The European Commission has approved €2.9 billion in funding for 61 large-scale net-zero technology projects, marking one of the EU’s most significant investments in clean innovation to date.
Financed through revenues from the EU Emissions Trading System, the initiative aims to accelerate Europe’s path towards climate neutrality by 2050.
The selected projects cover 19 industrial sectors across 18 Member States and target areas such as renewable energy, energy storage, zero-emission mobility, and industrial carbon management.
Collectively, they are expected to cut more than 220 million tonnes of CO₂ over the next decade, reinforcing Europe’s global leadership in sustainable technologies instead of relying on imports.
Funded under the Innovation Fund, which draws on an estimated €40 billion in ETS revenues, the initiative highlights the EU’s industrial readiness for decarbonisation. The latest call attracted 359 applications requesting €21.7 billion in support, underscoring the rapid growth of the continent’s cleantech sector.
Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra described the announcement as proof that the EU is turning its climate ambitions into industrial reality, creating green jobs and strengthening economic resilience. The next round of Innovation Fund calls will open in December 2025.
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The European Commission has unveiled RAISE, a new virtual institute designed to unite Europe’s AI research and accelerate scientific breakthroughs.
The launch, announced in Copenhagen, marks a flagship moment in the EU’s strategy to strengthen its leadership in science and technology through collective action.
Funded with €107 million under Horizon Europe, RAISE will bring together Europe’s best resources in data, computing power, and research talent.
An initiative that will help scientists apply AI to pressing challenges such as cancer treatment, climate change, and natural disaster prediction, while promoting innovation that serves humanity instead of commercial interests alone.
RAISE will work with the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking to secure access to AI Gigafactories and will dedicate €75 million to train and attract global researchers through Networks of Excellence.
The Commission also plans to double Horizon Europe’s annual AI investments to more than €3 billion, ensuring that the EU remains a global leader in scientific AI.
A project that reflects the EU’s ambition to achieve technological sovereignty and create an inclusive AI ecosystem. As RAISE grows in phases towards 2034, it will strengthen cooperation among Member States, academia, and industry, setting a benchmark for responsible and innovative AI in science.
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The European Commission has approved the creation of the Digital Commons European Digital Infrastructure Consortium (DC-EDIC), designed to strengthen Europe’s digital sovereignty. The new body unites France, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy as founding members.
DC-EDIC aims to build open, interoperable and sovereign digital systems, reducing reliance on imported technologies. Its work will focus on shared data infrastructure, connected public administration and collaborative digital tools to support both governments and businesses.
The Paris-based consortium will coordinate funding access, offer legal and technical guidance, and support the scaling of open-source digital solutions across Europe. Future projects will include a one-stop shop for resources, an expertise hub and a Digital Commons Forum.
All jointly developed software will be released under free, open-source licences, ensuring transparency and reuse whilst being GDPR compliant. The official launch is expected in December 2025, with the first annual State of the Digital Commons report planned for 2027.
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Rights group the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has asked the European Commission to review Ireland’s appointment of former Meta lobbyist Niamh Sweeney to the Data Protection Commission (DPC), alleging the process breaches EU rules on independent regulators. ICCL argues the law requires authorities to be ‘above any suspicion of partiality’.
Sweeney, appointed on 25 September, is now one of three commissioners. Her profile shows roles at Meta from 2015–2021, including leading WhatsApp public policy across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Before that, she lobbied for Facebook in Ireland. ICCL also notes that Leo Moore, a lawyer whose clients include major tech and social media firms, and, according to ICCL, the only panellist with data-protection expertise, sat on the five-member panel that selected Sweeney.
The Commission said it is ‘not empowered to take action with respect to appointments’, indicating the complaint may fall outside its remit. This latest development comes amid growing scrutiny of the DPC. In a previous case on Meta’s behavioural advertising practices, the European Data Protection Board overturned the DPC’s decision not to impose a fine and ordered stricter enforcement measures against the tech giant.
This move is the latest in a series of complaints against the independence of the DPC. More than 40 civil society organisations asked the European Commission to investigate Ireland’s privacy regulator earlier this month.
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Blockchain.com received a MiCA license from Malta’s Financial Services Authority, enabling passported crypto services across all 30 EEA countries under one EU framework. Leaders called it a step toward safer, consistent access.
Malta becomes the hub for scaling operations, citing regulatory clarity and cross-border support. Under the authorisation, teams will expand secure custody and wallets, enterprise treasury tools, and localised products for the EU consumers.
A unified license streamlines go-to-market and accelerates launches in priority jurisdictions. Institutions gain clearer expectations on safeguarding, disclosures, and governance, while retail users benefit from standardised protections and stronger redress.
Fiorentina D’Amore will lead the EU strategy with deep fintech experience. Plans include phased rollouts, supervisor engagement, and controls aligned to MiCA’s conduct and prudential requirements across key markets.
Since 2011, Blockchain.com says it has processed over one trillion dollars and serves more than 90 million wallets. Expansion under MiCA adds scalable infrastructure, robust custody, and clearer disclosures for users and institutions.
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The European Commission has accused Meta and TikTok of breaching the Digital Services Act (DSA), highlighting failures in handling illegal content and providing researchers access to public data.
Meta’s Facebook and Instagram were found to make it too difficult for users to report illegal content or receive responses to complaints, the Commission said in its preliminary findings.
Investigations began after complaints to Ireland’s content regulator, where Meta’s EU base is located. The Commission’s inquiry, which has been ongoing since last year, aims to ensure that large platforms protect users and meet EU safety obligations.
Meta and TikTok can submit counterarguments before penalties of up to six percent of global annual turnover are imposed.
Both companies face separate concerns about denying researchers adequate access to platform data and preventing oversight of systemic online risks. TikTok is under further examination for minor protection and advertising transparency issues.
The Commission has launched 14 such DSA-related proceedings, none concluded.
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Lawmakers and security officials are increasingly worried that Huawei’s dominant role in solar inverters could create a new supply-chain vulnerability for Europe’s power grids. Two MEPs have written to the European Commission urging immediate steps to limit ‘high-risk’ vendors in energy systems.
Inverters are a technology that transforms solar energy into the electrical current fed into the power network; many are internet-connected so vendors can perform remote maintenance. Cyber experts warn that remote access to large numbers of inverters could be abused to shut devices down or change settings en masse, creating surges, drops or wider instability across the grid.
Chinese firms, led by Huawei and Sungrow, supply a large share of Europe’s installed inverter capacity. SolarPower Europe estimates Chinese companies account for roughly 65 per cent of the market. Some member states are already acting: Lithuania has restricted remote access to sizeable Chinese installations, while agencies in the Czech Republic and Germany have flagged specific Huawei components for further scrutiny.
The European Commission is preparing an ICT supply-chain toolbox to de-risk critical sectors, with solar inverters listed among priority areas. Suspicion of Chinese technology has surged in recent years. Beijing, under President Xi Jinping, requires domestic firms to comply with government requests for data sharing and to report software vulnerabilities, raising Western fears of potential surveillance.
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The European Commission has found that Meta and TikTok violated key transparency obligations under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA). According to preliminary findings, both companies failed to provide adequate data access to researchers studying public content on their platforms.
The Commission said Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok imposed ‘burdensome’ conditions that left researchers with incomplete or unreliable data, hampering efforts to investigate the spread of harmful or illegal content online.
Meta faces additional accusations of breaching the DSA’s rules on user reporting and complaints. The Commission said the ‘Notice and Action’ systems on Facebook and Instagram were not user-friendly and contained ‘dark patterns’, manipulative design choices that discouraged users from reporting problematic content.
Moreover, Meta allegedly failed to give users sufficient explanations when their posts or accounts were removed, undermining transparency and accountability requirements set by the law.
Both companies have the opportunity to respond before the Commission issues final decisions. However, if the findings are confirmed, Meta and TikTok could face fines of up to 6% of their global annual revenue.
The EU executive also announced new rules, effective next week, that will expand data access for ‘vetted’ researchers, allowing them to study internal platform dynamics and better understand how large social media platforms shape online information flows.
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Nearly half of EU adults lack basic digital skills, yet most jobs demand them. Eurostat reports only 56% have at least basic proficiency. EU Code Week spotlights the urgency for digital literacy and inclusion.
The Digital Education Action Plan aims to modernise curricula, improve infrastructure, and train teachers. EU policymakers target 80% of adults with basic skills by 2030. Midway progress suggests stronger national action is still required.
Progress remains uneven across regions, with rural connectivity still lagging in places. Belgium began a school smartphone ban across Flanders from 1 September to curb distractions. Educators now balance classroom technology with attention and safety.
Brussels proposed a Union of Skills strategy to align education and competitiveness. The EU also earmarked fresh funding for AI, cybersecurity, and digital skills. Families and schools are urged to develop unplugged problem-solving alongside classroom learning.
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OpenAI’s ChatGPT could soon face the EU’s strictest platform regulations under the Digital Services Act (DSA), after surpassing 120 million monthly users in Europe.
A milestone that places OpenAI’s chatbot above the 45 million-user threshold that triggers heightened oversight.
The DSA imposes stricter obligations on major platforms such as Meta, TikTok, and Amazon, requiring greater transparency, risk assessments, and annual fees to fund EU supervision.
The European Commission confirmed it has begun assessing ChatGPT’s eligibility for the ‘very large online platform’ status, which would bring the total number of regulated platforms to 26.
OpenAI reported that its ChatGPT search function alone had 120.4 million monthly active users across the EU in the six months ending 30 September 2025. Globally, the chatbot now counts around 700 million weekly users.
If designated under the DSA, ChatGPT would be required to curb illegal and harmful content more rigorously and demonstrate how its algorithms handle information, marking the EU’s most direct regulatory test yet for generative AI.
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