Step by the step the European Commission pursue its plan to deepen the Economic and Monetary Union of the EU and especially the Euro area. On Wednesday, 22 March, President Barroso and Olli Rehn, Vice-President for Economic and Monetary Affairs and the Euro, presented to communications inviting a broader European discussion but also expressing the intention to submit a more [...]

On 28 February, the EU Council on Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs addressed the EU member states on the issue of youth unemployment. The EU Council on Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs reached a political agreement on Thursday, 28 February, on a recommendation on establishing a youth guarantee, addressing the EU member states. The recommendations defines: “The [...]

On Wednesday, 20 February, the European Commission published its long awaited Social Investment Package.

The European Council decided last Friday, 8 February, on the next EU Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) for the years from 2014 to 2020. The European Parliament will have to vote on this decision and the first reactions were very critical by MEPs. The compromise of the European Council is indeed ambivalent: For the first time a MFF disposes about a [...]

On Tuesday, 22nd January, the EU Finance ministers decided to pursue the track to come to a European Financial Transaction Tax. Coming together as the Economic and Financial Council of the EU the ministers agreed to proceed through the special legal instrument of the Lisbon Treaty on an “enhanced cooperation”. This means that the Council of the EU has confirmed [...]

In the last two weeks the European Commission published two studies on the employment and social situation in Europe. Both – the “Employment and Social Developments in Europe Review” and the “EU Employment and Social Situation Quarterly Review, December 2012” – sound the alarm. It is obvious that Europe is confronted with a new divide and a rising divergence across [...]

On Wednesday, 5 December, the European Commission has presented a package of measures to tackle youth unemployment in Europe. The “moving youth into employment”-package consists of proposals on a Youth Guarantee, a Quality Framework for Traineeships, a European Alliance for Apprenticeships and an initiative to foster Youth Mobility. By presenting the proposals László Andor, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, said: “High youth [...]

On Wednesday, 28 November, the European Commission adopted and published the Annual Growth Survey 2013. The Annual Growth Survey (AGS) defines the economic and social priorities for the EU in 2013. It launches the so-called European Semester of policy coordination “through which national performances and priorities are reviewed collectively at the EU level in the first half of each year” [...]

Wednesday, 12 September, the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Durao Barroso held his annual State of the Union speech in Strasbourg in the plenary of the European Parliament. epnn_brussels – A “federation of nation states” he proposed as political horizon for the development of the European Union. He clearly expressed the deep European crisis with its different financial, economic, [...]

epnn_brussels – Last week the European Commission presented a package of recommendations to enhance financial stability, to boost growth and to create employment in the EU. With these recommendations the Commission describes how the Member States and the EU can together support the recovery of the European economy. President Barroso stated: “Today the Commission has taken important decisions that set [...]