Full coverage: Europe

First, Ursula von der Leyen declared the EU’s power market was unfit for purpose, then her officials drafted a reform leaving it largely unchanged. Now MEPs want to reintroduce price caps. Who will win the battle over Europeans’ electricity bills?

Eight months on from revelations by The Currency that the technology behind a spying scandal was sold through Irish companies, the Government has not answered MEPs’ questions on the issue.

The most divisive debate at the recent Wind Energy Conference focused on an apparently technocratic point of EU law, which ended up sparking a classical clash between advocates of the free market and state intervention. The electricity bills of 450 million Europeans are at stake.

Irish agricultural technology companies are organising into an increasingly coherent industry and took their first deep dive into EU institutions last month. Thomas Hubert followed them in Brussels and witnessed a shift in official discourse on agri-food sustainability.

The EU has special-purpose vehicles in its crosshairs. The European Parliament has suggested stricter criteria to scrutinise their use in tax avoidance, but the decision rests with finance ministers.

The latest layoffs at Salesforce show the correction in the tech industry is not over, raising questions about Ireland's corporation tax boom. Another tax stream, however, gives an indication of the profits yet to be declared here – and that's before we even look at big pharma.

Ireland today is not the same country that joined the EEC in 1973, and trade with the continent hardly qualifies as imports and exports anymore. The food and climate policy debate should reflect this.

The European Commission’s competition and digital regulation boss Margrethe Vestager came to Dublin on the back of passing a raft of new legislation to police the internet this summer. If Ireland doesn’t take a more active role in the patrol, she says she’ll do it herself.

The European Parliament’s tax group is visiting Ireland to tackle the use of this country as a base to locate profits “at the expense of taxpayers in Europe,” according to its chair. Sinn Féin’s position in support of current tax policy is part of the equation.

Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe could be re-elected unopposed to the highly prized European role. But his candidacy could be jeopardised by a cabinet reshuffle. Given the influence the post brings, the Government must come up with a solution – and fast.