The European Commission has welcomed the endorsement by the Council of the agreement reached with the European Parliament to provide up to €500 million in Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA) to Jordan. This new financial assistance programme is designed to support the country’s ambitious reform agenda, promoting jobs, growth and investment for the benefit of the people of Jordan….
The coming years will see new prospects and challenges for European products and services, according to the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). Providing innovative, highly specialised products and services with well-recognised and certified key characteristics can boost European competitiveness, says the EESC. Unanimously adopted at its plenary session on 11 December, the EESC’s own-initiative…
Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires more than political commitment, says the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). Increased investment, especially by the private sector, is needed to address current economic, social and environmental challenges. The Committee therefore advises the EU and its Member States to adjust their investment and tax policies to enhance…
New research by the International Longevity Centre UK (ILC) will find that the economic output (GDP) generated by earned income of individuals aged 50 and over has grown by 20% between 2004 and 2018. “Maximising the Longevity Dividend”, a new ILC report to be launched alongside the fifth annual Future of Ageing conference, will highlight…
European firms are becoming increasingly pessimistic about the economic outlook according to the new EIB report. The report also finds that investment in climate change mitigation is lower than that of major economies like the US and China. Infrastructure investment is stuck at 1.6% of EU GDP, the lowest in 15 years and Europe is…
Radu Dumitrescu, a 24 year-old from Romania, was proclaimed a winner of this year’s SME Week Youth Essay Competition during the European Commission’s SME Assembly. Radu Dumitrescu is one of the Editors-in-Chief of The New Federalist web magazine. In his speech as potential EU Commissioner for SMEs and Entrepreneurship he said: “So, what is our goal?…
The European Union’s deepening trade war with America must be de-escalated if the Scotch whisky industry is not to suffer severe damage in the crossfire, a Conservative MEP has warned. Baroness Nosheena Mobarik said her constituents in Scotland were concerned by the potential harm to exports and jobs from the crisis. She spoke out ahead…
The Belgian-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce has brought together prominent Blue Economy private stakeholders, both from Portugal and Belgium, along with financing agents, academia, clusters, associations, and EU policy makers. Duarte Bué Alves, Deputy Permanent Representative of Portugal to the OECD, and rapporteur of the event, opened by saying the global blue economy represents US$1.5 trillion and 31…
With the world facing environmental catastrophe from climate change, and calls for Europe to stop using all fossil fuels, why is the EU continuing to allow investment in gas infrastructure? Nord Stream 2 is entering the final stage of its construction after Denmark issued a permit to lay the pipe in its territorial waters. But…
German Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) is abandoning his blockade of the European deposit insurance system. In an eight-page non-paper on the Banking Union he proposes a “European Reinsurance System” for bank deposits which is to be set up in addition to the national deposit guarantee schemes with contributions from credit institutions. Losses exceeding…
