The Maltese Presidency today struck a provisional deal with the European Parliament on the participation of the EU in a partnership to develop innovative solutions for sustainable water provision and management and food production in the Mediterranean region. The initiative, known as PRIMA (Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area), will pool the know-how and financial resources of the EU and participating states. The partnership currently involves nine member states: Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Luxembourg,...

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The investment recovery is strengthening in Europe. 84% of European firms reported having invested in the previous financial year. Going forward, more firms expect to expand their investment activities than to scale them back. Firms consider only some 44% of their machinery and equipment to be “state-of-art”. Global competition and technological advancement call for a quick action. But most firms say uncertainty (69% of firms), lack of skilled labour (68% of firms) and the business and the regulatory...

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Speech by Mario Draghi, President of the ECB, at The ECB and Its Watchers XVIII Conference, Frankfurt am Main, 6 April 2017: Over the course of the crisis, the making of monetary policy has become progressively more complex. We have operated in an environment where the limits of our traditional instruments have been tested, and where new instruments have had to be introduced. This has required adaptation, not just by those of us who decide on it, but also by...

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Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem spoke to press and public representatives following the group's April 7 meeting: "Good afternoon and welcome to this press conference, here after the Eurogroup in Valletta. I want, first of all, to thank the Maltese hosts for the excellent organisation and the wonderful venue for today's discussions. Today in the Eurogroup, we welcomed Danièle Nouy of the ECB Supervisory Board and Elke Koenig of the Single Resolution Board. They joined us to speak about their work,...

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The Commission welcomes the adoption of its proposal for two Regulations on medical devices which establish a modernised and more robust EU legislative framework to ensure better protection of public health and patient safety. The new Regulations on medical and in-vitro diagnostic medical devices proposed by the Commission in 2012 will help to ensure that all medical devices - from heart valves to sticking plasters to artificial hips – are safe and perform well. To address this, the new rules...

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When travelling in the EU, consumers will be able to call, send SMS or surf on their mobile at the same price they pay at home. Today the European Parliament voted on how to regulate wholesale roaming markets, formally approving the agreement on wholesale caps reached between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission at the beginning of the year. This political agreement was the final step to make roam like at home work as of 15 June 2017, as foreseen in the Telecom Single...

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New rules allowing the US National Security Agency (NSA) to share private data with other US agencies without court oversight, recent revelations about surveillance activities by a US electronic communications service provider and vacancies on US oversight bodies are among the concerns raised by MEPs in a resolution passed on Thursday. In the resolution, adopted by 306 votes to 240, with 40 abstentions, MEPs call on the EU Commission to conduct a proper assessment and ensure that the EU-US “Privacy...

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The Board of the European Investment Bank approved a total of EUR 4.1 billion of new financing today. This includes investment to improve sustainable transport, healthcare, education and corporate research, as well as support for lending to small companies by local financial partners across Europe and around the world. “At a time of economic and political uncertainty the time is right to consider how to strengthen the role of multilateral banks such as the EIB.” said Werner Hoyer, President of...

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