Catalonia is located at the North-Eastern extremity of Spain bordering with France. The region is similar in size to Belgium, boasts a population of 7.5 million and amounts to 19% of the country’s GDP. The capital and largest city is Barcelona, the second-most populated municipality in Spain and seventh-most populous urban area in the European…
Responding to recent calls from France, Germany and other Member States for stricter controls on foreign takeovers, Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission, has proposed a new EU framework for the screening of foreign direct investment. Although the proposed Regulation comes in large part in reaction to the rise in Chinese investment into…
Among EU observers, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s State of the Union speech was highly anticipated and widely expected to be more visionary and personal than in previous years. The speech was indeed much more optimistic and forward looking; Juncker claimed that the EU now had the wind in its sails. In this snapshot, we…
The Energy Union has had an impressive start, with 12 legislative proposals in 2016 alone the European Commission means business. However, publishing proposals is one thing, getting the legislation adopted by the European Parliament and Member States is a much harder challenge. While the security of gas supply package was adopted relatively smoothly, it is…
In this Brexit Perspective we discuss the third round of formal Brexit negotiations that took place in Brussels this week, amid continued disagreements between the EU and UK sides over the pace and scope of the talks. Despite another long week with dozens of negotiators and experts from both sides thrashing through complex political and…
Partnerships in the mining sector can contribute to sustainable development argues Arne Koeppel, Head of Research at FTI Consulting in Brussels in this article for the latest edition of GREAT Insights, the publication of the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM). The article lines out why the mining sector has an important role to play in…
During the Commission’s summer break we bring together some developments on the EU antitrust scene, which have the potential to affect the way companies do business in the EU. The first concerns the Coty case, which reopened the discussion around possible harmful free-riding effects of selling over through third party platforms. Second, given the press…
The first substantial week of negotiations between the UK and the EU on Brexit concluded today. But is anyone any clearer as to whether a deal can be reached, and what the details of such an agreement would look like? Most people would answer with a ‘no’. Deal, no deal or what kind of deal?…
“In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual.” ― Galileo Galilei Scientific progress requires scientific debate. Ideas come from questioning the status quo, technologies develop when innovative solutions are sought, and science advances when flaws are dissected, discussed and ironed out. But there is…
On 12 July 2017, the Healthcare and Life Sciences team of FTI Consulting’s Brussels office hosted an event entitled, “Brexit and Life Sciences: Intensive Care Needed?”, bringing together experts from the UK and Brussels to discuss the impact of Brexit on the healthcare sector and what it means for businesses on both sides of the…