Sustainable development policy aims to achieve a continuous improvement in citizens’ quality of life and well-being. This involves the pursuit of economic progress, while safeguarding the natural environment and promoting social justice. The economic, environmental and social dimensions are all part of the EU Sustainable Development Strategy (EU SDS) adopted in 2001 and renewed in 2006. The EU SDS also includes an institutional and a global dimension, with the adoption of good governance practices in the EU as well as...

The President of the Committee of Regions (CoR) - Markku Markkula - met with European Investment Bank (EIB) President Werner Hoyer in Luxembourg today to discuss joint efforts to enhance private investment and recovery across Europe. In this context, EIB President Hoyer said: "Cooperation between our institutions is of great benefit for the citizens in Europe. Within the European Union, the Committee of Regions has a very good understanding of local needs and challenges “on the ground”. This helps the...

Euro area1 annual inflation2 is expected to be 0.2% in August2015, stable compared to July20153, according to a flash estimate4 from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. Looking at the main components of euro area inflation, food, alcohol & tobacco (1.2%, compared with 0.9% in July) andservices (1.2%, stable compared withJuly) are expected to have the highest annual rate in August, followed by non-energy industrial goods (0.6%, compared with 0.4% in July) and energy (-7.1%, compared with -5.6%...

Counterparty eligibility assessment to take into account information on capital, leverage and liquidity ratios New category of assets added as eligible collateral Today the European Central Bank (ECB) has published a new Guideline (ECB/2015/27) amending the General Documentation (GD) on the implementation of the Eurosystem’s monetary policy. The new Guideline introduces some changes to the monetary policy implementation framework: First, the provisions on counterparty eligibility have been revised in light of recent legislative developments in the implementation of the Banking Union. In...

The European Union supports entrepreneurs and businesses with a wide range of EU programmes providing financing through local financial institutions. Every year the EU supports more than 200.000 businesses. Who is eligible for EU funding? Funding is available for start-ups, entrepreneurs and companies of any size or sector. A wide range of financing is available: Loans, guarantees, equity funding and other. How it works The decision to provide EU financing will be made by the local financial institutions such as banks, guarantee societies...

Panel remarks prepared by Vítor Constâncio, Vice-President of the ECB, at the Annual Congress of the European Economic Association University of Mannheim, 25 August 2015 It is a great pleasure to participate in this policy panel and to share the stage with such distinguished fellow participants. My plan today is to present some key features of the monetary policy measures recently implemented by the ECB. As you all know, in January this year the ECB launched the most recent addition to...

The Commission is consulting on Directive 93/83/EEC of 27 September 1993 on the coordination of certain rules concerning copyright and rights related to copyright applicable to satellite broadcasting and cable retransmission (Directive) first to gather input for the evaluation process in order to assess the current rules, and, second, to seek views on a possible extension of the Directive in light of market and technological developments, with the objective of contributing to the Digital Single Market Strategy. The survey is...