Brussels, 09 January 2015 New rules applying as of tomorrow mean businesses and consumers will be able to resolve cross-border legal disputes more easily – bringing expected savings of up to €48 million each year in the EU. The rules abolish the costly and lengthy procedure, which is currently used 10,000 times per year to get judgments in civil and commercial matters recognised in other EU countries. Starting tomorrow, such cross-border judgments will be automatically enforceable across the EU. Consumers will...

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2015: A Make or Break Year? 2015 promises to be a pivotal year for the TTIP negotiations, and global trade generally. After a (hopefully) restful holiday season, a new Congress is coming to a snow-covered Washington today -- and the European Union is returning to work in Brussels to outline its goals for 2015. Trade is high on both agenda, as it should be. Difficult election campaigns in Greece, Spain, the UK and (next year) the United States mean that significant...

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European Commission - Fact Sheet | Brussels, 06 January 2015 On 1 January 2015, Lithuania adopted the euro as its official currency and the changeover is running smoothly and according to plan. The previous national currency – the litas – will be phased out during a transitional two-week dual circulation period when both currencies have legal tender status in Lithuania. By Saturday, 3 January, 89% of customers were getting their change in euro. No major problems were observed in banks...

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Opinion piece by Mario Draghi, President of the ECB, for Project Syndicate, 2 January 2015 There is a common misconception that the euro area is a monetary union without a political union. But this reflects a deep misunderstanding of what monetary union means. Monetary union is possible only because of the substantial integration already achieved among European Union countries – and sharing a single currency deepens that integration. If European monetary union has proved more resilient than many thought, it...

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European Council Conclusions - 18 December 2014  It was the first European Council chaired by Donald Tusk as President and it followed a shorter format, a '1-day summit'. It allowed EU leaders to take clear decisions and set firmer orientations on: Investing in Europe EU leaders looked at ways of improving the investment environment in Europe and said that this improvement was needed to reinforce structural reforms and fiscal consolidation carried out by member states. European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI) They backed...

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On January 1, 2015, Lithuania becomes the 19th EU Member State to adopt the euro as its currency, completing the shift by all three Baltic nations to the EU’s single currency. The EU Member States that have adopted the euro constitute the euro area, and all are subject to the monetary policy set by the European Central Bank. Lithuania satisfied the necessary economic convergence criteria prior to taking this historic step: •    Price stability. The inflation rate should not be more...

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