European Union News - Internal Market

The European Commission presented a proposal to amend the existing accounting legislation in order to improve the transparency of certain large companies on social and environmental matters. According to the proposal, large companies with more than 500 employees would be required to disclose relevant and material environmental and social information in their annual reports.

The European Commission published the EU-wide test results for horsemeat DNA and phenylbutazone made in the wake of the horsemeat scandal. The results have revealed that less than 5% of the tested products had horse DNA and that about 0.5% of the equine carcasses tested were found to be contaminated with bute.

The European Parliament adopted in plenary session a banking reform package that should spur growth, by making it easier for banks to lend to small firms that drive the real economy. This reform includes measures such as capping banker's bonuses to curb speculative risk-taking, stepping up capital provisions to help banks cope better with crises, and stiffen supervision.

The actions brought by Spain and Italy against the Council’s decision authorising enhanced cooperation in the area of the single European patent have been dismissed by the European Court of Justice because it as held to be unfounded Spain and Italy’s argument that the protection conferred by that unitary patent would not be advantageous in terms of uniformity.

The President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, suggested to explore with the budgetary authority the possibility of frontloading future MFF assistance for Cyprus, in his letter to reply the letter he received from President of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, regarding EU funding for Cyprus. In his letter, Mr Anastasiades suggested that Cyprus might be given increased allocations under both cohesion and rural development policy. However, Mr Barroso replied that no unallocated margin was left in these headings under the European Council approach.

Eurostat published its figures regarding tourism in the EU in 2011. In 2011, EU residents made 1.0 billion holiday trips, of which around one quarter were trips outside the country of residence. Highest share of outbound holiday trips in Luxembourg and Belgium and Spain was the top foreign destination of EU residents.

The European General Court partially annulled the European Commission's decision from 2008 prohibited 24 European collecting societies from restricting competition, in particular by limiting their ability to offer their services to authors and commercial users outside their domestic territory. According to the Court, the Commission has not provided sufficient evidence.

The EU Council's 'Coreper' committee (EU Committee of Member States' Permanent Representatives) backed the EU Open Data rules as proposed by the European Commission. The revision of the 2003 Public Sector Information Directive would make all generally accessible (that is, non-personal) public sector information available for re-use.