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...

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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...

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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,...

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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...

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Many European countries are realising the economic benefits of making more efficient use of material resources like metals, fossil fuels and minerals. But more action is needed to underpin this trend in resource efficiency with stronger policies on energy, material resources, waste management and on circular economy. These are the findings from a new European Environment Agency (EEA) assessment published today. The EEA report More from less – material resource efficiency in Europe, takes an in-depth look at national approaches and policies...

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International trade in services - EU trade in services continued to rise strongly in 2015… ... but total surplus down for a second consecutive year The international trade in services of the European Union (EU) has increased steadily and significantly over the last six years. EU exports of services to the rest of the world rose by 42%, from €569.5 billion in 2010 to €811.2 bn in 2015, while imports grew slightly more rapidly (+43%) from €461.6 bn to €660.5...

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What do you actually know about one of the most important political institutions in the world? Take a Washington Post test and find out. Click on the image below to get to the test. By Adam Taylor June 7 at 1:04 PM | Washington Post

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MEPs debate on Wednesday morning whether the EU's €315 billion investment plan to fuel Europe's economic recovery by mobilising public and private investment is delivering. According to the European Commission, the first year of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) has been promising. Follow the discussion with Commissioner Jyrki Katainen live online from 9.00 CET. How it works The aim of EFSI, run by the European Investment Bank (EIB), is to provide public support for projects that are economically viable,...

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