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...

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,...

Brussels, 7 May 2019 The European economy is forecast to continue expanding for the seventh year in a row in 2019, with real GDP expected to grow in all EU Member States. As global uncertainties continue to weigh, domestic dynamics are set to support the European economy. Growth is expected to gather pace again next year. The recent slowdown in global growth and world trade, together with high uncertainty about trade policies, is weighing on prospects for Gross Domestic Product (GDP)...

Prepared by Vanessa Gunnella and Lucia Quaglietti Published as part of the ECB Economic Bulletin, Issue 3/2019. The risk of a trade war came sharply into focus in 2018, as protectionist threats by the US Administration and its trading partners were followed by concrete actions. Tensions rose over the summer and, while these have been defused on some fronts, the risk of further escalation remains material. The impact of the measures implemented so far on the global and euro area economic outlooks...

The European Commission welcomes today's decision by the Council to adopt the negotiating directives for trade talks with the United States, thus continuing to deliver on the implementation of the Joint Statement agreed by Presidents Juncker and Trump in July 2018. European Union Member States gave the Commission the green light to start formal negotiations with the U.S. on two agreements, one on conformity assessment, and the other on eliminating tariffs on industrial products. This is just three months after...

New figures released by the European Commission today, show that imports of U.S. soya beans by the European Union increased by 121% over the current market year (July 2018 to mid-April 2019), compared to the same period in the previous year. With a share of 72% of EU soya beans imports, the U.S. is today Europe's number one supplier. Conversely, Europe is the top destination of U.S. soya beans exports with 22%, followed by China (18%) and Mexico (9%). Increasing trade...