European Union

On Friday, 19 June, the Minister for Health Guntis Belēvičs chaired the meeting of the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) in Luxembourg. During the meeting the EU Member States discussed legislation on madical devices, EU alcohol policy and health dimension of the migration.

The Baltic Sea is an integral part of the Latvian identity, but it is also the most polluted sea in the world. Therefore, from 26 May to 28 June the My Baltic Sea 2015 campaign is being organised along the whole of the Latvian coastline. Itsaim is to educate society about problems relating to the maritime environment in order to better understand what harm is being done and how the Baltic Sea can be restored.

On 19 June 2015, the Council confirmed that the United Kingdom had missed a deadline set for reducing its deficit below 3% of GDP, the EU's reference value for government deficits. 

The Council found that action taken by the UK in response to a recommendation it issued in December 2009 had proved to be insufficient. It therefore issued a new recommendation under the excessive deficit procedure on corrective measures to be taken. 

In doing so, the Council extended by two years, to the 2016-17 financial year, the deadline set for the UK to reduce its deficit below 3% of GDP. (UK financial years run from 1 April to 1 April.)

A declining deficit 

The Council found that, despite a fiscal consolidation programme implemented since 2010, the UK had not corrected its deficit by the required 2014-15 deadline. After peaking in 2009-10, the nominal budget deficit fell to 7.7% of GDP in 2011‑12, then to 7.6% in 2012-13, 5.9% in 2013-14 and 5.2% in 2014-15. 

Since 2009-10, the UK's general government gross debt has remained continuously above 60% of GDP, the EU's reference value for government debt. The Commission's 2015 spring forecast projects the debt-to-GDP ratio to further increase marginally, though financial sector interventions could have a positive effect. 

Two-year extension 

The Council found that granting the UK one additional year to correct its deficit, which is the general rule under the excessive deficit procedure, would be overly demanding. It would require an adjustment in the headline deficit of 2.2% of GDP, and implementation of additional measures within a tight timetable. This would have a significantly negative impact on economic growth. 

The Council therefore opted for two years, recommending headline deficit targets of 4.1% of GDP in 2015-16 and 2.7% of GDP in 2016-17. These should be consistent with an improvement in the structural balance of 0.5% of GDP in 2015-16 and 1.1% in 2016-17. The Council set a deadline of 15 October 2015 for taking effective action. 

A deadline already extended 

The UK has been subject to an excessive deficit procedure since July 2008, when the Council initially called for the deficit to be corrected by the 2009-10 financial year.

However, the combined effects of the economic downturn and of stimulus measures adopted in response to the downturn led to a substantial deterioration in the UK's budgetary position.

In April 2009, the Council extended the deadline for correction by four years, and in December 2009 by a further year, to the 2014-15 financial year. 

As the UK is not a member of the euro area, it cannot face sanctions under the excessive deficit procedure.

On 18-19 June, the informal meeting of Forest Directors took place in Riga under the Latvian Presidency of EU Council. At the meeting, the participants discussed the results of the 11th Session of the UN Forum on Forests – the importance of the Ministerial Declaration and the Joint Resolution for further development of the Forum on Forests.

The Council:

1. RECALLS its Conclusions of 9 December 2014 on Finance for Growth and the Long-term Financing of the European Economy in order to further build on the policy targets and principles contained therein;
2. RECOGNISES that although EU capital markets have expanded over recent decades, they remain fragmented and less developed as compared to those in some other comparable jurisdictions, in particular in certain market segments crucial for jobs and growth such as securitisation and venture capital;
3. CONSIDERS that more developed and more integrated capital markets could unlock investment for companies and infrastructure projects, attract foreign investment, contribute to growth and job creation and make the financial system more efficient, robust and resilient to shocks; 

http://tvnewsroom.consilium.europa.eu/uploads/council-images/thumbs/uploads/council-images/remote/http_7e18a1c646f5450b9d6d-a75424f262e53e74f9539145894f4378.r8.cf3.rackcdn.com/7_5_2013-97043---greece---financial-crisis-july-2012-16-9-preview_8.04_thumb_169_1434705441_1434705441_129_97shar_c1.jpg

EU Heads of State or Government of the eurozone meet in Brussels on 22 June 2015 to discuss the urgent situation in Greece.

Download this video here.

On 19 June 2015, the Council extended the EU restrictive measures in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol until 23 June 2016. The sanctions include prohibitions on:

http://tvnewsroom.consilium.europa.eu/uploads/council-images/thumbs/uploads/council-images/remote/http_7e18a1c646f5450b9d6d-a75424f262e53e74f9539145894f4378.r8.cf3.rackcdn.com/3_7_2014-101767-athens-greece-16-9-preview_61.22_thumb_169_1434706775_1434706774_129_97shar_c1.jpg

EU Finance Ministers of the eurozone meet in Brussels on 22 June 2015 to discuss the urgent situation in Greece.

Download this video here.

http://tvnewsroom.consilium.europa.eu/uploads/council-images/thumbs/uploads/council-images/remote/http_7e18a1c646f5450b9d6d-a75424f262e53e74f9539145894f4378.r8.cf3.rackcdn.com/a3043b56-1502-11e5-ae29-bc764e084e2e_263.07_thumb_169_1434640884_1434640884_129_97shar_c1.jpg

EU Ministers of Foreign and European Affairs meet in Luxembourg on 22 June 2015 to hold a strategic discussion on Asia. This is expected to focus on Asian regional integration, the EU's strategic partnership with China as well as cooperation on connectivity between Asian partner states. The Council is also discussing current issues such as migratory pressures and the situation in Yemen, Syria and Libya.

Download this video here.

New procedural rules adopted by the General Court

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Place:    European Convention Centre (KIRCHBERG building), Luxembourg

All times are approximate and subject to change

08.45 tbc

Doorstep by High Representative Mogherini  

09.00

Adoption of the agenda
Adoption of A items

Energy diplomacy
Asia

13.15

Working lunch with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon - EU-UN cooperation

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

16.00

Press conference

If EUNAVFOR Med is launched, a press briefing on the operation will be held in Luxembourg after the adoption of the A-items. This briefing will be retransmitted live to the Council press centre in Brussels (accreditation to the Euro summit will be required for access to the press centre). 

In the margins of the Council:

17.20

EU-Montenegro Accession Conference (TV/photo opportunity)  

18.00

EU-Montenegro Stabilisation and Association Council

20.10

Press conference

 

General : Members of the agriculture, energy and international trade committees are visiting on 18 and 19 June the Milan Expo, the world exhibition whose motto is "feeding the planet, energy for life". The aim of the visit is to promote efforts to increase global food security, fight food waste and encourage healthy lifestyles.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

General : Members of the agriculture, energy and international trade committees are visiting on 18 and 19 June the Milan Expo, the world exhibition whose motto is "feeding the planet, energy for life". The aim of the visit is to promote efforts to increase global food security, fight food waste and encourage healthy lifestyles.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

On 19 June 2015, the Council agreed its negotiating stance on structural measures to improve the resilience of EU credit institutions. 

On the basis of this mandate, the incoming Luxembourg presidency will start negotiations with the European Parliament as soon as the latter has adopted its position. 

The proposal is aimed at strengthening financial stability by protecting the deposit-taking business of the largest and most complex EU banks from potentially risky trading activities. 

The proposed regulation would apply only to banks that are either deemed of global systemic importance or exceed certain thresholds in terms of trading activity or absolute size. Despite recent regulatory reforms in the banking sector, these credit institutions and groups remain too-big-to-fail, too-big-to-save and too complex to manage, supervise and resolve.

Tackling excessive risks 

The draft regulation is intended to reduce excessive risk taking and prevent rapid balance sheet growth as a result of trading activities. It sets out to shield institutions carrying out activities that deserve a public safety net from losses incurred as a result of other activities. It provides for the mandatory separation of proprietary trading and related trading activities and establishes a framework for competent authorities to take measures to reduce excessive risk taking. 

Trading activities other than proprietary trading would be subject to a risk assessment. If a competent authority finds that an excessive risk exists, it could require trading activities to be separated from the core credit institution, or demand an increase in the core credit institution's own fund requirements, or impose other prudential measures. Trading entities would be prohibited from taking retail deposits eligible for deposit insurance. 

Scope 

According to the Council's text, the regulation would apply to global systemically important institutions (in accordance with directive 2013/36/EU on capital requirements) or to entities with total assets of at least €30bn over the last three years and trading activities of at least €70 billion or 10% of their total assets. These banks would be allocated into two tiers, depending on whether the sum of their trading activities during the last three years exceeds €100 billion or not. Stricter reporting requirements, a more thorough risk assessment, and different supervisory actions would apply to banks exceeding the threshold. 

The regulation would not apply to institutions with total eligible deposits (under directive 2014/49/EU on deposit guarantee schemes) of less than 3% of their total assets, or total eligible retail deposits of less than €35bn. 

As proposed by the Commission, it would also not apply to sovereign debt instruments. But in the Council's text, a review clause has been further elaborated to specify that the Commission would review this exclusion taking into account developments at European and international level. 

National regimes 

To accommodate existing national regimes, the Council text provides two options for addressing excessive risk stemming from trading activities: This could be done either through national legislation requiring core retail activities to be ring-fenced, or through measures imposed by competent authorities in accordance with the regulation. 

Liikanen report 

The draft regulation builds on the recommendations of a report published in October 2012 by a "high-level group" chaired by the governor of the Bank of Finland, Erkki Liikanen (the "Liikanen report"). 

The regulation requires a qualified majority for adoption by the Council, in agreement with the European Parliament. (Legal basis: Article 114 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU.) 

On 19 June 2015, the Council closed excessive deficit procedures for Malta and Poland, confirming that they had reduced their deficits below the EU's 3% of GDP reference value.  

It abrogated previous decisions on the existence of excessive deficits in the two countries.  

As a consequence, 9 of the EU's 28 member states remain subject to the excessive deficit procedure, down from 24 during a 12-month period in 2010-11. Most of these procedures were opened after the global financial crisis and recession of 2008-09. The excessive deficit procedure has been used to support a return to sound fiscal positions.

Malta 

Malta was subject to an excessive deficit procedure from July 2009 to December 2012. The procedure was reopened in June 2013, after Malta's deficit was estimated to have reached 3.3% of GDP in 2012. A 2.6% of GDP deficit had been projected for 2012 when the procedure was closed in December 2012. 

In June 2013, the Council issued a recommendation calling on Malta to correct its deficit by 2014. To achieve this, it called for an improvement of the structural balance of 0.7% of GDP in 2013 and 2014. 

Malta reduced its general government deficit to 2.6% of GDP in 2013 and 2.1% in 2014. The Commission 2015 spring forecast projects deficits of 1.8% of GDP in 2015 and 1.5% in 2016. Malta's deficit is thus set to remain below the 3% of GDP reference value over the forecast horizon. 

Malta's debt-to-GDP ratio rose from 67.4% in 2012 to 69.2% in 2013, on account of a temporary stock-flow adjustment. It decreased to 68.0% in 2014, and is forecast to continue decreasing, reaching 65.4% in 2016, due in part to a favourable macroeconomic scenario. 

The Council concluded that Malta's deficit has been corrected. 

Poland 

Poland has been subject to an excessive deficit procedure since July 2009, when the Council issued a recommendation calling for its deficit to be corrected by 2012. 

In June 2013, the Council extended the deadline for correcting the deficit by two years, to 2014. Although Poland missed the 2012 deadline, it had made a fiscal effort over the 2010-12 period that exceeded the recommended level. In December 2013, the Council extended the deadline by a further year, to 2015. 

Poland's general government deficit amounted to 3.2% of GDP in 2014, above the 3% of GDP reference value. However, the Council found Poland to be eligible to specific provisions under the excessive deficit procedure dealing with systemic pension reforms, because: 

• its deficit is close to the reference value; 
• its debt-to-GDP ratio is below the 60% reference value for government debt, 

In December 2013, Poland reversed a pension reform introduced in 1999, but net costs of the 1999 reform continued until the end of July 2014. The total of these net costs for the period from January to July 2014 are estimated at 0.4% of GDP. The Council considered them to be sufficient to explain the excess of the deficit over the 3% reference value in 2014. 

Looking forward, the Commission's 2015 spring forecast projects deficits of 2.8% of GDP for 2015 and, based on a no-policy-change scenario, 2.6% of GDP for 2016. Poland's deficit is thus set to remain below the 3% of GDP reference value over the forecast horizon. 

Poland's general government gross debt reached 50.1% of GDP in 2014. The Commission's spring forecast projects it to amount to 50.9% of GDP in 2015 and 50.8% in 2016. 

The Council concluded that Poland's deficit has been corrected.

On 19 June 2015, the Council agreed the substance of its negotiating stance on two draft regulations aimed at modernising EU rules on medical devices and in vitro diagnostic medical devices. This is a step towards providing the presidency with a mandate to start talks with the European Parliament with a view to reach an agreement as early as possible.

The two draft regulations on medical devices cover a wide range of products, from sticking plasters to hip replacements, pacemakers and laboratory tests for assessment of medical interventions.  

The main objective of the two draft regulations is to ensure that medical devices are safe. This would be achieved by strengthening the rules on placing devices on the market and tightening surveillance once they are available.  

"We are pleased that under the Latvian presidency major progress could be achieved to strengthen the rules on medical devices. Today's agreement is a decisive step forward to improve patient safety and strengthen European competitiveness. Further work both within the Council and between the Council and the European Parliament is, however, needed to ensure that the benefits of the new rules are put into practice", said Guntis Belēvičs, the Latvian minister for health and President of the Council.  

Placing on the market

Unlike pharmaceuticals, medical devices and in vitro diagnostic medical devices are not subject to pre-market authorisation. Instead, they undergo a conformity assessment to establish whether they meet the applicable standards before they are placed on the market. Depending on the risk posed by a product, the assessment may involve a so-called notified body. This is an independent body with specific expertise for certain types of medical devices which assesses whether these medical devices meet the relevant standards.  

The Council further tightened the rules for the designation of notified bodies, for the monitoring of their assessment activities by national competent authorities and for co-operation of those competent authorities. The new rules would also give notified bodies the right and duty to carry out unannounced factory inspections.  

Post-market surveillance 

The Council added explicit provisions on manufacturers' responsibilities for the follow-up of the quality, performance and safety of devices placed on the market.  

Clinical investigations 

The draft regulations provide also for strengthened provisions on clinical investigation with a view to increase the availability of reliable clinical data on medical devices. The Council focused its efforts in particular on the protection of those undergoing clinical trials.

More transparency for patients 

The draft regulations seek to provide patients more transparency on the available devices, and increase their traceability.

 Patients who are implanted with a device would be given key information on the product, including any precautions which might need to be taken. Manufacturers of high-risk devices would have to make publicly available a summary of their safety and performance, with key elements of the clinical data. 

Increased traceability 

Manufacturers of medical devices would have to fit their products with a unique device identification to ensure traceability. Manufacturers and importers of both categories of products would have to register themselves and the devices they place on the EU market in a central database. An EU portal would be set up where manufacturers would have to report serious incidents and corrective actions they have taken to reduce the risk of recurrence. The Council took particular care to ensure that the traceability and identification rules can be implemented in practice. 

Next steps 

The agreement on the substance of the Council's negotiating stance will allow the next presidency to take contact with the European Parliament to prepare negotiations between the two institutions. Once the Council has finalised some outstanding technical work concerning the preamble of the two draft regulations, negotiations between the institutions will be able to start. 

The Syrian conflict could be the largest humanitarian crisis since World War II, leaving millions homeless and hundreds of thousands desperately seeking to find safety in neighbouring countries and Europe. "We can and should do much more for all of those forced to run to save their lives and their freedom," said Portuguese GUE/NGL member Marisa Matias, chair of the EP’s delegation to Syria. Ahead of World Refugee Day on Saturday June 20, our infographic shows you the extent of the crisis.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP