Insights

General Politics

EU - US trade and tech partnerships: on the brink of a breakthrough?

General Politics

Jon Garvie
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When the EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC) was created following a summit in June 2021, both sides viewed it primarily as a means of reinvigorating a badly damaged relationship, following the failure of the TTIP negotiations, the tantrums of the Trump years and the fall-out over AUKUS. 

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General Politics

A tale of two transatlantic hawks, but who will win?

General Politics

Ed King
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Inflation has been hitting record highs almost monthly in the US and the eurozone. Monetary policymakers have been scrambling to control inflation without plunging their economies into a deep recession. Initially, the European Central Bank (ECB) and the US Federal Reserve (Fed) took divergent approaches to tackling inflation, but this trend is changing. 

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End of the honeymoon? Domestic policy priorities test EU-US trade cooperation

Trade & Manufacturing

Alessandro Gangarossa
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The next major point of friction in transatlantic trade relations is emerging around policies to support the domestic electric vehicles industry. The EU has raised grievances around the potential discriminatory effects of the recently enacted Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in the United States – which includes tax credits and incentives for US battery and electric vehicle…

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General Politics

How resilient is the renewed EU-US cooperation?

General Politics

Ana Martínez
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Nearly two years on from President Biden’s election victory, the ill-tempered clashes between US and EU officials over trade, climate change and security during the last decade can appear a historical anomaly. Leaders on both sides are now increasingly aligned in diagnosing the threats posed by Russia and China and looking to multilateral bodies such as NATO or the UN to…

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General Politics

Shelving Schengen – how to unpack the EU’s steps and options to curb Russian tourism

General Politics

Magnus Obermann
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Following an agreement among EU foreign ministers in late August, on September 9th the European Council adopted a recommendation by the European Commission to suspend the 2007 EU-Russia visa facilitation agreement. As of September 12th, Russian applicants for short-term visas face a lengthier, harder and much costlier process. Similar restrictions for long-term visas…

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General Politics

UN General Assembly: progress or paralysis

General Politics

Jon Garvie
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The UN General Assembly’s High-Level General Debate (i.e leaders' speeches) starts on Tuesday, 20 September, facing a hot war in Europe, a dialogue of the deaf between the world’s two superpowers and an accelerating global decline in democratic norms. Some of the lesser-known commitments set out in the UN Declaration of Human Rights – for example, “the right to a standard…

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General Politics

The death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

The death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
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The death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is a moment of great sadness and reflection. For many in Britain she was the most prominent and permanent figure in their lives beyond their immediate family - and I would include myself in this category. Her reign was of historic proportions. She served so long her first prime minister, Winston Churchill, was born over a…

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TMT icon

Top in Tech: Roger Taylor on making AI work for governments and citizens

TMT

Conan D'Arcy
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This week on Top in Tech, Conan D'Arcy speaks to Roger Taylor, former Chair of both the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation and the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. They talk about what governments get wrong about AI, the future of the UK's digital ethics strategies, and what lessons can be drawn from past mistakes in the administrative use of…

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How ICSs will aid the NHS's digital transformation

Health and Life Sciences

Rosie Hill
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Welcome to the final episode of our mini-series exploring the NHS's adoption of Integrated Care Systems, presented by the GC Health and Life Sciences practice.

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Back to school in Brussels – where next for digital policy?

TMT

Max von Thun
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As the long summer days start drawing to a close and Brussels gradually awakens from recess, attention is shifting towards the EU’s policy agenda for the autumn. While digital policy has been a cornerstone of the current Commission’s legislative agenda so far, there is a sense that tech is set for a downgrade as other challenges – above all the war in Ukraine, inflation…

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National resistance to joint medical procurement: fractures in the European Health Union?

Health and Life Sciences

Saskia Hirsch
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As European governments reflect on lessons from covid-19 to improve pandemic preparedness, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union (EU) recently reached a provisional agreement on a new EU law on serious cross-border threats to health (CBTH). The legislation, which is part of a package of regulations for a European Health Union that aims to reinforce…

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General Politics

After previous controversial elections, could Kenya’s electoral commission make amends this year?

General Politics

Ed King
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Kenyan elections have a troublesome past. In 2007, post-election violence saw over 1,200 people killed and triggered a new constitution which introduced the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC). But violence again marred elections in 2013 and 2017, with the latter declared "invalid, null and void"...

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General Politics

Accidental war and Xi's sleepless nights

General Politics

Jens Presthus
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At a private meeting in Beijing before the covid-19 pandemic, President Xi Jinping confided to a visiting foreign guest that there were two things which kept him awake at night. The first, China falling into the middle-income trap. The second, China going to war with the US “by accident”. The latter concern of Xi could not be more pertinent in the wake of…

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The Inflation Reduction Act could be the crown jewel of US climate policy

Energy & Commodities

Stephanie Grumet
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As temperatures soar across the globe, Democrats in Congress have woven together a party-line package to help achieve President Biden’s goal of a 50% reduction in greenhouse gases by 2030. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), likely to emerge from Congress this summer assuming Democrats can manage their fragile 50-vote Senate majority, has the potential to complete a…

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Tech regulation in the wake of the Supreme Court’s EPA ruling: What can we expect?

TMT

Ugonma Nwankwo
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The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may discourage federal agencies such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from aggressively pushing for innovative policies and regulations to tackle politically charged problems that impact the nation. By deciding that the EPA’s attempts…

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Pressure increases for US lawmakers on federal data privacy policy

TMT

Michelle Ryang
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In a landmark move, a US federal data privacy bill was reported out of the House Energy & Commerce Committee last week – the first time a consumer privacy bill has ever made it out of committee. It is timely - the landscape in the US surrounding tech companies’ collection and use of consumer data has never been more active. In recent years, voters have grown…

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A defence of target-based policies: a closer look at the catalysts of the EV boom

TMT

Megan Stagman
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The use of targets as a policy tool hasn’t always been effective, to say the least. 

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With West Virginia v. EPA, US Supreme Court curtails the power of the administrative state – and it’s not over yet

General Policy

Ben Bassett
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In what has proved to be one of the most consequential terms in recent decades, the US Supreme Court capped its 2021-2022 term by issuing a decision in West Virginia v. EPA, a case centred around the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) efforts to regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the US power sector. The decision once again reflected the now-fully-formed…

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