Fraud, fragmentation and the complexity of the VAT system are a major challenge especially for border regions and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Therefore the members of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) broadly support the European Commission's move to modernise VAT in the EU through an opinion prepared by Dainis Turlais (LV/ALDE) and adopted during the October plenary. The action plan on VAT was published by the European Commission in April 2016 and is the first step towards a...

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Scientific support in Europe's regions and cities will finally come to fruition thanks to the new Knowledge Centre for Territorial Policies, said Markku Markkula, President of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), at the Annual Conference of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre on 11 October. He warmly welcomed the initiative, which provides scientific support to EU regions and cities, based on their specific needs, diversity and growth potential. Opening the Annual Conference of the Joint Research Centre (JRC),...

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Ladies and Gentlemen, Thank you for inviting me here today and for giving me the opportunity to be part of such a distinguished panel. The subject matter of our panel is a demanding one. Nine years after the beginning of the crisis, advanced economies are apparently settled in a regime of low growth and low inflation with no end in sight. In many places, a weary complacency seems to be reconciled with the “new normal long-term economic equilibrium”. However, in our...

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Commission welcomes landmark international agreement to curb aviation emissions The European Commission welcomes the landmark agreement reached yesterday by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), with the adoption of a Global Market-Based Measure (GMBM) to reduce international aviation emissions. The European Union and its Member States played an instrumental role in brokering this deal, which constitutes the first-ever agreement to reduce CO2 emissions in a global sector. Days after the ratification of the Paris Agreement by the EU, this new multilateral deal...

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