EU policies

A look at the latest policy news from the EU. Jump to:

Economic governance
EU taxes
European Civil Society House
European Citizens Initiative
European funding programmes
EU Register for Lobbyists

Economic Governance

The European Commission is currently in negotiations with the European Council and the European Parliament over rules and regulations concerning Economic Governance within the Union.

In the wake of the Greek debt crisis, there are currently talks of member states submitting their economic reform plans and budgetary discpline measures to the Commission for review. The Commission is likely to ask member states to submit this information no later than the end of April every year.

The Commission states that the reforms surrounding Economic Governance are part of its flagship development strategy, Europe 2020. National governments are being asked to report about pro-growth policies alongside their draft budget plans, in order to make the two match in an integrated assessment, being carried out by the Commission.

The Commission is also calling for an extended peer-review process, to be launched in January with the publication of the Commission's Annual Growth Survey and expected to culminate at the end of the new European 'semester' of economic surveillance, around June or July.

EU Taxes

In the EU's budget review, the Commission listed a number of options to fuel the EU's future budget, which is currently funded mainly by member states. An EU VAT, a tax on air transport or a share of new financial, corporate or energy taxes are among the possible options.

Brussels is proposing to increase its own resources for the next long-term budgetary period in 2014-2020. In other words, the Commission wants funds which it can obtain directly instead of depending on member states for financial support.

The EU's only 'own resource' comes from import duties and is gradually decreasing as a consequence of the lower tariffs applied by the EU on imported products.

As a follow-up to a number of ideas circulated in recent months, Brussels launched a budgetary review that proposes new resources while at the same time eliminates one of the current levies imposed on member states' incomes.

One of the Commission's most surprising proposals concerns the introduction of an EU Value Added Tax (VAT). Currently, Brussels applies a levy on national VAT. This brings in approximately €14 billion per year but reduces member states' incomes.

The proposal foresees replacing the current levy with a direct EU VAT. This would lower the burden on member states, although it is likely to increase the burden on citizens.

In an annex to the budget review, the Commission says that if the VAT were applied at a 1% rate across the EU, "combined with elimination of the existing VAT-based resource," it would bring around €41 billion a year to the EU coffers. These figures result from a study carried out in 2004.

European Civil Society House

European Citizen Action Service (ECAS) and NCVO, support the European Civil Society House initiative. The project's specific mission is to bridge the gap between EU institutions and citizens.

The European Civil Society House is to encourage networking and coalition building for civil society organisations; enforce European citizens' rights and encourage dialogue between citizens and the EU Institutions.

It is envisaged that the European Civil Society House will have a helpdesk on the European Citizens' Initative, specifically set up to assit civil society and citizens take advantage of this new scheme.

European Citizens Initiative

The European Citizens’ Initiative is one of the major innovations of the Treaty of Lisbon aiming to increase participatory democracy in the EU. The initiative enables one million EU citizens, from nine Member States, to call directly on the European Commission to bring forward an initiative of interest to them in an area of EU competence.

NCVO and the European Parliament hosted a joint-event at the European Parliament's Office in the United Kingdom on 9 December 2010. The event included a speech by Diana Wallis, MEP and Rapporteur on the Citizens' Initative for the Association of Liberals and Democrats in Europe.

European Funding Programmes

European funding programmes are vital to the sustainability of civil society organisations across the EU. There are funding programmes to support employment and social affairs, environmental programmes, local regeneration, provisions for services to those with disabilities, youth and youth work, cultural exchanges for youth and others.

EU Register for Lobbyists

The European Commission's Transparency Initiative is shaping up to have significant implication for civil society organisations who lobby and campaign at EU level. Many questions arise, will the promised register of lobbyists ( or "interest representatives" to use the language of the European Commission) be genuinely voluntary? What status will the promised "code of conduct for interest representatives" have? The Civil Society Contact Group has prepared an excellent briefing that summarises this initiative and some areas of concern.