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The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC), based in Riga, Latvia, has failed to convince the EP Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT) that its management of EU funds [...]

The EU appears to be running out of solutions to tackle the looming threat of stagnation. Stimulus packages are off the table, and global demand is likely to decline. The [...]

The term 'structural reform' is bound to pop up these days in any speech or discourse that deals with how the EU could or should recover from the recession. Meanwhile, [...]

The European companies in conflict with the Panama Canal Authority over a cost overrun formed a unified front, on 23 January, before entering in crucial talks to settle the dispute. [...]

MEPs believe that the EU enlargement process must continue - but add that the candidate countries must implement the requisite reforms. In a draft resolution by Richard Howitt (S&D, UK), [...]

At their European election party conference, the German member party of the ALDE group of European Liberal parties, the Free Democratic Party (FDP), nominated sitting MEPs for the first seven [...]

A series of soundbites and statements have marked the subsequent stages of the recession that followed the 2008 crisis. Early on, the political class stood up against that all-powerful markets [...]

The brinkmanship over and political stalemate in the budget talks over the last months have had an impact on the market's perception of the EU's credibility. Standard &Poor's downgraded, on [...]

The eurozone's economies have to face a toxic cocktail of persistent high unemployment, weak domestic demand and low growth prospects. For all the fiscal adjustments and reforms implemented since the [...]

Continuity, stability, solidarity: when it comes to European policy, these are the key words in the new German coalition contract. The Christian and Social Democrats do not want to change [...]

The European Commission and the government of Cyprus discussed, on 27 November, how the EU executive could provide further support to the country after it received a 10 billion package [...]

MEP Wolf Klinz (ALDE, Germany) called Europe 'risk-averse and anti-technology,' and said foreigners are looking for 'a more positive environment'. Addressing the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) in [...]

High levels of exports, a much lower level of imports and not enough investments: this is the recipe for producing a current account surplus. And it is precisely because of [...]

Macroeconomic conditionality is set to make an appearance in EU Structural Funds - or rather, it will be extended to cover all funds, since it is already being applied to [...]

For German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the European Council was a success. In her final press conference, Merkel stressed the progress made on competitiveness (the Digital Agenda), the coordination of economic [...]

The member states' leaders will debate banking union at their meeting on 24-25 October, but their discussions are not expected to result in any decisions or advances. Their objective is [...]

The member states' foreign affairs ministers, meeting in Luxembourg on 22 October, will fine-tune the draft conclusions (see Europolitics 4734) to be adopted by the heads of state and government [...]

The European Commission proposes to reinforce the annual cycle of coordination of economic policies by building into it a scoreboard of social and employment indicators. In its communication on the [...]

Many consider politics the art of problem-solving. Others argue that leaders should not be mere fixers. They should strive to bring about change by turning desires into reality. Meanwhile, most [...]

The Employment and Social Policy Council (EPSCO) wants to play an active role in boosting the social dimension of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). During an informal meeting in [...]

On 9 July, ratings agency Fitch upgraded Latvia's credit rating by a notch to BBB+', just hours after the Baltic nation was green-lighted to become the eurozone's 18th member. Fitch [...]

The Ecofin Council approved formally, on 9 July, the recommendations to 23 member states on their economic and employment policies. A specific recommendation on the economic policies of the eurozone [...]

The European Commission announced, on 2 July, the creation of an expert group to analyse the joint issuance of debt in Europe. European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said that, [...]

Europe's fight against the prolonged and stubborn recession has had it collateral damage. For one, SMEs in the Southern EU countries still find it extremely difficult to obtain loans, which [...]

'We will not be told what to do by the European Commission', warned François Hollande, in late May. On 16 June, the French president, speaking in a TV discussion on [...]

It looks like German Chancellor Angela Merkel is changing sides. In fact, in an interview published on 3 June in the weekly Der Spiegel, she said: 'I see no need [...]

After the recent quarrel between France and Germany following the publication of the country-specific recommendations (see Europolitics 4654), in which the European Commission urged Paris to speed up its reforms, [...]

The two regulations aimed at improving economic governance and stepping up budget monitoring in the eurozone, the so-called 'two pack', entered into force on 30 May. The first regulation provides [...]

Bruegel's first Director, Jean Pisani-Ferry (France), has been appointed director of the French prime minister's economic policy planning staff (Commissariat général à la stratégie et à la prospective) in Paris. [...]

The member states' ministers in the General Affairs Council examined, on 22 April, a draft annotated agenda drawn up by the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, in [...]

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and EADS announced, on 18 March, the signature of a 300 million financing contract to support EADS Group's innovation and R&D programmes. The loan represents [...]

The lower house of the Polish parliament gave the green light, on 20 February, to ratification of the EU's fiscal pact' (Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance), after 12 hours [...]

The Council and the European Commission are on the same wavelength concerning the economic policy focus this year. During the Ecofin meeting, on 12 February, finance ministers endorsed the five [...]

A light agenda is what awaits finance ministers, on 12 February, during the Economic and Financial Affairs Council. Many topics - the European semester' for economic coordination, the annual EU [...]

For the European Parliament, single market legislation can directly impact conditions for economic recovery. That is why it is vital to improve assessment of such impacts, to transpose legislation properly [...]

The lack of democratic credentials surrounding the EU's efforts to coordinate national budgetary and economic policies still worries MEPs and national parliamentarians, who opened a two-day meeting on this subject [...]

The fiscal compact entered into force on 1 January. Formally known as the Treaty on stability, coordination and governance in the Economic and Monetary Union', it forces eurozone members to [...]

At a high-level conference on employment, organised by the European Commission on 6-7 September, Raymond Torres, director of the International Labour Organisation's International Institute for Labour Studies, highlighted the failure [...]

One of the shortcomings identified by the European Parliament in the coordination of national budgetary and economic policies at European level via the 2012 European semester' is the lack of [...]

Problems identified in the coordination of national budgetary and economic policies at European level via the 2012 European semester' are being addressed at all levels. In an opinion drafted by [...]

Cyprus, the first eurozone country to hold the EU's rotating Presidency in two years, faces the Herculean task of overseeing the start of a 120 billion growth plan designed to [...]

Following on from the European Parliament, on 5 July (see Europolitics 4459), the Council of Ministers formally adopted, on 10 July, the regulation launching the pilot phase 2012-2013 of EU [...]

Members of the European Parliament came out in force to back the issuance of project bonds' to finance transport, energy and information technology infrastructure projects. On 5 July in Strasbourg, [...]

The majority of the member states' heads of state and govenment endorsed the Council's country-specific recommendations on budgets, structural reforms and employment policies, during the EU summit in Brussels, on [...]

The Employment and Social Policy (EPSCO) Council supports the majority of the European Commission's country-specific recommendations on the labour market, educational systems and child care. Meeting in Luxembourg, on 21 [...]

The plan of aid to Portugal remains 'on track amid continued challenges,' the troika said after the publication of a new review of the austerity and reform programme, agreed in [...]

The European Commission has singled out Spain and Cyprus for particular attention under its macroeconomic surveillance system, saying, on 30 May, that they are suffering from 'serious imbalances not least [...]

MEPs have agreed to release money from the EU budget to help fund the issuance of project bonds for key infrastructure upgrades across Europe, part of a wider strategy to [...]

Budget discipline in Europe must be applied with discernment in keeping with the economic situation of each country to keep from hindering growth, said Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn in [...]

There are 'serious weaknesses' in the oversight of the EU's bailout funds, Bulgarian EPP deputy Iliana Ivanova has said, suggesting that the future European Stability Mechanism (ESM) be given a [...]