URBIS, for "Urban Investment Support" will help cities plan investments to support their own urban development strategies and get easier access to finance. Cities face particular challenges when it comes to accessing finance. Individual municipal projects, for example in the fields of social inclusion, urban regeneration or energy efficiency, can be too risky or too small for the market. At the same time, funding for integrated urban programmes can also be difficult to access, because they group several small projects...

The Commission has today adopted rules that will make electronic payments in shops and online safer. This will also allow consumers to access more convenient, cost-effective and innovative solutions offered by payment providers. These rules implement the EU's recently-revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2) which aims to modernise Europe's payment services so as to keep pace with this rapidly evolving market and allow the European e-commerce market to blossom. Today's rules allow consumers to use innovative services offered by third party...

By François Villeroy de Galhau, Amsterdam, Annual General Meeting of the Foreign Bankers’ Association   Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a pleasure to be in Amsterdam today and to give the keynote speech at your Annual General Meeting. I wish to warmly thank my friend Governor Klaas Knot and FBA Chairman Leonique van Houwelingen for their kind invitation. For a central banker, Amsterdam is a highly significant place, especially because the Bank of Amsterdam, in Dutch the “Amsterdamsche Wisselbank”, which was...

Autumn 2017 Economic Forecast: continued growth in a changing policy context The euro area economy is on track to grow at its fastest pace in a decade this year, with real GDP growth forecast at 2.2%. This is substantially higher than expected in spring (1.7%). The EU economy as a whole is also set to beat expectations with robust growth of 2.3% this year (up from 1.9% in spring). According to its Autumn Forecast released today, the European Commission expects growth to...

The Commission and the High Representative set out the work still required to consolidate the progress achieved over the past years. In the run-up to the European Council in December, the European Commission and the High Representative reported today on progress made in better managing migration under the European Agenda on Migration. With the total number of irregular crossings along the main migratory routes having decreased by 63% in 2017, collective efforts to protect the EU's external borders, cooperate with partner...

By Juan Carluccio, Banque de France |  Alejandro Cuñat, University of Vienna | Harald Fadinger, University of Mannheim | Christian Fons-Rosen, Pompeu Fabra Universit Rue de la Banque, No. 51 ■ November  2017 This Rue de la Banque, based on the exploitation of detailed data for the French manufacturing industry, argues that offshoring to low‑wage countries was a strong determinant of the labour‑market outcomes of low‑skilled workers in France during the period 1995‑2007. The results support the widespread view that international...

At today’s Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) meeting in Brussels, the foreign ministers discussed ways of strengthening the EU’s strategic communication, and Foreign Minister Sven Mikser stressed the need for ensuring permanent funding to the European External Action Service’s strategic communication task forces. “In today’s world, we should not underestimate the importance of strategic communication, and I am glad that we are finally discussing the topic on the ministerial level as well,” said Minister Mikser, adding that strategic communication served the EU’s...