Europe needs a reliable friend in the Caucasus, but is Azerbaijan ready to fulfill this position? Few years ago, Russia cut off the gas supplies toward Europe causing severe inconvenience in some Eastern European countries. A few days ago Armenia broke diplomatic ties with Hungary as Budapest sent back an […]

Leaders of the European Union agreed on 29th June to create a single EU Patent System and to establish a European patent court, which will have its headquarters in Paris with two specialised divisions in London and Munich. Most industry experts, however, have expressed their disappointment and concern over the […]

Search engine Google has offered to settle an ongoing antitrust investigation by the European Commission in an attempt to end possible proceedings against the web giant. Google’s chairman, Eric Schmidt, has sent a letter to European Commissioner Joaquin Almunia, expressing his hope that a deal could prevent a fully-fledged and […]

A rapid surge in mobile payment initiatives is putting pressure on banks and mobile phone operators to move into the mobile payments industry quickly, after Deutsche Telekom and MasterCard announced they have formed a Europe-wide mobile payments partnership. ‘If financial service providers delay taking an active interest in mobile business […]

The Netherlands passed a law in 2011 which prevents internet service providers from charging more for certain types of content, effectively making ‘network neutrality’ the norm. The Netherlands is the first country in Europe to enact such legislation and follows the lead of Chile, who enshrined the principle into law […]

Payment Integration Under Pressure as Europe Battles with Euro Crisis LONDON – The financial crisis and the uncertainty about the future of the Euro put progress of ambitious European payment integration plans, such as the Single European Payments Area (SEPA), increasingly under pressure. Lawyers and financial experts weighed in on the […]

The holiday review website Trip Advisor has joined a growing number of internet companies that are complaining to the European Commission about US web giant Google. Trip Advisor belongs now to a group of 12 companies – among them the popular travel firm Expedia – that accuse Google of abusing […]