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The latest Eurobarometer survey shows the highest level of trust in the EU in 18 years and highest-ever support for the euro. It also reveals that Europeans would like to see a stronger and more assertive EU through common defence. Also, peace remains the value that best represents the EU.

EU countries have significantly closed the gap to achieving the 2030 energy and climate targets, according to the European Commission. Following improvement to their national energy and climate plans, EU countries are on course to reduce net emissions by around 54% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels.

This year’s European Charlemagne Youth Prize has been awarded to a Hungarian platform, Forum Europaeum, that promotes European identity, values, and unity. The second prize went to a Czech project encouraging young people’s vote and the third, to German legal support for discriminated people.

The Commission has launched an EU startup and scaleup strategy to make Europe a great place for starting and growing global technology-driven companies. It’s part of the broader Choose Europe initiative, and it will help strengthen Europe's competitiveness.

The EU has allocated €280 million to help with flood recovery in 4 Central European countries, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Moldova, following severe floods there in autumn 2024. The funds will finance all aspects of disaster recovery including temporary accommodation for affected populations.

The Commission has opened investigations against 4 large pornographic platforms for suspected breaches of its digital services rules. EU countries are also taking action against smaller pornographic platforms. This will reinforce the EU's effort to protect minors from harmful content online.

The Commission welcomes the agreement in the Council on the Security for Action for Europe (SAFE) instrument. The Commission will raise up to €150 billion on the capital markets, providing financial levers to EU countries to ramp up investments in key defence areas.

This week marks European Week Against Cancer (25-31 May). Under its Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan, the EU has provided support to millions of people affected by cancer across the Union. It funds actions on cancer prevention, detection, diagnosis and treatment to improve patients’ outcomes.

The EU has put together teams of firefighters and aircraft to help European countries affected by wildfires during the upcoming summer. Throughout July and August almost 650 firefighters from 14 European countries will be strategically prepositioned in key high-risk locations.

On May 21, we celebrated Natura 2000 Day, when we highlight what is being done to protect the most valuable and threatened species and habitats in the EU. Over 27 000 nature sites protected by EU laws make up the Natura 2000 network. Find out more about how it is protecting our biodiversity.

The European Vaccine Hub has been inaugurated in Siena, Italy. Funded by the EU’s Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority, the hub will help develop expertise in vaccine discovery, development, clinical trials, and manufacturing.

Europol’s cybercrime unit has worked with Microsoft to disrupt Lumma Stealer, the world’s greatest infostealer threat. Earlier this year over 394 000 Windows computers were infected by the Lumma malware, which harvested credentials, financial data, and personal information from its victims.

The EU’s single market gives businesses access to 450 million consumers. But its rules and regulations can be complex and create barriers to entry and growth. The European Commission has introduced a new strategy to simplify rules, reduce bureaucracy and boost growth opportunities for businesses.

The recommendations are out from the final European Citizens’ Panel on the new EU long-term budget. After debate, 150 EU citizens concluded that the new European budget should focus on the environment, economic success, equal access to healthcare, renewable energy and AI, among other issues.

The EU will fund 15 renewable hydrogen production projects in 5 European countries to produce more than 2 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen over 10 years. They will help decrease the use of fossil fuels on our continent, increase the EU’s energy independence and create jobs.

The EU has announced an initial humanitarian pledge of over €2.3 billion to address global crises in 2025. Over 305 million people around the world currently require urgent humanitarian assistance. The EU is now the world's leading humanitarian donor and a key advocate for humanitarian action.

On the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, the EU reaffirms its strong commitment to respect, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights by all LGBTI persons. The EU denounces all forms of discrimination and harassment of LGBTI persons.

New calls worth over €1.25 billion under the EU’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions open doors for new research talent and will support cutting edge research. The EU has also launched the ‘Choose Europe for Science' pilot, which is open to researchers from around the world to develop their careers.

It is time consuming and costly for farmers to deal with the EU’s heavy administrative obligations on top of their actual work. The Commission has therefore proposed a set of changes to common agricultural policy rules that will relieve farmers from this regulatory burden and boost competitiveness.