European Union News - 06 March 2013

The European Commission will allocate €7 million as emergency aid to the victims of Typhoon Bopha in Philippines. With this aid, the total humanitarian funding is up to €10 million since the region was struck by Typhoon Bopha force in December.

The European Commission confirmed that on 5 March, Latvia formally asked the Commission to deliver an extraordinary convergence report with the aim of joining the euro from 1st January 2014. The report will assess if the country has achieved the five convergence criteria as defined in the Maastricht Treaty for joining the euro.

According to a Flash Eurobarometer survey published by the European Commission, EU holiday makers, as many as 88% spent their vacations somewhere within the EU, either in their own country or in another Member State. Spain (12%), Italy (8%) and France (7%) are still the most preferred destinations.

Leaders of the African Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Inter-American Development Bank, International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank Group called in a statement for more coordination on global development. They recognised that issues of inclusive growth, environmental sustainability, and long term financing are global in nature. Therefore, they committed to harnessing their own institutions analytical and convening power to identify solutions to such pressing global issues.

The political agreement reached between the Council and the European Parliament on the so-called "CRD 4" package was endorsed by the Council. The package contains two proposals set out to amend and replace existing capital requirement directives: a regulation establishing prudential requirements that institutions need to respect, and a directive governing access to deposit-taking activities.