European Union News - Internal Market

The Commission's investigation showed that new competitors would be unlikely to enter the market successfully enough to pose a credible competitive threat to the merged company. Therefore, the proposed merger between Deutsche Börse and NYSE Euronext, has been prohibited by the Commission. In addition, the Commission has opened a formal investigation to assess whether Samsung Electronics has abusively used certain of its standard essential patent rights to distort competition in European mobile device markets.

Both, the euro area and the EU unemployment rate remain unchanged in December 2011 compared with November. The euro area unemployment rate was 10.4% and the EU unemployment rate was 9.9%. However compared with December 2010, unemployment rose by 923,000 in the EU and by 751,000 in the euro area.

The January edition of the European Vacancy Monitor shows that high skill levels remain important for employment opportunities. Additionally with regard to the young people in the EU and according to the report, almost half (48%) of all job-finders in 2010 (or around 20 million) were aged between 18 and 29 years old.

The euro area Member States agreed that the signature on the new Treaty on stability will be in March. It will be legally binding as an international agreement. They also announced that the Treaty establishing the European Stability Mechanism is ready for signature. European leaders also meet at the same time and they agree on the immediate actions to help promote growth and create jobs in Europe, which should focus in stimulating employment, boosting the financing of the economy, and completing the Single Market.

The International Trade Committee at the European Parliament gave its green light to the proposed EU concession to help put an end to the 20-year hormone beef trade war with the USA and Canada. The proposal implies to raise the EU import quota for beef from animals not treated with hormones. Thus, the regulation will allow third countries to sell the EU 48,200 tonnes of duty-free high-quality beef from animals not treated with growth-promoting hormones.

The proposals adopted by the Commission highlighted the role of trade as one of the key drivers to support development, stimulate growth and to lift people out of poverty. For this reason, it proposed a number of ways to improve the effectiveness of EU trade and development policy. In addition, the EU calls for all developed economies to match its significant levels of market access to developing countries.

The Civil Liberties Committee approved a draft law which aims at making easier the transfer of non-EU skilled employees working for multinational companies from a branch outside the EU to a division or subsidiary within the EU. MEPs amended the draft law to make also easier to move transferred workers between EU Member States.

MEPs at International Trade Committee (INTA) approved the proposed EU-Morocco trade liberalisation agreement for farm and fishery products. The Committee voted against the original recommendation, drafted by José Bové, which called on Parliament to withhold its consent to the agreement. If approved by Parliament as a whole, the proposed agreement would immediately liberalise 45% of EU exports and also immediately liberalise 55% of EU imports from Morocco.

Five Member States have not yet implemented the Directive regarding simplified reporting and documentation requirements in case of mergers and divisions. Also the Commission asks to United Kingdom to implement those parts of the Directive it has so far failed to. If the Commission does not receive a satisfactory reply within two months, it may refer the matter to the Court of Justice.

The Commissioner responsible for the Digital Agenda, Neelie Kroes, highlighted in a speech given at the World economic forum in Davos, that the EU needs to act to support speedy uptake of Cloud Computing in Europe. She also insisted that is key to act through joint public procurement across borders, especially bearing in mind that public IT procurement is large but fragmented.

The decision adopted by the European Commission strengthens the certification and authorisation process of lines and trains equipped with the European Train Control System (ETCS). In particular, the decision strengthens the requirements regarding testing, in particular that on-board products are tested in accredited laboratories.

Ministers at the Economic and Financial Affairs Council reached an agreement on the draft regulation aimed at increasing transparency on all derivatives and reducing risk in the over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives market in order to facilitate negotiations with the European Parliament. The main change relates to the procedure for authorising central counterparties (CCPs), in particular to the powers of the CCP's "home" member state.