European Union News - Internal Market

Eurostat, published its figures for the volume of retail trade in the EU and in the euro area. According to such data, in April 2012 it decreased by 1.1% in the European Union compared with March of the same year. It also fell by 1,0% in the euro area for the same period.

The European Commission on behalf the EU started a visa liberalisation dialogue with Georgia that marks an important political milestone in the EU-Georgian relations. With this dialogue, the EU is living up to its commitment to closer cooperation and increased mobility in a secure environment with its Eastern neighbours.

According to the assessment made by the European Court of Auditors (ECA), there is a strong demarcation between the management of financial and operational risks in the European Central Bank (ECB). In addition, the annual accounts of the ECB contain only brief information about certain risk management issues.

The European Commission proposes new rules to ensure people and businesses can use their own national electronic identification schemes (e-IDs) to access public services in other EU countries where e-IDs are available. In particular, the proposal's objectives are to enable cross-border electronic signatures and to get more value out of electronic identification in Digital Single Market.

The European Commission is gathering comments on the application of EU state aid rules to the public funding of broadband networks through a public consultation opened until the 3rd of September 2012. The Commission intends to adopt definitive Broadband Guidelines by December 2012.

All three committees advising the International Trade Committee rejected last 31 of May the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). Their positions are not binding on the Trade Committee, which adopts its own position as lead committee on 21 June.

The European Commission asked to Austria and Poland to notify the measures they are taking to transpose EU rules on defence procurement within the next two months. According to the Commission, if the Directive is not fully implemented in all Member States, companies and taxpayers alike cannot reap the benefits of easier access to a transparent and open defence market.

The Competitiveness Council meeting ended with an agreement among ministers regarding the “COSME programme”. All delegations underlined the importance of the programme to contribute to alleviate the credit crunch conditions for European business provoked by the economic crisis. The agreement paves the way to start negotiations on the programme with the European Parliament for its timely adoption.

The country-specific recommendations issued by the European Commission aims at enhancing financial stability, boosting growth and creating employment across the EU. Among the key messages that emerge from this second set of annual country-specific recommendations, Member States are on the whole taking the necessary action to restore sustainability, but in several cases consolidation should be more growth-friendly.