European Union News

23 European highly innovative demonstration projects in the field of energy will receive €1.2 billion from the first call of the NER300 Programme. These projects will cover a wide range of renewable technologies such as bioenergy, concentrated solar power, geothermal, wind and ocean energy resources, or distributed renewable management – i.e., smart grids.

Despite the digital economy is growing at seven times the rate of the rest of the economy, its full potential development is still being refrained by a fragmented pan-European policy framework. In order to tackle these barriers for development, the European Commission has adopted seven priorities for the digital economy and society to be implemented over the period 2013-2014.

On the invitation of German Federal Education Minister, the European Commission and eight Member states have signed a memorandum of cooperation to promote joint actions in the field of vocational education and training in Europe. Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain
are the first countries to sign this European initiative which other Member States will soon join.
 

The new European environmental rules on marine fuels came into force on December 17th 2012. The aim of these new standards is to improve the environmental conditions of marine corridors by reducing air pollution and its impact on human health.

The European Commission underlined that new EU VAT rules enter into force from 1st January 2013. These rules are aimed at making life much simpler for businesses across Europe. Also, from 1st January 2013 enter into force stronger rules to fight tax evasion.

The European Commission announced that it will start a pilot programme that will suppose that grants of up to €2.4 million will be awarded to universities or research institutions in less developed regions in Europe. According to the Commission, this initiative will support universities and other eligible organisations to achieve the level of research excellence needed to be competitive at international level.

The Council adopted the regulation with a view to implementing enhanced cooperation in the area of the creation of unitary patent protection and the regulation on its translation arrangements.

The second EU-US review of the implementation of the Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme (TFTP) shows that more than two years after its entry into force, this Programmes and its safeguards have been properly put in place. Nevertheless, the review pointed out that the on-going process of deleting data older than 5 years is an issue that requires further monitoring.

The EU and Singapore reached an agreement which is, according to the European Commission, one of the most comprehensive the EU has ever negotiated and will create new opportunities for companies from Europe and Singapore to do business together. After the EU-Korea FTA, the EU-Singapore FTA will be the EU's second ambitious agreement with a key Asian trading partner.

According to the Eurostat first estimate for the third quarter of 2012, the number of persons employed decreased by 0.2% in both the euro area and the EU compared with the previous quarter. Eurostat stressed that these quarterly data on employment provide a picture of labour input consistent with the output and income measure of national accounts.

The European Commission presented a Communication with measures aimed to minimize the problems encountered by citizens and businesses moving cars between Member States and to remove obstacles for cross-border rentals, among other issues related to the car taxation.

The European Commission announced the approval of the last pre-accession and transition assistance programme for Croatia, which will focus on strengthening administrative capacity for an efficient justice system and the protection of fundamental rights.