European Union News

The Spring forecast 2012-13 published by the European Commission shows that the EU economy is estimated to be currently in a mild recession, following the output contraction in late 2011. However, it is expected an acceleration in global growth, and thus it is foreseen a slowly recovery in the second half of the year on.

According to the judgement of the Court of Justice of the EU, the Netherlands failed to fulfil its obligations under the Directive on the award of public contracts because the province of North Holland laid down in the technical specifications (which determine the subject-matter of the contract) that certain specific labels used already for such province, or at least, labels based on comparable or identical criteria concerning the tea or coffee to be supplied should be used.

Ministers at the Education, Youth, Culture and Sports Council meeting adopted the decision which officially states Donostia-San Sebastián (Spain) and Wrocław (Poland) as European Capitals of Culture for 2016. According to the Council, the cities chosen must demonstrate current involvement in European artistic and cultural life, alongside their own specific features.

The European Parliament adopted a regulation which will sharply fall the cost of using mobile phones, smartphones and tablets when travelling abroad within the EU. In addition, the regulation will enable clients to buy roaming services from suppliers other than their home service suppliers and open up the market to new entrants, so as to boost competition and thus reduce prices.

The Council adopted a directive aimed a creating a system for the interconnection of central, commercial and companies registers and at improving access to up-to-date and trustworthy information on companies. The new rules are a response to the increasing demand for access to information on companies in a cross-border context.

The European Parliament approved a report which asks to national authorities to reorient EU aviation policy to pay special attention to the needs of regional airports. According to MEPs, boosting regional development and reduce congestion at major air hubs could be unlocked by integrating them in the Trans-European Transport Networks.

According to the European Commission, differences in national VAT rules on vouchers lead to serious market inefficiencies. For this reason, it proposes new rules to ensure the uniform tax treatment of all types of vouchers across all Member States.

The European leaders in deployment of telehealth as they have succeeded in integrating telehealth into standard patient treatments, are Denmark, the UK and some regions of Italy and Spain. Telehealth is healthcare empowered by Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Such healthcare supports independent living of individuals and contributes to more efficient health and social care services delivery, according to the Commission.

The Institute of European Environment Policy (IEEP) published a study financed by the European Commission that shows the need to change to be able to meet the new 2020 biodiversity targets for agriculture, and this requires action on several different fronts. Indeed, the report suggests to address five main issues.
 

The Communication on State Aid Modernisation (SAM) adopted by the European Commission proposes focusing state aid policy on facilitating well-designed aid targeted at market failures and objectives of common European interest. It sets objectives of an ambitious reform package. The main elements of the reform shall be in place by the end of 2013.

According to Eurocontrol, the first three months of 2012 saw a total of 2.12 million flights in Europe. With these figures, the Eurocontrol forecast is the decrease of the European flights. On the other hand, MEPs also questioned in a debate the Commission's recent proposals to address increasing air traffic congestion around and in Europe's main airports.

The European Commission launched on the Europe Day the broadest public consultation ever and asks citizens to set future agenda. The consultation will be open for four months during which time the public will be asked about the obstacles they face in exercising their rights as EU citizens, be it when travelling in Europe, when voting or standing as a candidate in elections or when shopping online.