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Taxation of the Financial Sector - COM(2010) 549/5 — 07 October 2010, 15:59 CET

Financial transactions tax - COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS - The Commission on 7 October 2010 put forward a two pronged approach. At global level, the Commission supports further exploration and development of a Financial Transactions Tax (FTT) and will promote an agreement with the most relevant partners. At EU level, the Commission sees potential in a Financial Activities Tax (FAT) and envisages policy action by summer 2011.

Land Use/Cover Area frame Survey - Results on EU land cover and use — 04 October 2010, 23:29 CET

Forests and other wooded areas occupy almost 40% of the total area of the EU, cropland nearly a quarter and grassland a further fifth, while built-up and other artificial areas, such as roads and railways, account for 4%. Regarding socio-economic use, over 40% of the land in the EU is used for agriculture and almost 30% for forestry. The use of land for residential, commercial and industrial purposes accounts for just over 10% of the total area of the EU. These data are published for the first time by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union and are based on a large scale land survey, the Land Use / Cover Area frame Survey (LUCAS), conducted in 2009. Land was surveyed in 23 EU Member States, where both the physical cover of the land and its visible socio-economic use were recorded. LUCAS is the largest harmonised land survey ever implemented in the EU. The resulting dataset is unique as it is fully harmonised and comparable with the same definitions and methodology among Member States.

Beyond RoE: How to measure bank performance — 29 September 2010, 17:59 CET

Beyond RoE: How to measure bank performance. Appendix to the report on EU banking structures

Promotion of European and independent audiovisual works - ninth Commission report (COM(2010)450 — 23 September 2010, 17:33 CET

Ninth Communication on the application of Articles 4 and 5 of Directive 89/552/EEC, as amended by Directive 97/36/EC and Directive 2007/65/EC for the period 2007-2008 (Promotion of European and independent audiovisual works). In the reference period (2007-2008), the reports provided by the Member States show a stabilization of the proportion of European works broadcast (over 63% of transmission time) and a slight decrease in European works created by independent producers, although these still represent more than a third of transmission time (34.9% in 2008). Within the total volume of European works by independent producers, the proportion of recent works (broadcast within 5 years of their production) remained at a high level (63% in 2007 and 63.9% in 2008). These figures demonstrate the underlying soundness of the EU audiovisual industry and testify to the continuing commitment of Member States, old and new, to cultural diversity.

Communication from the Commission: Strategy for equality between women and men (2010-2015) — 21 September 2010, 19:28 CET

The Commission adopted a five-year strategy for promoting equality between women and men in Europe. The strategy aims in particular to make better use of women's potential, thereby contributing to the EU's overall economic and social goals. The gender equality strategy spells out a series of actions based around five priorities: the economy and labour market; equal pay; equality in senior positions; tackling gender violence; and promoting equality beyond the EU. They include: * Getting more women into the labour market and helping to reach the Europe 2020 target employment rate of 75% overall for women and men; * Putting forward targeted initiatives to get more women into top jobs in economic decision-making; * Promoting female entrepreneurship and self employment; * Instituting an annual European Equal Pay Day to raise awareness of the fact that women continue to earn an average of nearly 18% less than men across the EU; * Working together with all Member States in combating violence against women, especially eradicating female genital mutilation in Europe and beyond.

Millennium Development Goals - EU Action Plan (COM(2010)159 final) — 21 September 2010, 10:39 CET

A twelve-point EU action plan in support of the Millennium Development Goals - European Commission Communication

Skills for green jobs - European synthesis report — 15 September 2010, 11:00 CET

Green job creation has enormous potential and is crucial to ensuring smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. The case for government support to drive this forward is clear – industry cannot do it alone. Europe’s policy-makers need to ensure that their support for skills and training matches the focus and ambition of their strategies for promoting investment in green innovation and infrastructure. This European synthesis report on skills for green jobs brings together the findings from country reports covering Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Spain, France and the UK. In the future, almost every job will be a green job; thus, understanding the environmental impact of an occupation needs to be mainstreamed into education and training systems. New, greening and restructuring/retraining case studies show that integration of sustainable development and environmental issues into existing qualifications is much more effective than creating new training standards.

Interim forecast September 2010 — 13 September 2010, 11:21 CET

The Commission published its latest interim economic forecast on 13 September 2010. The underlying message of this update of GDP and inflation variables is that the EU economy, while still fragile, is recovering at a faster pace than previously envisaged. The updated projections include France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom. The seven countries concerned represent 79% of EU and almost 83% of euro area GDP.

The payment system - payments, securities and derivatives, and the role of the Eurosystem — 06 September 2010, 12:43 CET

The European Central Bank (ECB) has published a book entitled "The payment system - payments, securities and derivatives, and the role of the Eurosystem". It provides comprehensive insight into the handling of financial transactions and the functioning of the related financial market infrastructure - a core component of the financial system. It also explains the role and policies of the Eurosystem - which comprises the ECB and the 16 national central banks of the euro area - in this field. The book is in three parts. The first provides insight into the market infrastructure of modern economies with a view to examining key concepts which have general validity and are thus applicable around the world. Emphasis is placed on the principles governing the functioning of the relevant systems and processes and the presentation of the underlying economic, business, legal, institutional, organisational and policy issues. The second concentrates on issues concerning the market infrastructure for the handling of euro-denominated payments, securities and derivatives, as well as the most important EU legislation. The third explains the operational, oversight and catalyst roles of the Eurosystem and the policies established by the Governing Council of the ECB in this field. It also considers the legal basis for the Eurosystem’s involvement and describes the transparent and cooperative approach adopted by the Eurosystem with a view to pursuing its public policy objectives while acting within a modern market economy environment. The book can be downloaded from the ECB’s website.

European Investment Bank Group's 2009 Annual Report — 05 September 2010, 13:42 CET

The EIB Group's 2009 Annual Report consists of three separate volumes: 1. The Activity and Corporate Responsibility Report presenting the EIB Group's activity over the past year and future prospects; 2. the Financial Report, presenting the financial statements of the EIB Group, the EIB, the Cotonou Investment Facility, the FEMIP Trust Fund, the EU-Africa Infrastructure Trust Fund and the EIF, along with the related explanatory annexes; 3. The Statistical Report presenting in list form the projects financed, and the borrowings undertaken, by the EIB in 2009 together with a listing of the EIF's projects. It also includes summary tables for the year and over the last five years.

Spring 2010 Eurobarometer: EU citizens favour stronger European economic governance — 26 August 2010, 22:36 CET

75% of Europeans think that stronger coordination of economic and financial policies among EU Member States would be effective in fighting the economic crisis, according to the Spring 2010 Eurobarometer, the bi-annual opinion poll organised by the EU. The survey was conducted in May – at the height of the European debt crisis – and published today. 72% of Europeans support a stronger supervision by the EU of the activities of the most important international financial groups, an increase of four percentage points from the last Eurobarometer in autumn 2009. Europeans’ main areas of concern in the crisis were the current economic situation (40%; unchanged compared to autumn 2009), unemployment (48%; -3 percentage points) and rising prices (20%; +1). The crisis also had an influence on citizens' perception of the EU: 40% of Europeans associate the EU with the euro (+3), 45% with the freedom to travel, study and work anywhere in the EU (-1), and 24% with peace (-4).

Crop yield forecasts for Europe 2010 — 11 August 2010, 13:07 CET

Total cereal production in 2010 should be close to the average from the last five years. While the yield per hectare will be 5% above average, overall cultivated areas have decreased. This agricultural year has been marked by unusual scattered weather events ranging from severe rain shortage to floods. However, the impact of poor weather on crops in some areas of the EU has been offset in other areas. This forecast, published today by the European Commission, is based on analysis by the Commission's in-house scientific service, the Joint Research Centre (JRC), using an advanced crop yield forecasting system. During the agricultural season, the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) regularly issues forecasts for the main crop yields and produces analyses of the impact of weather conditions on crop production. These are based on methodologies using satellite remote sensing and mathematical models which simulate crop growth.

Europeans care - Special Eurobarometer survey on humanitarian aid — 09 August 2010, 12:38 CET

A special Eurobarometer survey on humanitarian aid reveals a high level of solidarity among EU citizens with victims of conflict and natural disasters outside the Union. Eight out of ten citizens (79%) think it is important that the EU funds humanitarian aid outside its borders. However, the financial and economic crisis has taken its toll as the approval rate dropped 9% from 88% in 2006 when the last survey was carried out. There is a clear link between this decrease and the individual financial situation of citizens; those who have problems paying their bills expressed less support. At the same time, there is a strong endorsement of the Commission's mandate to provide relief aid, undertaken through its humanitarian aid and civil protection department (ECHO). An overall majority of EU citizens (58%), and a relative majority in all Member States, think that humanitarian aid is more efficient when provided by the EU through the European Commission. Around one quarter (24%) would prefer that relief funds be channelled through Member States.

Annual Commission report on EU Customs Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) — 22 July 2010, 17:30 CET

Statistics of customs interceptions of articles suspected of infringing intellectual property rights (IPR), such as trademarks, copyrights or patents are published yearly by the European Commission. The statistics published on 22 July 2010 by the European Commission show that customs registered over 43,500 cases of detentions of goods suspected of infringing an IPR at the EU's external border. The results show that cooperation between customs, industry and the EU’s trading partners is critically important for ensuring the highest level of protection for industry and consumers. Cigarettes, labels and tags and medicines are the main categories of goods detained. Counterfeited products for daily use, posing a potential danger to citizens’ health account for 18% of all detentions (i.e. suspected trademark infringements of food and beverages, body care items, medicines, electrical household goods and toys). The number of articles detained decreased in 2009 to around 118 million articles, as a result of the overall downturn in trade last year. The main difference compared to the previous year concerns a significantly lower level of interceptions involving DVDs/CDs.

Illegal Logging and Related Trade - Indicators of the Global Response — 15 July 2010, 15:08 CET

This in-depth study of twelve producer, processing and consumer countries demonstrates that actions taken by governments, civil society and the private sector over the last ten years in response to illegal logging and related trade have been extensive and had a considerable impact. Illegal logging is estimated to have fallen by between 50 and 75 per cent during the last decade in Cameroon, the Brazilian Amazon and Indonesia, while imports of illegally sourced wood to the seven consumer and processing countries studied are down 30 per cent from their peak in 2004. As a result up to 17 million hectares of forest are estimated to have been protected from degradation and at least 1.2 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions avoided over the last decade. Alternatively, if the trees saved were legally logged this could bring in US$6.5 billion in additional revenues to the countries concerned. Reducing illegal logging further will require a comprehensive overhaul of government policy and regulation in producer countries. Japan and China must also follow in the footsteps of the US and EU and prohibit the import and sale of illegally sourced wood. To ensure such prohibitions are effective and encourage broader improvements, importing countries also need to expand cooperation with source countries along the lines of the EU's voluntary partnership agreements. It is essential that initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries reinforce the existing response to illegal logging and poor forest governance, rather than distract from it.

Annual Report on the Protection of the EU's Financial Interests and the Fight against Fraud — 14 July 2010, 18:29 CET

The European Commission has published its Annual Report on the Protection of the EU's Financial Interests and the Fight against Fraud (COM(2010)382 final). This report outlines important measures taken by the Commission and Member States in 2009 to prevent, detect and tackle irregularities and fraud. It gives a statistical overview of all the irregularities notified to the Commission by Member States in 2009, including cases where fraud is suspected, and details the recovery of EU funds. The report notes an improvement in Member States' compliance in reporting irregularities compared to previous years and points out recommendations on how to further improve the protection of EU taxpayers' money. This year's report also deals with two special topics, namely cooperation between the Commission and Member States in on-the-spot checks, and measures taken by Member States for the recovery of irregular amounts.

Green Paper: Towards adequate, sustainable and safe European pension systems — 08 July 2010, 13:27 CET

The European Commission launched on July 7, 2010 a Europe-wide public debate on how to ensure adequate, sustainable and safe pensions and how the EU can best support the national efforts. Ageing populations in all Member States have put existing retirement systems under massive strain and the financial and economic crisis has only increased this pressure. The consultation document, a Green paper, poses a series of questions inviting all interested parties to contribute views, opinions and ideas on confronting the pension challenge - one of the biggest facing Europe and most parts of the world today – and how the EU can contribute to the solutions.

Proposal for a Regulation establishing transitional arrangements for bilateral investment agreements between EU Member States and third countries — 07 July 2010, 23:27 CET

In parallel with a Communication published today which explores how the European Union may develop an international investment policy that increases EU competitiveness and contributes to the objectives of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, the Commission has adopted a proposal for a Regulation that would establish transitional arrangements relating to investment agreements between Member States and third countries. Its objective is to provide legal certainty to both EU and foreign investors operating under the terms of these agreements. The proposed Regulation and this Communication are only first steps in the development of a European international investment policy, which will be gradual and targeted and will also take into account responses to this Communication.

Towards a comprehensive European international investment policy - Communication — 07 July 2010, 23:21 CET

This Communication explores how the Union may develop an international investment policy that increases EU competitiveness and thus contributes to the objectives of smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, as set out in the Europe 2020 Strategy. It looks at the main orientations of an EU investment policy for the future, as well as the main parameters for immediate action in this area.

The Retail Market monitoring: Report from the Commission (July 2010) — 06 July 2010, 11:00 CET

The European Commission Retail Market Monitoring Report ("Towards more efficient and fairer retail services in the internal market for 2020", COM(2010) 355 final) identifies key issues potentially hampering more efficient and fairer retail services within the Internal Market and is now launching a public consultation on the report to determine future policy priorities in this domain. Reduced accessibility to basic retail services, scarce information on retail offers beyond local markets, slow growth of e-commerce, potentially abusive contractual practices throughout the retail supply chain, lack of transparency on quality labels, unsatisfactory functioning of the retail service labour markets as well as very different approaches to environmentally friendly retail services across the EU have been identified as key issues potentially hampering the retail sector. The deadline for consultation responses is 10 September 2010. The responses will feed into measures that the Commission will propose in the autumn as part of the Single Market Act.

Renewable Energy Snapshots 2010 — 05 July 2010, 22:09 CET

The "Renewable Energy Snapshots" report, published today by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC), shows that renewable energy sources accounted for 62% (17GW) of the new electricity generation capacity installed in the EU27 in 2009. The share rose from 57% in 2008. For the second year running, wind energy accounted for the largest share of the new capacity: 10.2 GW out of the 27.5 GW built, representing 38% of the total. In absolute terms, renewables produced 19.9% of Europe's electricity consumption last year.

Communication on enhancing economic policy coordination for stability, growth and jobs: COM(2010) 367/2 — 02 July 2010, 14:17 CET

The Communication develops the proposals for greater economic policy co-ordination and surveillance, sets out effective enforcement mechanisms, and proposes a European semester for policy co-ordination.

Industrial relations developments in Europe 2009 — 01 July 2010, 23:17 CET

This annual review highlights the most significant developments that took place in industrial relations in the EU Member States and Norway in 2009, both at national and EU level. It first sets out the political context, then goes on to examine levels of coverage of collective bargaining, and trends in bargaining regarding pay, working time and a number of other topics. In addition, this review outlines the year’s main developments in employment legislation, social dialogue, industrial action and company restructuring, and explores the impact of the global economic crisis.

The European Cycling Lexicon — 23 June 2010, 00:20 CET

An illustrated passport-sized booklet, containing key terms for cycling, different types of bikes for different mobility needs, and good cycling infrastructure in 27 languages, including all 23 official EU languages. It also contains information on EU-funding sources for cycling and cycling infrastructure, and statistics on cycling in Europe and economic, health and environmental aspects of cycling. This second edition of the Lexicon was officially launched at the international conference on cycling policy "Velo-city Global 2010" in Copenhagen. It is the first publications of its kind and was prepared by the EESC's Section for Transport, Energy, Infrastructure and the Information Society (TEN) in collaboration with the European Cyclists' Federation to respond to the strong demand from citizens, organisations and public authorities for further copies of the European Cycling Lexicon., The lexicon is indispensable for anyone who wishes to cycle in another European country. It raises awareness, both among citizens and at different levels of governance, about the many advantages of cycling and the need for good cycling infrastructure.

Monitoring the social impact of the crisis: public perceptions in the European Union - Flash Eurobarometer No 289 — 22 June 2010, 23:56 CET

One European in six reports a constant struggle to pay household bills and three quarters believe that poverty has increased in their country over the past year - Survey conducted by The Gallup Organization, Hungary

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Libcast’s Online Video Platform in the limelight at BETT 2015 — 28 January 2015, 16:17 CET

Libcast of France will be showcasing its Online Video Platform at BETT 2015 in London, in January. The specialist company’s innovative and versatile solution enables users to host, manage and broadcast lectures live or in streaming mode. With 200,000 users, Libcast’s technology has already been chosen by many universities and schools, including leading colleges in France and Norway.