On Sunday 30 October, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between the EU and Canada (CETA) was signed by EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, EU Council President Donald Tusk, Slovakian PM Robert Fico and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau. The deal will benefit exporters, big and small, creating opportunities for European and Canadian companies and their employees, as well as for consumers. Almost all – 99% – import duties will be eliminated, saving European exporters of industrial goods and agricultural products more than €500 million a year. As the EU's most advanced and progressive trade agreement to date, CETA is a landmark accord that sets the benchmark for future agreements. It includes the most ambitious chapters on sustainable development, labour and the environment ever agreed upon in bilateral trade agreements. New Eurostat figures show the EU had a record €7 billion trade surplus with Canada in 2015 - Ireland's trade surplus with Canada amounted to €428 million.
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From 1 to 9 November, Commissioner Phil Hogan is visiting Hong Kong, Vietnam and Indonesia accompanied by a business delegation of European agri-food executives from 16 different Member States including Ireland (Arrabawn Cooperative and Ornua Cooperative). Ahead of his visit, the Commissioner said: "During our mission, I will be accompanied by 42 representatives of EU agri-food businesses active in sectors with large potential in Vietnam and Indonesia. The total turnover of the European companies that are represented in this mission is in excess of 170 billion euros. Importantly, there are producer groups and cooperatives heavily represented, so that the European farmer can have a direct route to global markets. They will be meeting buyers and potential business partners in order to highlight the quality of our products and introduce to importers and authorities the stories and values behind our agricultural production", said the Commissioner ahead of his journey."
Head of the European Commission Representation in Ireland, Gerry Kiely, will give the opening address at the next Kapuscinski Development Lecture on Wednesday 2 November. The theme of the lecture is: "Challenging inequalities and unsustainabilities". The keynote speaker is Melissa Leach, Director of the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Sussex. The event takes place at the Paccar Theatre, Science Gallery, Trinity College Dublin, on Wednesday 2 November starting at 4 p.m.
In its new Space Strategy for Europe put forward this week the Commission proposes a range of actions to allow Europeans to fully seize the benefits offered by space, create the right ecosystem for space start-ups to grow, promote Europe's leadership in space and increase its share on the world space markets. Under the new Strategy, the Commission will for example: promote the use of Galileo in mobile devices and critical infrastructures and improve connectivity in remote areas; make it easier for innovative companies and start-ups to access space data via dedicated industry-led platforms in order to develop services and applications; promote more private investment for such start-ups, in particular in the context of the Investment Plan for Europe; and, support the emergence of European industrial space hubs and clusters in European regions.
The European Commission Representation in Ireland intends to issue a call for tenders for the supply of promotional items in 2016 and 2017. The estimated maximum budget attributed to this project is €19,350 (excl. VAT). If you are interested in this tender, please request the tender documents by sending an email to COMM-IE-TENDERS@ec.europa.eu before 10th November 2016.
Ireland is in 12th place overall on the new EU Transport Scoreboard. The number of road fatalities per million inhabitants in Ireland is among the lowest in Europe. Ireland also performs well (4th place) for the number of charging points for electric vehicles per city population. Ireland's lowest score is for the number of electrified railway lines. In other areas such as rail, road and port infrastructure, Ireland is in the middle. The Netherlands tops the Scoreboard for the third year running with high scores in 15 categories, followed by Sweden, Germany and Austria.
A total of 38,433 first residence permits were issued to non-EU citizens in Ireland in 2015 with the largest share going to citizens of Brazil (10,955 or 28.5%) followed by India (2,883 or 7.5%) and the US (2,690 or 7%). More than half (57.4%) of these permits were issued for education reasons. Employment (15.8%) and family reasons (9%) were the next most important reasons. For the EU as a whole, 2.6 million residence permits were issued in 2015, up 12.1% on 2014. Almost one in four (633,000, or 24.3%) were issued in the United Kingdom. The top countries of citizenship for residence permits issued in the EU in 2015 were Ukraine (19.2%), followed by the US (10%) and China (6.4%).
In preparation for the December Fisheries Council, where Member States will negotiate fishing quotas in the Atlantic and North Sea for 2017, the Commission is presenting its proposal for healthy and sustainable stocks. This is the annual scheme for the amount of fish which can be caught by EU fishermen from the main commercial fish stocks next year, also referred to as Total Allowable Catches (TACs). On the basis of the scientific advice received, the Commission proposes to maintain or increase the current fishing quotas for 42 stocks which are in good health, and reduce catches for 28 stocks which are faring poorly. For full tables, scroll down.
Re‑calibrated as part of a broader package of corporate tax reforms, the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) will make it easier and cheaper to do business in the Single Market and will act as a powerful tool against tax avoidance.
With European Parliament's approval of the Paris Agreement ratification on 4 October – in the presence of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, the United Nation's Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the President of COP 21 Ségolène Royal – the last hurdle is cleared. The political process for the European Union to ratify the Agreement is concluded.
On Friday 21 October 2016, the Department of the Maltese Language of the Directorate General of Translation at the European Commission and Inizjamed organised the conference "New Dimensions in Translation in Malta" at the Maritime Museum, in Birgu.
The Maltese presidency of the European Council of the first semester 2017 is around the corner. The EC Representation in Valletta has noticed an increased interest from the Juncker's College of Commissioners. What can we say? Malta is now the place to be, to network and to discuss the European policies!
The EU should place mandatory limits on industrially-produced trans-fatty acids (TFA) which may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, infertility, Alzheimer’s, diabetes and obesity for consumers, says a resolution approved this week by the European Parliament. TFA intake is mostly linked to consumption of industrially produced, partially hydrogenated oils. According to the European Commission, only one in three consumers in the EU knows about TFAs which shows that labelling measures are not sufficient. The Parliament has called on the Commission to propose an EU legal limit on the industrial TFA content of all foods as soon as possible, and preferably within two years.
Four Dublin-based SMEs are to receive EU grants under the latest round of Horizon 2020 SME Instrument Phase 1 funding announced this week. They are: Framework Computer Consultants Ltd; D.A Renewable Energy Technology; Trinitas Ventures Ltd; and, Measurence Ltd. The funding is provided under Phase 1 of the instrument, which means that each project will receive €50,000 to finance feasibility studies for new products that can disrupt the market. They can also ask for up to three days of free business coaching. 42 Irish SMEs have been awarded Horizon 2020 SME Instrument Phase 1 funding since its launch in 2014.
The Commission unveiled a revised version of its proposals to change the tax regime for companies operating in Europe (known as CCCTB) this week. The latest proposals follow previous efforts in 2011 but have important revisions and the Commission feels the political time is right for its Action Plan for a Fair and Efficient Corporate Tax System. This time, the Commission has separated the proposal for a common tax base, (i.e. what expenses are tax deductible, a common set of forms to fill in and so on) from the proposal for the consolidation measures (i.e. common rules on where the tax is payable, based on where the company's staff, property are located and where its sales take place). Commissioner Moscovici said that he will ask the Member States to agree on the common base before proceeding with discussions on the consolidated base proposals.
Agriculture & Rural Development Commissioner Phil Hogan addressed a Public Affairs Ireland Conference last Friday in Dublin on "Brexit: implications for public policy and public administration in Ireland". In his speech the Commissioner said: "While the impact of Brexit will be particularly hard-felt in Ireland, not least because this country is the only Member State which shares a land frontier with the UK, its impact will also be felt right throughout the European Union and beyond." He added: "... anybody who stands up at this conference and claims to know with certainty what the consequences of Brexit are for Ireland, the UK, cross-border relations or the EU is mistaken and misleading. The truth is that nobody knows what the future holds, whether in terms of the conditions under which the UK will leave the EU or the post-Brexit environment in which the UK and the EU or Ireland and the UK will have to coexist, because there will have to be a relationship of some kind."
The Commission this week proposed its Work Programme for 2017. The Programme proposes 21 key initiatives, as well as a further 18 REFIT proposals to improve the quality of existing EU legislation and ensure rules are fit for purpose. There are 34 priority pending proposals that are still awaiting adoption by the Parliament and Council. A summary is on the infographic in the link below. President Juncker said: “In the comings weeks I will – together with the European Parliament and Council – select a number of initiatives of major political importance that should receive priority treatment in the legislative process in the months to come. This is the Europe that delivers.”
One in eight (12.6% or 2,247) Irish companies employing 10 or more staff is high growth according to new Eurostat figures. This puts Ireland in 4th place in the EU after Malta (13.7%), the United Kingdom (12.9%) and Latvia (12.8%). On average 9.2% of EU enterprises qualify as high growth, i.e. employee numbers have risen by an average of at least 10% over three years. The sectors with the highest shares of high growth companies in Ireland are: information and communication activities (19.9%), administrative and support service activities (19.3%), and electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (17.7%). In fact, Ireland has the second highest share of high-growth information and communication enterprises and the highest share of high growth administrative and support service enterprises in the EU.
New Eurostat figures show that men account for 81.4% of people employed in IT in Ireland, slightly below the EU average of 83.9%. IT specialists were also more likely to be higher educated with 77.5% of Irish IT specialists having a third level education compared to an average of 46.6% across all employment. This was the third highest in the EU after Lithuania (79.8%) and Spain (78.7%). On average across the EU, 60.5% of IT specialists had third level education with Italy (33.1%) and Germany (48.1%) having the lowest levels. IT specialists accounted for 4.1% of employment in Ireland in 2015, 8th highest in the EU where the average was 3.5%. Finland (6.5%), Sweden (6.1%), the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (both 5.0%) had the greatest shares while Greece (1.2%) had lowest.
From Friday 18 November to Friday 9 December, the European Commission Representation in Ireland will host an exhibition presented by the Institut Français and the Courrier International. The exhibition, entitled “Drawing Freely” (Dessins en Liberté) is composed of 12 panels of cartoons made by almost 50 cartoonists from all around the world. Each panel is devoted to a specific topic linked to freedom of expression: censorship, internet, corruption, women’s rights, rebellions, racism… All of the drawings were published in local papers. The exhibition will be open to the public on weekdays from 18 November to 9 December from 9 am to 5 pm at Europe House, 12-14 Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2.