To follow up on the Gothenburg Summit, the European Commission has today adopted new initiatives to improve key competences and digital skills of European citizens, to promote common values and pupils' awareness of the functioning of the European Union. The new proposals come only two months after European Heads of State and Government discussed education, training and culture at the Gothenburg Summit in November 2017. They are intended to reduce socio-economic inequalities, whilst sustaining competitiveness in order to build a...

The loan guaranteed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) will create more than 200 jobs in rural areas and strengthen the agriculture sector in Bulgaria. The deal was signed in Sofia in the presence of President Juncker and Prime Minister Borissov. As the College of Commissioners visit Sofia to mark the beginning of the Bulgarian Presidency of the EU, the European Investment Bank (EIB) has signed a €100 million loan with Bulgarian agri-pharma business Biovet to finance a...

The European Investment Bank (EIB) will provide a loan of EUR 40m to Indivumed GmbH, a physician-led, integrated global oncology company providing high-content tumour data and an optimum quality biobank to third parties such as biopharmaceutical companies and research institutes. The EIB funding will allow Indivumed to develop and validate new assays biomarker for the Biobank business and technology platforms. In addition, the Company is aiming at building a unique “Global Cancer Database Solution“ which would support cancer researchers worldwide...

President Juncker at the High-Level EU Budget conference: Matching ambitions and meeting future challenges  Ahead of the College debate on the European Union's long-term budget on Wednesday 10 January, the Commissioner for Budget and Human resources, Günther H. Oettinger launched today a High-Level conference on "Shaping Our Future – Designing the Next Multiannual Financial Framework", which is hosted by the European Political Strategy Centre, the Commission's in-house think tank. This conference opens the final stretch of preparing the next multi annual...

Europe's capital markets will be more efficient and better supervised thanks to a revamp of rules for investment firms. The European Commission is today proposing a two-track overhaul to make life simpler for smaller investment firms, while bringing the largest, systemic ones under the same regime as European banks. Investment firms and the services they provide are vital to a well-functioning Capital Markets Union (CMU). Alongside banks, EU capital markets rely on several thousands of small and large investment firms...

Starting today (Jan. 3), Europe’s traders will have to contend with thousands of pages of new rules that will radically change transactions in everything from bonds to stocks to commodities. The sweeping overhaul won’t be obvious for millions of people who don’t work in the industry, at first. But under the surface it will affect everyone. The regulations are supposed to make European financial markets fairer, more competitive, and less likely to collapse into a crisis. But over time, the rules known...

Commission proposes to improve transparency and predictability of working conditions As part of the follow-up to the European Pillar of Social Rights, the European Commission has adopted today a proposal for a new Directive for more transparent and predictable working conditions across the EU. The Commission's proposal complements and modernises existing obligations to inform each worker of his or her working conditions. In addition, the proposal creates new minimum standards to ensure that all workers, including those on atypical contracts, benefit...

On 20 December 2017 EU institutions took an important step in strengthening their cooperation in the fight against cyber-attacks. An inter-institutional arrangement which enters into force today establishes a permanent Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-EU) covering all the EU's institutions, bodies and agencies. It consolidates the existing task force into a permanent and effective team responsible for ensuring a coordinated EU response to cyber-attacks against its institutions. CERT-EU works very closely with the internal IT security teams of the EU...