored by the trading platforms if the amount is larger than the equivalent of 1,000 euros, and companies would be forced to hand this information over to authorities investigating things like funding terrorists or money laundering. This would subject cryptocurrency transfers to the same money-laundering rules as traditional banking transfers, aligning crypto transfers with normal money transfers. The rules wont affect tokens without issuers, like bitcoin.

The European Securities and Markets Authority also announced that the new rules, known as Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA), will force trading platforms to warn consumers about the risk of losses associated with trading digital tokens.

This would also help protect some of the less savvy traders. When the lockdown came in, a new crowd of people went into trading, and while some people have made money with crypto, others have lost fortunes, either due to market prices, or due to scams. Many people new to trading didnt even know what they were buying they were doing copy trading or other automated trades, with little oversight.

For too long, crypto-assets have been under the radar of our law enforcement authorities, one of the lead EU lawmakers negotiating the rules, Assita Kanko, said in a statement. It will be much harder to misuse crypto-assets and innocent traders and investors will be better protected.

The decision was also fueled by concerns over consumer protection, especially as the value of bitcoin, the worlds largest cryptocurrency, has plunged more than 70% from its all-time high in a matter of months. A so-called stablecoin (a cryptocurrency where the price is designed to be pegged to a cryptocurrency) called TerraUSD imploded virtually overnight, erasing an estimated $40 billion in investor funds with no accountability.

This is just the first step in a sweeping package that aims to introduce a number of oversight measures and place some firm principles on the wild west of crypto trading. Additional measures are expected to be presented in the following weeks, but the whole package will be finished 18 months from now.

The effects of this move are expected to spill outside the continent and potentially become a global standard. Just like how the EUs data privacy policy became the norm in many other parts of the world, the new crypto regulations are expected to be influential on other continents. Smaller countries that could find it difficult to draft legislation of this magnitude may also adopt and implement the packages (with minor tweaks).

But the EU will have a hard problem harmonizing the law between different countries. While Germany, for instance, has been very proactive in requiring companies that facilitate crypto assets on behalf of clients to take special precautions and obtain a specific license, other European countries have virtually no crypto legislation.

The measure was in the work for some time, but it was also accelerated by Russias invasion of Ukraine. As the sanctions against Russia broaden, the possibility of using crypto for evading sanctions also becomes more pressing, and EU legislators want to make sure that Russia cant use crypto to keep funding its war.

Ultimately, its unsurprising that the EU wants a more conservative and responsible approach toward cryptocurrencies. The downside is that this will hamper the growth and ease of use of cryptos, but could provide a healthy, durable framework on which to ensure that cryptocurrencies finally have a positive effect in society instead of just making money for some people and losing money for others.

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The European Union wants to regulate the Wild West of crypto trading - ZME Science