European Union News - Internal Market

The European Commission decided to ask Court of Justice of the EU to fine Poland, The Netherlands, Luxembourg and Slovenia for not implementing defence procurement rules. In particular, the Commission refers this four countries to the Court of Justice for failing to fully implement the Directive on procurement of arms, munitions and war material (and related works and services) for defence purposes, as well as the procurement of sensitive supplies, works and services for security purposes.

The European Commission presented the Single Market Act II with the aim to boost a strong, deep and integrated Single Market. The Act II includes twelve priority actions which are concentrated on four main drivers for growth, employment and confidence: integrated networks, cross border mobility of citizens and businesses, the digital economy, and actions that reinforce cohesion and consumer benefits.

The European Parliament group leaders adopted on 2 of October a negotiating position on full Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). MEPs stressed that the power transfers to EU level necessary for a real EMU should be accompanied by stronger democratic legitimacy. They also requested more transparency and representativeness for national budget and economic policy coordination.

The European Commission received the recommendations from the High-level Expert group on reforming the structure of the EU banking sector. The group recommends among other things a mandatory separation of proprietary trading and other high-risk trading activities, the possible additional separation of activities conditional on the recovery and resolution plan, and possible amendments to the use of bail-in instruments as a resolution tool.

The European Commission adopted two pieces of legislation to permit that flavouring substances in food will become even safer and more transparent. Used to alter the taste and/or odour of food, flavourings substances are used in a wide variety of foods, such as soft drinks, confectionery, cereals, cakes and yoghurts, and have now been evaluated at EU level. Now, only those flavouring substances featuring on the approved lists will be permitted for use by the food industry.

Eurostat published a short publication presenting past trends and latest data for each of the headline indicators of the strategy at EU and Member State level. These indicators show progresses but also that there is still work to do to achieving the strategy's goals. The Europe 2020 strategy aims at establishing a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy with high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion.

The European Commission is looking to cut red tape for Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs). It is therefore launching a consultation process for them and their representative organisations, in order to help to identify the top ten EU legislative acts considered most burdensome by micro-companies and SMEs. The public consultation will be running until 21 December 2012.