Full coverage: EU

Ireland’s critique of the EU-Mercosur trade deal is causing increasing frustration in Brussels but MEPs are taking their time to pore over the fine print on new safeguards for farmers.

The EU justice commissioner Michael McGrath wants tougher powers to investigate Chinese e-commerce giants and will propose reforms to give the EU executive greater powers to probe companies like Shein and Temu.

A year on from the Draghi report, Julius Baer’s Yves Bonzon spoke to The Currency about the Swiss bank’s Dublin office and the state of Europe’s competitiveness.

The Government has unveiled its strategy on competitiveness, talking up Ireland as an “IP hub”, but a vote on the UPC isn’t in sight. All the while, measures on SME funding were light on detail.

The Government missed the deadline on a new EU directive that harmonises criminal offences around sanctions violations. The rules are aimed at better enforcing measures against Russia.

As Europe’s energy crisis deepens, Germany’s rising reliance on imports reflects a broader EU retreat from energy independence. A new EU-US energy deal, framed as a solution, risks locking in long-term fossil fuel dependence, undermining climate goals and strategic autonomy.

European Commission officials visited Ireland in recent weeks to meet with several Irish farming groups opposed to the EU’s South American trade deal, in a bid to change minds as the bloc looks at more international pacts in the wake of its 15 per cent tariff deal with Trump.

The insulation multinational’s latest acquisition in the UK is under an initial probe while its battle with the European Commission over the failed Trimo deal rumbles on.

The EU’s free trade agreement with South American countries is 25 years in the making. There’s a final effort in play to get it over the line but Ireland’s position is in flux.

The EU justice commissioner said he plans to raise the issue of product safety and standards on platforms like Shein and Temu with the Chinese authorities.