European Union News

In a resolution adopted by the European Parliament, MEPs are in favour for a more ambitious trade and boosting the recently-agreed roadmap for visa-free travel between the EU and Russia in order to give a new impetus to negotiations for a new Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. However, only if Russia commits in protecting basic human rights, removing curbs on press freedom, pulling its troops out of Georgia and allowing gay parades.

In a resolution voted at the Parliament's Plenary Session, MEPs called for new rules for credit rating agencies in order for them to clarify their working methods, boost competition and reduce reliance on their ratings. This resolution also suggests the creation of a European Credit Rating Foundation, completely independent and whose funding would come from finance sector.

This is one of the main conclusions put forward by the European Commission's 2011 Innovation Union Competitiveness Report, which also point out the need for Europe to attract more and "smarter" investment in both public and private research and development. The Report also highlights the need for more cooperation in research within the EU and internationally, as well as a better use of its results and the adaptation of education systems to the requirements in business innovation.

According to MEPs, the first step towards measuring the EU economy on a wider basis than GDP should be better monitoring and reporting of environmental data. The European Parliament also support the Commission's groundwork towards supplementing "Beyond GDP" economic measure with social and environmental indicators and called for concrete and consistent proposals for indicators that can be monitored by Eurostat.

The European Commission will guarantee suspects’ rights to speak with a lawyer and inform family of arrest. In addition, they would have the right to contact their country’s consulate, if they are outside of their country.

The MEPs refused to freeze the next long-term budget and challenge to the Member States who want to freeze it to spell out which priorities they would drop as a consequence of this measure. According to the European Parliament, a minimum increase of 5% is needed compared to the 2013 budget, if all the objectives and policies agreed for the EU are to be completed.

The European Commission announced on World IPv6 Day that the Europa website is accessible for Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) users as well as IPv4 users. By making its website IPv6 accessible, the European Commission is setting an example and hopes to encourage other public sectors to persuade European companies and manufacturers to make their new smart devices and servers IPv6 compatible.

The European Parliament approved during the plenary session that Bulgaria and Romania join the Schengen border check-free area. However, the MEPs asked to kept informed of additional measures taken in the Bulgaria-Turkey-Greece area to cope with a possible surge in migration pressure.

The European Court of Auditor’s (ECA) has published the results of its audit on the effectiveness of the Small and Medium Enterprise Guarantee facility, in terms of the effectiveness of its design and planning. Among the conclusions the ECA found that the framework for the management of the daily operations was considered appropriate, but no scoring standards and no minimum requirements were set for the selection of financial intermediaries.

In order to help Member States gear up their economic and social policies to deliver on growth, jobs and public finances, the European Commission has adopted 27 sets of country-specific recommendations, plus one for the euro area as a whole. This should help each country to focus on strategic levers in the next 12 to 18 months, and thus boost EU economy as a whole.

As announced in the Single Market Act, the European Commission is consulting stakeholders in all EU Member States for their views on a new policy on access to the EU's public procurement markets. The EU has shown strong advocacy for an ambitious opening of international public procurement markets, through international commitments, such as the WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) and trade agreements concluded with third countries or regions.

MEPs and Council agreed provisionally in an EU-wide right for consumers to change their minds about purchase decisions within two weeks and clearer pricing rules for internet sales. The MEP responsible for the Parliament's report, Andreas Schwab, stated that more safety for consumers shopping on line and common rules for businesses will improve the Consumer Rights Directive.