European Union News - Internal Market

The Legal Affairs Committee and Council Presidency negotiators reached an agreement on plans for an EU unitary patent to cut costs for firms and boost the EU's competitiveness. The deal still needs to be approved by Parliament as a whole and by the Council.

The Economic and Financial Affairs Council meeting approved the EU's budget for next year. In addition, Financial Ministers also adopted a decision on the economic policy conditions enabling the disbursement of a fourth instalment of financial assistance to Ireland.

The core issues of the new financial support programme for the period 2014-2020 was presented by the Commission. Among them, promote access to finance and encouraging an entrepreneurial culture, including the creation of new enterprises.

MEPs members of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee welcomed the proposal put forward by the German Council of economic experts in order to set up a debt redemption fund that would help EU Member states affected by high debts. This proposal is also expected to be on the agenda for the European Council to be held on 9th December.

The European Commission proposal contains a series of measures aimed to ensure the independence of auditors of public-interest entities, such as banks, insurance companies or large listed companies. They are focused on strengthening audit market which was seriously affected after the publication of 'clean' reports despite sustained deficiencies in the accounts of certain companies.

The decision taken by the European Commission will allow to complete the operation by which the Spanish Banco Santander will acquire a series of retail and commercial banking assets of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) in the United Kingdom. After analysing the proposal for acquisition, the Commission concluded that such operation would not damage competition within the European Economic Area.

The report published by the Commission on the implementation of the Single European Sky legislation shows concerns relate to insufficient steps towards cross-border air navigation service provision and the lack of interoperability of air navigation systems, among others.

The European Commission seeks in a report wherever possible to exempt micro-enterprises from EU legislation or introduce special regimes so as to minimise the regulatory burden on them. The aim is to ensure that the EU responds better to the needs of small businesses.

Regional unemployment rates varied widely across the EU in 2010, with the lowest rates recorded in the regions of Zeeland in the Netherlands and Bolzano/Bozen in Italy as well as Tirol and Salzburg in Austria, while the highest rates were registered in the French Overseas Department of Réunion and the regions of Canarias and Andalucía in Spain.

The Commission presented two additional pieces of legislation aimed at strengthening the surveillance mechanisms and promoting further economic integration and convergence in the euro area. The first piece of proposed legislation will apply to all countries in the euro area, with special provisions made for those which are subject to an excessive deficits procedure (EDP). The second sets out explicit rules for enhanced surveillance.

According to MEPs, the EU patent package is closer to final approval after the Legal Affairs Committee at the EP approved a mandate to open formal negotiations with national governments to agree to create unitary patent. The approval would reduce current patenting costs by up to 80%, and would help to avoid the legal confusion created when dealing with differing national patent laws.