European Union News - 13 October 2011

Parliament approved a non-legislative resolution which calls for a stronger role for the Commission to push through more harmonisation on the tax system in order to increase efficiency and a reduce red tape for businesses.

European Commission presented the 'Agenda for Change' of EU Development policy and a new policy for EU budget support Communications. These reports aims to set out a more strategic EU approach to reducing poverty, including through a more targeted allocation of funding.

European Commission presented its annual Enlargement Package in which it recommends the opening of accession negotiations with Montenegro, and granting EU candidate status to Serbia. On the package of reports it also assessed the progress towards EU accession made by the Western Balkans, Turkey, and Iceland over the past year.

The European Commission presented the composition of the high-level group which has as main goal to write a report that provides recommendations for the respect, protection, support and promotion of media freedom and pluralism in Europe. The group, which will be fully independent, will be chaired by the former President of Latvia, Professor Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga.

The Committee of the Regions welcomed EU plans for more competitive and greener industry. European Commission Vice-President responsible for Industry and Entrepreneurship, Antonio Tajani, underlined at the CoR plenary session, the key role of regional and local authorities in this process. He urged for a new industrial policy in a broader – and truly integrated – sense, to keep improving EU competitiveness.

The European Commission president, José Manuel Barroso, presented a roadmap which is intended to restore confidence in the Euro area and the European Union as a whole. According to the Commission, this programme is created to clarify the doubts over the sustainability of sovereign debt, the stability of the banking system and the European Union's growth prospects.