Europe faces agricultural losses and infrastructure resilience audits

Agricultural organizations Copa and Cogeca have reported that heatwaves are causing up to 70% losses in corn production across certain European regions. Significant damage has also been recorded in cereals, oilseeds, fruits, grapes, and olives. The impact is most severe in Southern, Central, and Western Europe, with Slovenia, Austria, France, and Italy reporting the most serious consequences, alongside regional damage in Spain, Hungary, Germany, Croatia, Czechia, Ireland, and Romania.

In a separate development, the European Court of Auditors is conducting an extensive review of critical infrastructure, including pipelines, electricity grids, and undersea cables. The audit aims to determine if the European Union has invested sufficiently to ensure resilience against power outages, physical attacks, and technical failures. This follows recent incidents such as power outages in Spain and Portugal, damage to undersea cables in the Baltic and North Seas, and attacks on electricity networks in southern France.