Chapter News, News, Trade & TTIP Related

European Council calls for an ambitious approach for a competitive single market

The Council today adopted conclusions on "A new level of ambition for a competitive single market". These conclusions are the Council's response to recent calls from the European Council for an integrated, forward-looking approach to the single market, which should connect all relevant policies and remove remaining unjustified barriers and avoiding creating new ones, in particular on freedom to provide services and on digitalisation. The single market is a huge achievement and a cornerstone for the robustness and the global...

Read more

Member News

GDPR: One Year Older But Are We Any The Wiser?

By Brian Johnston, Mason Hayes & Curran We have survived the first year of living with the GDPR. After all the panic and hard work, we look at what has happened in the last 12 months and what can be learnt. Security breach notifications a plenty What has happened? Over 89,000 notifications had been filed since May 2018. With a regime where over-notification suffers no penalty, but failure to notify could incur a fine, one could not blame businesses for taking this approach. This approach, however,...

Read more

Chapter News, News

EU Parliament releases updated seat projection for new Parliament- Election 2019

New, updated seat projection for the new European Parliament based on final and provisional results in 27 countries and estimates in one more: Provisional results 28-05  This new projection is based on: • Final results in 13 countries: Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia, UK. • Provisional results in 14 countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, • National estimates from one country: Ireland Turnout estimates indicate a significant increase in...

Read more

Brexit News, Member News

Vulcan Insight –  Flash report on European elections

Vulcan Consulting – Post European election analysis    From Thursday 23 to Sunday 26 May 2019 all 28 Member States of the European Union went to the polls to cast their votes in the European elections. While results are still coming in from some jurisdictions, we now know the following: this is the most politically fragmented European election in history. What you need to know Populists win: As predicated, Eurosceptic, anti-immigrant and nationalist parties nearly won nearly a third of the seats with 31 –...

Read more

Chapter News, News

SMEs are driving job growth, but need higher investment in skills, innovation and tech to boost wages and productivity

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been a significant driver of employment growth in recent years, mainly through the creation of new firms, including in high-growth sectors such as information and communication technologies (ICT). But the new OECD SME and Entrepreneurship Outlook highlights that most SME job creation has been in sectors with below average productivity levels, with SMEs typically paying employees around 20 percent less than large firms. While SMEs are more engaged in new organisational or marketing practices...

Read more

Chapter News, News

General Data Protection Regulation: one year on

On 25 May 2019, the General Data Protection Regulation will celebrate its first year of entry into application. To mark the occasion, Andrus Ansip, Vice-President for the Digital Single Market and Věra Jourová, Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, issued the following statement: “25 May marks the anniversary of Europe's new data protection rules, the General Data Protection Regulation, also widely known as the GDPR. These game-changing rules have not only made Europe fit for the digital age, they...

Read more

Member News

The New Closers: Why JRT Realty Rising Star Lauren Calandriello Is One To Watch

By: Miram Hall, Bisnow New York Lauren Calandriello’s path to commercial real estate was, in her own words, kind of random. Now a JRT Realty Group real estate associate, she was introduced to the firm’s CEO, Jodi Pulice, after taking a college study abroad program in Italy alongside Pulice’s son back in 2012. Pulice, always on the lookout for young talent, invited her in for a job interview two years later. “ likes to hire young women into the business and...

Read more

Chapter News, News, Trade & TTIP Related

Fairness in the food supply chain: Commission proposes to increase price transparency

Having banned unfair trading practices and improved producer cooperation, the Commission is today presenting the third element to improve fairness in the food supply chain by introducing greater transparency in the way prices are reported throughout the chain. The European Commission today tabled a proposal that will make available crucial information on how prices are determined as agri-food products move along the food supply chain. Buying and selling price differences can provide information about intermediary costs (such as transport, insurance, storage,...

Read more

Chapter News, News

Germany: Staff Concluding Statement of the 2019 Article IV Mission

May 17, 2019 A Concluding Statement describes the preliminary findings of IMF staff at the end of an official staff visit (or ‘mission’), in most cases to a member country. Missions are undertaken as part of regular (usually annual) consultations under Article IV of the IMF's Articles of Agreement, in the context of a request to use IMF resources (borrow from the IMF), as part of discussions of staff monitored programs, or as part of other staff monitoring of economic...

Read more

Chapter News, News

European Elections 2019 Campaign Tracker

To help keep track of the European election campaigns, the European Parliament Press service provides a daily newsfeed on country-specific electoral facts, events and debates in all member states.  Here is the update for 24 May: VOTING TODAY: Czechia and Ireland are going to the polls today, to elect 21 and 11 MEPs respectively. Tomorrow’s voters are Czechia for the second day, Latvia, Malta and Slovakia. EUROPE. Lead candidates have travelled the continent to vote. Violeta Tomić (EL) voted early on...

Read more