European Union News - Economic & Financial Affairs

A new report showed that the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector is one of the most research intensive sectors in the EU economy. In 2009 the ICT sector accounted for 17% of the EU's total business R&D expenditure, while only representing 4% of the EU's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This share of GDP - stable over the last few years - amounted to a value added of €470 billion in 2009 and represented over 6.1 million jobs.

The European Commission's 2012 State Aid Scoreboard revealed that the volume of national support to the financial sector actually taken by banks between October 2008 and 31 December 2011 amounted to around €1.6 trillion (13% of EU GDP). Moreover, reflecting both a low uptake by companies and the budgetary constraints of most EU Member States, support to the real economy on the basis of temporary crisis rules dropped to €4.8 billion in 2011, a fall of more than 50% compared with 2010.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has signed a loan agreement with Banco de Sabadell to finance the investment projects of SMEs and midcaps. The projects eligible for financing will mostly be located in Spain and to a lesser degree in other EU countries. EIB and Banco de Sabadell will contribute with €200 million each.

Werner Hoyer, president of the European Investment Bank (EIB), and Staffan Nilsson, President of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) agreed that long-term investment can significantly boost growth in times of crisis and constrained public budgets combined with private deleveraging. Both the EIB and the EESC agreed on the need to strengthen the EIB's relations with civil society, and the EESC already strongly supports the actions of the EIB.

The European Commission adopted nine regulatory and implementing technical standards to complement the obligations defined under the Regulation on OTC derivatives, central counterparties (CCPs) and trade repositories (the so-called European Markets Infrastructure Regulation – EMIR). The technical standards will enter into force on the twentieth day following publication in the EU's Official Journal.

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 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.