MEPs back new data rules – EUbusiness Week newsletter 606 – EUbusiness.com

EUbusiness Week 606 top stories: EU on edge again with France latest debt fear; EU urges welfare spending to ease social tensions; Euro-MPs back plans to freeze pollution credits; Europe bids to tighten offshore drilling rules; Europe to move against Google over privacy rules; WTO meets to review EU seal products ban

This Week’s Top Stories

1. EU on edge again with France latest debt fear
2. EU urges welfare spending to ease social tensions
3. Euro-MPs back plans to freeze pollution credits
4. Europe bids to tighten offshore drilling rules
5. Europe to move against Google over privacy rules
6. WTO meets to review EU seal products ban

Publisher’s Note

MEPs on the European Parliament’s industry committee have backed proposals to reform EU data protection rules dating back to 1995. The aim is to strengthen online privacy rights and boost Europe’s digital economy with a single set of data protection rules valid across the EU. Businesses would need only to deal with the data protection authority in their country of establishment; and there would be exemptions for smaller businesses.

The debate has been framed as a battle between the EU and Silicon Valley giants. But ‘one data protection law for one continent’, as the Commission puts it, is a good thing – so long as the rules are simple, and that they do not burden SMEs with unnecessary costs and obligations.
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Regards,

Nick Prag
Publisher, EUbusiness

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1. EU on edge again with France latest debt fear

Europe releases its latest economic forecasts Friday — with a weak growth outlook likely to push France into overshooting EU budgetary targets and possibly triggering an intensification of the eurozone debt crisis.
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EU nears national budget oversight

2. EU urges welfare spending to ease social tensions

The costs of austerity in terms of social tensions are very serious and Member States must make more effective use of resources available to ease the impact, the Commission said on Wednesday.
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3. Euro-MPs back plans to freeze pollution credits

The European Parliament’s environment committee has backed efforts to make investment in clean technology financially more attractive by freezing about 900 million tonnes of pollution credits available to companies in 2013-2015.
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4. Europe bids to tighten offshore drilling rules

Europe has moved towards agreement on new rules governing offshore oil and gas drilling in response to a major environmental disaster off the United States, but environmentalists criticised the omission of terms covering Arctic exploration.
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5. Europe to move against Google over privacy rules

European data protection agencies intend to take action against the US Internet giant Google after it failed to follow their orders to comply with EU privacy laws, a French agency said on Monday.
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6. WTO meets to review EU seal products ban

The World Trade Organisation has held its first hearing on the EU’s contested ban against the sale of seal products, a decision opposed by both Norway and Canada.
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EUROPEAN LAW

Ebook taxes: the Commission is taking taking France and Luxembourg to court for illegally reducing the sales tax levied on electronic or e-books.
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EU takes Sweden, Greece to court over environment
Latest Court of Justice judgements
EU Law Firms
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Inside the EU Institutions

Council Watch

Syria: foreign ministers on Monday stopped short of meeting Britain’s demand to lift an arms embargo on Syria, but agreed to allow “non-lethal” aid and “technical assistance” to flow to the opposition.
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Britain’s EU exit ‘extremely unlikely’: speaker
EU eases Zimbabwe sanctions
Bulgarian government quits after days of protests
Council …

Commission Watch

Kosovo: the EU said Wednesday that significant progress has been made in talks with Serbia and Kosovo aimed at defusing tensions in one of Europe’s last trouble-spots, having demanded concrete results from the two parties.
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EU frees EUR 20m to restore stability in Mali
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Parliament Watch

Budget: EU president Herman Van Rompuy urged MEPs Monday to “think twice” before voting down a cut in the Union’s budget for the rest of the decade.
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Parliament chief warns against Berlusconi comeback
External Parliamentary Activities Week.

EU diary

23 Feb, EU-Ukraine Summit
25-26 Feb, Agriculture and Fisheries Council
27-28 Feb, European Parliament plenary session
28 Feb, Employment, Social, Health, Consumer Council
5 Mar4, Economic and Financial Affairs Council
7-8 Feb, Justice and Home Affairs Council
The Week Ahead
Long-term diary