Good evening and welcome to this press conference. We had a extra dedicated Eurogroup meeting today to talk about Draft Budgetary Plans (DBP) and we also took stock of the discussions on Greece. Of course all this happened under the dark cloud of the migration issue and on the top of all that - the terrorism attacks in Paris and the acute situation here in Brussels. I am happy that we could meet today and that we didn't have to...

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The European Investment Bank (EIB) Group has today officially inaugurated its representative office in Copenhagen to support business, develop contacts with the public and private sectors, strengthen relations with promoters and partner banks, and enhance its outreach in Denmark. The office has been opened today by EIB Vice-President Jan Vapaavuori with the Permanent Secretary of State from the Danish Ministry for Business and Growth, Michael Dithmer, in the presence of ambassadors of the EU Member States and representatives of Denmark’s...

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The European Investment Fund (EIF) and Slovene Enterprise Fund (SEF) have signed a COSME agreement in Slovenia, benefiting from the support of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) the heart of the Investment Plan for Europe. The agreement will allow Slovene Enterprise Fund to provide EUR 180 million of guarantees to SMEs in Slovenia over the next three years. The guarantees will be provided as a result of a counter-guarantee from EIF under the COSME programme with financial backing from the European...

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Commission co-finances under LIFE programme projects supporting the environment, nature and a more sustainable economy. The Commission has approved an investment package of €264.8 million to support Europe's environment, nature and green growth. The investment covers 96 new projects spanning to 21 Member States, funded under the LIFE programme for the Environment. The projects cover actions in the field of environment and resource efficiency, supporting the transition to a more circular and sustainable economy, nature and biodiversity, and environmental governance...

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Today, the European Commission published the second edition of the "EU Transport Scoreboard", which compares how Member States perform in 29 transport categories. Today, the European Commission published the second edition of the "EU Transport Scoreboard", a benchmark which compares how Member States perform in 29 categories covering all aspects of transport. The objective of the Scoreboard is to help Member States to identify areas requiring priority investments and actions, in order to create a Single European Transport Area with high...

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2014 was the first year of positive employment growth in European SMEs since the financial crisis. The annual report on European SMEs for 2014 shows that the financial situation for small and medium enterprises is on the mend, and that they have started hiring again. The turnaround comes after years of downsizing, lasting up until 2013, when European SMEs were still shedding 0.5% of their workforce. In 2014, SMEs have accounted for the lion’s share of new jobs created in...

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The fall in funding to countries in eastern Europe may be bottoming out The fall in foreign banks’ funding to countries in eastern Europe may be bottoming out. A new report from the Vienna Initiative committee released today shows that foreign bank funding to central, eastern and south-eastern Europe (CESEE) countries, excluding Russia and Turkey, rose in the second quarter of 2015 for the first time since 2011.Overall, funding for the group of 21 countries shrunk by 0.3 per cent...

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To help citizens and businesses benefit fully from the internal market, the European Commission continuously engages with and, if necessary, initiates infringement procedures against Member States who do not respect European law. This month, as part of its monthly package of infringement decisions, the Commission took a number of decisions (of which 21 letters of formal notice, 20 reasoned opinions, 11 referrals to the Court of Justice of the EU, and 54 closures). Amongst others, the Commission decided to refer...

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Organic food is gaining in popularity, but what are the health benefits? MEPs discussed the impact of organic food with experts during a meeting organised by the Parliament's science and technology unit (STOA) on 18 November. They heard further research may be needed to establish organic food's nutritional benefits. In our Twitter poll on the topic, two thirds of respondents said they preferred organic food. About organic food Organic food is based on sustainable agriculture and processes that do not harm...

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The European Commission welcomes the agreement reached late yesterday by members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) - including the EU - to substantially limit the export-related support for coal-fired power plants and to encourage the use of the most advanced technology in energy production. The outcome of two years of intense discussions represents a first important step forwards in aligning export credits policies with the global push for cleaner energy generation. EU Commissioner for Trade, Cecilia Malmström said: “The...

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