Finance and Monetary Affairs in the EU

Latest news on economic and monetary affairs in the European Union.

Access to finance — 13 June 2012, 00:22 CET

Entrepreneurs of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have access to only quite limited financial resources. To help them, France offers many sources of financial support.

Regulatory Capital — 07 June 2012, 17:35 CET

EU rules on capital requirements for credit institutions and investment firms aim to put in place a comprehensive and risk-sensitive framework and to foster enhanced risk management amongst financial institutions. Legislation in force (CRD I, CRD II and CRD III packages) - New proposals (CRD IV package)

Access to finance — 07 June 2012, 16:28 CET

An overview of the sources of finance available to SMEs in Finland.

Bank recovery and resolution proposal - guide — 06 June 2012, 15:06 CET

The European Commission has adopted proposals for EU-wide rules for bank recovery and resolution. These are aimed at ensuring that in future authorities will have the means to intervene decisively both before problems occur and early on in the process if they do. Furthermore, if the financial situation of a bank deteriorates beyond repair, the proposal ensures that a bank's critical functions can be rescued while the costs of restructuring and resolving failing banks fall upon the bank's owners and creditors and not on taxpayers.

Access to finance — 05 June 2012, 17:46 CET

An overview of the sources of finance available to SMEs in Estonia.

Access to finance — 02 June 2012, 00:28 CET

An overview of the finance programmes for small and medium businesses in Denmark.

Access to Finance — 30 May 2012, 17:39 CET

Aside from structural funds of the European Union, companies and other entities can use subsidy programmes co-financed from the resources of the Czech state budget. These are for instance programmes for support of research and development.

Starting a business in the Czech Republic — 30 May 2012, 17:21 CET

Entrepreneurship in the Czech Republic is covered by a number of legal regulations. There are several forms of companies, while the most frequent form is a limited liability company, followed by a joint stock company and, finally, a public company.

Excessive Deficit Procedure recommendations on Bulgaria, Germany and Hungary - guide — 30 May 2012, 16:24 CET

Along with the country-specific recommendations and the conclusions of the in-depth reviews, the European Commission is today also making three proposals to the Council related to the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP). Firstly, the Commission is recommending that the Council abrogate the EDP for Bulgaria and Germany, as foreseen in Article 126(12) of the Treaty. In March, Bulgaria and Germany notified that their 2011 general government deficit was below 3% of GDP. Following the validation of these figures by Eurostat on 23 April 2012, and also taking into account that the Commission's 2012 spring forecast shows that these deficits will remain durably below 3% of GDP, the Commission has concluded that the correction of their excessive deficits is ensured. Secondly, the Commission has adopted a proposal for a Council decision to lift the suspension of commitments from the Cohesion Fund for Hungary, after concluding that the country has taken the necessary action to correct its excessive deficit, in line with the Council Recommendation of 13 March 2012. More specifically, the Commission has concluded in its assessment that the 2012 budget deficit target of 2.5% of GDP is expected to be reached and the 2013 budget deficit is expected to be well below the 3% of GDP reference value, despite the slight weakening of the macroeconomic environment, as indicated by the Commission in its 2012 spring forecast. The Commission will continue to closely monitor budgetary developments in Hungary, in accordance with the Stability and Growth Pact.

Conclusion of 12 in-depth reviews - correcting macroeconomic imbalances — 30 May 2012, 16:13 CET

The in-depth reviews are part of the Macroeconomic Imbalance Procedure, which was introduced to prevent and correct macroeconomic imbalances and which is being implemented for the first time this year. They cover twelve EU Member States, which were identified in the Alert Mechanism Report of 14 February 2012 as warranting further economic analysis in order to determine whether macroeconomic imbalances exist or risk emerging. These Member States are Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Hungary, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Each of the twelve in-depth reviews examines the origin, nature and severity of possible macroeconomic imbalances. They assess whether the country is affected by an imbalance or not, and if it is, what the nature of the imbalance is. The reviews confirm that the twelve Member States concerned face macroeconomic imbalances which need to be corrected and closely monitored. They also conclude that the adjustment of economic imbalances is broadly proceeding, as reflected in reductions in current account deficits, convergence in unit labour costs, retrenchment in credit flows or corrections in housing prices. However, in some cases it is not clear to what extent the adjustment is complete and durable, or whether the speed of adjustment is adequate. In many cases, the accumulated internal and external imbalances continue to pose a formidable challenge, for example with regard to private and public sector indebtedness.

2012 country-specific recommendations in the context of the European Semester - guide — 30 May 2012, 15:55 CET

The country-specific recommendations put forward by the European Commission today give operational guidance for EU Member States while preparing their budgetary policies and for economic reforms that should be enacted over the coming twelve months to boost competitiveness and facilitate job creation. The adoption of the recommendations marks the concluding phase of the European Semester of economic policy coordination, launched with the Commission’s Annual Growth Survey on 23 November 2011. They should be endorsed by the European Council on 28-29 June and formally adopted by the Council in July. The basis for these recommendations is a thorough assessment of the implementation of those adopted last year, combined with a detailed analysis of the national reform programmes and stability or convergence programmes1 that Member States submitted by 30 April 2012. The analysis underpinning the recommendations is presented in 28 staff working documents (again, one for each Member State and one for the euro area). For the first time this year, the recommendations also reflect the findings of the twelve in-depth reviews carried out in the context of the Macroeconomic Imbalances Procedure. The recommendations cover a wide range of issues including public finances and structural reforms in areas such as taxation, pensions, public administration, services, and labour market issues, especially youth unemployment. The programme countries (Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Romania) receive only one recommendation: to implement the measures agreed under their programme.

Fiscal Compact - The EU's new budgetary 'golden rules' — 29 May 2012, 11:45 CET

The EU fiscal pact -- a German demand as the price of financial solidarity with debt-laden, recession-hit eurozone partners -- introduces "golden rules" making balanced budgets mandatory. Here are the main points:

Access to finance — 29 May 2012, 00:42 CET

A guide on the financial support available to businesses in Cyprus.

Access to finance — 24 May 2012, 13:42 CET

Finance for small and medium sized enterprises in Bulgaria can be obtained by anyone who is a trader according to the Commercial Law, as well as self-employed tradespeople or freelancers, if their activity can be considered to be an enterprise as per the Commercial Law.

EU-EIB Project Bonds Initiative - guide — 23 May 2012, 17:56 CET

The European Commission, Parliament and Council have agreed on a proposal for a pilot phase of Project Bonds. The Project Bond Initiative by the EU and the European Investment Bank will support the financing of commercially viable infrastructure projects in the area of transport, energy and communications infrastructure. The main objective is to attract debt capital market financing at a time when these projects are heavily dependent on bank lending, which is hardly available with long-term maturities.

Access to Finance — 22 May 2012, 22:11 CET

Ownership equity is the most common form of financing when setting up a business in Belgium. At first, it is the starting capital invested in the company by its owner. Subsequently, it can also be generated earnings that are reinvested in the company.

Access to finance - Austria — 18 May 2012, 14:59 CET

There are various types of direct state support in Austria for the promotion of business as well as one-off subsidies, interest subsidies, low interest loans, state equity capital financing, state assumption of liabilities and state guarantees.

Access to finance — 17 May 2012, 00:55 CET

In addition to European funding in various forms, several sources of funding are available to business persons in Slovenia. As a general rule, they follow the intent of establishing a systematic business-friendly environment.

Basel III: Parliament's committee vote a key step in the right direction, say SMEs — 15 May 2012, 11:35 CET

UEAPME, the European craft and SME employers' organisation, warmly welcomed yesterday's vote at the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee on the implementation in the EU of the "Basel III" rules on capital requirements.

France: Economy Overview — 09 May 2012, 23:22 CET

France is in the midst of transition from a well-to-do modern economy that has featured extensive government ownership and intervention to one that relies more on market mechanisms.

Estonia: Economy Overview — 09 May 2012, 23:07 CET

Estonia, a 2004 European Union entrant, has a modern market-based economy and one of the highest per capita income levels in Central Europe and the Baltic region. Estonia's successive governments have pursued a free market, pro-business economic agenda and have wavered little in their commitment to pro-market reforms.

Denmark: Economy Overview — 09 May 2012, 22:56 CET

Denmark's thoroughly modern market economy features a high-tech agricultural sector, state-of-the-art industry with world-leading firms in pharmaceuticals, maritime shipping and renewable energy, and a high dependence on foreign trade.

Czech Republic: Economy Overview — 09 May 2012, 12:10 CET

The Czech Republic is one of the most stable and prosperous of the post-Communist states of Central and Eastern Europe. Maintaining an open investment climate has been a key element of the Czech Republic's transition from a communist, centrally planned economy to a functioning market economy.

TorFX: Company profile — 26 April 2012, 16:35 CET

TorFX is a leading provider of foreign exchange services, offering competitive currency exchange rates for international money transfers and an unrivalled personal service to private individuals and companies with a foreign currency exchange requirement. The company prides itself on its ability to save its customers money.

EC draft budget 2013 - guide — 25 April 2012, 14:18 CET

The European Commission adopted its draft budget 2013 on Wednesday 25 April 2012. The proposal will now be examined by the Council (Member States) and the European Parliament. The EU budget 2013 will be adopted by both Council and Parliament.