European Union News

The Council agreed with the European Commission that improving confidence, reviving economic growth, ensuring debt sustainability and improving competitiveness, whilst creating the conditions for sustainable growth and jobs in the longer term, are of particular importance at the current juncture.

The China IPR Helpdesk, the EU SME Centre and the European Enterprise Network are established in China to help by bringing the risks – and rewards – of the Chinese market into focus. In particular, the EU SME Centre is a support service provider for European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) facilitating market access in China, says the European Commission.

The European Commission published the report on the progress achieved by Kosovo in fulfilling the requirements of the visa liberalisation roadmap. The report shows that Kosovo has established a legal and institutional framework in certain areas, but also identifies two new pieces of legislation that Kosovo should adopt: a law on inter-agency cooperation in integrated border/boundary management and a law to combat trafficking in human beings.

The European Commission published the General Report on the Activities of the European Union 2012 which presents the actions taken to address all the challenges of the past year. The General Report is published every year by the European Commission and it gives an account of the EU's major initiatives and achievements throughout the year.

According to European Commission's report, risks from substances registered under REACH have significantly decreased. Companies have now registered 30,601 files with the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) describing the uses and properties of 7,884 chemical substances manufactured or placed on the market.

The European Commission reported that the number of counterfeit euro coins removed from circulation increased by 17% from 157.000 in 2011 to 184.000 in 2012. The 2-euro denomination remains by far the most affected by this criminal activity, representing almost 2 out of every 3 counterfeit euro coins detected.

The European Commission announced that it reached an agreement with The European Travel Agents' and Tour Operators' Associations (ECTAA) for promoting the pan-European emergency number '112' on their websites, on e-tickets, and at major tourist destinations.

EU Commissioner for Climate Action, Connie Hedegaard, launched a low-carbon contest, calling on creative and innovative minds from across the EU to put their green initiatives to the test.

According to the European Commission, organisers of the Right2Water initiative have announced that they have collected more than one million signatures. This means that it could be the first European Citizens' Initiative to succeed in collecting the necessary number of statements of support. This initiative seeks to invite the European Commission to 'propose legislation implementing the human right to water and sanitation as recognised by the United Nations, and promoting the provision of water and sanitation as essential public services for all'.

In its response to the European Commission’s consultation on the regulation of indices, the Eurosystem has called for the regulation of systemically important reference rates. Now, the Governing Council of the European Central Bank welcomed the European Commission’s intention to introduce further legislation to regulate such important reference rates.

Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council highlighted that the agreement reached by the EU leaders on the next multi-annual budget, it is a balanced and growth-oriented budget for Europe for the rest of the decade. The European Economic and Social Committee President, Staffan Nilsson, stressed that it is good a deal is struck, however he also added that the results are disappointing.

The European Commission announced that the EU will co-finance with over €12 million from the TEN-T Programme three Spanish projects forming part of a new high speed rail line in the Basque country (Spain). The main aim is to help bring high speed rail travel to Spain.