The European Commission welcomes the agreement on the reform of Money Market Funds (MMFs) that was reached today at the Permanent Representatives Committee (COREPER) of the Council. The agreement marks a further step in the completion of the post-crisis reform agenda and paves the way for trilogues with the European Parliament. The Commission adopted its proposal for a regulatory framework of MMFs in September 2013 in order to address their potential impact on the financial system. MMFs are a key part...

Read more

Brussels, 15 June 2016 Mr Chairman, Honourable Members, Ladies and Gentlemen, Thank you for the invitation and putting the social and economic dimension of the Energy Union on your agenda. President Juncker and this Commission made the deliberate choice to organise the Energy Union project around a project team. The reason for this is that a true Energy Union requires more than the coordination of energy policies. We are witnessing the beginning of a true energy transition because of our climate goals and...

Read more

The European Development Days is a two day event in Brussels on 15-16 June to generate new ideas, take action and shape the future with world leaders, young leaders and hundreds of speakers, civil society organisations and international organisations. Tomorrow the "European Development Days 2016'' (EDDs) will officially open its doors to a record number of over 6,000 development professionals from around 150 countries who will attend what has become Europe’s leading forum on global development and cooperation. Commissioner for International...

Read more

First quarter of 2016 compared with the fourth quarter of 2015 - Employment up by 0.3% in euro area and EU28 - +1.4% in both areas compared with the first quarter of 2015. The number of persons employed increased by 0.3% in both the euro area (EA19) and the EU28 in the first quarter of 2016 compared with the previous quarter, according to national accounts estimates published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. In the fourth quarter...

Read more

The aim of the Skills Agenda is to ensure that people develop a broad set of skills from early in life and to make the most of Europe’s human capital, which will ultimately boost employability, competitiveness and growth in Europe. 70 million Europeans lack adequate reading and writing skills, and even more have poor numeracy and digitals skills. This puts them at risk of unemployment, poverty and social exclusion. On the other hand, a large number of Europeans, particularly high-qualified...

Read more

Today Europe’s business leaders gather in Amsterdam with a clear agenda: how to get more from the European Union’s Single Market. The Single Market is a great achievement. By allowing people, services, goods and capital to move freely in the world's largest economy – our half-billion consumers are served by 30 million businesses generating €14 trillion – we all benefit from more choice and lower prices. For our companies it means new business opportunities; for our citizens, the chance...

Read more

Last week, the Commerce Department invited comments from the public on how U.S. seaports can work better with their supply chain partners to reduce congestion, become more efficient, and improve America’s competitiveness. The information, ideas, and suggestions received from the notice will be used to inform a Departmental report on best industry practices that each U.S. seaport can use as needed to improve its operating efficiency. The request for comment is part of Secretary Penny Pritzker’s 21st Century Port Competitiveness Initiative,...

Read more

The Regulation on Interchange Fees for Card-based payment transactions entered into force in June 2015. It is aimed at addressing the widely varying and excessive hidden interchange fees which are an obstacle to the Single Market and a barrier to innovation. The Regulation caps the interchange fees for the most widely-used cards and imposes transparency obligations on banks and retailers to improve the functioning of the payment market for all cards. The rules on interchange fee caps have applied since...

Read more