European Union News

The European Commission published on November, 13th, a Proposal for a Council Directive  amending Directive 2003/48/EC on taxation of savings income in the form of interest payments.

The European Commission welcomed the political agreement reached in the Agriculture Council, held on November 18th and 19th, on its proposal for a European Union-wide scheme to provide fruit and vegetables to school children. European funds worth €90 million every year will pay for the purchase and distribution of fresh fruit and vegetables to schools. This money will be matched by national and private funds in those Member States which chose to make use of the programme.

The European Commission has delivered its Annual Report on monitoring the Application of Community Law. This report shows how the Commission is translating Better Regulation objectives into real actions, and assesses the results of EU law enforcement and infringement proceedings, also analysing the ways in which the EU informs businesses and citizens about EU la enforcement.

A European Commission report recently published shows that mobile workers from the countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007 had a positive impact on Member States' economies and have not led to serious disturbances on their labour markets. For that reason, the Commission asks for the elimination of worker's mobility restrictions.

The Commission published in the Official Journal of the European Union, OJEU, on November, 19th, 2008 some new calls for proposals under the 2008 People work programme and under the 2009 Cooperation and Ideas work programmes of the 7th EC Framework Programme of the European Community for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration Activities (2007-2013) and under the 2009 work programme of the 7th Framework Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) for Nuclear Research and Training Activities (2007-2011).

The European Commission's latest State Aid Scoreboard shows that Member States are increasingly using the possibilities offered by the recently revised EU state aid rules to better target their aid. Member States awarded on average 80% of their aid to horizontal objectives in 2007, compared with around 50% in the mid-1990s with increased spending on R&D and environmental aid. Faced with the current financial crisis, coordinated action by Member States and the Commission has ensured that support schemes for the financial sector could be implemented quickly in compliance with EU state aid rules.

The European Commission has launched a public consultation on control structures in audit firms and on the possible ways forward. The purpose of the consultation is to examine possible ways for finding catalysts to stimulate the emergence of new players in the international audit market. This may include deregulation of the capitalisation of audit firms, unbundling, and other catalysts related to human capital of audit firms. The Commission invites stakeholders to give their views on the issues involved by February, 28th, 2009.

The Annual report, published on November, 12th, 2008, presents the activities of the EU Solidarity Fund in 2007 covering, as in previous reports, three areas: the treatment of new applications received in the course of 2007, monitoring of the ongoing implementation of grants, and the assessment of implementation reports with a view to preparing these for closure.

Commission Recommendation (C (2008)/5737) on the active inclusion of people excluded from the labour market, published in the Official Journal of the European Union, OJEU, on November, 18th, highlights the persistence of poverty and joblessness and the growing complexities of multiple disadvantages, calling for comprehensive, integrated policies.

The European Commission has proposed a new Council Regulation recasting the EU fisheries control system. The result would be a completely modernized system for inspection, monitoring, control, surveillance and enforcement of Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) rules throughout the market chain, from catch to the retailer.

The summit of the main countries and institutions concerned by the financial crisis, held in Washington on November, 15th 2008, brought together the Heads of State and Government of the G20, the Secretary General of the United Nations, the Director General of the IMF, the President of the World Bank, the President of the European Commission and the President of the Financial Stability Forum. They jointly adopted a common declaration aiming to strengthen cooperation between the countries in order to tackle this crises situation.

The European Commission published in the Official Journal of the European Union, OJEU, on November, 17th, 2008, the codified version of Decision 2008/861/EC setting the list of European ports for the purposes of statistical returns in respect of carriage of goods and passengers by sea.