European Union News

The European Commission presented a Communication which takes stock of the current state of the EU customs union, identifies the challenges that it currently faces, and sets out priority actions for ensuring its future evolution.

The European Commission launched a public consultation on the future development of unconventional fossil fuels such as shale gas in Europe. All interested individuals, organisations and public authorities are welcome to share their views before 20 March 2013 on the possible opportunities and challenges that may arise from the development of such projects and on the best ways to address the challenges identified so far.

The Council has called for stronger coordination, unity and solidarity at EU level and for a more robust EU external aviation policy in order to strengthen the competitiveness of the European aviation industry while supporting the interests of European consumers.

The new EU rules which include that insurers in Europe will have to charge the same prices to women and men for the same insurance products without distinction on the grounds of sex, will enter into force from 21 of December.

Werner Hoyer, president of the European Investment Bank (EIB), and Staffan Nilsson, President of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) agreed that long-term investment can significantly boost growth in times of crisis and constrained public budgets combined with private deleveraging. Both the EIB and the EESC agreed on the need to strengthen the EIB's relations with civil society, and the EESC already strongly supports the actions of the EIB.

The European Commission adopted new Broadband Guidelines that intends to help Member States achieve the objectives of the EU Digital Agenda. The new guidelines focus in technological neutrality, ultra-fast broadband networks, step change to connectivity, reinforcement of open access, and transparency.

The European Commission adopted nine regulatory and implementing technical standards to complement the obligations defined under the Regulation on OTC derivatives, central counterparties (CCPs) and trade repositories (the so-called European Markets Infrastructure Regulation – EMIR). The technical standards will enter into force on the twentieth day following publication in the EU's Official Journal.

MEPs at the Transport Committee amended in a vote the map and guidelines for developing the Transeuropean Transport Networks (TEN-T) in 2014-2020. MEPs highlighted that TEN-T funding should help primarily to build or upgrade cross-border sections and missing links so as to remove remaining bottlenecks in the core network by 2030.

The proposal to revise the Tobacco Products Directive presented by the European Commission bans the use of cigarettes, roll-your-own tobacco (RYO) and smokeless tobacco products with characterising flavours and makes the use of large pictorial health warnings mandatory on cigarettes and roll-your-own tobacco (RYO).

The Communication adopted by the European Commission urges industry to deliver innovative solutions for greater access to online content. In parallel, the Commission is undertaking the review of the EU framework for copyright legal to be completed in 2014.

The Internal Market Committee approved the new rules on public procurement. MEPs agreed that public procurement should be greener and more socially responsible. They also proposed to establish a "procurement passport" to show that a firm fulfils the criteria without having to send in documentation every time they make a bid.

The president of the European Commission announced that the prize money from the Nobel Peace Prize that was recently awarded to the European Union, will be used to help 23,000 children affected by wars and conflicts in the world. The decision was unanimously taken by the Presidents of the Commission, the Council and the European Parliament.