The European Commission has adopted today a legal act to create a simpler, more modern and integrated EU customs system to support cross-border trade and provide for more EU-wide cooperation in customs matters. It builds on the Union Customs Code adopted in 2013, which sets out detailed rules for twenty-first century customs processes. Customs services play a central role in policing the EU’s external borders and in facilitating trade. The customs union is the operational arm of much of the...

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Today, as the European Data Protection Supervisor sent his recommendations to the EU co-legislators negotiating the final text of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), he launched a mobile app to compare the latest texts from the Commission, the Parliament and the Council more easily on tablets and smartphones. Giovanni Buttarelli, EDPS, said: “Privacy and data protection matter more than ever to people. For the first time in a generation the EU has an opportunity to modernise, harmonise and simplify...

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The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded the Article IV consultation1 with the Euro Area. The recovery is strengthening, driven by rising domestic demand and supported by lower oil prices, the ECB’s quantitative easing under the expanded asset purchase program, and a weaker euro. The improving sentiment, rising inflation expectations, and easing credit conditions suggest that the recovery is likely to continue in the near term. In this context, euro area GDP is expected to accelerate from...

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Today the European Commission has put the final building blocks in place to kick-start investment in the real economy. A package of measures agreed today will ensure that the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) is up and running by early autumn 2015, keeping the ambitious timetable set by President Jean-Claude Juncker to implement the Investment Plan for Europe. The Commission has just published a Communication on the role of National Promotional Banks (NPBs) in supporting the Investment Plan for...

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1. Recalling its conclusions of July 2011 and June 2013 and the Foreign Affairs Council discussion of January 2015 which endorsed the Climate Diplomacy Action Plan, the Council adopted the following conclusions: 2. Climate change, as underlined by the latest scientific findings by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), is a decisive global challenge which, if not urgently managed, will put at risk not only the environment but also world economic prosperity, poverty reduction, sustainable development and, more broadly,...

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1. The Communication "A Framework Strategy for a Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy" of 25 February 2015 and the European Council Conclusions of 19-20 March 2015 recognised the importance of the external dimension of the Energy Union. The objectives of the Energy Union can only be met if the external and the internal dimensions of energy policy, in particular a fully functioning Internal Energy Market, are mutually reinforcing. 2. EU policy objectives defined in the EU...

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The Eurogroup welcomes the successful completion of the relevant national procedures related to the decision to grant in principle a 3-year ESM stability support to Greece, and especially the recent swift legislative steps taken by the Greek parliament as a first step towards rebuilding trust.  Following a formal decision taken by the ESM Board of Governors, the institutions were entrusted with the task of swiftly negotiating a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) detailing the policy conditionality attached to the financial assistance...

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Remarks by Valdis Dombrovskis EU Commission Vice-President for the Euro and Social Dialogue |  Brussels, 17 July 2015 Good afternoon everybody, This has been a week of important decisions in terms of helping Greece to regain financial stability and to put its economy back on track. These decisions are ultimately being taken for the sake of Greek people. First, the Greek Parliament adopted, with a large majority, the first set of reforms. It was a first but crucial step towards rebuilding trust between...

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Labour market developments have been improving against the background of a gradual economic recovery in the EU. Unemployment in the EU has continued to fall and job finding rates have modestly improved. However, despite its recent fall, unemployment remains high. The number of unemployed in the first quarter of 2015 was 23.6 million in the EU. The share of long-term unemployed is on the rise, standing at 4.9% in the first quarter of 2015. EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs,...

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