[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Guidelines to enable trainees to acquire high-quality work experience under safe and fair conditions, and to increase their chances of finding a good quality job, have been proposed today by the European Commission. The proposal for a Council Recommendation on a Quality Framework for Traineeships...
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The European Parliament approved the EU’s budget for 2014 on Wednesday. This budget is the result of the deal struck with the Council in last week’s negotiations. For payments €500 million were added to the 2014 budget, bringing the total compared to the initial Council...
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The European Commission welcomed today's adoption of the programme COSME by the European Parliament. COSME aims to ease the access to credit problems that small businesses currently face. With a € 2.3 billion-budget over the period 2014-2020 the Programme for the Competitiveness of Small and...
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]For the first time since 2004, an EU company – the German carmaker Volkswagen – is the world’s largest private sector R&D investor. Volkswagen tops the European Commission's 2013 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard with an investment of €9.5bn in 2012. Overall, EU-based firms (527...
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]After negotiating through the night, Parliament and Council struck a deal on the EU budget for 2014, which also provides for remedying payments shortfalls in in the current fiscal year. MEPs ensured that victims of catastrophic flooding and drought in 2013 will be compensated, and...
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The European Commission has appointed the 15 groups of independent experts to advise on priorities for Horizon 2020, the next EU research and innovation programme. The advisory groups are the most diverse yet, drawing on public, private and civil society sources. Nearly 40% of their...
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]EC Commissioner for Justice, Viviane Reding, today gave a speech at Yale University, New Haven, speaking about EU-US relations and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Main Messages 1/ On the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP): For ambitious and complex negotiations to succeed there needs to...
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The High Level Group of the European Innovation Partnership for Smart Cities and Communities has today adopted the Partnership's 'Strategic Implementation Plan' (SIP). The plan will serve as the basis for speeding up the deployment of Smart City solutions in Europe. A facilitator for any...
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Transport and Industry MEPs approved an agreement on the "Connecting Europe Facility" (CEF), the EU's new funding mechanism for infrastructure projects of common interest for trans-European transport, energy and telecoms networks, at a joint committee meeting on Monday. The CEF should have a budget of...
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] The European Commission yesterday signed a grant agreement worth €4 million with a consortium of 14 European research institutes, associations and consulting companies — including 10 SMEs — for a three-year project known as "Civitas Capital". Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas, responsible for transport, said: [/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height="20px" image_repeat="no-repeat"][custom_font...