Category: English

Source: Government of Italy (English)

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Source: Government of Italy (English)

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Source: European Commission – Justice

European Commission Press release Brussels, 23 Jul 2026 Today, the European Commission welcomes the adoption by EU Member States of the 21st package of sanctions against Russia. The package further restricts Russia’s ability to fund its illegal war and to carry out attacks on Ukrainian civilians and civilian infrastructure.

Source: European Parliament 3

Source: European Central Bank

23 July 2026

• ECB unveils ten shortlisted design proposals for next series of euro banknotes
• Europeans invited to have their say in online survey open until 21 September
• Governing Council expected to select one design proposal around the end of the year

The European Central Bank (ECB) today unveiled the shortlisted design proposals for the next series of euro banknotes and launched a public survey inviting people across Europe to provide their feedback. These design proposals are based on two different themes – “European culture” and “Rivers and birds” – and on the associated motifs chosen to illustrate them.

“Euro banknotes are more than a means of payment – they are one of the most tangible expressions of Europe,” said Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB. “Through designs that combine beauty and meaning, they will reinforce our shared identity.”

The shortlisted proposals are the outcome of a European Union-wide design contest. Over 1,200 applications were received from graphic designers, 25 of whom were invited to create design proposals for one or both themes. An independent jury composed of 21 experts in different fields, such as graphic design, communication, neuroscience and history, each nominated by a euro area central bank, then shortlisted ten design proposals.

Now, everyone in Europe is invited to have their say, following the decision of the ECB’s Governing Council to run an online survey on these ten design proposals. The public survey will remain open until 21 September 2026. A separate survey with the same questions will be conducted in parallel by an independent research company among a representative sample of euro area citizens.

The ECB will publish a report on the results of both surveys once the final design concept has been selected. The public’s feedback is a key element of the Eurosystem’s inclusive approach, ensuring that the views of citizens all over Europe are considered.

The Governing Council is expected to take the final decision on the new banknote design around the end of the year. It will base its decision on a combination of inputs, including the conclusions of the Design Contest Jury, a technical assessment and the results of the two surveys.

The selected design will then undergo further development and testing before going into production. Banknotes from the new series are expected to enter circulation in subsequent years. Euro banknotes from the previous series will retain their value and continue to circulate alongside the new series. This will be the first complete redesign of the euro banknotes since their issuance in 2002.

For images and videos of the shortlisted proposals, the selection process, and other visual material, see our dedicated page.

If you are a member of the public and have a query, please have a look at our FAQ before submitting a request via our webform.

For media queries, please contact Alessandro Speciale, tel.: +49 69 172 1670791; Benoit Deeg, +49 69 1344 95686.

Source: European Union 2

With support from EIT RawMaterials, Circular Materials has scaled its patented Supercritical Water Precipitation technology for recovering critical and strategic raw materials from industrial wastewater.

Every year, thousands of tonnes of nickel, copper, chromium and platinum group metals (PGMs) such as ruthenium leave European industrial facilities dissolved in wastewater. Treated as hazardous liquid waste, these metals are chemically complex, stubbornly resistant to conventional recovery methods, and typically end up as sludge in landfill. This represents a costly loss for both industry and Europe’s raw materials security.

Closing that gap is the mission of Circular Materials, a cleantech startup based in Padua, northern Italy. With support from EIT RawMaterials, the company has scaled its patented SWaP™ (Supercritical Water Precipitation) technology, unlocking a new route to recovering critical and strategic raw materials from a waste stream that industry has long struggled to valorise.

SWaP™ works by controlling the behaviour of water under supercritical conditions — above 374°C and 221 bar — at which water’s chemical and physical properties change fundamentally. Under these conditions, valuable metals can be separated and precipitated out of even highly complex industrial wastewater streams, including those that conventional recovery technologies cannot economically treat.

The results speak for themselves. Circular Materials’ Padua plant is the first facility of its kind in Europe to achieve End-of-Waste (EoW) certification, and the company has been recognised as a Strategic Project under the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA).

With a single process and a single technology, we are capable of processing hundreds of waste matrices, from different industries among which surface treatment, spent electrolytes and pharmaceutical. Every tonne of critical metals recovered from wastewater is a tonne Europe no longer needs to import and will not go in a local landfill or body of water.

Marco Bersani, CEO and Co-founder of Circular Materials

EIT RawMaterials support in action

Source: European Union 2

The Commission found that Google had breached the DMA by favouring its own services in Google Search and by imposing restrictions preventing businesses from directing consumers to alternative, often lower-cost, purchasing channels on Google Play. The Commission imposed total fines of €890 million.

Source: European Union 2

The European Commission has published a new Flash Eurobarometer on the image of EU food and drink products in 11 international markets, showing that EU products enjoy a strong and increasingly positive reputation abroad. The findings indicate that EU food and beverages are already well embedded in global consumption habits, especially in the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom where 58% and 50% of urban consumers, respectively, consume EU products on a weekly basis. 

However, there are still markets where weekly purchases of EU food and drink appear more limited: In Mexico and Japan, 27% and 28% of consumers, respectively, buy EU products each week, suggesting clear scope for further growth. The Flash Eurobarometer finds that quality is by far the main factor driving purchases across all surveyed markets – China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States. These findings are particularly encouraging for the EU agri-food sector, as they play directly to the EU’s core strength in high-quality production and reinforce the Union’s competitive advantage internationally.

Awareness for EU quality labels, such as European organic products, Protected Geographical Indication or the Enjoy, it’s from Europe! campaign, which promotes high-quality, safe and sustainable EU food and drink worldwide, has also risen significantly, although the survey shows that further action is needed to improve comprehension.

Additionally, the Flash Eurobarometer results point to considerable room for further growth. Among current non-consumers of EU products in the surveyed countries, 60% say they would be interested in trying EU products, including 13% who say they would definitely start buying them. The highest levels of purchase interest among non-consumers are found in India (26%), Indonesia (25%) and the United Arab Emirates (22%), suggesting promising opportunities for EU agri-food promotion in these countries. The survey findings also reinforce the importance of the Commission’s agri-food business missions, which help EU producers expand into markets with strong growth potential.

Success of recent EU agri-food business missions

Recent agri-food economic diplomacy activities and agri-food business missions led by the Commission demonstrate how the EU is already working to strengthen the international presence of its agri-food sector. This includes markets where the Flash Eurobarometer shows there is room for growth, such as Japan.

The EU agri-food business mission to Japan led by Commissioner Christopher Hansen in June 2025 has already delivered positive business impacts. Only a year after the mission, more than one in five surveyed business delegates stated that they had already concluded business deals linked to their participation in the mission. 

Following the EU agri-food business mission to Thailand in May this year, nearly 90% of post-mission survey respondents reported establishing new business contacts and expect their business to grow as a result of participating in the mission. In addition, 7% have already concluded business deals.

New EU agri-food business missions’ destinations 

In 2026 and 2027, the European Commission continues its efforts to support EU agri-food producers in international markets through new EU agri-food business missions.

Commissioner Hansen will visit Mexico in November 2026 and India in early autumn 2027, accompanied in both cases by a business delegation of representatives from the EU agri-food sector. The purpose of the mission to Mexico is to expand the presence of European agri-food and beverages on this market. The mission to India, which will include a programme in Mumbai and Delhi, will build on the momentum created by the recently concluded EU-India Free Trade Agreement, which is expected to be signed by the end of this year. Together with participation of the EU pavilion at Anuga Select India Fair in Mumbai, the EU agri-food business mission will aim to strengthen the presence of EU producers on this dynamic market.

Background

The European Commission continues to promote EU agri-food globally through its ongoing “Enjoy, it’s from Europe!” initiatives. The Commission co-finances and directly organises a wide range of promotion activities to showcase the quality and diversity of EU agri-food products worldwide and strengthens recognition of EU quality schemes and labels.

To be informed about the upcoming EU agri-food missions and on how to participate, subscribe to the promotion newsletter REA – Newsroom Subscription Form.

Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

Thursday, 23 July 2026

Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia.

Abu Dhabi (Fides News Agency) – With the end of the school year, parishes across the Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia are holding summer camps for Catholic children and young people in the UAE, Oman and Yemen (AVOSA). Despite the uncertainties that persisted until the last moment, many parishes have succeeded in organizing recreational activities, formation programs and joyful experiences for children and young people.Summer camps are a long-standing tradition in the Vicariate, a statement sent to Fides News Agency explains, and this year, the camps have a particular significance following the difficult months recently experienced in the region, which affected social and ecclesial life, especially for children and families. As Apostolic Vicar Bishop Paolo Martinelli, OFM Cap., highlighted, “Being able to organize summer camps with hundreds of children is truly significant. It is a humble and concrete sign of a new beginning: life restarting and preparing to face the future with hope and courage.”The summer camps bring together thousands of children in parish compounds for prayer, games, catechesis, educational activities, and moments of friendship and community life. Themes and programs vary from parish to parish, focusing on faith, family, peace, creation, and following Christ.The camps are intended to offer far more than recreation. Through these initiatives, parish communities continue to accompany children and young people, offering them spaces where they can grow in faith, friendship, service, anda sense of community – says the AVOSA communications office. Their success also depends on hundreds of adult volunteers, including university students and young workers, who dedicate their time to accompanying the children during this time.“These young people are giving their time to the little ones. For them too, this is an opportunity to discover the beauty of a faith that becomes life, service, and love,” Bishop Martinelli said. “Dedicating our best energies to education is also one of the most concrete contributions we can offer to building lasting peace in hearts and among peoples. As Pope Leo recently recalled, ‘True peace begins in a heart that loves.’” (AP) (Fides News Agency, 23/7/2026)

Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia

Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia

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Source: Agenzia Fides – MIL OSI

Thursday, 23 July 2026

Kinshasa (Fides News Agency) – Hopes are growing for progress in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s national dialogue after the opposition group C64 announced the suspension of a protest march that had been scheduled for 22 July.In a statement issued on 20 July, the five members of the C64 said they had decided to postpone the demonstration in response to an appeal by Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, Archbishop of Kinshasa and representative of the National Episcopal Conference of Congo (CENCO), and by the Rev. André Bokundoa, President of the Church of Christ in the Congo (Église du Christ au Congo – ECC), the country’s largest Protestant organization. The two Church leaders had called for the march to be postponed in order to create a climate conducive to dialogue.Since 18 July, CENCO and the ECC have launched a series of consultations with political parties, institutional representatives and other civil society actors aimed at fostering a genuinely inclusive dialogue. Their initiative is based on the conviction that neither military action nor institutional measures alone can secure lasting peace without a broadly shared political agreement.The Churches’ mediation follows the appeal made on 17 July by President Félix Tshisekedi for the organization of an “inclusive, peaceful and republican national dialogue,” after meeting with the country’s main religious denominations (CENCO, the ECC, the ERC and the Muslim community).The C64 group has nevertheless given the authorities until 15 August to formally convene the inclusive national dialogue announced by President Tshisekedi.The C64 Coalition for the Defence of the Constitutional Order (C64) is an opposition platform officially launched on 19 May with the stated aim of defending the constitutional framework established under the 2006 Constitution and preventing any amendment that could allow President Félix Tshisekedi to seek a third term or postpone elections scheduled to take place by 2028 (see Fides, 27/3/2026). The coalition takes its name from Article 64 of the Constitution, which states that every Congolese citizen has the duty to oppose any seizure or exercise of power in violation of the Fundamental Charter.The Democratic Republic of the Congo continues to face insecurity in the provinces of North and South Kivu, where local and foreign armed groups remain active, while the country’s political landscape remains deeply polarized. In this context, President Tshisekedi has relaunched the idea of an inclusive national dialogue, with the declared objective of bringing together political forces, civil society and institutional representatives to discuss the country’s priorities and strengthen national cohesion.However, two key political actors have refused to join the national dialogue: the Congo River Alliance (AFC), the political wing of the M23 rebel movement, which controls large areas of eastern DR Congo, and the political platform Sauvons le Congo, established in Nairobi and led by former President Joseph Kabila. The latter has criticized the initiative launched by Kinshasa, arguing that the current political conditions do not allow for a credible national dialogue.(L.M.) (Fides News Agency, 23/7/2026)
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