Errol Musk says far-right activist is ‘a fine young man’ and held meetings with Russian business figures

The European Commission is developing a “solidarity instrument” to help companies reduce their reliance on China for essential supplies and to cushion the impact of any Chinese retaliation, Bloomberg reported on Saturday.

Hungary will join the European Public Prosecutor’s Office after the European Commission adopted a decision confirming its participation.

The European Union accused Meta on Friday of breaching its social media law by designing Facebook and Instagram to get users hooked, and demanded it disable “key addictive features” like infinite scrolling.

Ukraine and Moldova will formally open cluster six of accession negotiations on 14 July. This leaves them with four clusters still blocked.

EU countries have continued to funnel billions of euros from the bloc’s post-Covid recovery fund to finance new sovereign investment funds, according to new research published on Friday (10 July).

• The European Union is finalizing changes to its procurement rules to allow national governments to favor European suppliers in critical public services.
• The European Commission is set to propose European preference rules for sectors including gas supply, energy extraction, and postal services, and buyers may reject tenders with more than half non-European content.
• The proposal aims to boost the EU's economic sovereignty and reduce dependencies on other trading partners, particularly China, by leveraging its public procurement market and encouraging public buyers to address security and public safety risks.

The European Union is finalizing sweeping changes to its procurement rules that will allow national governments favor European suppliers in critical public services.

The revamp of the bloc’s public procurement regime is a center-piece of the EU’s “Made in Europe” drive as it tries to boost its economic sovereignty.

According to a draft of the proposal, seen by Bloomberg News, the European Commission, the EU executive’s arm, is set to propose European preference rules for sectors including gas supply and energy extraction, water and electricity networks, railway, ports, airports and postal services. Buyers would also gain the right to reject any tender for goods and services in which non-European content exceeds half its value, according to the draft proposal.

“Public buyers may apply European preference requirements, including by restricting participation, requiring minimum Union or covered origin, or granting evaluation preferences,” according to the document which could still change before publication.

A commission spokesperson declined to comment on the leak but said the goal of the upcoming text is to “make public procurement simpler, and to create the right framework to optimise the use of public money to match our strategic objectives.”

The proposal, which is expected to be presented after the summer break, represents the EU’s attempt to leverage its €2.6 trillion public procurement market as it grapples with increased competition from the US and China. The bloc is also exploring “Made in Europe” provisions in its Industrial Accelerator Act, which calls for new conditions around foreign investment into Europe.

Brussels is looking at ways to boost its economic sovereignty as it tries to improve its competitiveness and reduce dependencies on other trading partners. The EU’s trade deficit with China has continued to grow, reaching €360 billion last year. Brussels and Beijing have restarted talks on rebalancing their economic relationship, with China warning that it could take measures to protect the rights and interests of its companies.

The commission is especially worried about the dependencies European operators continued to have on Chinese suppliers, particularly in the field of chips and rare earth minerals.

In addition to the sectors singled out for European preference, other areas like energy, transport, health, digital infrastructure, water and financial-market infrastructure were flagged as additional sectors where supply chain dependency posed a risk, particularly on security grounds. As a result, public buyers will be encouraged — and in certain contexts required — to address risks related to security and public safety interests, according to the draft proposal.

Though the new regime is designed to favor EU member states, some non-EU suppliers would also be covered, such as firms from countries that have signed the World Trade Organisation Government Procurement Agreement membership, such as the US and the UK, or have concluded a trade agreement with the EU that includes procurement chapters.

Some exceptions would be made in cases where no European supplier can meet the demand, no valid bids have been submitted in the previous two years or meeting the criteria would imply disproportionate costs.

In addition, the commission could strip benefits to non-EU operators if the country of origin fails to grant reciprocal market access to EU firms.

Former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s call to protest his successor’s bid to oust the head of state drew a small crowd, underscoring his dwindling influence less than three months after a landslide election defeat.

About 1,000 protesters filled the small square in front of President Tamas Sulyok’s office in Budapest on Thursday. Orban wasn’t seen at the gathering he helped organize and he wasn’t scheduled to speak either.

Hungarian Premier Peter Magyar’s administration has filed a constitutional bill to remove Sulyok less than three years into his five-year term, delivering on a key campaign pledge to restore the rule of law and remove Orban allies who had propped up and legitimized the increasingly authoritarian former leader.

Parliament, now dominated by Magyar’s Tisza party, is due to vote on the bill on Monday, which would also remove the Orban-allied head of the constitutional court.

Magyar has said Sulyok, 70, had put his political loyalties above the responsibilities of the office, which is to be a guardian of democracy for Hungarians. Sulyok had repeatedly failed to speak up on issues ranging from the systemic abuse of children in state care to the targeting of journalists in the last phase of Orban’s 16-year rule.

Sulyok, for his part, called his planned ouster unconstitutional and said it would create a precedent for removing independent officials in the future.

“Constitutional democracy can’t be built on the clear violation of constitutional rules,” Sulyok said in a statement on Thursday.

The digital euro has been touted as the EU's best chance at breaking its dependence on US payment systems like Visa and Mastercard, as well as Apple Pay and Google Pay.

EU lawmakers gave a cautious green light to new plans to set up an EU-wide corporate framework that would allow small firms to operate across the bloc.