EUROPEAN COUNCIL latest news

European Council

26/9/2017

Remarks by President Donald Tusk after his meeting with Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Theresa May

I feel cautiously optimistic about the constructive and more realistic tone of the Prime Minister's speech in Florence and of our discussion today. This shows that the philosophy of "having a cake and eating it" is finally coming to an end, or at least I hope so. And that's good news. But of course no-one will ever tell me that Brexit is a good thing because, as I have always said, in fact Brexit is only about damage control, and I didn't change my opinion.

As you know, we will discuss our future relations with the United Kingdom once there is so-called "sufficient progress". The two sides are working hard at it. But if you asked me and if today Member States asked me, I would say there is no "sufficient progress" yet. But we will work on it.

Council of the European Union  25/9/2017 Greece's finances stabilised, the excessive deficit procedure is closed The Council has closed the excessive deficit procedure for Greece. It confirmed that the country's deficit is now below 3% of GDP, the EU's reference value for government deficits.  On 25 September 2017, the Council repealed its 2009 decision on the existence of an excessive deficit.  "After many years of severe difficulties, Greece's finances are in much better shape. Today's decision is therefore welcome", said Toomas Tõniste, minister for finance of Estonia, which currently holds the Council presidency. "We are now in the last year of the financial support programme, and progress is being made to enable Greece to again raise money on the financial markets at sustainable rates."  From a deficit of 15.1% of GDP reached in 2009, Greece's fiscal balance has steadily improved, turning into a 0.7% of GDP surplus in 2016. Although a small deficit is projected for 2017, the fiscal outlook is expected to improve again thereafter. Greece's debt-to-GDP ratio peaked at 179.0% in 2016 and is expected to decrease over the coming years.  In the light of this, the Council found that Greece fulfils the conditions for closing the excessive deficit procedure.  Greece will now be subject to the preventive arm of the EU's fiscal rulebook, the Stability and Growth Pact. Monitoring will continue until August 2018 under its macroeconomic adjustment programme, and post-programme monitoring will follow. The Greek authorities have committed to maintaining a primary surplus of 3.5% of GDP until 2022 and a fiscal trajectory after that that is consistent with EU fiscal requirements. Council greenlights the setup of the European fund for sustainable development On 25 September, the Council adopted a regulation establishing a European fund for sustainable development (EFSD). The fund will be setup on 28 September.  The EFSD is the main instrument for the implementation of the European external investment plan (EIP) which supports investments in African and neighbourhood countries. The main objective of the plan is to contribute to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals of the Agenda 2030 through boosting jobs and growth, while addressing the root causes of migration. With an initial budget of 3,35 billion euros, the fund is intended to trigger up to 44 billion euro of investments. This amount could be doubled if member states and other donors match EU contributions. The fund will contribute to financing projects in a wide range of sectors, such as energy, transport, social infrastructure, digital economy, sustainable use of natural resources, agriculture and local services.  The EFSD will encourage the private sector to invest in countries or sectors where it otherwise would not do so, such as fragile or conflict-affected countries. Similarly to the European Fund for Strategic Investment that will support investments within the EU, the fund will offer guarantees and support the use of blending mechanisms to support more risky projects. It will operate as a "one-stop shop", receiving financing proposals from financial institutions and public or private investors and delivering a wide range of financial support to eligible investments.  The Parliament adopted the text on 6 July. The regulation will be published in the Official Journal on 27 September. On 28 September, the EFSD strategic board will hold its first meeting to discuss the overall strategy and investment priorities for the fund.

Σχέδιο έκθεσης - Καταπολέμηση της νομιμοποίησης εσόδων από εγκληματικές δραστηριότητες μέσω του ποινικού δικαίου - PE 609.515v01-00 - Επιτροπή Πολιτικών Ελευθεριών, Δικαιοσύνης και Εσωτερικών Υποθέσεων

26-09-2017 02:56 PM CEST

ΣΧΕΔΙΟ ΕΚΘΕΣΗΣ σχετικά με την πρόταση οδηγίας του Ευρωπαϊκού Κοινοβουλίου και του Συμβουλίου σχετικά με την καταπολέμηση της νομιμοποίησης εσόδων από παράνομες δραστηριότητες μέσω του ποινικού δικαίου
Επιτροπή Πολιτικών Ελευθεριών, Δικαιοσύνης και Εσωτερικών Υποθέσεων
Ignazio Corrao

Πηγή : © Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση, 2017 - EK