At their June meeting, EU leaders adopted the decision proposing to the European Parliament Jean-Claude Juncker as candidate for President of the European Commission. The Parliament elected the proposed candidate on 15 July. Leaders also asked Herman Van Rompuy to conduct consultations on the nominations for the other top positions. During the course of 2014 there will not only be a new College of Commissioners, but also a new President of the European Council, and a new High Representative of...

Read more

Member States must step up their work to prevent, detect and report fraud affecting EU funds, according to the Commission's annual report on the protection of financial interests (PIF report). The report sets out detailed recommendations on areas that national authorities should particularly focus on in this respect. The report finds that detected fraud in EU spending accounts for less than 0.2% of all funds. Nevertheless, the Commission believes that greater efforts at national level both on combatting and detecting...

Read more

By Evelyn Robert de Rothschild, Financier In 2008 the world suffered its most severe financial crisis since the calamities of the 1930s. Since then debate has raged over just what went wrong. Some blame greedy bankers, anxious to profit at any cost. Others blame banks' foolhardy approach, tolerating senselessly high levels of borrowing and marketing financial products too complex to understand. Still others fault regulators for being asleep at the wheel, while still others point the finger at an intemperate...

Read more

Across the country, Americans are writing the President and telling him about their experiences -- how their families are doing, what's working, and what's not. The President wants to know what's on your mind, too. Tell him how you're doing. This summer, he's traveling around the country to spend time with folks like you who are writing him. He's sitting down to eat meals with them, walking through their neighborhoods -- seeing what their day looks like. Every story he hears or...

Read more

Think you know all there is to know about the EU? Test your knowledge with our new geography game, which asks players to identify and locate the city in Europe that corresponds to an EU-related trivia question. The player with the top score will receive a voucher for two round-trip tickets between the U.S. and Brussels. Are you an EU expert? A geography guru? A history hero? Test your skills in European geography and trivia with Metropolis: Cities of Europe, developed...

Read more

With 422 votes in favour, the European Parliament elected Jean-Claude Juncker in a secret ballot on 15 July as President of the new European Commission to take office on 1 November 2014 for a five year term. The minimum number of votes required was 376. For the first time in the history of the EU, the European Parliament elected - and not merely approved - the President of the European Commission following a proposal by the European Council, according to...

Read more

The Council today adopted a regulation establishing a single resolution mechanism for failing banks (PE-CONS 88/14). The creation of a single resolution mechanism (SRM) – with a central decision-making board and a single resolution fund – ensures that resolution decisions across participating member states will be taken in a coordinated and effective manner, minimising negative impacts on financial stability and reducing the dependence of banks on the creditworthiness of sovereigns. The aim is to ensure the orderly resolution of failing banks...

Read more

The European Union welcomes the agreement reached on 9 July 2014 on a new United Nations convention to strengthen transparency in investor-state disputes. The Convention on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor-State Arbitration will make it easier to apply the UN’s transparency rules to investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) carried out under existing investment treaties. ‘Improving transparency in ISDS is crucial,’ said EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht, welcoming the development. ‘Yesterday’s agreement shows that more and more countries are committed to transparency in...

Read more

Ecofin discusses its work programme for the second half of 2014 At the meeting on 8 July the ministers discussed the Economic and Financial Affairs Council's work programme and priorities for the second semester of 2014, presented by the Italian presidency. Structural reforms and investment in growth and jobs are the key priorities under the Italian presidency of the Council of the EU, which runs from 1 July through to the end of December 2014. Pier Carlo Padoan, the Italian Minister of...

Read more