New EU rules to help firms win legal redress against theft or misuse of their trade secrets were voted by Parliament on Thursday. MEPs ensured that freedom of expression and information will be protected and that the rules will not restrict the work of journalists. “With one company out of every five a victim of theft of trade secrets every year, harmonisation should allow the creation of a safe and trustworthy environment for European companies, which will see their intangible...

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The European Parliament is set to finalise more than four years of negotiations this week in Strasbourg when MEPs pass the legislation in the Civil Liberties Committee on Tuesday 12 April, followed by a vote by the full house on Thursday 14 April. The overhaul concerns two pieces of legislation: a general regulation on personal data processing in the EU and a directive on data processed by the police and judicial authorities. Together, these make up the data protection package. The...

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The College proposes to introduce public reporting requirements for the largest companies operating in the EU and in tax havens. It also assesses progress by Greece to address deficiencies at external borders and discusses way forward on visa reciprocity. Tax transparency: country-by-country reporting by multinationals Fighting against tax avoidance and aggressive tax planning is a political priority for the European Commission. Since the beginning of its mandate, the Juncker Commission has pursued an ambitious agenda to ensure fair taxation, meaning that companies...

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Citing the dramatically worsening steel market situation in all three countries, the governments of Canada, Mexico and the United States agree on the need for governments of all major steel-producing countries to make strong and immediate commitments to address the problem of global excess steelmaking capacity.  Officials of Canada, Mexico and the United States, along with North American steel company representatives, met in Mexico City on March 31 – April 1, for the North American Steel Trade Committee, where they reviewed...

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Today's Action Plan is the first step towards a single EU VAT area which is equipped to tackle fraud, to support business and help the digital economy and e-commerce. The European Commission has presented an Action Plan setting out ways to reboot the current EU VAT system to make it simpler, more fraud-proof and business-friendly. The current VAT rules urgently need to be updated so they can better support the Single Market, facilitate cross-border trade and keep pace with today's digital...

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In the fourth quarter of 2015, the business investment rate was 22.2% in the euro area, compared with 22.0% in the previous quarter. The business profit share in the euro area was 40.0% in the fourth quarter of 2015, compared with 39.9% in the third quarter of 2015. Full text available on EUROSTAT website

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Would learning about the EU at school help to better understand what it is really all about? On Monday 11 April MEPs debate a non-legislative report calling on member states to have schools teach more about European issues to enable people to better engage with the EU. They will vote on it the following day. We spoke to report author Damian Drăghici, a Romanian member of the S&D group, ahead of the debate. In your report you say that if...

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Dr Andreas Dombret Member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank | Keynote remarks delivered at the Harvard Law School Symposium on Building the Financial System of the 21st Century: An Agenda for Europe and the US  Dear Professor Scott, Dear Ladies and Gentlemen 2016 marks the 30th anniversary of the Program on International Financial Systems. That's about the age when young people begin to realise that smoking, drinking and working late hours won't leave their physique unscathed....

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The European economy is now entering its fourth year of recovery and growth continues at a moderate rate, driven mainly by consumption. In the near term, I expect investment to gradually pick up as well, as demand increases, as businesses put their machinery back to work, and as profits increase thanks to lower energy prices and cheap credit. The Investment Plan for Europe will also start to have a positive impact on public and private investment. Given these favourable conditions,...

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