European Union News

The European Commission asked to Austria and Poland to notify the measures they are taking to transpose EU rules on defence procurement within the next two months. According to the Commission, if the Directive is not fully implemented in all Member States, companies and taxpayers alike cannot reap the benefits of easier access to a transparent and open defence market.

Commissioner for Development announced the launching of a new initiative to fight discrimination in developing countries. This new package will be available for NGOs and civil society groups to tackle incidences of any kind of discrimination on the ground. The funding will be launched through the Commission's Call for Proposals in 2013.

According to the figures published by Eurostat, the euro area seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 11.0% in April 2012, stable compared with March. With regard to the EU unemployment rate was 10.3% in April (in March reached the 10.2%).

The European Commission published a report that shows how 'citizenship education' is already integrated into primary and secondary school curricula in all EU Member States. The report also shows that improving knowledge and skills for teaching the subject remains a challenge, however, with only two countries (UK - England and Slovakia) offering training for prospective specialist teachers in initial teacher education programmes.

The Council adopted a decision approving the signing and provisional application of a multipartite free trade agreement with Colombia and Peru. This agreement remains open for signatures by Bolivia and Ecuador. In addition, the Council also launched free trade negotiations with Vietnam.

MEPs at Transport Committee in the European Parliament approved a report on the “rail recast” reform plans asking for separate accounting for railway undertakings and rail network managers, non-discriminatory access to rail paths and service facilities and transparent pricing.

Eurostat published figures in order to compare the four BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and the EU. The figures published show that even though the BRIC countries have certain aspects in common, such as large populations, large land coverage and rapid economic growth, there are equally large economic and social differences between them.

Environment Commissioner announced a new approach to assessing toxic chemical mixtures in which the Commission undertakes to address potential risks associated with chemical mixtures are properly understood and assessed. Having into account that the number of potential chemical combinations is very large, the first challenge under the new approach will be to identify priority mixtures.

The Competitiveness Council meeting ended with an agreement among ministers regarding the “COSME programme”. All delegations underlined the importance of the programme to contribute to alleviate the credit crunch conditions for European business provoked by the economic crisis. The agreement paves the way to start negotiations on the programme with the European Parliament for its timely adoption.

The country-specific recommendations issued by the European Commission aims at enhancing financial stability, boosting growth and creating employment across the EU. Among the key messages that emerge from this second set of annual country-specific recommendations, Member States are on the whole taking the necessary action to restore sustainability, but in several cases consolidation should be more growth-friendly.

The European Commission informed that in May 2012, the Business Climate Indicator (BCI) for the euro area decreased by 0.26 points to -0.77. In addition to this, it also informed that the Economic sentiment falls sharply in both the EU and the euro area.

The special report published by the European Court of Auditors (ECA) highlights that the modernisation of agricultural holdings has greater potential if funds were better targeted to EU priorities and Member States’ specific needs. In addition to this, it concludes that the procedures for establishing the viability and sustainability of a holding or investment project were not effective in all Member States.