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The business R&D landscape in Ireland is dominated by foreign multinationals, which account for over two-thirds of the total Business Expenditure on R&D (BERD). So says the latest report from the European Commission's Research and Innovation Observatory (RIO), published this week. The report goes on to say that Irish R&D intensity (i.e. expenditure on R&D divided by sales) for 2014 is 1.52%, below the Europe2020 target of 2.0%. Business expenditure (BERD), at €2.107m in 2014, accounts for the lion's share, exceeding the threshold of 70% of GERD (Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D).

Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan was credited with getting the EU's 2030 emissions targets over the line by Vice President Šefčovič and Commissioners Cañete and Bulc. The 2030 emissions targets, broken down by Member State, were announced yesterday. The targets are expressed as a percentage reduction from 2005 emission levels and range from 0% to -40%. Ireland will have to cut emissions by 30%. Eleven other Member States have higher targets, mostly the wealthier countries of the EU. Ireland will have 4% one-off flexibility from emissions trading, at the highest end of the ranking, and 5.6% flexibility from land use. This is a substantially larger margin than any other Member State except Latvia.

The last package of measures to complete the reform of the EU's Common Asylum System has just been agreed at the European Commission level. The next stage is for governments and MEPs to agree on the proposals. More than 1.2 million people asked for asylum in the EU in the last year. The Commission has been urging more burden-sharing and better protection of refugees but political agreement across the Member States has been slow and difficult. Following up on its set of long-term reform proposals tabled on 4 May 2016, the European Commissioners today put forward three more legislative proposals.

The Commission has sent two Statements of Objections to Google. The Commission has reinforced, in a supplementary Statement of Objections, its preliminary conclusion that Google has abused its dominant position by systematically favouring its comparison shopping service in its search result pages. Separately, the Commission has also informed Google in a Statement of Objections of its preliminary view that the company has abused its dominant position by artificially restricting the possibility of third party websites to display search advertisements from Google's competitors. Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said: "Google has come up with many innovative products that have made a difference to our lives. But that doesn't give Google the right to deny other companies the chance to compete and innovate. Today, we have further strengthened our case that Google has unduly favoured its own comparison shopping service in its general search result pages."

Ireland's small and medium-sized enterprises are ranked best in the EU for innovation, according to an EU Commission scoreboard out today (14 July). Ireland is also characterised as a "Strong" innovator, the second highest category out of four (leader/ strong/ moderate / modest). Irish SMEs came out top out of 28 Member States because of their strong record of in-house innovation, the fast growth of jobs in the Irish innovation sector and the high growth in knowledge intensive industries. The Commission said: "Ireland is the leader for innovation in small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) - followed by Germany, Luxembourg, France, and Austria. These countries are characterised by high shares of SMEs involved in innovation activities: they introduce more innovative products and generate more new jobs in fast-growing young companies." These results come from the Commission's annual "innovation Scoreboard" out today.

The aim of the consultation is to collect views and opinions on the results and impacts of actions co-financed by the ISEC programme during 2007-2013 and to assess their relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence and EU added value. The specific programme 'Prevention of and fight against Crime' (ISEC) was established for the period 2007 to 2013 by Decision No 2007/125/JHA as one of two programmes under the General programme on "Security and Safeguarding Liberties". The consultation is open until 13 October 2016.

The aim of the consultation is to collect views and opinions on the results and impacts of actions co-financed by the CIPS programme during 2007-2013 and to assess their relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence and and EU added value. The specific programme “Prevention, Preparedness and Consequence Management of Terrorism and other Security related risks“ (CIPS) was established for the period 2007 to 2013 by Decision No 2007/125/JHA as one of two programmes under the General programme on “Security and Safeguarding Liberties“. The consultation is open until 13 October 2016.

Eurofound’s new report ‘Exploring the diversity of NEETs’ emphasises the ongoing need to focus on the specific needs of different groups of young people who are not in employment, education or training (NEET). The report argues that a comprehensive effort is needed to understand the diversity of NEETs as the various subgroups within the NEET category have very different characteristics and needs. In 2015, 14.3% of young people aged 15-24 in Ireland were not in employment, education or training, compared to an EU average of 12%.

The Commission has taken note of the substantial revisions to 2015 GDP which Ireland's Central Statistics Office released on July 12. National accounts data prepared by the national statistics offices of Member States are validated by Eurostat before being used as a basis for the Commission's fiscal assessments. Eurostat will have to analyse the data in detail at the time of the submission of the 2015 GNI figures on 22 September. In principle, large revisions may occur in a situation where important economic operators relocate their operations either into or out of a small economy. The GDP series for Ireland in the past has been volatile and subject to strong revisions. Any increase in government spending in the coming years will depend mainly on the sustainability of the economic recovery. Prudent fiscal planning and respecting commonly agreed EU fiscal rules continues to be crucial.

The European Commission has adopted a list of invasive alien species that require action across the EU. The list contains 37 species that cause damage on a scale that justifies dedicated measures across the Union. There are currently over 12,000 plants, animals, fungi and micro-organisms in the EU that are alien to their natural environment. Some 15% of these species are invasive, and their numbers are rapidly growing. By crowding out indigenous species, these invasive alien species are one of the biggest causes of biodiversity loss and have major economic consequences. Species on the list will now be subject to the restrictions and measures set out in the EU Regulation on invasive alien species. These include restrictions on keeping, importing, selling, breeding and growing. Member States will also be required to take measures for early detection and rapid eradication of these species, and to manage species that are already widely spread.

The European Commission has adopted new, simpler rules for data collection in the fisheries sector for the period 2017-2020, making it easier for fishermen and Member States to comply with EU rules. The new streamlined rules will also pave the way for gathering more and better data to help close persistent gaps in our knowledge about fish stocks. They will give scientists and decision-makers a better idea of how fisheries are affecting marine and maritime ecosystems, while also providing more data on the Mediterranean and long distance fisheries. Reliable fisheries data are needed to assess the health of fish stocks and the marine environment and meet the EU's objective of ensuring sustainable fisheries by 2020 at the latest.

The Slovak presidency is going to present its work programme. Later, the Council will discuss the latest developments in the main agricultural markets and a package of possible support measures, as announced by the Commission at the June Council meeting. Ministers will then be informed by the Commission about the review of greening after one year from its implementation and will have an exchange of views on proposed actions for a further simplification of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) in this field.

Foreign Affairs ministers will start with a breakfast with US Secretary of State John Kerry. They will discuss notably EU-US relations and regional issues such as Syria and Libya. The Council will then start with a discussion on Latin America, including some country specific issues: future relations with Cuba, the peace process in Colombia, Argentina and the situation in Venezuela. Ministers will also focus on China.

The European Movement Ireland is holding a briefing on the Slovak Presidency of the Council of the European Union on Tuesday 19 July. Ambassador of the Slovak Republic to Ireland, H.E. Dušan Matulay, and Minister of State for European Affairs, Data Protection and EU Digital Single Market, Dara Murphy TD will both speak at the event.

Italian journalist and author Concetto La Malfa will give a brief talk on the history of the Italian community in Ireland followed by the screening of his documentary “ITALIAN PRESENCE IN IRELAND”. The 26 minute documentary features Italians who have left a mark on the history of Ireland as well as Italian emigration flows to this country from the beginning of the last century to the present day.

On Tuesday 19 July, the European Commission Representation in Ireland will host a screening of the documentary "Paper Heads" by the Slovak Embassy in Ireland. The documentary examines the relationship between the citizen and power in a totalitarian regime.

On 12 July 2016, EU Finance Ministers found that Portugal and Spain had not taken effective action in response to recommendations on measures to correct their excessive deficits. The Ecofin Council confirmed that the two countries will not reduce their deficits below 3% of GDP, the EU's reference value for government deficits, by the recommended deadline. And in both cases, it found the fiscal effort to fall significantly short of what was recommended. The Council's decisions will trigger sanctions under the excessive deficit procedure. They are based on article 126(8) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The Commission has 20 days to recommend further Council decisions imposing fines. Those fines should amount to 0.2% of GDP, though Portugal and Spain can submit reasoned requests within 10 days for a reduction of the fines. The Council will have 10 days to approve the fines.

Dublin-based SME Pintail Ltd is part of an EU-funded research project that aims to make football fans healthier and more active and, in so doing, to reduce illnesses linked to a sedentary lifestyle such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity. The Eurofit project, which has been granted EU funding of almost €6 million, is using fans' love of football and their favourite clubs to help bring about lifestyle changes. “It is really hard to make lifestyle changes. Even if people want to, they don’t know how to go about it,” said Sally Wike, EuroFIT coordinator and Interdisciplinary Professor of Health and Wellbeing at the University of Glasgow. So what we are doing is drawing on the love of football, the love of a football club that people have across Europe. It is a massive draw.” Pintail Ltd is involved in the management and dissemination aspects of the project.

House prices in Ireland rose by 7.4% in Ireland in the first quarter of 2016 compared with the same quarter of the previous year, the fifth highest rise in the EU. The largest rises were seen in Hungary (+15.2%), Austria (+13.4%) and Sweden (+12.5%), while Italy and Cyprus saw prices fall (both by -1.2%). Overall, prices were up by 3.0% in the euro area and by 4.0% in the EU during the same period.

The European Commission this week adopted the EU-US Privacy Shield. This new framework protects the fundamental rights of anyone in the EU whose personal data is transferred to the United States as well as bringing legal clarity for businesses relying on transatlantic data transfers. Věra Jourová, Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality said: "The EU-US Privacy Shield is a robust new system to protect the personal data of Europeans and ensure legal certainty for businesses. It brings stronger data protection standards that are better enforced, safeguards on government access, and easier redress for individuals in case of complaints. The new framework will restore the trust of consumers when their data is transferred across the Atlantic. We have worked together with the European data protection authorities, the European Parliament, the Member States and our U.S. counterparts to put in place an arrangement with the highest standards to protect Europeans' personal data".