European Union News - Internal Market

The European Commission has temporarily approved a conversion of existing state owned preference shares of €4,465 billion into equity and a liquidity guarantee amounting to €19 billion in favour of the Spanish BFA group and its subsidiary Bankia. With the now approved conversion of preference shares into equity, FROB holds 100% of BFA.

New rules aimed at equipping the EU budget with simpler financial rules while securing sound treatment of European taxpayers' money were agreed by the Council and the European Parliament. This financial regulation contains all the principles and rules for the implementation of the EU budget and is applicable to all areas of expenditure and all revenue.

The European Commission considers that the deployment of KETs is highly relevant for both industrial competitiveness and for responding to today’s great societal challenges. Therefore, it published a Communication in which calls for unleashing the huge potential of these technologies for jobs.

Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the Eurogroup, has confirmed through a statement that the Spanish authorities have formally requested he financial assistance. In addition, he also welcomed the formal application for financial assistance from the Cypriot authorities. Cyprus will hold the Presidency of the Council of the EU from 1 of July 2012.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has granted a €500 million loan to Spanish rail company ADIF to finance the construction of the Y Vasca high-speed rail line. This is the first instalment of a total €1 billion EIB loan for the project. The loan will help to finance the construction of 140 km of rail line.

The winner of Europe's "Tech All Stars" prize is Cognicor Technologies, a Spanish start-up offering an automated complaint resolution service. This competition is aimed at finding the best web start-up and is awarded by Vice President Neelie Kroes on behalf of the European Commission during the Digital Agenda Assembly celebrated in Brussels from 21 of June to 22 of June.

The European Commission has decided to refer Spain to the European Court of Justice because it imposes barriers to imports of heavy goods vehicles in breach of EU rules on the free movement of goods. According to the Commission, the Spanish authorities refuse to authorise for commercial use the first vehicle in road haulage operators' fleets if it is more than five months old, thus, in breach of EU rules.

The Committee in the European Parliament responsible for the report regarding Anti-Countefeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), the International Trade Committee, recommended to vote no to this agreement in plenary session. The vote in this Committee was divided: nineteen MEPs voted against ACTA, and twelve in favour, with no abstentions.

EU Ministers agreed in paving the way for the start of negotiations with the European Parliament with a view to the swift adoption for the draft directive on the review of accounting requirements for companies. This draft directive is one of the priority actions of the Single Market Act for growth creation to be adopted by the Council and the European Parliament in 2012.

The European Commission has requested Slovenia to notify within the next two months the measures it is taking to implement EU rules for defence procurement. The deadline for implementing the Directive in question was 20 August 2011. Slovenia has not yet communicated any measures to do so.

The European Commission published a Communication that proposes a renewed strategy for eight regions: the four French overseas departments, the overseas Collectivity of St Martin; the Portuguese autonomous regions of the Azores and Madeira and the Spanish Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands. The Commission highlighted that the aim is to support the outermost regions realise their potential above all through diversification and modernisation of their economies.