European Union News - October 2012

The new Creative Europe programme for the cultural and creative sectors will be focused on audiences and artists. Audience development will be a key focus for projects according to the Commission, which will encompass and strengthen the existing Culture and MEDIA (cinema) programmes as well as launching a loan guarantee scheme to boost bank lending to SMEs in the cultural sectors.

The SME Performance Review 2012 report shows that Europe's Small and Medium Sized enterprises (SMEs) continue to strive for recovery. According to the Review, further policy is needed to help SMEs in recovery. The report also argues that the creation of more such enterprises should be an integral part of any growth strategy and suggests appropriate policies measures.

The Committee of the Regions (CoR) has backed the Energy Roadmap 2050, European Commission's plans to reduce energy consumption and commit to shifting towards more sustainable energy resources. However, it urged that far more needs to be done to support local and regional authorities if these objectives are to be achieved.

MEPs at the Internal Market Committee in the European Parliament approved a non-binding resolution that analyses and sets out proposals to remove obstacles to greater use of the digital single market. The resolution recommends to introduce a "European Trustmark" certifying that an online shop fully complies with EU law.

The ceremony for the award of the the Erasmus Entrepreneurship Awards 2012 has been the perfect occasion to mark an important milestone of the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs Programme. The prize, which is one of the actions put in place by this programmes is a key initiative in promoting exchange of knowledge between entrepreneurs and in supporting SMEs.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided on October 12th 2012 to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2012 to the European Union for its contribution over six decades to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe. Innumerate reactions and congratulations for this award came up immediately after the announcement in support of what has been a great project for peace and stability in Europe.

The Committee on International Trade of the European Parliament (INTA) has given its green light to the opening of negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement with Japan. However, MEPs stressed that these negotiations will be subject to the removal of Japan's existing barriers to trade in some crucial sectors for the European industry.

The European Parliament has presented the procedure for selecting the winners of the European Charlemagne Youth Prize for the 2013 edition. Those projects aimed at improving relations between citizens of different countries and willing to take part in the Prize will be able to submit their proposals until January 28th 2013.

The opinion drafted by the vice presidency of the Committee of the Regions (CoR) calls for an increase in the 2014-2020 budget worth 1.14% of European Union gross national income. This document also reflects CoR's concern about the difficulties that local authorities, regions, and also certain Member states would face in view of the new budgetary framework.

The European Commission announced that the Single CMO Management Committee voted to allocate €500 million from the EU funds for the 2013 Food for the Most Deprived programme. This will be the last year that the scheme will run in this form, funded from the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP).

The European Commission confirms that the Single European Sky is "not delivering" after 10 years on. However, the Commission also announced its intention to present new legislative proposals in Spring 2013 to accelerate implementation, as well as taking all enforcement actions possible, including infringements where necessary. According to the Commission, inefficiencies caused by Europe's fragmented airspace bring extra costs of close to €5 billion each year.

The Review assessing the implementation of the rules on public procurement in the EU has been published by the European Commission. Purchases by public authorities and utility companies, when they are of a cross-border nature, fall within the scope of EU law and account for nearly 20% of EU GDP.