Ben Pantrey - Writings

  European Commission Midday Briefing 09.03.2026 Daily News  &  VOD   Announcements President’s agenda : Together with EUCO  Costa , will hold a video conference with  Middle East  leaders  today . Tomorrow, the College of Commissioners meet in  STR : Will discuss energy files with communication on “energy and citizens”, “clean energy investments” and “development of small modular reactors in Europe”.  EVP Ribera  and  EC  Jørgensen will present this energy package  tomorrow  in the EP press room.  Technical briefing off-the-record  tomorrow  at 2pm in  BRU  before the readout of the College. Two Council meetings  today  in  BRU:  Finance Ministers in Eurogroup formation. ECs  Dombrovskis  and  Jørgensen  will represent EC. Agenda: Macroeconomic developments in the Eurozone. The Ministers will discuss recent developments in digital finance, ener...

  05.03.2026   European Commission Press Conference on the Gender Equality Strategy 2026-2030 by EVP MÎNZATU  and Commissioner  LAHBIB .   VOD  &  Press release   One year ago, EC  Roadmap for Women’s Rights  set the direction: 8 clear principles from ending violence against women to strengthening women’s economic opportunities.   Today’s strategy puts the roadmap into action: 30 measures to tackle discrimination and barriers girls and women face.   Objectives: Continuing the fight against gender-based violence with a strong emphasis on fighting cyberviolence : via  Digital Services Act ,  Violence Against Women Directive ,  new Action Plan on Cyberbullying Improve the  quality and accessibility of women's healthcare Promoting  gender equality across economic sectors : attracting women to STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) careers Tackling the  gender pay and pension gaps :...

  European Commission Midday Press Briefing 24.02.2026 Daily News  &  VOD   Announcements   4th anniversary of  RU ’s full scale invasion of  UA .  Joint statement from VdL, Costa and  Metsola .  VdL is in Kyiv today. Press conference w/ VdL, Costa and Zelensky this afternoon. President’s agenda : Thursday afternoon, back from  UA , VdL will receive  EE ,  LV  and  LT   PMs in the Berlaymont. College meeting will exceptionally take place on Thursday. Debate on  28th Regime, AKA EU Inc . Adoption of new agenda to prevent and counter terrorism. Adoption of proposal for directive on  combating firearms trafficking  and other related offences. EVP  Virkkunen  and Commissioner  Brunner  will hold the college readout and present the agenda and proposal in the press room after the college meeting. Commissioners to adopt common response to the  ECI “My Voice, My Choice” ....

  11.02.2026 EC press conference by EVP Henna  VIRKKUNEN  and ECs Magnus  BRUNNER  and Apostolos  TZITZIKOSTAS  on the action plan on drone security and counter-drone security   Press release   |  Remarks by the EVP/ECs  |  VOD  |  Daily News   Main points of the action plan:   Action plan cuts across silos: civilian and military, national and European, public and private. Coordinates across different sectors, authorities and borders.  Action plan is a response to calls from MS and the EP to have a united response. Aims to assist MS to  cooperate and reinforce national measures . Improves our preparedness, strengthens our detection and enhances our collective response and defence readiness. Preparedness:  For  LT  and other MS facing hybrid attacks from meteorological balloons launched from outside the EU, we will launch a call for interest to the private sector, especially to startu...

  12.01.2026 European Commission Midday Press Briefing |  Daily News  &  VOD   Announcements President’s agenda: Mercosur signature in Paraguay on Saturday 17 Jan along with  Council’s President Costa .  Statement by UVDL  published on Friday.   Q&A FOREIGN AFFAIRS - Loan for  UA EC will present legislative proposal on the loan.  Details? Allocation? EU/Non-EU weapons? No details of the proposal available yet. Expected to be adopted soon. Expect EC to propose legislative acts to prepare for dispersal. Details available when proposals are put forward.   TRADE -  CN  Electric Vehicles (EVs) Have EU and CN reached an agreement? EU published guidance for CN battery EVs. We are engaging with the CN ministry of commerce. How should CN exporters structure undertaking offers? How can you ensure implementation of offers? Do you expect reciprocal cancellations on CN duties on EU products? Guidance given to CN Commerce M...