Phase 1: Listening to Your Business™ Workshop NYCEDC and partners are inviting qualified Industrial small business owners to attend a free Listening to Your Business™ workshop, a program of Kauffman FastTrac®, which will give owners the tools needed to take a closer look at where their business is today, what they want it to look like in three years, and the steps to get there. Participants will have the opportunity to: Examine their business today, including its strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities Visualize their...

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso highlighted today that he will urge European Union leaders at their upcoming meeting (June 28/29) to take concrete commitments towards an economic and monetary union. "More than ever we need a strong ambition for Europe - an ambition for the structural reforms that we need now and ambition for the deeper economic and monetary union we need to build in the medium and longer term," he said. The main building blocks include moving towards...

MEPs will be weighing up the benefits of growth versus austerity when they vote on 13 June on legislation that will give more power to the Commission to police national budgets. As the political climate in Europe changes, many have questioned the wisdom of pushing forward with austerity at the expense of growth. Yet there is broad agreement that public finances have to be consolidated. It remains to be seen whether MEPs agree the latest budget proposals fit in...

Shared by ALFI: The European Commission published last week a Roadmap outlining the next steps it plans to take towards the adoption of a Communication on the Action Plan: European Company Law and Corporate Governance. The Commission hopes to adopt this Communication by October 2012. It will among others announce measures intended to address several reasons the Commission has identified for the lack of shareholder engagement. The Commission names in this context among other problems arising from the principal-agent relationship between...

Planned €80 billion EU research programme sharpens focus on converting research results into products and services.   The 2014-20 programme – known as Horizon 2020– would bring all of the EU’s research and innovation funding programmes under a single umbrella. This will make it easier to turn scientific breakthroughs into innovative products and services that improve people's daily lives and create business opportunities.The proposals earmark funding for three key objectives: €24.6 billion to keep Europe a world leader in science. The...

The Plan for a coordinated EU approach would establish common rules for intervening when a bank is in financial trouble – and help make taxpayer-funded bailouts unnecessary. The global financial crisis has demonstrated that a problem with one bank can quickly spread to the rest of the economy and to other countries. It has also become clear that EU countries don't have the right rules in place to properly manage failing banks. The global financial crisis has demonstrated that a problem...

"President Barroso welcomed today the results of the Irish referendum on the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance." 01/06/2012 "This Treaty is a key component of the EU's response to the current economic crisis. Restoring sustainability to public finances remains an important objective" he said. He called on Ireland's support to the Commission's proposals for boosting growth published earlier this week. The President added that today's vote is a significant step towards Ireland's economic recovery. Read the message Watch the video

"Yesterday President Barroso met Chancellor Merkel for a working dinner in Berlin." 05/06/2012 They took this opportunity to discuss and prepare for the next European Council and to talk about further steps on how to enhance growth and stability in Europe. They both agree that beyond immediate actions for growth and stability, a political vision for the future of Europe is needed and that the monetary union should be supported by the creation of an economic union. Therefore they are both...