European Union News - European Union

Despite of the declaration, signed a year ago by all member states and Parliament to avoid any shortfall in payment appropriations for 2012, Parliament's President Martin Schulz highlighted that a minority of member states are still refusing to agree on an amending budget for 2012. According to Mr Schulz, these member states' refusal to agree on an amending budget for 2012 was the reason why budget negotiations broke down on November.

The European Parliament approved a resolution which asks for more accountability if powers are transferred to the EU level to strengthen economic and monetary union. The resolution also calls for the European Stability Mechanism and the Fiscal Compact to be integrated into the EU treaties as soon as possible, thereby removing them from the intergovernmental realm.

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) should be a key player in the process of helping to bring citizens closer to the EU project and providing the platform for the institutions to listen and better take into account the views of its citizens, as means to the full implementation of Article 11 of the Lisbon Treaty.

The European Commission formally accepted on behalf of the European Union the Nobel Peace prize money which is approximate of €930,000. Moreover, the European institution confirmed that the prize money will be allocated to projects that support children affected by war and conflicts.

Jointly the European Youth Forum and the European Union organise a contest in order to invite four young Europeans to come to Oslo to attend the official Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony. The winners will be invited by the Presidents of the European Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament, to be part of the official delegation of the European Union that will travel to Oslo to receive this year's Peace Prize.

Leaders of the euro area welcomed the significant progress made towards a full staff level agreement between Greece and the Troika on updated programme conditionality. However, the Eurogroup also called on the Greek authorities to implement the few remaining prior actions as a matter of urgency so as to allow for a swift conclusion of the review. Moreover, in a meeting held in the European Parliament, MEPs stressed to the Spanish finance minister, Luis de Guindos, the need to develop a better policy mix in response to the crisis, with less focus on austerity measures and more on growth and investment.

The European Parliament announced that the negotiations on next year's EU budget were suspended on 10 November due to disagreement between Parliament and Council over possible solutions to counter the lack of remaining funds in the 2012 budget. Parliament and Council have until midnight on 13 November to reach an agreement.

The last call form the European Research Council (ERC) for junior researchers recorded a total of 3,329 proposals, reaching almost 50% increase in relation to the 2,169 proposals registered for last year's call for proposals. This is the third consecutive year in which there is a significant increase in received applications.

The negotiation box on the EU long-term budget for 2014-2020 presented by the Cypriot Presidency is not supported by the European Commission nor by the European Parliament. Parliament's negotiators expressed their concern on the proposed cut of €50 billion as compared to the Commission's initial proposal.