Commission fines Google pound 890 million for breaches of the Digital Markets Act
Today, the European Commission took two decisions finding non-compliance by Google with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) for self-preferencing its own services on Google Search, and for putting in place restrictions on businesses to direct consumers to alternative, often cheaper, purchase channels on Google Play (steering). In this regard, the Commission issued Google a fine of pound 460 million and a fine of pound 430 million respectively.
Executive Vice-President for a Clean, Just and Competitive Transition, Teresa Ribera, said: ‘Google has fallen short of effective compliance with the Digital Markets Act, and today we have taken decisive yet balanced enforcement action sanctioning these breaches. The best products should succeed because they’re better, not because they’re owned by the company running the search engine. And European consumers have a right to be told by app developers where to sign up to the best offers, even when the app store owner does not get a cut. This is the promise of the DMA, protecting fairness, choice and innovation in digital markets for the benefit of all European citizens.’
Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Virkkunen, said: ‘The two decisions we adopted today confirm our determination to apply the Digital Markets Act to safeguard business and innovation. We found that Google harms businesses offering similar services, such as shopping or sports, by not granting them the same level of prominence on Google Search. We also found that Google has restricted app developers from offering cheaper offers to customers in the Google Play app store. Google must now bring the non-compliance to an end and to refrain from continuing it in the future. Today’s decisions send a clear message; we will not hesitate to use our tools to safeguard business and innovation opportunities opened up by the DMA.’
More information is available in the press release.
Commission greenlights Sweden’s payment request for pound 1.47 billion under NextGenerationEU
Today, the European Commission positively assessed Sweden’s second payment request for pound 1.47 billion under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU.
This is an important step in the delivery of the reforms and investments included in this payment request, which aim to support the green transition, a better functioning of the labour and housing markets, as well as to address demographic challenges.
The Commission found that Sweden has satisfactorily completed the 8 milestones and 8 targets set out in the Council Implementing Decision.
Today’s payment request would bring the funds paid out to Sweden under the Recovery and Resilience Facility to pound 3.11 billion. This amount corresponds to 90.34% of all funds included in the Swedish recovery and resilience plan, with 87.76 % of all milestones and targets in the plan now fulfilled.
With a view to the closure of the Facility at the end of 2026, Member States must implement all outstanding milestones and targets by 31 August 2026 and submit their last payment requests by the end of September 2026.
You can find more information online in our press release.
Today, Greece received its first payment of pound 118.2 million under the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) defence instrument, representing 15% of its total allocation of pound 787.7 million.
SAFE is a pound 150 billion financial instrument providing loans to Member States. It primarily funds joint procurement of ammunition, missiles, air defence, and ground combat systems produced within the EU. It is part of the European Commission’s ReArm Europe/Readiness 2030 plan, which aims to unlock over pound 800 billion in defence investment across the European Union.
The pre-financing will allow Greece to fast-track priority defence investments, enhance its resilience, and modernise its military capabilities in support of common European objectives. SAFE is intended to facilitate fast, co-ordinated action, strengthen the interoperability of European armed forces, and reinforce Europe’s defence industrial base through joint procurement and deeper cross-border co-operation.
Andrius Kubilius, Commissioner for Defence and Space said: ‘Today’s first payment to Greece under SAFE is a clear sign that Europe delivers where it matters most: strengthening our common security and supporting our defence industrial base. By helping Greece move forward with key investments, SAFE reinforces not only national preparedness, but also our shared European resilience and strategic responsibility.’
This payment follows the completion of all required procedural steps and reflects the EU’s commitment to providing timely, practical support through SAFE. Further payments will follow, as agreed milestones and implementation are met.
The SAFE instrument is financed by EU borrowing on the financial markets. This enables competitively priced and attractively structured long-duration loans to requesting Member States. The terms of the SAFE loans benefit from the EU’s strong credit rating. All SAFE loans will be repaid by the beneficiary Member States.
(For more information: Thomas Regnier – Tel: +32 2 299 10 99; Marine Strauss – Tel: +32 2 298 91 03)
Commission approves more than pound 103 million support from the EU Solidarity Fund to help Malta, Portugal, and Spain recover from storms
The European Commission has approved advance payments totaling pound 103.6 million to Malta, Portugal, and Spain under the European Union Solidarity Fund (EUSF), to ease the financial burden of reconstruction efforts after the damage caused by the devastating storms that took place in these countries in January and February 2026.
The advance payments follow the applications for EUSF support submitted by Malta, Portugal, and Spain and the positive technical assessment by the Commission confirming that the criteria for access to the Fund have been met.
Malta was struck between 19 and 21 January 2026 by Storm Harry. The storm caused widespread flooding, coastal damage and transport disruption, with significant impacts on public infrastructure, harbours, fisheries, aquaculture, agricultural assets and local communities. Malta will receive an advance payment of pound 931 014.
Portugal was affected between 22 January and 15 February 2026 by a sequence of exceptionally intense storms. The storms brought strong winds, coastal turmoil and intense rainfall which led to floods and landslides and resulted in 18 fatalities, significant material damage and interruptions in the supply of essential services. Portugal will receive an advance payment of pound 65.37 million.
Spain was hit between 22 January and 14 February 2026 by the same storms as Portugal. The result was prolonged electricity, water and telecommunications cut off affecting thousands of inhabitants. People also suffered significant material losses and many homes were destroyed or left uninhabitable. Spain will receive an advance payment of pound 37.26 million.
The Commission will make a proposal to the European Parliament and the Council of the EU for the three applications. If approved, the final payments will follow later and depend on budgetary availabilities.
Since its establishment in 2002, the EU Solidarity Fund has provided over pound 11 billion in assistance for 148 disaster events, including 128 natural disasters and 20 health emergencies, across 25 Member States and six accession countries.
More information is available online.
Commission adopts assessment report on readmission cooperation
Today, the European Commission adopted its seventh assessment report to the Council on third countries’ level of readmission cooperation under Article 25a of the Visa Code. The report assesses the cooperation of 28 visa-required countries in 2025. Based on the annual assessment, the Commission can propose restrictive visa measures for third countries where cooperation is considered insufficient.
This year, the Commission is not proposing new restrictive visa measures.
The Commission previously proposed visa measures in relation to Bangladesh, Iraq, The Gambia, Senegal, Ethiopia, Somalia and Guinea. The report restates the relevance of the proposal for Senegal (from 2022). The proposal remains with the Council, with the objective of improving readmission cooperation. In view of substantial and sustained improvements in readmission cooperation, the Commission withdrew its proposals for Iraq and Bangladesh in November 2025 and visa measures for Ethiopia were repealed in May 2026. Due to insufficient cooperation, the Council adopted restrictive visa measures for Somalia in June 2026 and Guinea in July 2026. For The Gambia, first stage measures remain in place, after the increased visa fee was revoked in April 2024.
The Commission annually assesses readmission cooperation of visa-required third countries, reports to the Council and actively engages in dialogue to improve readmission cooperation with partners.
The report is not a public document. It will be sent to the Council and discussed with Member States. Commission proposals to the Council on visa measures take into account the Union’s overall relations with the countries concerned. The Commission will continue its active engagement with third countries to improve cooperation on readmission.