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European Commission Spokesman's Briefing for 04-06-18Midday Express: News from the EU Commission Spokesman's Briefings Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: EUROPA, the European Commission Server at <http://europa.eu.int>CONTENTS / CONTENU
MIDDAY EXPRESSNews from the Press and Communication Directorate General's midday briefingNouvelles du rendez-vous de midi de la Direction Général Presse etbCommunication18/06/04[01] Commission approves acquisition of Flagship Foods by Danish CrownThe European Commission has cleared an operation by which Danish Crown, a Danish farmers' co-operative, acquires Flagship Foods a UK company. The deal will increase Danish Crown’s presence in the United Kingdom where it will continue to face sufficient competition.[02] US - Foreign Sales Corporation : Pascal Lamy welcomes US House of Representatives voteIn a further step towards US compliance in a long standing trade dispute between the EU and the US, on Thursday 17 June, the US House of Representatives adopted the Thomas bill repealing the FSC/ETI.[03] EU EPICA research project : solving the climate change puzzle ?Today the European Commission presented the latest results of the EU-funded EPICA (European Ice Core Project in Antarctica) initiative. Scientists from ten European countries including Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK have dug 3 kilometres-deep into the Antarctic ice crust and brought to the surface a 740, 000-year old ice core. It is the oldest ever analysed and records climate history. It shows changes in temperature and concentrations of gases and particles in the atmosphere. The results will feed into computer models used to predict future climate. Preliminary results show that, without human influence, the present "warm season" in Earth's climate could last for 15,000 years more. But since the present carbon dioxide concentration is the highest in the last 440,000 years, by understanding past changes in climate, it will be possible to forecast future climate change due to human activities. Further results of the EPICA project will be disclosed at the "Palaeoclimate Conference: Reducing the Uncertainties" in Utrecht, the Netherlands, on July 6-10, 2004.[04] Avril 2004 : excédent de 6,0 milliards d'€ du commerce extérieur pour la zone euro ; déficit de 1,6 milliard d'€ pour l'UE25 en mars 2004D'après les premières estimations d'Eurostat pour le mois d'avril 2004, la zone euro a réalisé un excédent du commerce extérieur de 6,0 milliard d'€ avec le reste du monde, contre un excédent de 2,7 milliards en avril 2003. Le solde enregistré au mois de mars 2004 était de +10,8 milliards, contre +3,4 milliards en mars 2003. En avril 2004, les exportations, corrigées des variations saisonnières, ont augmenté de 1, 8% par rapport à mars 2004 et les importations ont progressé de 4,8%. Les premières estimations du solde des échanges extra-UE25 pour le mois de mars 2004 indiquent un déficit de 1,6 milliard d'€, contre -8,6 milliards en mars 2003. Au mois de février 2004, le solde était de -3,9 milliards, contre -6,7 milliards en février 2003.[05] New study on The Empirics of trade and growthA new study carried out by economists in the Commission's Directorate General of Economic and Financial affairs states that existing literature repeatedly documented a strong correlation between trade and growth. It has also shown a causal effect of imports (though not necessarily exports) on growth in simultaneous equation models but to a lesser extent in Granger- causality tests. Export and import taxes have sometimes been found to negatively affect growth. Drawing policy conclusions from these general findings for a particular country is difficult not only because of the contradictory results but also because of potential second best world effects and the implied endogeneity of trade policy. Policy recommendations for a specific country require a careful analysis of market and institutional arrangements and can not be based on the existing cross- country literature. Full document available on :<a href="http://europa.eu.int/comm/economy_finance/publications/economic_papers/economicpapers204_en.htm">http://europa.eu.int/comm/economy_finance/publications/economic_papers/economicpapers204_en.htm [06] New study on the Fiscal effects of accession in the new Members StatesA new study carried out by economists in the Commission's Directorate General of Economic and Financial affairs looks at the evidence on the widespread hypothesis in the academic literature and by some of the new Member States' governments that accession will bring about fiscal strains and requires higher budget deficits. It starts by calculating the expected new Member States' payments from the EU budget and looks at the issues of additionality and national co-financing of EU funds. Other possible fiscal effects from accession are briefly discussed. Based on the results, the paper concludes that - on balance and in contrast to what the literature often maintains - accession should rather reduce the fiscal strains in the new Member States. Changes in the new Member States' budgets will certainly be necessary and the transition year 2004 could be particularly difficult in that budgetary and administrative procedures have to be adapted in order to actually absorb the payments as projected by the Copenhagen package. However, this should not be a fundamental problem unless there are built-in inflexibilities in the budget, arising from a weak political system, different fiscal layers or a strong fiscal autonomy of sectoral ministries.Full document available on : <a href="http://europa.eu.int/comm/economy_finance/publications/economic_papers/economicpapers203_en.htm">http://europa.eu.int/comm/economy_finance/publications/economic_papers/economicpapers203_en.htm [07] Commerce international : la Commission met en ligne un site Internet concernant la procédure de notification instaurée par l'Accord sur les obstacles techniques au commerceLa Commission européenne vient de mettre en ligne un nouveau site Internet fournissant des informations sur les barrières techniques au commerce ayant été notifiées dans le cadre des règles de l'Organisation mondiale du commerce (OMC). La procédure de notification résulte de l'Accord sur les obstacles techniques au commerce. Quand l'un des Membres de l'OMC prépare une nouvelle règle technique susceptible d'avoir un effet significatif sur le commerce international, il se voit alors obligé de la notifier avant qu'elle n'entre en vigueur afin de donner aux autres Etats Membres la possibilité d'examiner son impact et de faire des commentaires sur la mesure proposée. Ainsi, les Membres de l'OMC s'informent mutuellement avant l'adoption de réglementations techniques nationales, ce qui permet de prévenir l'établissement d'obstacles techniques non nécessaires au commerce international. Le nouveau site Internet permettra aux enterprises et aux autorités nationales de suivre les notifications en cours et de réagir à temps si nécessaire. Le site permet de consulter les messages de notifications qui accompagnent les textes notifiés, les textes de projet et leur traduction, si disponible, dans une ou plusieurs langues de travail. Il contient, en outre, les commentaires émis par les Communautés européennes sur les projets notifiés par les Etats tiers et il permettra aux entreprises de s'abonner à une mailing-list afin d'être averties de l'arrivée de notifications dans leur domaine d'activité. Le site est disponible sur <a href="http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/tbt/">http://europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/tbt/[08] Autre matériel diffuséSpeech by Günter Verheugen : "Turkey and the EU towards December 2004" at Friends of Europe (17/06)Speech by Franz Fischler : "The impact of CAP reform" at meeting with NGOs Speech by David Byrne : "A nutritious food chain for the consumer: Thinking beyond tomorrow" at the International Food Conference (Dublin) Note sur la préparation du Conseil Agriculture et Pêche Calendrier du 21 au 27 janvier 2004
From EUROPA, the European Commission Server at http://europa.eu.int/ Midday Express: News from the EU Commission Spokesman's Briefings Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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