European Union News

According to the European Parliament Vice-President Othmar Karas, national parliaments must play a much more active role in the European Semester because, although it shapes recommendations in almost all policy fields, it is elected representatives who ultimately must take responsibility for decisions.

The European Commission announced that with almost €2 million from the TEN-T Programme, it will finance a study looking at the potential beneficial effects of using alternative fuels for port operations. Also, the EU will support with over €1.2 million from the TEN-T Programme a study aimed at identifying and addressing the potential barriers to the construction and operation of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) fuelled vessels.

The European Commission announced that it will pledge €100 million of humanitarian funding in Syria. The additional funds will cover emergency medical response, with both medical and psycho-social care to the wounded and the traumatized (in particular children); provision of food and safe water; provision of shelter, registration and thus protection of refugees.

Most of the EU agriculture ministers endorsed the tight schedule proposed by the Irish Presidency for the CAP reform. However, they pointed out that any advancement on the CAP reform is linked to an agreement at the next European summit on a Multi-annual financial framework (MFF) 2014-2020.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Bankinter signed an agreement to finance the investment projects – especially innovation projects – of SME and midcap companies (with up to 3,000 employees) in the industrial and service sectors. The EIB will contribute with €200 million and Bankinter will match this EIB loan with the same amount.

The European Commission and Afghan Minister of Finance, Omar Zakhilwal, will sign two financing agreements worth €185 million to support new programmes in health and agriculture on 28 of January.

The European Commission reminds on the European Data Protection Day 2013 its proposal to reform the EU’s data protection rules launched one year ago. According to the Commission, strong, reliable, consistently applied rules in this field will make data processing safer, cheaper and strengthen people’s confidence.

The European Commission announced the two winners of a competition of Future and Emerging Technologies (FET), which will receive one billion euros each, to deliver 10 years of world-beating science at the crossroads of science and technology. "Graphene" will investigate and exploit the unique properties of a revolutionary carbon-based material. The "Human Brain Project" will create the world's largest experimental facility for developing the most detailed model of the brain.

The Prospects for Agricultural Markets and Income in the EU published by the European Commission shows a relatively positive outlook for arable crops in the EU, as a result of solid world demand and firm prices.

The Internal Market Committee in the European Parliament voted to allow authorities to accept not just the lowest bid, but the "most economically advantageous tender" with regard to the "utility" services. The Committee highlighted that the new rules on utility service contracts should also aim to make it easier for small and medium-sized enterprises to bid for them and to encourage innovation.

The European Commission highlights that thanks to the regulatory pressure the percentage of number of women on boards ranged from 13.7% to 15.8% in January 2012. In addition, the Commission stressed that the increase in the share of women on boards has been recorded in all but three EU countries: Bulgaria, Poland and Ireland.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) announced the lending of €250 million to the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development to finance smaller projects promoted by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), mid-cap companies and municipalities in Croatia.