August 2026 EU monthly news
Europeans could soon be looking forward to a digital euro. MEPs have given their consent to negotiations with Member States. This is a significant step forward in a debate that has been ongoing since 2021.
Selected provisions of the Artificial Intelligence Act came into force in the EU on 2 August, which introduce a requirement to transparently label content generated or edited with AI.
The EU annual inflation was 2.9% in June 2026, down from 3.3% in May. A year earlier, the rate was 2.3%. The lowest annual rates were registered in Sweden (1.0%) and Czechia (1.1%). The highest annual rates were recorded in Romania (9.2%) and Lithuania (5.4%).
In June 2026, the prices of diesel decrease by 6.4% and petrol by 4.2% compared with May 2026. In May 2026, diesel had dropped by 5.8%, while petrol had registered a slight increase of 0.8% relative to April 2026.
On 1 January 2026, the EU population was estimated at 452.0 million inhabitants, 0.706 million more than the previous year. This was the fifth consecutive year of population growth in the EU, following a decline in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Author
Erste Bank Research Team
Erste Bank
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