Addressing the EESC Members at their plenary session today, Margrethe Vestager, EU Commissioner for Competition, argued a strong consumer, business and social justice case for EU competition policy. Citing key recent examples on energy, transport, state subsidies and taxation, the Commissioner underlines that competition drives companies to cut prices and improve products, and brings in the investment to the economy and creates jobs. “The EU is about its people. It's about coming together to find answers to the problems we...

Bratislava (15 July 2016) - The informal two-day meeting of EU Member States’ ministers for employment and social policy (EPSCO) led by Slovak minister Ján Richter focused on social and technological challenges in the world of labour – demographic changes, migration and digitisation. Social partners at European level were also present. The population of the European Union is ageing, which means the number of economically active citizens is declining in proportion to the economically inactive. This will impact the labour...

Today EU Member States agreed on a Commission proposal to invest €263 million in key trans-European energy infrastructure projects. Today EU Member States agreed on the European Commission's proposal to invest €263 million in key European energy infrastructure projects. The lion's share of the investment will support the building of gas infrastructure in the Baltic Sea region as well as supporting the electricity sector across Europe. Nine projects were selected following a call for proposals under the EU funding support programme...

Today the Commission released the 2016 results of the European Innovation Scoreboard, the Regional Innovation Scoreboard and the Innobarometer. The main findings are that EU innovation is catching up with Japan and the US, Sweden is once again the innovation leader, and Latvia has become the fastest growing innovator. European Innovation Scoreboard 2016 country ranking* (axis Y - Summary Innovation Index, axis X - EU countries) Elżbieta Bieńkowska, Commissioner for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, said: "I want Europe to be...

The European Commission has today proposed amendments to the European Venture Capital Funds (EuVECA) and the European Social Entrepreneurship Funds (EuSEF) regulations, marking another step towards the creation of the Capital Markets Union. Today's proposal aims to boost investment into venture capital and social projects and make it easier for investors to invest in small and medium-sized innovative companies. In particular, the Commission is proposing to open up the EuVECA and EuSEF fund labels to fund managers of all sizes,...

The European Investment Fund (EIF) and the National Bank of Greece S.A. (NBG) have signed the first COSME guarantee agreement in Greece, benefiting from the support of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the heart of the Investment Plan for Europe. The EU support will allow NBG to provide EUR 100 million to over 350 small businesses in Greece. EIF will provide NBG with a direct guarantee under the COSME programme with financial backing from the European Commission allowing...