European Union News - European Union

Statistics concerning judicial activity in 2012 regarding the Court of Justice, the General Court and the Civil Service Tribunal show that a slight decrease in the overall number of cases brought before the three courts. These statistics also show that the duration of proceedings before the Court of Justice and the General Court continues to decrease significantly.

The European Commission confirmed that on 5 March, Latvia formally asked the Commission to deliver an extraordinary convergence report with the aim of joining the euro from 1st January 2014. The report will assess if the country has achieved the five convergence criteria as defined in the Maastricht Treaty for joining the euro.

The results of a European Parliament latest opinion poll show that Europeans are increasingly interested in European affairs, while the economic crisis remains a key concern, as it has done since 2008.

The European Commission is gathering views with regard to the new open data portal recently launched in beta version. According to this European institution, this new Data Portal provides access to open public data from the European Commission. The Commission also highlights that this Data Portal promotes and builds literacy around Europe’s data.

Following a first reading agreement with the European Parliament, the Council adopted regulations laying down specific measures for agriculture in the outermost regions of the EU and in the smaller Aegean islands. Among other things, a specific provision has been added to the regulation allowing a one-off payment of €40 millions in 2013 in order to allow the sector of banana production in outermost regions to adapt to the reduction of banana tariffs following the latest trade agreements.

A new Eurobarometer survey published by the European Commission shows that only 36% of respondents feel well informed about the rights that EU citizenship entails. Europeans are most familiar with their rights to free movement (88%) and to petition EU institutions (89%). Meanwhile two-thirds consider that free movement of people within the EU brings economic benefits to their country.

The European Commission published the Internal Market Scoreboard that shows how the EU average transposition deficit – the percentage of Internal Market Directives that have not been transposed into national law in time – has decreased from 6.3% in 1997 to a record new level of 0.6%.

The European Commission published the General Report on the Activities of the European Union 2012 which presents the actions taken to address all the challenges of the past year. The General Report is published every year by the European Commission and it gives an account of the EU's major initiatives and achievements throughout the year.

Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council highlighted that the agreement reached by the EU leaders on the next multi-annual budget, it is a balanced and growth-oriented budget for Europe for the rest of the decade. The European Economic and Social Committee President, Staffan Nilsson, stressed that it is good a deal is struck, however he also added that the results are disappointing.

According to the European Parliament Vice-President Othmar Karas, national parliaments must play a much more active role in the European Semester because, although it shapes recommendations in almost all policy fields, it is elected representatives who ultimately must take responsibility for decisions.

The Memorandum of Understanding milestones for January, agreed between Greece and the Troika, have been achieved. The Eurogroup in particular welcomed the adoption of an income tax reform by the Greek authorities. Mr Jeroen Dijsselbloem has been appointed new president.

The European Parliament adopted a resolution that points out that the Eurozone is unique in having a single currency, but no common bond market. The resolution keeps up pressure on the Commission and member states to explore all avenues for pooling sovereign debt.