Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decree bans or limits food and agricultural imports for one year from countries that have imposed or supported sanctions, according to the Kremlin website. The government is drawing up a list of restricted goods. It plans to ban the import of all U.S. agricultural products, including poultry, meat products  as well as all fruit and vegetable imports from the European Union. Some dairy products will also be restricted. The final list will be communicated later this week.

The European Parliament maintains an Information office in every Member State and a Liaison office in the United States: Athens, Barcelona, Berlin, Bratislava, Brussels,  Bucarest, Budapest,  Copenhague, Dublin, Edinburgh, Helsinki, Lisbon,  Ljubljana,  London, Luxembourg, Madrid,  Marseille, Milan, Munich, Nicosia, Paris, Prague, Riga, Rome, Sofia, Stockholm, Strasbourg, Tallinn, The Hague, Valetta, Vienna, Vilnius,  Warsaw, Wroclaw, Washington DC, Zagreb.

The Council appoints the 27 Commissioners-designate in agreement with the elected Commission President. Each Commissioner, one from each EU country, is assigned responsibility for a specific policy area by the Commission President. The Commission as a whole is subject to the European Parliament's approval.

List of people officially nominated by their national governments for the next mandate of the European Commission starting in autumn 2014. President-elect Juncker had asked for all the nominations to be submitted by the end of July. However, some Member States are expected to wait for the special meeting of the European Council on August 30 before they officially put forward their nominee.

Originally published by the Director of the European Citizen Action Service (ECAS)- Mr. Tony Venables- in 2007 and revised in 2008, the following tips set out twelve guidelines for lobbyists to follow in order to be effective at EU level. They were primarily articulated with civil society organizations (CSOs), NGOs, European associations in mind. The original text has been somewhat edited.  

Preamble

In parallel to the U.S.-Africa  Leader’s Summit held in Washington,  the U.S. Department of Commerce and Bloomberg Philanthropies  co-hosted on 5 August 2014 the first U.S.-Africa Business Forum, a day focused on strengthening trade and financial ties between the United States and Africa. President Obama participated in the Business Forum along with Secretary Pritzker and Mayor Bloomberg, as will other senior U.S. government officials.

A. Your organization has a dedicated Government Relations Team in place

The listing here below is not exhaustive. It highlights the exposure of major companies by countries active in Russia that could suffer from a further deterioration of trade relations. Already sanctions are taking a toll on business.  

Austria

• Raiffeisen Bank has €18bn of loans to Russia and Ukraine
• Erste Group is warning that the turmoil could impact banks in eastern Europe.

Denmark

Russia is considering legislation to target global accounting and auditing firms because 'these are companies are viewed as apparently having sensitive positions in terms of Russia’s sovereignty and economic security’. Targeted companies would include the Boston Consulting Group, PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, Mc Kinsey & Co, Deloitte and Ernst & Young.

Russia takes action:

1. Fruits and Vegetables