Antonio Tajani made the case for European unity in his first speech as Parliament President at the start of a Council summit. “Today more than ever we can see how important European unity is,” he told political leaders at the summit in Brussels on 9 March. “Europe needs to be changed not weakened. All the institutions need to work harder to find the answers which ordinary Europeans are looking to us to provide.” The summit is dedicated to issues such...

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EU leaders reviewed progress in a number of priority areas, reaffirmed the unity of the EU-27 and continued the debate on the future of the European Union. Prior to the main agenda, President Juncker welcomed the re-election of Donald Tusk as President of the European Council for a second two-and-a-half year mandate. Jobs, growth and competitiveness Leaders welcomed the encouraging economic situation across Europe. The March European Council is the first meeting in almost a decade where all 28 economies are expected...

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The European Council deliberated on the attached document. It was supported by 27 Members of the European Council, but it did not gather consensus, for reasons unrelated to its substance.  References to the European Council in the attached document should not be read as implying a formal endorsement by the European Council acting as an institution. Download the full report here Compliments of the European Council

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The Council agreed to adjust the EU's multi-annual financial framework for 2014-2020 to bring it in line with new priorities. The agreed changes reinforce the EU's support for tackling the migration crisis, strengthening security, boosting growth and creating jobs. They will allow the EU to respond more easily to unexpected needs without changing the MFF expenditure ceilings. And they will help to avoid an excessive backlog of unpaid bills. "This first-ever revision of the multi-annual budgetary framework will ensure that the...

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At today’s meeting the Governing Council of the ECB decided that the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 0.00%, 0.25% and -0.40% respectively. The Governing Council continues to expect the key ECB interest rates to remain at present or lower levels for an extended period of time, and well past the horizon of the net asset purchases. Regarding non-standard monetary policy measures, the...

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The Commission is marking International Women's Day with the publication of a new report on equality between men and women, which shows that EU legislation, guidelines, actions and funding possibilities are supporting noticeable but uneven progress in EU Member States. Sixty years ago, equality between women and men was embedded in the Rome Treaty as one of the European Union's fundamental values. Fast forward to today and women's employment rate has reached an all-time high level. However, the gender...

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US economic ties with the European Union (27) generate the largest global bilateral trade flows, worth an estimated $2.4 billion per day. The massive volume of US-EU (27) bilateral trade promotes prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2015, the total value of US goods and services trade with the EU (27) reached $869.5 billion. The United States had $589.7 billion in total bilateral goods trade with the EU (27), its second largest goods trade partner. US trade in...

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Brussels, 2 March 2017 Ahead of next week's European Council and in the form of three progress reports, the Commission is today making a renewed call on Member States to pick up the pace of relocation to alleviate pressure from Italy and Greece, with few having met their commitments in full. The Commission is also calling on Member States to make good on the strong political commitment given and fill gaps in manpower and equipment by the end of March for...

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The Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) is a composite index that summarises relevant indicators on Europe’s digital performance and tracks the evolution of EU member states in digital competitiveness. Denmark, Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands have the most advanced digital economies in the EU followed by Luxembourg, Belgium, the UK and Ireland. Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Italy have the lowest scores on the DESI. In 2016, all Member States improved on the DESI. Slovakia and Slovenia progressed the most (more than...

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Given London’s current central role in the European financial system, Brexit will generate significant risks and opportunities for the financial system of the remaining members of the European Union (EU-27). With Britain’s departure from the EU single market nearly certain to occur before mid-2019, the EU-27 should not wait to adapt its financial regulatory structure to successfully manage the resulting shifts. The main risks relate to the supervision of wholesale activities of financial firms and capital markets. To address...

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