EU Legislation, Initiatives, etc.
DECC: CCS developers have been issued Government guidance on applying for European NER 300 funding. The European Commission launched its second call for CCS proposals at the beginning on 3 April 2013. This guidance sets out that the Government will support the 2 preferred bidders and 2 reserve bidders in our £1bn CCS competition.
Press release & links
EU News: The 2014 European Parliament elections should be held from 22 - 25 May 2014, instead of 5-8 June, says a draft decision backed with an overwhelming majority by the Constitutional Affairs Committee last week. This will give the new Parliament more time to prepare for the election of the European Commission President in July 2014.
EU News: The 2014 European Parliament elections should be held from 22 - 25 May 2014, instead of 5-8 June, says a draft decision backed with an overwhelming majority by the Constitutional Affairs Committee last week. This will give the new Parliament more time to prepare for the election of the European Commission President in July 2014.
IS: The European Commission published its proposals to reform the existing EU insolvency Regulationin December 2012. Business Minister Jo Swinson has announced that the UK Government has exercised its right under the EU Treaty to and will participate fully in negotiations & implementation of the Regulation in its final form.
EU News: The information booklet ‘The EU rights of victims of trafficking in human beings’ published last week by the European Commission provides an overview of the rights & supports, derived from EU law, that are available to victims of human trafficking. These rights range from emergency assistance & health care to labour rights, access to justice and the possibility of compensation.
EU News: Changes voted by Parliament last Tuesday will cap banker's bonuses to curb speculative risk-taking, step up capital provisions to help banks cope better with crises and stiffen supervision. The new rules must be formally approved by the Council of Ministers to apply from 1 January 2014.
EU News: Launched last month, the co-ordinated EU-wide testing for horsemeat DNA & phenylbutazone requested, and co-financed, by the European Commission in the wake of the horsemeat scandal has revealed that less than 5% of the tested products had horse DNA and that about 0.5% of the equine carcasses tested were found to be contaminated with bute.
Press release & links ~ FSA: Results of Europe-wide beef product survey published ~ Review into FSA response to horse meat incident
EU News: The European Commission has recently proposed an amendment to existing accounting legislation in order to improve the transparency of certain large companies on social & environmental matters.
Companies concerned will need to disclose information on policies, risks & results as regards environmental matters, social and employee-related aspects, respect for human rights, anti-corruption and bribery issues, and diversity on the boards of directors.
Companies concerned will need to disclose information on policies, risks & results as regards environmental matters, social and employee-related aspects, respect for human rights, anti-corruption and bribery issues, and diversity on the boards of directors.
EU News: The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation into the proposed UK video games tax relief. The objective of the measure is to provide an incentive to video games developers to produce games meeting certain cultural criteria. However, the Commission considers that there is no obvious market failure in this dynamic & growing sector and that such games are produced even without state aid.
Consequently, at this stage, the Commission doubts that the aid is necessary. The opening of an in-depth investigation does not prejudge its outcome. It gives the UK and other interested parties the opportunity to comment.
EU News: The EU Parliament has refused to approve the Council of Ministers' 2011 accounts in a vote last Wednesday, citing a ‘lack of cooperation’. Other EU institutions & agencies were granted budget management discharges (approval) for 2011.
Parliament also recommended moving the EU Police College from the UK to the Netherlands, to enable it to share facilities & services with the Hague-based European Police Office.
Parliament also recommended moving the EU Police College from the UK to the Netherlands, to enable it to share facilities & services with the Hague-based European Police Office.
EU News: MEPs voted last Tuesday against freezing auctions of a portion of CO2 emission quotas, so as to boost the price of EU ‘polluter's permits’. A majority felt that interfering with the supply of credits would undermine confidence in the Emissions Trading System (ETS), designed to cut greenhouse gas emissions. In a separate vote, MEPs agreed to temporarily exclude intercontinental flights from the scheme.
EU News: On 17 & 18 April 2013, the EU Member States anti-terrorist police forces united as part of the European sponsored ATLAS Network, which ‘carries out the most complex preparation & crises response simulation so far at European level’. The simulation involved simultaneous terrorist attacks in 9 different EU Member States (Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and Romania).
The ATLAS Network contributes to increasing the proficiency & expertise of special intervention units, by establishing common platforms for training & tactics, sharing equipment, and by establishing close cooperation in trans-border areas of Member States, in turn benefiting the public security.
EU News: Ireland’s Minister for the Environment, Community & Local Government, Phil Hogan TD, has welcomed the agreement on amendments to the Priority Substances in Water Directive, heralding it as an important development in the bid to improve water quality in Europe.
The Directive controls emissions, losses & discharges of so-called ‘priority substances’ to water by establishing environmental quality standards (EQSs) for them in water & requiring monitoring programmes.
The substances concerned include chemicals, certain metals, biocides, plant protection products and dioxins. For substances classified as priority hazardous substances, the legislation requires their use to be phased out.
The substances concerned include chemicals, certain metals, biocides, plant protection products and dioxins. For substances classified as priority hazardous substances, the legislation requires their use to be phased out.
EU News: Last week in Brussels, EU member states agreed on the setting up of a new EU single supervisor for banks. This followed a key breakthrough in Ministerial talks at the Ecofin informal meeting in Dublin on 12-13 April.
The formal agreement was accompanied by a political declaration reaffirming Member States’ commitment to the urgent completion of banking union and noting that a proposal for Treaty Change will be ‘considered constructively, to ring-fence & strengthen the governance and accountability of the separate supervisory function of the ECB’.
Press release & links ~ EU News: The countdown to a UK referendum has begun as EC outlines timetable for proposed Treaty Changes
Press release & links ~ EU News: The countdown to a UK referendum has begun as EC outlines timetable for proposed Treaty Changes
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