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Ministers took a step towards resolving the splits with the IMF on the next stages of Greece’s bailout programme during a eurogroup meeting on Monday.

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Bonjour! And warm greetings from the University of Nantes, where the office of “Alliance Europa” is hosted. Alliance Europa is a new and – as we hope: innovative – regional consortium in European Studies. Initiated and supported by the authorities of the Pays-de-la-Loire, it brings together the researchers of 19 laboratories or centres based in higher education institutions between Le Mans, Angers and Nantes, in a common “Institute of European and Global Studies”. The new institute wishes to encourage interdisciplinary projects between its partner institutions, and both streamline and internationalise the rich offer in European Studies programmes and degrees provided by the different institutions of higher education across the region.

But Alliance Europa wants to be more than that. It was created in 2015-16 against the backdrop of a Europe in crisis, facing many political, societal and cultural challenges under the pressure of the globalisation process. More than ever, it is necessary to quit the Ivory Tower, join the debate, and build bridges between academic research and civil society.

Against this backdrop, Alliance Europa has launched “The Factory of European Ideas” (La fabrique des idées européennes), a laboratory of social innovation which has the vocation to be a “project nursery” where academics, civil society and socio-economic actors can join to test new ideas, from one-off events to larger associative initiatives. The first projects are under way – they concern cultural and pedagogical European projects, but also the association “European Migration Law”.

For the time being, Alliance Europa communicates mainly in French, on its website, on Facebook or Twitter. But thanks to “Ideas on Europe”, this is changing today. This blog will allow us to share a selection of articles previously published in French on the Alliance Europa multiblog named “L’Europe en jeu !” The first one is already scheduled for this week.

Stay tuned and feel free to get in touch!

The post Introducing Alliance Europa appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Good afternoon everyone and sorry to surprise you with such a short Eurogroup. I guess half of your colleagues are out somewhere because they didn't expect us back already. 

I have a couple of sentences on the euro area economy, but I will let commissioner Pierre Moscovici say more on the basis of the winter forecast. 

We discussed the ease of doing business in the euro area. We had an interesting discussion where several colleagues told us what they were doing to improve the business climate in their countries - cutting red tape etc. - and this is all in our work stream on the investment climate and investments in the eurozone. We will continue work on that and come back to it in April. 

On the euro area economy, the recovery is clearly on track. There are lots of risks, downward risks also looming outside Europe and outside the euro area. Yet we are entering the fourth consecutive year of economic recovery and the recovery is gradually becoming stronger; real GDP grew steadily at 1.7% last year. 

Lots of positive signs coming from different euro area members states; the rate of unemployment is going down in most countries. I'll stop there and let the commissioner say more about that. 

Let me come quickly to the topic that probably interests you most today which is Greece. 

We have intensified talks in the last week, week and a half, with the institutions and the Greek government, to find enough common ground for the institutions to go back to Athens. The outcome of today is that they will go back to Athens in a very short time. They will work with the Greek authorities on the additional package of structural reforms; looking at the tax system, the pensions system, also labour market regulation. There will be a change in the policy mix, moving away from austerity and putting more emphasis on deep reforms, which has also been a key element for the IMF. So that is I think a good step and we have to realize that there is no agreement, there is no political agreement at this point, as that would be too early. It is a very positive and good step that the institutions have enough confidence and a common agreement to go back to Athens. 

A lot of work still needs to be done. I already mentioned the kind of reforms that it's about. In any country the combination of these topics would be difficult, so we will allow the institutions and the Greek government to do that work on the ground in more technical detail. 

And they will return to the Eurogroup if and when there is a staff level agreement and then we will have a final political discussion on the latest stages of the programme, on how to move forward. 

So, very happy with that outcome for today. Broad support, institutions willing and ready to go, and we hope to come back to you as soon as possible. 

On that element of time, because I know you will be asking about that, there is no liquidity issue in the short run for Greece. But I think we all feel a sense of urgency because of the key issue of confidence. If you want economic growth in Greece to continue and to start picking up, confidence is a key factor. That confidence has been returning in the last year and needs to strengthen, and we don't want to jeopardize that. So that would be a strong motivator to do the work as soon as possible.

I'll stop here and I'm sure you'll have lots of questions. Thanks, and lets listen to the commissioner.

Introduction

The Council considers that the budget for 2018 should provide adequate resources to continue supporting the traditional and evolving priorities within the Union, namely the recovery of the European economy, to address humanitarian and security challenges both within and outside the EU borders and to honour commitments already made under the current and previous programming periods.

The Council recalls the principle of solidarity and underlines that a transparent and an effective use of the EU budget will contribute to the materialisation of the Union's objectives and regain the credibility of the Union with the European citizens.

The budgetary procedure for 2018 is likely to take place in a context of budget constraints in several Member States. Therefore, the Council accentuates the need to improve the predictability of Member States' contributions to the Union's budget. The Council considers that the EU budget should seek to boost growth, promote employment and create new jobs, enhance effective EU cohesion, foster competitiveness and tackle the migration and security crises, while maintaining budgetary discipline at all levels. This can be achieved through the prioritisation of objectives, along with the allocation of available resources to programmes and actions that contribute the most towards achieving these aims.

The Council invites the Commission to present a budget in line with the aforementioned objectives, including a focus on areas that deliver EU added value.

Key elements of the budget for 2018

The Council reiterates the need for a realistic budget respecting the principles of sound financial management and annuality. The level of both commitment and payment appropriations should be kept under strict control and be based on real needs. The level of payment appropriations should be adequate and reflect the payment profiles of all programmes and with a clear focus on the expected needs for the current programming period.

The Council emphasises that the budget for 2018 and corrective budgetary tools shall strictly respect the relevant ceilings in accordance with the multiannual financial framework (MFF) Regulation for the period 2014-20201. Moreover, the Council reiterates the need to leave sufficient margins under the ceilings in order to be able to deal with unforeseen events.

The Council welcomes the phasing out of the backlog of unpaid bills from the previous programming period. It calls on the Commission to continue monitoring the implementation of the 2014-2020 programmes in order to ensure an orderly progression of payment appropriations consistent with the authorised commitment appropriations, thereby pre-empting future accumulation of outstanding unpaid bills.

The Council expects the Commission to make every effort to implement the budget within the allocations agreed in the annual budget, including the recourse to redeployments when appropriate. Corrective budgetary tools, such as amending budgets, should be kept to the strict minimum and in line with the Financial Regulation2 . The Council encourages the Commission to continue to rationalise the submission of draft amending budgets thereby contributing to increase the predictability within the budgetary cycle. If corrective measures prove to be necessary, the Council reaffirms its commitment to take a position on draft amending budgets as soon as possible.

As in the previous years, the Council calls on the Commission to deliver high-quality forecasts concerning both revenue and expenditure in its draft budget and during the whole budgetary process, together with timely, precise and transparent information on the underlying assumptions and budgetary figures3 . Reliable and accurate forecasts on all sources of revenue and on past and expected implementation are crucial in order to avoid either under- or over-budgeting, as well as unjustified and excessive carry-overs. It also allows the European Parliament and the Council to assess any possible requests for additional appropriations or redeployment of existing resources.

An accurate draft budget is essential to allow Member States to anticipate the level of their contributions to the Union's budget with a high degree of precision. In this context, the Council calls upon all actors, and notably the Commission, to undertake appropriate measures in order to avoid unexpected calls for additional contributions from the Member States, especially when the impact on national budgets could be high.

The Council recalls the principle of unity of the budget and calls on the Commission to cater for the necessary financial means in order to implement the Union's policies within the EU budget. The Council believes that full transparency with respect to assigned revenues is crucial for the sound financial management of Union funds. It calls on all institutions, agencies and other bodies to continue providing all the relevant information promptly and on a regular basis.

The Council recalls that all fines, penalties and accrued interest imposed by the Commission shall be transparently recorded as budgetary revenue in line with the provisions of the Financial Regulation.

The Council will continue to oversee the level of outstanding commitments (RAL)4 . It calls on the Commission to continue monitoring the evolution of the RAL by heading and by programme on a regular basis and to settle or decommit them in a timely manner and in line with the relevant rules. In preparing the draft budget, the Commission should take into account the close relationship between commitment and payment levels, the volume of outstanding commitments, the need to respect the MFF ceilings, the absorption capacity and past implementation rates.

Specific issuesComprehensive budgetary documents

The Council encourages the Commission to continuously improve the content of its budgetary documents in order to make them simpler, concise and transparent, clearly justifying the requested appropriations, including their repercussion in terms of payment profiles for the following years until 2020 and beyond. In this context, the Council invites the Commission to accompany any proposal modifying the agreed level of commitment appropriations with the corresponding impact in terms of payments over the current and next programming periods.

The Council acknowledges the usefulness of the Commission's "Active Monitoring and Forecast of Budget Implementation" system, with a view to, inter alia, prevent the possible build-up of an excessive backlog. It recalls that this reporting exercise should include regularly updated payment forecasts to be discussed at dedicated interinstitutional meetings, in line with point 36§3 of the Annex to the Interinstitutional Agreement on budgetary discipline, on cooperation in budgetary matters and on sound financial management (IIA)5 .

The Council invites the Commission to annex to the draft budget a comprehensive list of Commission proposals not yet adopted and which have a potential impact on the budget, including the level of appropriations concerned, by budget line.

The Council also invites the Commission to accompany the draft budget with a comprehensive table for the year 2018 consolidating an estimate of all types of internal assigned revenues by budget line, as well as an overview of the fines likely to be recorded as budgetary revenue.

The Council welcomes the good practice of accompanying every proposal for a transfer of appropriations related to a mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund and the Emergency Aid Reserve with an update of the level of implementation of the maximum annual amounts set for the special instrument in the financial year. Likewise, the Council invites the Commission to provide a regular update on the level of implementation of the advance payments related to the European Union Solidarity Fund.

When proposing the mobilisation of a special instrument, the Council invites the Commission to include in its proposal an update of the level of implementation of both commitment and payment appropriations of the respective special instrument.

The Council underlines that high quality programme statements and timely financial information on spending proposals are crucial for the European Parliament and the Council to establish, confirm or modify budgetary priorities. Programme statements should, in particular, focus on performance information and ways to improve it, including the results achieved, the justification for the level of appropriations requested, and on the added value of EU activities. This analysis should be clearly linked to the relevant budget lines in order to support the budgetary decision-making process.

Interinstitutional cooperation during the budgetary procedure

The Council encourages all institutions to collaborate efficiently and constructively, allowing for a smooth budgetary procedure and the establishment of the budget for 2018 within the deadlines set by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and in line with the provisions of the IIA.

The Council calls on the Commission to ensure the timely presentation of the statement of estimates for 2018, allowing each institution enough time to undertake a detailed technical analysis of the disseminated estimates and to prepare thoroughly its position in accordance with an agreed pragmatic calendar.

The Council stresses the need to preserve the annual character of the budgetary procedure and to avoid discussions on issues not directly linked to the annual budget negotiations. It recalls that the purpose of the Conciliation Committee, convened in respect of Article 314 TFEU, is to establish the budget for 2018.

Furthermore, the Council calls on the Commission to ensure the timely and equal access to transparent and objective information and documents at all the stages of the conciliation negotiations.

Administrative expenditure

In the context of fiscal consolidation in Member States, national administrations are obliged to optimise the use of limited resources. There is also a need for rationalisation of EU's administrative expenditure. Therefore, the Council urges all institutions, bodies and agencies to reduce or freeze their administrative expenditure as much as possible and to request financing only for justified needs.

The Council calls on every institution and EU body to timely provide the Commission with clear, comprehensive and consolidated information of their administrative expenditure. In line with the Financial Regulation, the Commission shall attach to the draft budget the documents allowing the European Parliament and the Council to evaluate the situation and take well-founded decisions on the allocation and use of resources. Due attention should be paid to the comprehensibility and comparability over time and between institutions of the information provided.

The Council considers that the level of staff in all institutions, bodies and agencies needs to be kept under continuous monitoring. The Council recalls that 2017 is the last year to comply with the target, as stated in Point 27 of the IIA, to progressively reduce by 5 % the staff across all institutions, bodies and agencies. In this context, the Council proposes that an independent evaluation of the results is undertaken by the European Court of Auditors, covering all institutions, bodies and agencies. On the basis of the conclusions of this evaluation, the Council invites the Commission to present an appropriate follow-up proposal.

Decentralised agencies

While recognising the multiannual character of the actions carried out by some decentralised agencies, the Council recalls that over-budgeting has often led to a substantial and unjustified level of carry-overs. It reiterates the importance of keeping their funding under firm control and limiting it only to substantiated needs. The Council calls on the Commission, when establishing its draft budget for 2018, to continue taking into account unused appropriations and excessive accumulated cash-balances in order to bring down their annual surpluses. It also calls on the Commission to carefully check, and if necessary revise, the requests for funds and posts proposed by the agencies taking into account past implementation, vacancy rates, as well as the compliance with the 5 % staff reduction target.

In this context, the Council takes note of the work of the interinstitutional working group aiming at closer and more permanent scrutiny on the development of decentralised agencies.

The Council expects the Commission to continue providing the European Parliament and the Council with a comprehensive picture concerning agencies, including their building policy, together with the draft budget for 2018.

Conclusion

The Council considers that the EU budget should be prudent while providing sufficient resources in order to strengthen smart and inclusive growth and jobs, and to effectively respond to current and forthcoming challenges, including the measures to tackle the migration and security crises and to contribute to the political and economic stability in the EU's neighbouring countries. It underlines that a transparent, accurate and accountable use of Union's resources is an overarching principle to bring the EU citizens closer to the European project.

As in preceding years the Council will support a realistic budget for 2018, striking the right balance between fiscal prudence and new investments conducive to growth and jobs. It underlines that a timely, predictable, transparent and accurate assessment of needs based on comprehensive budgetary information is an essential tool to reach this objective.

The Council reiterates the need to leave sufficient margins under the ceilings in order to be able to deal with unforeseen circumstances while providing an adequate level of funding and respecting the commitments already made. Moreover, the Council emphasises on the importance of providing reliable and precise forecasts of revenue, allowing Member States to assess in a timely manner their expected contributions to the EU budget.

The Council reiterates the great importance it attaches to these guidelines and expects them to be duly taken into account when preparing the draft budget for 2018.

These guidelines will be forwarded to the European Parliament and the Commission, as well as to the other institutions."

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

(1) Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1311/2013 of 2 December 2013 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2014-2020 (OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p.884).

(2) Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union and repealing Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 (OJ L 298, 26.10.2012, p. 1).

(3) As shown in the graph contained in the Annex, the provisional implementation of payment appropriations has considerably dropped in 2016.

(4) According to the Commission's implementation report of 18 January 2017, the level of Commission's outstanding commitments (RAL) amounted to EUR 237.5 billion at the end of 2016.

(5) Interinstitutional Agreement of 2 December 2013 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on budgetary discipline, on cooperation in budgetary matters and on sound financial management (OJ C 373, 20.12.2013, p. 1).

On 21 February 2017, the Council agreed its position on rules aimed at closing down 'hybrid mismatches' with the tax systems of third countries.

The draft directive is the latest of a number of measures designed to prevent tax avoidance by large companies.

It seeks to prevent them from exploiting disparities between two or more tax jurisdictions to reduce their overall tax liability. Such arrangements can result in a substantial erosion of the taxable bases of corporate taxpayers in the EU.

The directive will contribute to implementation of 2015 OECD recommendations addressing corporate tax base erosion and profit shifting.

“The EU is at the forefront of the fight against tax avoidance. We want to ensure coherent implementation in EU law of the OECD's BEPS action plan.”

Edward Scicluna, Minister for Finance of Malta, and President of the Council.

The proposal addresses hybrid mismatches with regard to non-EU countries, given that intra-EU disparities are already covered by the 'anti-tax-avoidance directive' adopted in July 2016. It complements and amends that directive accordingly.

The Council reached a compromise on the following issues:

• for hybrid regulatory capital, a carve-out from the rules is established for the banking sector. The carve-out will be limited in time, and the Commission will be asked to present a report assessing the consequences;
• for financial traders, a delimited approach is followed in line with that followed by the OECD;
• as regards implementation, a longer timeline is foreseen than that set for the July 2016 directive. Implementation is set for 1 January 2020 (one year later), and for 1 January 2022 as concerns one specific provision.

Next steps

The directive is one of a package of corporate taxation proposals presented by the Commission in October 2016.

Agreement was reached at a meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council. The Council will adopt the directive once the European Parliament has given its opinion.

Member states will have until 31 December 2019 to transpose the directive into national laws and regulations.

The directive requires unanimity within the Council, after consulting the Parliament. (Legal basis: article 115 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.)

General : Ceta passed a crucial hurdle on 15 February when MEPs voted to back the landmark EU-Canada trade deal. The agreement removing more than 99% of tariffs can provisionally enter into force as early as April. Speaking following the vote, Artis Pabriks, Parliament's lead MEP on Ceta, said: “Europe cannot survive without free and fair trade and high-quality interaction with other global players.” He also described Ceta as “the gold standard for future trade deals”.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

General : Ceta passed a crucial hurdle on 15 February when MEPs voted to back the landmark EU-Canada trade deal. The agreement removing more than 99% of tariffs can provisionally enter into force as early as April. Speaking following the vote, Artis Pabriks, Parliament's lead MEP on Ceta, said: “Europe cannot survive without free and fair trade and high-quality interaction with other global players.” He also described Ceta as “the gold standard for future trade deals”.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

General : How well do you know Europe? Find out by taking part in our winter challenge! See how many European capitals you can identify correctly.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

General : How well do you know Europe? Find out by taking part in our winter challenge! See how many European capitals you can identify correctly.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Let me, first of all, thank you for this meeting. We all truly needed it. Too much has happened over the past months in your country, and in the EU; too many new, and sometimes surprising opinions have been voiced over this time about our relations - and our common security - for us to pretend that everything is as it used to be. And thank you for being so open and frank with me.

Today I heard words which are promising for the future, words which explain a lot about the approach of the new administration in Washington. I repaid our guest by offering honesty in my assessment of the situation; I shared our concerns and hopes. Given that I am an incurably pro-American European who is fanatically devoted to transatlantic cooperation, I could afford to be outspoken even more.

I asked the Vice President directly if he shared my opinions on three key matters: the international order, security and the attitude of the new American administration towards the European Union. Firstly, I expressed my belief that maintaining order based on the rules of international law, where brute force and egoism do not determine everything, lies in the interest of the West. And, that maintaining that order can only be enforced through a common, mutually supportive and decisive policy of the whole of the Western community. For millions of people around the world, the predictability and stability of our approach provide a guarantee or - at the very least - hope that chaos, violence and arrogance will not triumph in a global dimension. Referring to some statements made in Munich just two days ago, I would like to say clearly that the reports of the death of the West have been greatly exaggerated. Whoever wants to demolish that order, anticipating a post-West order, must know that in its defence we will remain determined.

Secondly, our security is based on NATO and the closest possible transatlantic cooperation. We must work together to modernise the forms of this cooperation. Some of them should indeed be improved. But we should also, I believe, agree on one thing: the idea of NATO is not obsolete, just like the values which lay at its foundation are not obsolete. Let us discuss everything, starting with financial commitments - but only to strengthen our solidarity, never to weaken it.

Thirdly, we are counting, as always in the past, on the United States' wholehearted and unequivocal, let me repeat, unequivocal support for the idea of a united Europe. The world would be a decidedly worse place if Europe were not united. Americans know best what great value it is to be united, and that becoming divided is the prelude to a fall. It is in the interest of us all to prevent the disintegration of the West. And, as for our continent, in this respect we will not invent anything better than the European Union.

In reply to these three matters, I heard today from Vice President Pence three times "yes"! After such a positive declaration, both Europeans and Americans must simply practise what they preach.

On Saturday in Munich, you mentioned that during your trip across Europe in 1977 with your older brother, you found yourselves at some point in West Berlin, marvelling at what you saw, then crossing through Checkpoint Charlie only to see the "shadow of repression hanging over people". As you know, I had been living under this shadow for over thirty years. What I vividly remember from my own past is how after Martial Law was imposed in Poland on 13 December 1981, President Ronald Reagan urged all Americans to light a "solidarity candle" on Christmas Eve, as he did himself. It is not difficult to imagine how this moving message of American solidarity with the oppressed Polish nation against, as Reagan said, "the forces of tyranny and those who incite them from without", helped bring back hope and the determination not to give in.

In your speech you also highlighted the historic role of some American and European leaders, including Vaclav Havel and Lech Wałęsa. I was lucky to cooperate closely with the two of them in difficult times. Similarly to us, they all believed in the purpose of cooperation and solidarity between Europe and the US. We cannot let their efforts go to waste. After today's talks it will be easier for me to believe that we will fulfil this task.

Mega-mergers are once again all the rage – just as protectionist currents are gaining strength. Corporate dealmakers are running headlong into some treacherous politics. Some combustible merger-related battles are already playing out in Europe.

Shortly before Kraft Heinz ditched its $143bn pursuit of Unilever on Sunday, Downing Street desperately thinking of ways to shield the Anglo-Dutch group from the US cost-cutters. EU law would have made that difficult. But the sentiment is clear. Britain’s historic open door is no longer so open.

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The Council agreed on a general approach to strengthen cooperation between national authorities responsible for the enforcement of consumer protection laws.

The objective of the proposal is to modernise cooperation mechanisms to further reduce the harm  caused to consumers by cross-border infringements to EU consumer law. 

In particular, effective consumer protection has to respond to the challenges of the digital economy and the development of cross-border retail trade in the EU.

Chairing the Council meeting, the Maltese Minister for the Economy, Investment and Small Business, Dr. Chris Cardona, stressed that consumer authorities must be equipped with the right tools to generate and preserve confidence in the internal market. "This proposal is about trust, trade and innovation. Trust in e-commerce by consumers and companies is essential if the European economy is to grow", he added. 

This revision of the existing Consumer Protection Cooperation framework will give more powers to national authorities which may for example check if websites geo-block consumers, order the immediate take-down of websites hosting scams or request information from domain registrars and banks to detect the identity of the responsible trader. 

In case of EU-wide breaches of consumer rights, national enforcement authorities and the Commission will coordinate common actions to stop these practices, in particular in cases of widespread infringements with Union-dimension which are likely to harm consumers in a large part of the EU. 

Consumer trust in e-commerce 

Ineffective enforcement of cross-border infringements, in particular in the digital environment, enables traders to evade enforcement by relocating within the Union, giving rise to a distortion of competition for law-abiding traders operating either domestically or cross-border, and thus directly harming consumers and undermining consumer confidence in the single market. 

An increased level of harmonisation setting effective and efficient enforcement cooperation among public enforcement authorities is therefore necessary to detect, investigate and order the cessation of intra-Union infringements and widespread infringements. 

In order to further harmonise practices across the EU, the future regulation will set out a number of minimum investigation and enforcement  powers that every national competent authority will have to be able to exercise in order to coordinate properly in the fight against infringements. 

These powers will strike a balance between the interests protected by fundamental rights such as a high level of consumer protection, the freedom to conduct business and freedom of information. 

The mutual assistance mechanism between administrations will be strengthened to establish whether an intra-EU infringement has occurred and to bring about the cessation of that infringement. 

An improved alert mechanism will allow a competent authority to notify without delay the Commission and other competent authorities of any reasonable suspicion that an intra-Union infringement or widespread infringement is taking place on its territory that may affect consumers' interests in other member states. 

Competent authorities will also be able to open investigations on their own initiative if they become aware of intra-Union infringements or widespread infringements by means other than individual consumer complaints. 

Catching up with the digital economy 

On 25 May, the Commission presented the proposal on the review of the consumer protection cooperation as part of a broader package including proposals on cross-border parcel deliveries and on tackling unjustified geo-blocking. 

Currently, regulation 2006/2004 provides for harmonised rules and procedures to facilitate cooperation between national authorities responsible for the enforcement of cross-border consumer protection laws. 

The scope of the 2004 regulation covers 18 pieces of consumer legislation, including: provisions to protect consumers from unfair and misleading commercial communication; ensuring that consumers are adequately informed before making purchasing decisions; providing appropriate protection when entering contracts with businesses; as well as complaint and redress mechanisms and access to justice. 

However, following a review on the effectiveness of regulation 2006/2004, the Commission concluded it no longer effectively addresses the enforcement challenges of the digital single market. 

The 2015 digital single market strategy identified the need to enhance consumer trust through more rapid, agile and consistent enforcement of consumer rules as one of its priorities. 

Next steps 

The general approach enables the Council to start discussions with the European Parliament under the EU's ordinary legislative procedure. 

The internal market and consumer protection committee of the European Parliament (IMCO) has announced a vote on its position on 21 March 2017. 

Today the President of the European Council Donald Tusk met Prime Minister of Romania Sorin Grindeanu in Brussels. 

This first bilateral meeting since Prime Minister Grindeanu took office in January allowed for discussions on the main files on the European Union agenda as well as recent developments in Romania and the government's priorities. 

President Tusk welcomed the government's continued commitment to the European project and a stronger and united European Union, as Romania is preparing for the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU in the first semester of 2019. 

President Tusk and Prime Minister Grindeanu discussed the central importance of the rule of law and the fight against corruption in ensuring that its citizens are able to benefit fully from all the opportunities offered by membership of the Union. 

President Tusk underlined the need to advance in the fight against corruption, safeguard the significant progress achieved and ensure its irreversibility, in line with the high expectations of Romanian society and the EU's values.

Statistics concerning judicial activity in 2016: the duration of proceedings continues its downward trend, to the benefit of citizens

Delegations

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

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“The customs union means free movement of our goods. It doesn’t mean free movement of our trucks.” The FT visited the Turkish border with Bulgaria to find out what Britain’s lorry drivers can expect after Brexit. In short? Queues.

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https://tvnewsroom.consilium.europa.eu/uploads/council-images/thumbs/uploads/council-images/remote/http_7e18a1c646f5450b9d6d-a75424f262e53e74f9539145894f4378.r8.cf3.rackcdn.com/csm_20170217_MM_14913-2k_0e7eccb66c_thumb_169_1487410701_1487410701_129_97shar_c1.jpg

From 17 to 19 February, more than 500 decision-makers from across the globe, including more than 25 heads of state and government, 80 foreign and defense ministers, and delegations from the new US administration and from Congress, come together in Munich for discussions on major international security challenges.

Download this video here.

from 07.45
Arrivals (live streaming)

+/- 09.15
Doorstep by Minister Scicluna

+/- 09.30
Ministerial breakfast (Roundtable)

+/- 10.30
Beginning of the Council meeting
Adoption of the agenda

Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive (public session)

Any other business:
Current financial services legislative proposals (public session)

Approval of non-legislative A items

EU List of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes

Preparation of G20 Meeting on 17-18 March 2017

Discharge on the implementation of budget for 2015

Budget guidelines for 2018

Any other business

At the end of the meeting
Press conference (live streaming)
Main press room, Justus Lipsius building