Today COSME, the new programme for the competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), was presented by Antonio Tajani, Vice-President of the European Commission, responsible for industry and entrepreneurship. SMEs are the back-bone of the European economy, being primarily responsible for economic growth and job creation. The new programme will give a fresh impetus to the European economy by easing access to credit for SMEs, improving SMEs access to markets inside and outside Europe and creating a...

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The EU economy has started growing again. Following a slow expansion of economic activity during the remainder of 2013, growth is set to become more robust in 2014 and 2015. In recent months, there have been encouraging signs that an economic recovery is underway in Europe. After contracting up to the first quarter of 2013, the European economy started to grow again in the second quarter and real GDP is set to continue growing in the remainder of this year. Growth...

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Euro area annual inflation was 0.7% in October 2013, down from 1.1% in September. A year earlier the rate was 2.5%. Monthly inflation was -0.1% in October 2013. European Union annual inflation was 0.9% in October 2013, down from 1.3% in September. A year earlier the rate was 2.6%. Monthly inflation was -0.1% in October 2013. In October 2013, the lowest annual rates were observed in Greece (-1.9%), Bulgaria (-1.1%) and Cyprus (-0.5%), and the highest in Estonia and the...

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The European Commission today presented a major package of budgetary surveillance announcements, covering 13 euro area Member States and 3 non-euro Member States, with a special focus also on the euro area as an economic entity in its own right. For the first time, the Commission has issued opinions on euro area Member States’ Draft Budgetary Plans, which from this year must be submitted to the Commission by 15 October, at the same time as draft budgets are sent to...

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The European Commission will adopt a number of documents to mark the start of the fourth European Semester for economic policy coordination in the EU. The Annual Growth Survey will set out general economic priorities for Member States to follow when drawing up their budgets and reform plans over the next year. The Alert Mechanism Report will screen EU economies for potential macroeconomic imbalances, and indicate which economies require further analysis. This year the Annual Growth Survey will be accompanied by...

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The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a set of corrections to its final regulations under the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). Click here to read document "TD 9610". The IRS also published two sets of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): FATCA - FAQs General FATCA - Registration System FAQs

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ALFI: Asset managers should broaden their appeal to all savers in society A report entitled "Beyond 10%: the case for enlarging the pool of retail investors in Europe's investment funds," commissioned by ALFI and prepared by research company Mackay Williams highlights the fact that there is a ?4 trillion pool of household assets in Europe that are not managed professionally and which is therefore either losing value or failing to grasp growth opportunities that are available through long-term investment vehicles....

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The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published its final report on "Guidelines on reporting obligations under Articles 3(3)(d) and 24(1), (2) and (4) of the AIFMD". The guidelines aim to clarify provisions of the AIFMD and its "delegated act" ("Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 231/2013 of 19 December 2012") on required information, which will help to have a more comprehensive and consistent oversight of AIFMs' activities. ESMA has also published an Opinion that proposes introducing additional periodic reporting...

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The EU and U.S. EU negotiators met on Monday November 11th in Brussels for the first day in a second round of talks to foster progress in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The beginning of the week will be devoted to discussions on investment rules and trade in services. The teams of negotiators will continue working on those topics during the course of the week, as other negotiators meet to discuss a range of regulatory issues, including regulatory...

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