European Union

Plans to prolong a 10% increase in the EU contribution towards project costs in Greece until 30 June of the year following the end of its economic adjustment programme were approved by Regional Development Committee MEPs on Tuesday. MEPs also approved a special provision whereby the EU would pay up to 85% of project costs in Cyprus until the current programming period ends in 2020.
Committee on Regional Development

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

To receive the Brussels Briefing in your inbox every morning, sign up here. You must be a registered user of the Financial Times, which is available here.

Euro area finance ministers’ discussions about Greece have been known to be many things: long, tortuous, bitter and occasionally career-ending.

Read more

The European Parliament's Press Service is holding a seminar to provide key media and institutional representatives the opportunity to look into issues of crucial importance to the EU in the coming years, ranging from unemployment and economic stagnation to the refugee crisis and the fight against terrorism. This thematic digest provides selected publications provided by Parliament’s Policy Departments which are relevant to the topic of this seminar.
Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

The European Parliament's Press Service is holding a seminar to provide key media and institutional representatives the opportunity to look into issues of crucial importance to the EU in the coming years, ranging from unemployment and economic stagnation to the refugee crisis and the fight against terrorism. This thematic digest provides selected publications provided by Parliament’s Policy Departments which are relevant to the topic of this seminar.
Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Let me make couple of remarks on the economy and then go to today's agenda.

Most of us are just back from the Washington IMF meetings therefore the energy level was very low, everyone was jet lagged which made my life a lot easier. The low energy level would also go for the world economy, where trade is slow and risks are in international markets. Interestingly enough, the last years that I've been to the IMF Europe and Eurozone is always considered a risk. But at the moment the growth in the Eurozone is above average of the developed countries and even higher than in the US. So it was, from the Eurozone prospective, quite a change in terms of the debate.

It's fair to say that the Eurozone is more resilient now. The policies and reforms are paying off. Growth is continuing and the growth rate for the Eurozone had actually been upgraded a slight 0.1 percentage point by the IMF, so we're still going in the right direction. It says in my text "all but one of our economies" have returned to growth, but I believe also Greece has now had three consecutive quarters of growth. So that's where we are.

Today we first of all had a discussion on Greece.

We heard from the four institutions on the completion of the implementation of the 15 open milestones which enables us all to close the first review. Important reforms have been undertaken on pensions, energy sector, bank governance, as well as on the setting up of the privatisation fund and the revenue agency. We have issued a statement on that so I can be brief.

This progress enables the ESM to disburse EUR 1.1 bn remaining under the second tranche.

There has also been substantial progress on arrears clearance in July and August, which is essential to strengthen the economic recovery. Technical work will continue to gather the September data. This always takes a number of weeks to complete these data, so that cannot be helped, it cannot be done faster. We hope and presume that before the end of October those data are available. They will then be assessed by the institutions and on that basis the ESM Board of Directors could decide on the disbursement of EUR 1.7 bn. So this is specifically for the clearance of arrears. So that's also good news.

We will now focus on the second review, which we expect to be completed swiftly and we will come back to that in next meetings.

Next on our agenda was one of the thematic discussions on growth and jobs. This time we looked at long-term healthcare and long-term care, looked at public expenditures and how to secure fiscal sustainability.

This is of course an important issue for our countries given our ageing societies. High government debt, and the budgetary pressures posed by population ageing make the sustainability of health systems a matter of common concern. On the basis of a report done by the Commission, we discussed where we are, what the challenges are and what good practices we have.

Expenditure projections indicate substantial risks and financial challenges in health systems, looking at the horizon 2060, and we should be taking steps now to avert those risks. We looked at various policy options and will further investigate how best to take this work forward. This issue will also be tomorrow on the Ecofin agenda.

Finally on our agenda we took stock of current fiscal issues. Work progresses on some adjustments regarding the procedural aspects of draft budgetary plans, how to deal with those, and also we were updated by the Commission on the ongoing structured dialogue with the European Parliament. This is about the suspension of structural funds for Spain and Portugal. Finally we have planned to discuss draft budgetary plans, which will be coming in the coming days at the Commission, to discuss those on the 5th of December in the Eurogroup. That's all from me.

Propaganda pressure on the EU from Russia and Islamic terrorist organisations is growing, say Foreign Affairs Committee MEPs in a resolution voted on Monday. It seeks to distort the truth, incite fear, provoke doubt and divide the EU. However, this pressure should be countered, not with more propaganda, but with positive messaging, awareness raising and education to increase the information literacy amongst EU citizens, MEPs add.
Committee on Foreign Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Propaganda pressure on the EU from Russia and Islamic terrorist organisations is growing, say Foreign Affairs Committee MEPs in a resolution voted on Monday. It seeks to distort the truth, incite fear, provoke doubt and divide the EU. However, this pressure should be countered, not with more propaganda, but with positive messaging, awareness raising and education to increase the information literacy amongst EU citizens, MEPs add.
Committee on Foreign Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Propaganda pressure on the EU from Russia and Islamic terrorist organisations is growing, say Foreign Affairs Committee MEPs in a resolution voted on Monday. It seeks to distort the truth, incite fear, provoke doubt and divide the EU. However, this pressure should be countered, not with more propaganda, but with positive messaging, awareness raising and education to increase the information literacy amongst EU citizens, MEPs add.
Committee on Foreign Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

The Eurogroup welcomes the implementation by the Greek authorities of the set of 15 milestones in the context of the first review of the ESM programme. The Eurogroup commends the Greek authorities for adopting the necessary further measures to reform the pension system and the energy sector, to strengthen bank governance, to fully establish the new independent Revenue Agency and to proceed with the privatisation programme. The Eurogroup also notes the further progress in the set-up of the Privatisation and Investment Fund - the Hellenic Corporation of Assets and Participations (HCAP). The Eurogroup stresses that the appointment of the members of the Board of Directors of HCAP, including the Chairman and CEO positions, must be pursued as a matter of priority in order to make the fund fully operational before the end of 2016, in the context of the second review of the ESM programme. To this end, we welcome the commitment of the Greek authorities to ensure that the appointment process is in line with the requirements of the HCAP law to ensure that Board members are fully independent, professional and with clear experience and the corporate governance standards will be in line with international best practices.

The implementation of the milestones paves the way for the ESM Board of Directors to approve the remaining disbursement of EUR 1.1 bn under the second tranche for debt servicing needs.

The Eurogroup acknowledges that significant progress has been made towards the clearance of net arrears during July and August and notes the time required for completing the data for September, which would be later in October. The institutions' positive assessment of Greece's clearance of net arrears would pave the way for the ESM Board of Directors to approve the further release of EUR 1.7 bn, which will be disbursed to a dedicated account to be used for arrears clearance.

The Eurogroup will now turn its attention to the next stages of the ESM programme. We call on the Greek authorities to intensify their work with the institutions on the measures needed to complete the second review in a timely manner, and welcome the intention of the institutions to return to Athens in mid-October 2016.

CoderDojo, the Irish winners of the European Citizen's Prize 2016, received their medal on Thursday 29 September in Dublin. Seán Kelly ME, EPP presented the prize to Giustina Mizzoni, Executive Director of Coder Dojo at a special Irish prize-giving ceremony in Dublin. CoderDojo will also take part in the official EU Citizen’s Prize ceremony to which will be held in Brussels in October.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

“We have no problem with the 12,5% corporate tax rate in Ireland”, Commissioner Margrethe Vestager told Irish Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee members in a hearing on competition policy on Monday. “But we want to be sure that tax rulings are not being used to grant selective advantages to companies through the backdoor”, she added, referring to the illegal tax ruling that resulted in a minimal tax bill for the American multinational.
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

“We have no problem with the 12,5% corporate tax rate in Ireland”, Commissioner Margrethe Vestager told Irish Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee members in a hearing on competition policy on Monday. “But we want to be sure that tax rulings are not being used to grant selective advantages to companies through the backdoor”, she added, referring to the illegal tax ruling that resulted in a minimal tax bill for the American multinational.
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

On 15 June, Security and Defence MEPs will hold a workshop on Russian military presence in the Eastern Partnership Countries (Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine and South Caucasus). Together with the researchers they will debate the effects of this military presence and future perspectives.
Location : Paul-Henri Spaak 5B001
Programme
Progrmme
Workshop summary
Speeches, presentations, background document and summary
Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Saudi Arabia and Member States have long established relations in the field of armaments cooperation. In 2015, Saudi Arabia spent EUR 75 billion on defence. Yet, it still relies on the security guarantees provided by the United States. Many in Europe have reservations about arms exports to the Kingdom, driven by concerns on the respect of the international humanitarian law in the conflict in Yemen. There is, however, no common European position regarding the defence ties with the country.
Location : Paul-Henri Spaak 4B001
Programme
Programme
Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

General : Last May 7,500 young people from across the EU came to the Parliament in Strasbourg for the biennial European Youth Event (EYE). Following two days of discussion on issues ranging from migration to youth unemployment and climate change, 50 of the most interesting ideas from EYE2016 were handed over to MEPs in September. Now EYE participants will present those ideas to Parliament’s committees. You too can join the debate online by using the hashtag #EYE2016.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

General : Last May 7,500 young people from across the EU came to the Parliament in Strasbourg for the biennial European Youth Event (EYE). Following two days of discussion on issues ranging from migration to youth unemployment and climate change, 50 of the most interesting ideas from EYE2016 were handed over to MEPs in September. Now EYE participants will present those ideas to Parliament’s committees. You too can join the debate online by using the hashtag #EYE2016.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

An International Coalition including EU Member States is fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and has made considerable progress in the last months. However, the Islamic State is spreading its influence further in North Africa and is conducting terrorist attacks in the Muslim World and in Europe. The hearing aims to look at the situation in Iraq, Syria and North Africa, the progress of the military campaign as well as the perspectives for further engagement against the Islamic State.
Location : Paul-Henri Spaak 4B001
Programme
Draft programme
Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

On 10 October 2016 the Council unanimously agreed on next year's total allowable catches (TACs) for the ten commercially most important fish stocks in the Baltic Sea. This agreement paves the way for further negotiations on TACs for the deep sea and the North Sea later this year. 

The agreement includes an increase in catches for herring (except in the Gulf of Riga), plaice, and salmon (except in the Gulf of Finland) in line with the Commission proposal. For the remaining stocks, ministers decided on a smaller increase for sprat and no increase for salmon in the main basin. 

The following reductions were also agreed: 25% for Eastern cod, 56% for Western cod including bag limit provisions for recreational fisheries, 11% for herring in the Gulf of Riga and 20% for salmon in the Gulf of Finland. 

"Today's agreement is an excellent result, both for the environment and the Baltic fishermen. It was not easy but we managed to achieve a good balance between the sustainability of our marine resources and the needs of the fisheries sector of the countries concerned, in full compliance with the new Baltic multiannual plan."

 Gabriela Matečná, Minister for agriculture and rural development of Slovakia and president of the Council.  
The agreement in detail

The quantities agreed today take into account the commitment to the objectives of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), including the achievement of maximum sustainable yield (MSY), the principles of the multiannual management plan for the Baltic sea, and scientific advice, in particular advice provided by the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). 

For cod in the Baltic ministers also agreed on a number of additional support measures further aimed to improve the state of the stock.  

Thousands of young people took part in the European Youth Event (EYE2016) at the European Parliament in Strasbourg last May with the aim of producing ideas for Europe’s future. Former EYE2016 participants will have the opportunity to present some of the most impactful ideas collected during the EYE and exchange views with MEPs, with the aim of having an impact on the future agenda of the EU and make positive change.

The topics in the AFET-DEVE joint committee meeting, taking place on 8 October, will cover migration in the context of the joint AFET-DEVE Initiative report “Addressing refugees and migrants movements: the role of European external action”. The meeting will be webstreamed live on http://eye2016.eu, from 10:00-10:45.

Location : Brussels JAN 2Q2
Further information
EYE2016 website
EYE2016 ideas report
EYE2016 Ideas map
EYE2016 Twitter
EYE2016 Facebook
Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

To receive the Brussels Briefing in your inbox every morning, sign up here. You must be a registered user of the Financial Times, which is available here.

By Arthur Beesley

Read more