Estonia joins European initiative to develop supercomputers
Estonia is the 21st European country to sign the European declaration on high-performance computing (HPC) with the aim to pool European and national resources to build and deploy world-class supercomputers that would be ranked in the world’s top-three by 2022-2023. Vice-President for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip attended the signing ceremony in Tartu, Estonia. With this signature, Estonia marks its intention to join the European cooperation on supercomputing – the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking that was proposed by the European Commission in January. The Vice-President welcomed Estonia’s signature and said: “Supercomputers are becoming the engine of our economy, fuelled by large amounts of data. The EU is currently lagging behind: we do not have any supercomputers in the world’s top ten. This is why we have launched the EuroHPC initiative.” High-performance computing is needed to process ever larger amounts of data and help researchers make scientific breakthroughs in many areas from healthcare and renewable energy to car safety and cybersecurity. The EuroHPC Joint Undertaking, which is due to begin operations before the end of this year, will cover the whole value chain from technology components to systems and machines, and to applications and skills. It will offer expertise and training with a particular focus on helping small and medium-sized companies. The EU’s contribution in the cooperation project will be around €486 million under the current EU budget, which should be matched by a similar amount from Member States and associated countries. Further details are available here. More information on enhanced cooperation in the EU is available here.(For more information: Christian Wigand – tel.: +32 229 62253; Inga Höglund – Tel.: +32 229 50698)
Mergers: Commission clears acquisition of LNG trading and optimisation business of EDF Trading by JERA Trading
The European Commission has approved under the EU Merger Regulation the acquisition of the LNG trading and optimisation business of EDF Trading Limited of the United Kingdom, by JERA Trading Pte Ltd, of Singapore. JERA Trading is jointly controlled by JERA Co. Inc., of Japan, and EDF Trading, belonging to the French EDF group. JERA Trading is currently active in coal and freight trading and optimisation. The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would not raise competition concerns, because it does not result in any overlaps. The transaction was examined under the simplified merger review procedure. More information is available on the Commission’s competition website, in the public case register under the case number M.8879. (For more information: Ricardo Cardoso – Tel.: +32 229 80100)
Mergers: Commission approves the acquisition of Sonae Sierra by Sonae
The European Commission has approved under the EU Merger Regulation the acquisition of sole control over Sonae Sierra SGPS SA (“Sonae Sierra”) by Sonae SGPS SA (“Sonae”), a company ultimately controlled by Efanor Investimentos SA (“Efanor”), all of Portugal. Sonae Sierra is active in real estate services. Sonae is active in retail and wholesale distribution of food and non-food products and the management of related real estate assets, as well as in telecommunications, media and technology. Other companies controlled by Efanor are active in the production of wood-based boards and related products as well as in other sectors, such as tourism, hospitality, fitness, energy and refrigeration. The Commission found that, since Sonae already jointly controlled Sonae Sierra prior to the transaction, the acquisition will not bring a significant change in the market. The Commission concluded that the proposed acquisition would not raise competition concerns. The transaction was examined under the simplified merger review procedure. More information is available on the Commission’s competition website, in the public case register under the case number M.9058. (For more information: Ricardo Cardoso – Tel.: +32 229 80100)
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis in Minsk
On 27 August, Vytenis Andriukaitis, Commissioner for Health and Food safety will be in Minsk, Belarus to meet with Mr Mikhail I. Rusyi, Deputy Prime Minister and Mr Ivan Smilhin, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food, Director of the Department of Veterinary and Food Control, Mr Valery Malashko, Minister of Public Health and Mr Oleg Kravchenko, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. “I am looking forward to engaging in fruitful discussions with our Belarus counterparts on issues related to animal diseases, including African Swine Fever, bilateral market access issues, antimicrobial resistance, vaccination and non-communicable diseases among others”, said Commissioner Andriukaitis ahead of the visit. On Tuesday, Commissioner will visit the EU funded project site in Navahrudak and the Lithuanian Centre of Education, Culture and Information in Rymdziuny. (For more information: Anca Paduraru – Tel.: +32 229 91269; Aikaterini Apostola – Tel.: +32 229 87624)
Upcoming events of the European Commission (ex-Top News)
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