1. We, the Heads of State and Government and high-level representatives, meeting in New York from 5 to 9 June 2017 at the United Nations Conference to Support the Implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 14 of the 2030 Agenda, with the full participation of civil society, and other relevant stakeholders, affirm our strong commitment to conserve and sustainably use our oceans, seas and marine resources tor sustainable development. 2. We are mobilised by a strong conviction that our ocean is...

Living and working in Europe, Eurofound’s 2016 yearbook, provides a snapshot of developments and trends in the work and lives of Europeans as described in the research activities of Eurofound over 2016. Despite the strains on the European Union – slow economic recovery, rising euro-scepticism and the UK vote to leave the EU – Eurofound’s work reported much good news for its citizens in 2016. Full-time, permanent employment rose across all pay categories; the gender employment gap is narrowing...

Today the Commission is taking further steps to drive forward the Capital Markets Union (CMU), a pivotal project of the Juncker Commission to boost jobs and growth in Europe. After almost two years since the launch of the CMU Action Plan, the Commission is presenting today a number of important new initiatives to ensure that this reform programme remains fit for purpose. The CMU is a key pillar of the Commission's Investment Plan for Europe, the so-called Juncker Plan. Through a...

The European Investment Bank (EIB), alongside the European Investment Fund (EIF) have agreed to provide BBVA with a EUR 143 million mezzanine guarantee facility to support investment projects for Spanish SMEs. This operation will allow BBVA to provide SMEs with finance of up to EUR 1 billion in SME funding. The agreement benefits from the support of the Investment Plan for Europe and was signed today by the EIB Vice President, Román Escolano and the BBVA Chief Executive Officer,...

The European Union and its Member States signed today a strategic blueprint, outlining the future of European development policy. This "New European Consensus on Development" represents a new collective vision and plan of action to eradicate poverty and achieve sustainable development. The jointly developed strategy, in the form of a Joint Statement, was signed today during the annual two-day European Development Days by the President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani, the Prime Minister of Malta Joseph Muscat, on behalf...

Ladies and gentlemen, It is a pleasure to be here in Brussels and to speak in front of such a distinguished audience. For my generation of modest European architects – I was in Maastricht 25 years ago – Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa is one of those great – almost mythical – Italian figures who engaged in this “Kantian quest for European unity”. So I am honoured to give a lecture named after him. He would certainly have been very pleased that the...