European Union News - Internal Market

According to recent data published by the EU Statistical Office, Eurostat, the rate of inflation in the eurozone fell by 1.6% in December to 1.1% in January 2009, while it decreased from 2,2% to 1.7% in the Twenti-Seven

The Official Journal of the European Union, OJEU, has published on February 27th 2009, Commission's authorisation for the announced concentration between Goldman Sachs and Constellation Energy Commodities.

The European Commission considers that a common European approach is presently needed to deal with the treatment of impaired assets, to make sure that foreseeable losses are disclosed and properly handled and banks can use their capital to resume their normal function of lending to the economy instead of fearing they would need this capital to cushion against possible losses.

The European Commission continued its work to implement the European Economic Recovery Plan with a special meeting with the representatives of trades unions and employers at EU level. It showed a wide consensus that the internal market and the Recovery Plan provided the right springboard for tackling the crisis and taking action on jobs in Europe.

The "IMI Awareness-Raising Conference" taking place in Brussels on February 25th 2009 marks the IMI Services Directive pilot project launch, a key point in time, as the first exchanges of information on services in Internal Market Information system (IMI) will start as from March 2009.

The Commission has published in the OJEU on February 24th 2009, its Communication 2009/C 45/02, setting out the enforcement priorities that will guide the Commission's action in applying Article 82 to exclusionary conduct by dominant undertakings. Commission's guidelines include the general approach applied to assess exclusionary conducts as well as some specific forms of abuse which could lead to market distortions.

According to the European Commission’s latest Internal Market Scoreboard, Member States continue to perform well in implementing agreed Internal Market rules into national law on time. On average only 1.0% of Internal Market Directives for which the implementation deadline has passed are not currently written into national law, which means that most Member States remain in line with the new 1.0% target agreed by Heads of State.

The Official Journal of the European Union published on February 20th 2009 a prior notification for concentration between the undertakings Lagardère, Sumitomo and HFG. Interested third parties must submit their opinions on the announced operation by March 2nd 2009.

The European Commission has launched a public consultation on the content of a possible European Foundation Statute, the issues and difficulties foundations face in their  cross-border operations, and on how a Statute might affect donors' and founders' attitudes. Interested parties may submit their responses until May 15th 2009, which will be taken into account in assessing the need for and the impact of a potential Statute.

The Official Journal of the European Union has published on February 14th, 2009, informations from the Commission on its decision to open proceedings in the case of concentration communicated by Lufthansa and SN Holding (Brussels Airlines). Interested third parties must submit their observations not later that fifteen days after publication.