European Union News

The 2013 European Enterprise Promotion Awards, that recognise the best public initiatives and public-private partnerships in promoting business development and entrepreneurship, are open to applications. On this occasion, a new category rewarding successful projects contributing to the green economy has been added.

The European Commission welcomed the signature of a tri-lateral intergovernmental agreement (IGA) as an essential step in the preparation of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline project (TAP). TAP is an important gas pipeline between Italy, Albania and Greece with a starting capacity of minimum 10 billion cubic metres per annum (bcma).

Eurostat published a flash estimate for the fourth quarter of 2012 which indicates that compared with the previous quarter the GDP fell by 0.6% in the euro area and by 0.5% in the EU. Over the whole year 2012, GDP fell by 0.5% in the euro area and by 0.3% in the EU.

The Assembly of European Regions (AER), which is the largest independent network of regions in wider Europe, regrets in a statement the historical reduction in the European Union budget, following the agreement reached between European leaders on the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020.

The European Commission announced the launching of an observatory that will gather data to follow the evolution of markets, to map EU, national and regional bioeconomy policies, research and innovation capacities, and the scale of related public and private investments.

The European Commission published the details of the Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) to be implemented under enhanced cooperation. The details are set out in a Commission's proposal that include certain limited changes compared to the original one, to take into account the fact that the tax will be implemented on a smaller geographical scale than originally foreseen.

European Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs, announced the fully-fledged resumption of development aid in Mali at the Informal Development Ministers meeting held on February 12 in Dublin. He also underlined that some €250 million may be mobilised for restarting gradually development aid in order to respond to the urgent needs of the Malian people.

The EU and US have decided to take their economic relationship to a higher level by agreeing to launch negotiations for a comprehensive trade and investment agreement. When negotiations are completed, this EU-US agreement would be the biggest bilateral trade deal ever negotiated – and it could add 0.5% to the EU's annual economic output.

With a total of €5.7 million from the TEN-T Programme, the European Union will co-finance four projects aimed at preparing the implementation of four Rail Freight Corridors across Europe. According to the European Commission, the projects focus on establishing fully operational rail freight corridors providing optimal rail freight transport and increasing rail transport competitiveness across the EU.

The European Commission proposed new rules to improve the safety of consumer products circulating in the Single Market and to step-up market surveillance concerning all non-food products, including those imported from third countries. The two legislative proposals are complemented by a multi-annual plan for market surveillance setting out 20 concrete actions to be undertaken from now to 2015 to improve market surveillance.

Eurostat figures show that the energy consumption in the EU fell by 6% between 2008 and 2011. The largest falls were recorded in Lithuania, Ireland, Greece, Romania, Spain and the United Kingdom. The energy dependence rate was 54% in the EU in 2011, nearly stable since 2008.

The European Union and Georgia signed a Financing Agreement totalling €20 million to support the reform process in Georgia. The funding will support key Georgian institutions to undertake the necessary reforms in three main areas: trade, oversight and public accountability, and co-ordination of EU-Georgia agreements.