Weekly report
Euro area GDP up 0.4% in the second quarter, EU up 0.5% · Euro area trade in goods surplus of €8.6 billion in June · Reserve lists published for the EPSO/AD/422/25 Taxation competitions · Next competition to open: ICT Experts AD8, from 8 September
Eurostat's flash estimate on 14 August put quarter-on-quarter GDP growth at 0.4% in the euro area and 0.5% in the EU (1.0% and 1.2% year-on-year). Employment rose 0.1% on the quarter in both zones.
EurostatAlso on 14 August, Eurostat reported an €8.6 bn surplus in goods trade with the rest of the world for June 2026 — the external balance holding up while domestic demand indicators stay soft.
EurostatThe 13 August release showed June output flat across the euro area and 0.2% higher in the EU as a whole — consistent with the marginal German production figure earlier in the week.
EurostatPublished 7 August for May 2026, the services figure is the stronger half of the picture: services are expanding while industry stagnates, which is why headline GDP still grew.
EurostatThe Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation began applying on a phased basis from 12 August, bringing rules aimed at cutting packaging waste and making recycling easier. It entered into force in February 2025 with a staged application timetable.
European CommissionReported 14 August: the EU rejected renewed US trade pressure and accusations that Brussels is enabling China — the transatlantic file reopening while the bloc is already managing energy and migration crises.
EuronewsA 13 August analysis set out how far each candidate has actually moved and where the political blockages sit — the accession question returning to the agenda ahead of the autumn institutional calendar.
EuronewsReported 13 August: Stockholm, already part of the 'frugal' camp, is expected to harden its position in the talks on the next multiannual budget — one more constraint on a negotiation that has to conclude before the current MFF period ends.
EuronewsOn 13 August Budapest presented new accountability measures as a first step towards releasing funding withheld over rule-of-law concerns — the opening move rather than a resolution.
EuronewsOn 11 August the Hungarian parliament elected the former judge — who won a landmark European Court of Human Rights case against his own removal as chief justice — to the presidency, an unusual outcome given the governing majority.
EuronewsEPSO's only announcement of the week, on 13 August: reserve lists are out for all fields — direct taxation and indirect taxation, both including tax law. Successful candidates were notified individually through the Single Candidate Portal, and the published lists carry only the names of those who consented to disclosure.
EPSO / EU CareersNo new competition opened during the week. The next one on the official calendar is EPSO/AD/430/26 — ICT Experts at grade AD 8, in Artificial Intelligence and Cybersecurity — opening 8 September with a 13 October deadline. Dates remain marked 'to be confirmed'.
EPSO / EU CareersAfter ICT Experts come EPSO/AST/158/26 Data Management Experts (AST 3, opening 6 October), two Lawyer-Linguist competitions at AD 7 (21 October and 4 November) and EPSO/AD/433/26 Lawyers (AD 7, opening 9 December). For AD5 Generalist candidates the reasoning tests remain scheduled for October–November.
EPSO / EU CareersA magnitude 7.4 quake struck northwestern Colombia, hitting Pereira and Cali hardest. The toll rose from over 160 on 11 August to more than 250 dead and over 2,700 reported missing by 12 August — the country's strongest seismic event since 1970.
Democracy Now!Talks reported on 12 August would establish separate shipping lanes for vessels entering and leaving the strait, which Iran has kept closed pending US concessions. Qatar's foreign ministry said it had 'heard positive statements from both capitals'.
Democracy Now!On 10 August the US president said Iran must pay for those it has killed and wounded, extending the claim over five decades. The demand complicated the ceasefire track and shifted Washington's emphasis towards economic pressure.
CNNOn 12 August the moon's shadow crossed Siberia, eastern Greenland, western Iceland, northern Spain and a sliver of Portugal — the first total solar eclipse visible from mainland Europe since 1999. Maximum totality lasted 2 minutes 18 seconds.
NASAReported 12 August, it is now the second-largest Ebola outbreak on record. The WHO director-general described the spread as deeply concerning.
WHO / Democracy Now!The 11 August verdict covers killings, torture and arbitrary arrest during the civil war. The ousted president remains outside the country, so the sentence is symbolic — but it formalises the new authorities' position on accountability.
Democracy Now!Shanghai alone cancelled roughly 1,000 flights on 10 August as the storm came ashore, with more than a million people moved from coastal areas.
Democracy Now!Ukraine proposed a ceasefire limited to attacks on civilian shipping, warning on 14 August that continued strikes are driving food prices to their highest level since early 2023. July recorded more than 2,600 Ukrainian civilian injuries.
Democracy Now!On 14 August the Constitutional Council struck the measure down as an infringement of freedom of expression. President Macron said a new draft would be prepared — the first serious legal test of an approach several EU states are watching.
BBCPrime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on 14 August that the visit 'hurts the feelings of the Japanese people and is absolutely unacceptable', reopening a territorial dispute unresolved since 1945.
Democracy Now!Destatis confirmed on 12 August that consumer prices rose 2.8% year-on-year in July, up from 2.3% in June and 2.6% in May. Core inflation, excluding food and energy, stood at 2.4%.
DestatisEnergy remained the key driver and accelerated sharply. Motor fuel rose appreciably because the government fuel discount was discontinued on 30 June, coinciding with higher oil prices caused by the ongoing Iran war — two effects landing in the same month.
DestatisReleased on 14 August, the wholesale price index shows a 5.3% annual increase — a pipeline pressure reading that sits well above the consumer measure and points to further cost pass-through in the months ahead.
DestatisForeign trade figures published on 7 August showed exports up 0.9% on May and 6.6% on June 2025 — a firmer reading than the domestic indicators, with external demand doing more of the work than the home market.
DestatisAlso on 7 August: production in industry rose 0.2% on the previous month. Marginal growth, and well short of the 3.1% jump in new manufacturing orders reported the day before — orders are running ahead of output.
DestatisThe truck toll mileage index, one of Germany's fastest indicators of industrial activity because it is compiled from motorway toll data, rose 0.8% month-on-month in July.
DestatisAn Infratest dimap survey published on 7 August put the AfD at 28% and the CDU/CSU at 21%, with the Greens on 13%, the SPD on 12% and the Linke on 11%. Other early-August polls placed the AfD consistently in the 27–28% range.
Infratest dimap via PolitProThe mid-August Sonntagstrend put satisfaction with the chancellor at 28%, up four points, with dissatisfaction down five points to 62%. Insa's Hermann Binkert framed it as a nuanced improvement from a historically low base rather than a turnaround.
Insa / Sonntagstrend via PolitProAnnounced on 11 August, the expansion follows a run of drone sightings over airports and critical infrastructure and gives the Bundespolizei a materially larger counter-drone capability.
BundesregierungCommemorations on 13 August — the anniversary of the Wall going up in 1961 — were used by speakers to warn about present-day threats to democracy, a pointed framing in a year when the AfD leads national polling.
Bundesregierung / deutschland.deO IBGE divulgou na terça-feira, 11 de agosto, que o IPCA subiu 0,07% em julho. No acumulado de 12 meses o índice está em 4,44% — de volta ao intervalo de tolerância da meta (3% com margem de 1,5 ponto, ou seja, de 1,5% a 4,5%). No ano, o acumulado é de 3,44%.
IBGE / Agência BrasilDentro do IPCA de julho, a conta de luz teve alta de 3,09% e contribuiu com 0,13 ponto percentual — o maior impacto individual de alta no mês. Do outro lado, a queda nos preços dos alimentos foi o que segurou o índice geral.
IBGE / CNN BrasilO índice que mede a inflação das famílias de renda mais baixa ficou negativo em julho, puxado pelo alívio nos alimentos, e acumula alta de 4,10% em 12 meses — abaixo do IPCA cheio no mesmo período.
IBGE / Agência BrasilNa sexta-feira, 14 de agosto, a estatal confirmou a presença de hidrocarbonetos no poço Morpho (1-BRSA-1405-APS), no bloco FZA-M-59, a cerca de 175 km da costa do Amapá e em lâmina d'água de 2.886 metros. É a primeira descoberta da companhia na costa do estado.
Petrobras / Agência BrasilA presidente da Petrobras, Magda Chambriard, ligou a descoberta à 'reconstrução das reservas e à segurança energética do país'. As estimativas para o potencial da Margem Equatorial, no extremo norte, vão de 10 a 30 bilhões de barris — o que explica a reação política imediata no Amapá.
Petrobras / CNN BrasilNa quarta-feira, 12 de agosto, o presidente assinou o decreto que regulamenta a venda direta de energia a pequenos e médios consumidores. Para indústria e comércio a regra vale a partir de novembro de 2027; para os demais, incluindo residenciais, a partir de novembro de 2028.
Agência BrasilNo mesmo ato foram assinados decretos sobre o combustível sustentável de aviação (SAF), o hidrogênio de baixa emissão de carbono e a captura e armazenamento de carbono (CCS) — o pacote regulatório da transição energética que estava pendente desde as leis aprovadas no ano passado.
Agência BrasilNa quinta-feira, 13 de agosto, o governo oficializou a abertura do processo para aplicar medidas de reciprocidade comercial, resposta ao aumento de 37,5% imposto pelos Estados Unidos a produtos brasileiros — cerca de US$ 6,6 bilhões em exportações afetadas.
Agência BrasilO ministro da Fazenda, Dario Durigan, afirmou na sexta-feira, 14, que consultará empresários brasileiros e estrangeiros sobre os impactos antes de decidir. A Lei 15.122, aprovada por unanimidade no Congresso em 2025, permite suspender concessões comerciais de forma proporcional.
Ministério da Fazenda / Agência BrasilO índice recuou 0,10% na sexta-feira, 14, aos 166.934,20 pontos — a maior série de perdas desde 2023. O dólar comercial subiu para cerca de R$ 5,22. Pesaram a saída de estrangeiros, os juros elevados e as incertezas fiscais a menos de dois meses da eleição.
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