Labour taxes remain major source of tax revenue The overall tax-to-GDP ratio1, meaning the sum of taxes and compulsory social contributions in % of GDP, in the EU282 stood at 39.4% in 2012, up from 38.8% in 2011. The overall tax ratio in the euro area2 (EA18) increased to 40.4% in 2012 from 39.5% in 2011. In 2013, Eurostat estimates show that tax revenues as a percentage of GDP are set to continue rising in both zones. The tax burden varies...

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European Commission - SPEECH/14/458   12/06/2014 | Neelie KROES, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda at Founders' Forum | London, 12 June 2014 Too often I hear that Europe needs a Silicon Valley. We don't need one, because we have our own. The difference is that Europe doesn't have one Valley. We have a few dozen. Spread all over Europe. It is called 'Start-Up Europe'. Start-Up Europe is a collection of hubs with magnificent start-ups. Great ideas. Ambitious...

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"Combining the legacy of the past with helping Europe recover from the crisis, and this with scarcer resources". This is how EU budget Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski describes the EU's 2015 draft budget as adopted by the Commission today (commitments: €145.6 billion; payments: €142.1 billion). The bulk of the commitments is for future projects that make Europe stronger economically whereas some 40% of the payments still cover EU funded projects from the 2007-2013 financial period. Also the Commission is proposing...

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Brussels, 11 June 2014 -- Today the Commission has proposed measures to further safeguard procedural guarantees in OLAF investigations, in order to complete the already comprehensive reform of the EU's anti-fraud office. The proposal foresees the creation of a new Controller of Procedural Guarantees, who would have two main functions. First, he would be responsible for reviewing and providing recommendations on complaints that might be lodged by anyone implicated in an OLAF investigation. Second, OLAF will have to get...

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Today, 6 June 2014, a meeting of the Council of EU Ministers for Telecommunications took place in Luxembourg, chaired by Greek Deputy Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Networks, Michalis Papadopoulos. During the Council of Ministers for Telecommunications, Member States expressed their views on how the proposed directive for network and information security can contribute to the organisation of cooperation between Member States in order to achieve the maximum level of cyber security for Europe as a whole. The basic element...

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Brussels, 5 June 2014 | José Manuel Durão Barroso | President of the European Commission | SPEECH/14/432   05/06/2014 Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, Some time ago we were not expecting to be meeting here in Brussels for this G7, but it was well worth it. It was a very successful summit with very good conversations and with a very remarkable level of convergence. On a range of geo-strategic issues we have a unity and common determination to lead the global response. I am...

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The European Commission has today released its 2014 Convergence Report, which assesses eight Member States' readiness to join the single currency. These countries have made uneven progress on the road to euro adoption, but Lithuania stands out from this group as it now fulfils the convergence criteria. The Commission is therefore proposing that the EU Council of Ministers decide that Lithuania can adopt the euro on 1 January 2015. The Council will take the final decision on the matter in...

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Speech by Yves Mersch, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB,  at the Information Club Meeting | Luxembourg, 31 May 2014 Ladies and gentlemen, Thank you very much for inviting me to speak at this event. What I would like to address in my remarks is what went wrong with the governance of the euro area and how to fix it. But as this has been much discussed in the past, I want to come at the question today from a...

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The European elections are now behind us, but many questions have yet to be answered. The next few days should cast more light on who will be the next Commission president and which political groups will find common ground to shape the agenda of the new Parliament. Here is a brief look at what comes next. New Commission President The Conference of Presidents, which consists of the leaders of parliamentary groups and the EP president, meets early on Tuesday 27 May,...

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