Diplomatic Economic Club^{® Since 1997}

The EU legislation clearly states that the Union laws –both primary and secondary- must be respected and implemented. The Commission makes monthly analysis of the member states’ state-of-art concerning implementation of the EU directives, mainly in line with their transposition’s deadline. Recent Commission analysis follows below with examples of formal complaints to the Court of Justice.

EU’ Eastern Direction is exploring new opportunities and possibilities in transport. This issue has been the target of the recent Commission’s efforts to streamline the region’s transport policy. Efforts in transport cooperation with several Eastern European countries can provide an excellent opportunity for the Baltic States to take part. Now it is the question of political will and actions.

European Commission proposed to develop a draft of the Common European Sales Law to boost trade and expand consumer choice. It will provide firms with an easy and cheap way to expand their business to new markets in Europe while giving consumers higher level of protection. Instead of setting aside national laws, the European Commission is taking an innovative approach to contracts based on free choice, subsidiarity and competition.

In World Bank’s Doing Business report 2012 Latvia moved up from the 31 to 21 place and passed by the neighboring Baltic countries. Estonia moved down from 18 to 24 position, Lithuania – from 25 to 27.
Latvia made starting a business easier by reducing the minimum capital requirement and introducing a common application for value added tax and company registration, noted the report in its summary.

The Hungarian government is firmly committed to uphold the deficit target of 2.5% of GDP as set in the Széll Kálmán Plan and the Convergence Programme even in the volatile global economic environment and the turbulences caused by the European sovereign debt crisis. To this end, the Government announced new measures to improve the budget by 1000bn HUF in 2012, including a buffer for unforeseen negative developments.

Ambassador of the Republic of Hungary in Latvia Gabor Dobokay at the meeting at his residency in Riga summed up for BC the semi-annual presidency of Hungary in EU’s Council. The term will end on June 30, 2011.

Regional development in the EU has acquired a particular attention in the Union policies after the Maastricht Treaty in 1992. Since then, major attention in the Union’s support for social and economic development in European regions has transformed both the Union’s budget and the policy coordination. A new publication provides a fresh insight into the „regions’ opportunities“ for theory and practice of European integration.

At the end of 2010, at the request of 12 member states, the Commission proposed an idea of enhanced cooperation in the area of European „unitary patent protection“. Soon after, another 13 Member States submitted their request to join the enhanced cooperation. The European Parliament gave its consent during spring 2011. The Competitiveness Council finally authorised the launch of enhanced cooperation with the participation of 25 EU member states.

The EU Single Market strategy is still the nucleus and the core economic driving force in European integration. It also remains the most effective means of responding to the current economic crisis. In mid-April 2011, the Commission adopted „strategic aims“ for the optimization of the Single Market, SM, which consisted of 12 main „projects“ providing stimulus for prospective growth in 2012. Twelve instruments of growth, competitiveness and social progress range from worker mobility to SME finance and consumer protection, via digital content, taxation and trans-European networks.

Since the Lisbon Treaty entered into force at the end of 2009, the European Union has become a legal entity, i.e. a Community that could enter into international agreements on behalf of the EU-27 member states. This fact addressed an important issue of correlations between the EU law and international legal order. Several EU Commissioners perform international functions.

A sensational presentation of joint venture EMMA (Eurasian MultiModal Alliance), established by the international logistic company GEFCO and one of the leading and rapidly developing Latvian railway company SRR was held in the Embassy of France in Latvia. The main purpose of joint venture is to implement multimodal transportations from Europe to Central Asia. This alliance primarily is of interest to those, who provide container loading in both directions.