A joint European Commission/European Investment Bank Group report on the activities facilitating access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises in 2012 was recently published.

Investment in „green agriculture“ intends to bring multiple returns to nature, society and people. The European Commission adopted a new strategy for encouraging the use of green infrastructure and ensuring that the enhancement of natural processes.

The Council’s recommendations coped with the member states intentions to follow the decisions of the policy guidance in the European Social Investment Package. There are some clear ways forward along the lines of investment, innovation and involvement. Active participation, constructive suggestions and enthusiasm to work together represent a collective desire to implement the policy proposals in the Social Investment Package.

Up to 2009, the European NATO allies (especially some „old“ ones) obviously seemed to believe that first, the U.S. need Europe more than vice versa, second that the U.S. needs an mediator between Moscow and Washington and third, that Europe can pragmatically oscillate between loyalties to its North American ally and its interests in the Middle East.

Addressing the 12th annual conference of the International Competition Network, ICN (Warsaw, 24 April 2013), Joaquín Almunia, Commission Vice-President responsible for Competition underlined evolutionary pressure of globalisation on competition.

The Commission published the findings of the in-depth reviews carried out into 13 member states identified in last November’s Alert Mechanism Report as showing signs of macroeconomic imbalances.

Bratislava, 18th April, 2013. As of today, April 18, 2013, has the 8th GLOBSEC international conference at the venue of Hotel Kempinski in Bratislava, Slovakia. GLOBSEC today, as one of five most relevant forums on foreign policy and security issues in Central Europe and worldwide, drives the attention of dedicated public towards Slovakia.

Commission published EU Cohesion Policy which shows how the EU funds are assisting the member states and SMEs to weather the crisis and produce growth. The Commission 2013 Strategic Report is an overview of the EU Structural Funds performance in the 27 member states. For example, about 53 thousand R&D projects and 16,000 business-research projects received investment from these funds.

Labour costs among the EU-27 ranged from about € 4 to almost € 40. Among the lowest are Bulgaria, Romania and two Baltic States (Latvia and Lithuania). The highest levels of salaries are in Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, etc.

The article under the title „Believe in Europe or die“ appeared recently in numerous European states (France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, etc.). It was written by a French philosopher and intellectual Bernard-Henri Levy in cooperation with other public figures, such as Salman Rushdie, Umberto Eco, Gabi Gleichmann and several others

At a conference of the Heads of Government of the Baltic Sea States on Environmental Protection in Saint Petersburg Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for Regional Policy underlined positive steps taken by the adjacent member states to safe and protect marine environment.

The leaders of 11 states that surround the Baltic Sea have been unanimous about the main idea: the Baltic Sea shall be clean before 2020. The marine environment of the fragile Baltic Sea is important to the well-being to millions of people.