Leaders Magazine No 2/2009

Amsterdam Athinai Berlin Bratislava Bruxelles Bucureşti Budapest Dublin Helsingfors Kobenhavn Lefkosia Lisboa Ljubljana London Luxembourg Madrid Paris Praha Rïga Roma Sofia Stockholm Tallinn Valletta Vi 98 lnius Warszawa Wien M A R C H 2 0 0 9 Czech Finance Minister Kalousek takes part in ECON meeting with National Parliaments The Czech Finance Minister and ECOFIN Council President Miroslav Kalousek took part in a meeting of the EP Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs ECON with National Parliaments The theme of the meeting was The European Economy What next The Minister presented a paper on financial market regulation and the system of financial market supervision in light of the current financial crisis He also mentioned the main targets of the Czech Presidency in the field of financial markets regulation Czech Presidency calls for coordinated support of EU car industry The Czech Presidency aims to give a new impetus to European car industry a key sector that has been seriously hit by the global economic crisis Together with a rapid implementation of the European Economic Recovery plan the Presidency also supports ready made and rapidly available instruments such as scrapping schemes for old cars as long as these instruments are used in a coordinated way The Presidency’s aim is to have a proposal from the Commission ahead of the Spring European Council in the context of the evaluation of the Recovery Plan and to discuss the issue at the March Competitiveness Council chaired by the Minister of Industry and Trade Martin Říman EPSCO in Luhačovice Labour Mobility to Cure Financial and Economic Crisis The informal meeting of EU Minister for Employment and Social Affairs took place in Luhacovice Czech Republic at the end of January Its aim was to highlight the role of workforce mobility in enhancing labour market flexibility social cohesion and economic growth in the EU Many countries appreciated the decision of the Czech Presidency to choose the mobility of the workforce as a major priority The issue of professional geographic and social mobility of workers was addressed by representatives of the Trio Presidency France the Czech Republic and Sweden speaking on thematic panels Complementary speeches were delivered by ministers from Slovakia Austria and Spain The Presidency aimed to point out that the current financial and economic crisis only highlights the need for greater workforce mobility Learn more at www eu2009 cz exchange of information between tax authorities on a transnational basis removing the possibility of the use of banking secrecy the principle of equal cooperation among the Member States as the well as among partners from third countries and the possibility of verifying the information supplied by officials from other Member States The Commission proposes to revise the rules for reporting VAT The Commission adopted a proposal for amendment of the Value Added Tax VAT aiming to increase the use of electronic invoices reduce the burden on businesses and promote SMEs and to assist Member States in the fight against tax fraud The proposal should simply modernize and harmonize the rules of VAT invoices and businesses across the EU and could help save up to 18 billion Euros per year in case of 100 electronic reporting EIF guarantees over 1 SMEs Euros Through the Framework Program for Competitiveness and Innovation CIP 2007 2013 the European Investment Fund EIF has provided guarantees for SMEs in the amount of over 1 billion Euros Guarantees apply to the medium and long term investment loans provided by banks guarantee institutions and credit providers and small businesses can benefit in various stages of its life cycle EIF guarantees are free and allow financial institutions to increase their risk capacity CZECH PRESIDENCY NEWS European Patent Forum PATINNOVA 2009 and European Inventor of the Year 2009 Combining three key events in IPR the European Patent Forum PATINNOVA 2009 and the European Inventor of the Year awards these exciting conferences will be held on 28 30 April 2009 in Prague The events are co organized by the European Patent Office and the Commission with the support of the Czech Industrial Property Office and in partnership with the Czech Presidency The conferences will bring together applicants patent attorneys innovation stakeholders and experts from research and politics They will focus on the system’s role in the knowledge society policy issues and current legal and business practice The European Inventor of the Year award ceremony honour outstanding inventors in the categories Industry SME Research non European countries and Lifetime achievement Meeting of representatives of the EU and China Representatives of EU and Chinese government signed nine cooperation agreements that should boost joint cooperation Enhanced cooperation shall take place in these fields Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation the Euro Chinese support of the political dialogue cooperation program in the field of civil aviation the Euro Chinese Centre for clean energy bilateral coordination of forest management the Memorandum of Understanding within on health and safety action plan for customs cooperation between the European Community and China on the enforcement of IPR and also an agreement on a number of precursors DO YOU KNOW THAT EU calls for Corporate Social Responsibility CSR Commission’s Vice President Günter Verheugen responsible for Enterprise Industry and Commissioner Vladimír Špidla responsible for Employment Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities renewed their call on European businesses to visibly step up their commitment to corporate social responsibility CSR At a meeting of the European Multi Stakeholder Forum on CSR held on 10th February 2009 they stressed the importance of responsible and sustainable business practices as a means to renew trust in the market economy shaken by the financial and economic crisis European Multistakeholder Forum is a platform for an open discussion between representatives of Members of the European Parliament business investor academics and civil society The Commission organizes first European SME Week The Commission DG Enterprise and Industry organizes the first European SME Week from 6 to 14 May 2009 in the whole of Europe The SME week should promote entrepreneurship and inform entrepreneurs about support that is available to them at European national and local level National and regional authorities business organizations business support providers and education institutions will brand their events from fairs to conferences online events art performance networking events company open days and competitions with the SME week logo Topics such as entrepreneurship innovation environment growth business support business strategy creative thinking etc will be covered To learn more visit www european sme week eu The Commission calls for reduce of administrative burdens The strategic review on Better Regulation in the EU was tabled by the Commission showing that better regulation is a core component of Europe’s response to the economic and financial crisis The review shows that citizens and companies in particular SMEs already benefit from simplified measures and administrative costs savings The Commission’s leadership on administrative burdens has inspired most Member States and 21 of them have put in place ambitious national programmes to reduce administrative burdens The Commission will continue to improve the quality of all new legislation by further upgrading the quality of its impact assessments It will do this by strengthening the subsidiarity check improving the consultation of stakeholders and by assessing more thoroughly impacts on for example SMEs administrative burdens fundamental rights consumers and regions The Commission introduced measures to fight with tax fraud The Commission adopted proposals for two new directives aimed at improving the mutual cooperation of tax authorities of Member States in the establishment and collection of taxes The amendment covers a broader range of taxes and social insurance fees a mandatory Business News brought by CEBRE Czech Business Representation to the EU www cebre cz BUSINESS NEWS

Mrs Viviane Reding Media and Information Society Commissioner and Martin Říman Minister of Industry and Trade Czech Republic FUTURE OF EUROPE’S TELECOMMUNICATIONS WAS DISCUSSED IN PRAGUE Martin Říman Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic and Mrs Åsa Torstensson Minister for Communications Sweden EU matters Functional internal market and quality regulatory framework are conditions for future development of EU Telecoms the aim of the conference Next steps in EU Telecoms was to discuss the regulatory framework and appropriate measures that would stimulate investments in digital infrastructure The Telecom Ministers of the EU Member States and a delegation of the European Commission led by the Media and Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding had earlier in Prague discussion on the future development of the electronic communications sector in the EU Digital technologies are one of the main pillars of the EU economic competitiveness Investments into electronic communications represent an important tool which can significantly accelerate the process of tackling the current economic crisis Martin Říman Minister of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic Mrs Viviane Reding Media and Information Society Commissioner more photos and electronic version available on www leadersmagazine cz

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