It was meant to be the big trade deal that end the belligerence of the United States against the European Union and restore good relations between the two transatlantic powers. However, a year after the handshake between the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the US President, Donald Trump, in Scotland, the pact has not managed to change the White House's attitude towards its European allies. During these twelve months – Monday marks the first anniversary – the New York magnate has not stopped threatening and insulting the European Union's partners, which has endangered the application of the trade agreement on repeated occasions and delayed its entry into force in European institutions.

The European Commission announced this Friday that it has "preliminary" indications that TikTok leaves minors unprotected, especially from potential aggressors. Thus, Brussels considers that it is violating the Digital Services Act (DSA) and threatens it with a millionaire fine if it does not take measures to increase the protection of the youngest users of the Chinese social platform.

The President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Christine Lagarde, has presented the ten finalist proposals for the new design of the euro banknotes. European citizens have until September 21 to vote for their preferred option [this is the link to take the survey] and they are expected to begin printing in the coming years, although the financial institution has not set a specific date.

New fines from the European Commission against a major US tech company. Brussels announced this Thursday two economic sanctions totaling 890 million against Google for restricting competition in its own services and, therefore, violating the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA).

“This will all end up in international courts,” predicted the then-President of the Generalitat, Carles Puigdemont, in November 2017. For now, the amnesty – which at the time could not even be imagined – has already passed the validation of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and it is not the first setback that European justice has dealt to the Spanish Supreme Court. From exile, Puigdemont's defense has chained a series of favorable rulings across the continent. A series of victories that, for now, have not served him to return to Catalonia without the risk of being arrested.

The European Commission has announced a fine of 550 million euros to the Chinese e-commerce platform AliExpress for the sale of illegal products online to European customers. The Community executive has concluded in an investigation that the Asian company does not comply with the Community directive on digital rights, because it does not "diligently" assess or mitigate the risks related to the products offered and purchasable on its website. And for this reason, Brussels urges it to adopt measures and threatens it with new additional economic sanctions if it disobeys the demands of the Community authorities.

The grand chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is made up of 15 judges, but the most influential magistrate and the most visible face – reads the verdicts, such as the one that supports the amnesty– is the president of the court in Luxembourg, Koen Lenaerts (Mortsel, 1954). A Fleming with a great academic and professional career, especially in European justice.

New reform from Brussels that lowers environmental ambitions. The European Commission has proposed this Friday that European industry can reduce pollutant emissions at a slower pace than provided for in current legislation. That said, in return, these factories will have to increase green and decarbonization investments.

European Commission's wake-up call to Spain amid a wave of corruption cases plaguing Pedro Sánchez's government. In its annual rule of law report, Brussels warns that Spain has made "little" or "limited" progress in strengthening measures against conflicts of interest and lobbying, and in improving transparency in asset declarations by leaders and senior officials. Furthermore, although it highlights the Anti-Corruption Plan promoted by the Spanish government, it regrets that "the practical implementation of existing rules has not improved".

The path to amnesty in Europe has come to an end. Luxembourg has endorsed the law agreed between the PSOE, Junts, and Esquerra, which allowed Pedro Sánchez to be re-elected as Spanish president. Before this sweet ending, however, the measure went through a tortuous path with obstacles, largely accentuated by the tentacles of the Spanish right and far-right in the European Union institutions.

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has given a clear endorsement to the amnesty law this Thursday, which has triggered a wave of reactions uniting the independence movement and the Catalan and Spanish governments in a single demand: the immediate application of the law by the Spanish judiciary. The ruling has been received as a "resounding victory", although with the caution of knowing that the final executive decision rests with the state courts. In the words of former president Carles Puigdemont, "the game will no longer be played in Europe but at the Bernabéu, with the referees and the crowd leaning to one side".

Happy end to the amnesty in its journey through European justice. The endorsement from the highest court in Luxembourg is almost absolute. It not only denies that its application affects the financial interests of the European Union and violates the anti-terrorism directive, but it fully defends the spirit of "reconciliation" between Spain and Catalonia of a law that allowed Pedro Sánchez to be invested with the votes of Junts and Esquerra. "It has the express purpose of favoring political reconciliation," has ruled the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

Key ruling for the application of the amnesty and the political and judicial future of leaders such as Carles Puigdemont and Oriol Junqueras. The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) will rule this Thursday around 10 a.m. on the legality of the regulation and will point the way to the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, the National High Court and the rest of the Spanish courts, some of which refuse to apply it.

The government of Pedro Sánchez maintains his bet on a Spanish socialist leads an international organization in a context of right-wing growth. The Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Luis Planas, will fight to be the next Secretary-General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), but will have to face complicated candidacies to defeat, especially that of Irishman Phil Hogan.

Junts reopens the investigation into MEP-elect Toni Comín over internal complaints ofpsychological, physical, and sexual harassment by two former party advisors in the European Parliament. The Guarantees Commission of the pro-independence party temporarily halted it on February 2, even though a resolution from the Eurochamber had already ruled that there was "sufficient evidence" to take the former minister to court. It wasn't until four months later, on June 5, that it decided to reactivate it, according to various Junts sources informed to ARA.

The European Commission maintains its intention to impose a digital age of majority, but lowers the age figure. After commissioning a study from a group of experts, the head of the Community executive, Ursula von der Leyen, announced this Monday that she will present a proposal to limit the use of social networks for young people and that it will prohibit minors under 13 years of age from opening an account without the supervision of their parents or legal guardian.

NATO's memory is selective. None of the leaders wanted to recall the good relations between Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin despite the invasion of Ukraine, Ankara's blackmail of Sweden to allow it to join the Atlantic Alliance, or the country's authoritarian drift, which has preemptively repressed and detained dissident activists and journalists before and during this week's summit. Three reasons why, in the past, allies set aside the hard core of the organization in Turkey, and some even suspended or restricted arms sales to the country.

Donald Trump has turned NATO summits into a show that revolves around himaround him. As last year, the President of the United States arrived in Ankara railing against the North Atlantic Alliance itself and the vast majority of its partners. He insulted them, humiliated them, and threatened them from the outset. And then, the European allies and the secretary general of the military organization, Mark Rutte, focused on calming him down and de-escalating the tension through praise and kind words. It seems that the flattery had an effect and, finally, as the master of military understanding, he forgave them for the alleged grievances and in the final press conference declared his "love" for them. A happy enough ending compared to how it began. However, these U-turns and all the spectacle that Trump staged in Ankara highlight more than ever the great problems and challenges that NATO has, and especially the European allies, in dealing with the President of the United States.

NATO has no court or coercive power that can force a member state to reach 5% of its gross domestic product (GDP) in military spending. However, the rest of the allies, especially the United States, can exert all kinds of diplomatic pressure, economic and military to pressure countries like Spain, which refuses to accept Donald Trump's demands and wants to stay at 2.1%. And this is what the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance himself, Mark Rutte, has hinted that the White House will do against Pedro Sánchez's government.

It has been days since Donald Trump began warming up for this week's NATO summit in Ankara. Although until recently he achieved almost everything he set out to do from his allies, the President of the United States has seen European leaders refuse in recent months to participate in the war in Iran and even criticize him. Furthermore, even though they had committed to it at last year's Atlantic Alliance summit, more and more partners are admitting difficulties or directly refusing to spend 5% of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defense. Two issues that deeply anger Trump, and his European counterparts are already preparing for the US president's reproaches, according to NATO diplomatic sources: it remains to be seen in what tone.