The 79th Cannes Film Festival opens Tuesday 12 May 2026 at the Palais des Festivals with Park Chan-wook as jury president, 22 films in competition and Pierre Salvadori’s La Vénus Electrique as opening film. Demi Moore, Chloé Zhao and Stellan Skarsgård on jury.
EU AI Act trilogue closed early hours of 7 May 2026: high-risk Annex III obligations postponed to 2 December 2027, Annex I products to 2 August 2028, watermarking from 2 December 2026, new ban on nudification AI from same date.
German factory orders rose 5.0% MoM in March 2026, beating consensus 1.0% by five times, driven by defense procurement acceleration across Europe, front-loaded orders ahead of Iran war supply-chain disruptions, and a weak euro boosting exports.
EU AI Act trilogue closed in early hours of 7 May 2026: high-risk Annex III obligations postponed to 2 December 2027, Annex I products to 2 August 2028, watermarking from 2 December 2026, new ban on nudification AI from same date.
EU AI Act 2 August 2026 high-risk deadline remains in force after Digital Omnibus trilogue failed on 28 April. Compliance teams must plan against the original Regulation 2024/1689 dates.
The Commission’s AccelerateEU communication of 22 April 2026 lays out the EU’s response to the energy crisis with affordable, secure energy through accelerated clean energy deployment.
The informal meeting of EU energy ministers on 12-13 May 2026 in Cyprus addresses the impact of the Middle East conflict on energy prices and the AccelerateEU action plan.
The EU Code of Practice on synthetic content under the AI Act is expected to finalise in May or June 2026, defining watermarking obligations for AI-generated text, image, audio and video.
On 6 May 2026, the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee evaluates progress made by Albania and Montenegro towards EU membership in two key reports.
Nobel-winning economist Simon Johnson warned in May 2026 that AI threatens jobs with dignity, calling on policymakers to act now to prevent erosion of middle-class employment and growing inequality.