European Union News - Internal Market

MEPs adopted the single Euro payments area (SEPA) regulation which lays down common rules and standards for euro credit and direct debit transactions among banks. According to them, thanks to this new regulation cross-border bank transfers should become faster, cheaper and safer for EU citizens.

The first Alert Mechanism Report published by the Commission on the EU's new rules on economic governance considers that the macroeconomic situation in the following countries needs to be investigated further: Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Hungary, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK.

The European Commission has launched a public consultation in order to get stakeholders' views on the application of the 2004 EU Guidelines on state aid to maritime transport. In light of the comments received, the Commission will decide afterwards whether the Guidelines need to be revised. Contributions can be made until 14 May 2012.

The European Commission published its figures for the unemployment in December 2011 which show that the number of unemployed people in the EU stood at 23.8 million, i.e. 1.1 million more than in March 2011, when the declining trend in unemployment was reversed. Moreover, youth unemployment rate did not rise further in December 2011 compared to November; it stands at 22.1%.

The European Commission approved under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of Motorola Mobility, a developer of smartphones and tablets, by Google, the world's largest internet search and search advertising company and developer of Android.

Eurostat published that the EU exports to China up by 21% and imports by 5% in the first ten months of 2011. These figures show that despite the general decline in EU exports in 2009, EU exports to China continued to increase. The EU trade deficit with China increased from 49 billions in 2000 to 169 billions in 2010.

The 12th summit between the EU and India ended with the commitment of common determination to move the EU-India relationship forward, especially in the field of trade. In addition, it has been recently published that the EU trade in goods with India increased by 20% in the first ten months of 2011. Therefore, the EU remains India's biggest trading partner.

The Danish Presidency of the Council of the European Union has informed that an agreement on the new rules for increasing transparency and safety in derivatives trading has been reached by the Council and the European Parliament. According to the Danish Presidency, the new rules reduce the risk that a crisis-hit financial institution can “infect” the rest of the financial system via derivatives markets. The compromise text will now have to be confirmed by the Parliament as a whole and the Council.

Following the discovery of the fraudulent use of non medical grade silicone in breast implants manufactured by the Poly Implant Prothèse (PIP) Company in France, the Commission calls on Member States for immediate action to be taken at national level to ensure full and stringent implementation of the current legislation on medical devices.

Member States informed about progress achieved in key areas such as the progress on access to credits and simplification initiatives, at the second meeting of the Network of SME Envoys celebrated in Luxembourg and chaired by the EU SME Envoy, Mr Daniel Calleja Crespo.