European Union News - March 2013

The President of the Committee of the Regions (CoR), Ramón Luis Valcárcel Siso, highlighted during a conference held in Dublin that it is extremely important to involve local and regional authorities in delivering the new "Youth Guarantee" scheme to answer to the youth unemployment challenge. He also pointed out that cities and regions are key to creating workforce that meets needs of labour market.

The European Commission proposed a 'smart border package' that consists of a Registered Traveller Programme (RTP) and an Entry/Exit System (EES) that, according to the EU institution, will simplify life for frequent third country travellers at the Schengen external borders and enhance EU border security.

On 3 March, the new EU Timber regulation that prohibits the placing of illegally harvested timber on the European market in an effort to tackle the problem of illegal logging across the world, entered into force.

The trade agreement concluded with Peru in 2012 provisionally applies from 1 of March 2013. According to the European Commission, the Agreement will open up markets for both EU and Peruvian exporters eventually bringing annual savings of more than €500 million. The Commission also stressed that Colombia is expected to join the implementation phase later this year.

According to Eurostat, the euro area unemployment rate was 11.9% in January 2013, up from 11.8% in December 2012. The EU unemployment rate was also higher than in December 2012. Compared with one year ago, the highest increases were registered in Greece (20.8% to 27.0% between November 2011 and November 2012), Cyprus (9.9% to 14.7%), Portugal (14.7% to 17.6%) and Spain (23.6% to 26.2%).

The European Commission reported that the Regulation that lays down travellers' basic rights, and imposes a number of obligations on bus and coach companies and terminal managers concerning their responsibility towards the passengers, just entered into force.

The European Commission proposed a new industrial policy for the European space sector, and to set up a European satellite collision avoidance system. With these measures, it intends to face the increasing competition from emerging industrial actors in countries such as China and India - competition posing a challenge to the further development of the EU's industry.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) Group will significantly step up its lending activities for the 2013 to 2015 period to support the recovery of growth in Europe, as announced by its President, Mr Werner Hoyer. The EIB thus will lend an additional €60 billion over the next three years to promote sustainable growth and jobs, bringing annual lending volumes to €65-70 billion.