European Union News

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted a €500 million loan to Spanish rail company ADIF to finance the construction of the Y Vasca high-speed rail line. This is the first instalment of a total €1 billion EIB loan for the project. The loan will help to finance the construction of 140 km of rail line.

The European Commission will recover a total of €436 million of CAP expenditure from the Member States. This money returns to the EU budget because of non-compliance with EU rules or inadequate control procedures on agricultural expenditure. In addition, in order to take account of the financial pressures being felt by some Member States due to the financial crisis, the reimbursement of disallowed funds will be up to 18 months for some Member States. The first Member State to apply for this facility is Greece.

The winner of Europe's "Tech All Stars" prize is Cognicor Technologies, a Spanish start-up offering an automated complaint resolution service. This competition is aimed at finding the best web start-up and is awarded by Vice President Neelie Kroes on behalf of the European Commission during the Digital Agenda Assembly celebrated in Brussels from 21 of June to 22 of June.

The European Commission has decided to refer Spain to the European Court of Justice because it imposes barriers to imports of heavy goods vehicles in breach of EU rules on the free movement of goods. According to the Commission, the Spanish authorities refuse to authorise for commercial use the first vehicle in road haulage operators' fleets if it is more than five months old, thus, in breach of EU rules.

The Committee in the European Parliament responsible for the report regarding Anti-Countefeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), the International Trade Committee, recommended to vote no to this agreement in plenary session. The vote in this Committee was divided: nineteen MEPs voted against ACTA, and twelve in favour, with no abstentions.

The campaign with the slogan "Science: it's a girl thing" was launched by the Commission on 21 of June with the aim at getting more girls interested in science and encourage more women to choose research as a career. The three year campaign will seek to get teenage girls interested in studying science, technology, engineering and maths.

EU Ministers agreed in paving the way for the start of negotiations with the European Parliament with a view to the swift adoption for the draft directive on the review of accounting requirements for companies. This draft directive is one of the priority actions of the Single Market Act for growth creation to be adopted by the Council and the European Parliament in 2012.

The European Commission has requested Slovenia to notify within the next two months the measures it is taking to implement EU rules for defence procurement. The deadline for implementing the Directive in question was 20 August 2011. Slovenia has not yet communicated any measures to do so.

The European Commission presented the EU Strategy towards the Eradication of Trafficking in Human Beings (2012-2016). The strategy includes 40 measures that include the establishment of national law enforcement units specialised in human trafficking and the creation of joint European investigation teams to prosecute cross-border trafficking cases.

The 2011 annual report on the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) activities was presented to the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs of the European Parliament. The report includes a list a priorities for 2012 among which there are raising awareness or focusing in technological developments, especially those connected to the Internet and associated policies.

The European Commission published a Communication that proposes a renewed strategy for eight regions: the four French overseas departments, the overseas Collectivity of St Martin; the Portuguese autonomous regions of the Azores and Madeira and the Spanish Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands. The Commission highlighted that the aim is to support the outermost regions realise their potential above all through diversification and modernisation of their economies.

The report presented by a High Level Group recommends a gradual opening of EU road haulage market. The High Level Group considers that allowing a step-by-step opening of the market will increase the flexibility of operations and competition in national markets, whilst ensuring fair competition and maintaining adequate social norms.