Access to government sites – EUbusiness Week newsletter 597 – EUbusiness.com

EUbusiness Week 597 top stories: Flagship ‘banking union’ felled in growing EU clash; EU misses cost-cutting ‘Single European Sky’ deadline; EU to clamp down on tax evasion; Tit-for-tat, EU takes Argentina to WTO; EU hits screen makers with record cartel fine; More EU citizens at risk of poverty, exclusion

This Week’s Top Stories

1. Flagship ‘banking union’ felled in growing EU clash
2. EU misses cost-cutting ‘Single European Sky’ deadline
3. EU to clamp down on tax evasion
4. Tit-for-tat, EU takes Argentina to WTO
5. EU hits screen makers with record cartel fine
6. More EU citizens at risk of poverty, exclusion

Publisher’s Note

The European Commission chose Monday’s International Day of People with Disability to outline measures to improve the accessibility of public sector bodies’ websites.

Its proposal for a directive would introduce mandatory EU standardised accessibility features, from the end of 2015, for key government services like social security and health related services, university applications and job searches.

Action is needed. Public sector web accessibility in Europe is dire, with only one third of the 761,000 public sector and government websites being fully accessible.
More …

Regards,

Nick Prag
Publisher, EUbusiness

PUBLIC TENDER – VINEYARDS IN MACEDONIA

Public call for sales of 431.9050 acres of vineyards in Macedonia

1. Flagship ‘banking union’ felled in growing EU clash

Plans to create a “banking union” across eurozone and European Union borders collapsed Tuesday amid intractable wrangling between Berlin, London and Paris.
More …
ECB sees eurozone economy shrinking in 2012, 2013

2. EU misses cost-cutting ‘Single European Sky’ deadline

EU nations on Tuesday missed a key deadline in a decade-long drive for a safer, cheaper, more climate-friendly “single” European sky, triggering warnings by Brussels of imminent legal action.
More …

3. EU to clamp down on tax evasion

EU governments lose a “scandalous” one trillion euros a year to tax dodgers and that has to stop now to prevent further damage to state finances and the economy, the Commission said on Thursday.
More …

4. Tit-for-tat, EU takes Argentina to WTO

The EU is taking Argentina to the World Trade Organization over what it says are import restrictions damaging to European business, after Buenos Aires did the same over its bio-diesel exports.
More …

5. EU hits screen makers with record cartel fine

The Commission on Wednesday hit seven top TV and computer screen makers, including LG Electronics and Philips, with a record fine of EUR 1.5 bn for running price-fixing cartels.
More …

6. More EU citizens at risk of poverty, exclusion

The number of EU citizens at risk of poverty or social exclusion rose last year to nearly 120 million, the Eurostat statistics agency said on Monday as the debt crisis continues to sap the economy.
More …

EUROPEAN LAW

Copyright: the Commission says it has agreed how to move ahead in modernising copyright to protect authors and artists in the digital economy.
More …
Latest Court of Justice judgements
EU Law Firms
More …

Inside the EU Institutions

Council Watch

Schengen: exasperated EU states have made progress in moves to allow some members such as Germany to reintroduce visas for Balkan EU candidate nations so as to curb soaring unfounded asylum requests.
More …
EU clears extra two years for Greek deficit target
Britain to press EU partners to amend Syria arms embargo
Van Rompuy lays out euro future
Council …

Commission Watch

Climate: the EU and United States refused at UN talks in Doha on Wednesday to commit to concrete climate funding for poor nations as yet another report warned of dire global warming consequences within decades.
More …
EU tells Israeli ambassador of concerns over settlements
EU appeals for calm as Egypt clashes rage
Commission …

Parliament Watch

Global warming projects: all European projects this year for the capture and storage of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas blamed for global warming, have fallen through, says MEP Chris Davis.
More …
EP chief urges economic pressure on Egypt
Russia hits back at EU with own human rights report
This week, MEPs in committee approved rules to improve the safety of workers most exposed to electromagnetic fields; and quizzed the French and German finance ministers to explain their economic policies and the Eurozone crisis.
More …

EU diary

10-13 Dec, European Parliament plenary session
10-11 Dec, Competitiveness Council
12 Dec, Action Plan on European company law and corporate governance
13-14 Dec, European Council
17 Dec, Environment Council
18-20 Dec, Agriculture and Fisheries Council
The Week Ahead
Long-term diary