Digital skills vital to EU economy - EUbusiness Week newsletter 757 - EUbusiness.com

EUbusiness Week 757 top stories: Brussels proposes cooperation accord with Cuba; Da’esh, Al Qaida face EU-wide anti-terror sanctions; New EU roaming plan drops time limits; eGovernment plan to transform EU public administration; Local public projects outside EU state aid control; Polish retail tax comes under Brussels scrutiny

Publisher’s Note

Digital skills are vital for the competitiveness of Europe’s economy was the key message of a Digital Skills roundtable with Commissioner Oettinger on this week. With most jobs, whether in engineering, accountancy, nursing, medicine or architecture, requiring some level of digital skills, there is a clear need to boost digital skills in Europe.

At the meeting, Kurt-Christian Scheel, for BusinessEurope, urged employers to play a strong role in the “adaptation and design of education and training systems at national level, including the development of curricula, qualifications and occupations, to successfully meet these needs.”
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Regards,

Nick Prag
Publisher, EUbusiness

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1. Brussels proposes cooperation accord with Cuba

The Commission adopted Thursday a proposal on the signing of a Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement with Cuba, marking a turning point in EU-Cuba relations.
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2. Da’esh, Al Qaida face EU-wide anti-terror sanctions

The EU will for the first time be able to apply sanctions autonomously to Da’esh and Al-Qaida and their associates and supporters, following a strengthening of its legal arsenal in the fight against terrorism.
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3. New EU roaming plan drops time limits

The Commission agreed at its weekly meeting Wednesday to make a number of changes to the EU plan to end mobile phone roaming charges in 2017 in order to “avoid abuses”.
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4. eGovernment plan to transform EU public administration

With the wider public often losing out to the private sector on the digital innovation front, Member States have agreed new, open and inclusive standards for eGovernment in the EU.
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5. Local public projects outside EU state aid control

When it comes to purely local operations of public support measures, Member States always have full autonomy to decide and invest state funds, the Commission said Wednesday.
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6. Polish retail tax comes under Brussels scrutiny

Brussels has opened an in-depth probe into a Polish tax on the retail sector, concerned that the progressive rates based on turnover give companies with low turnover an unfair advantage.
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EUROPEAN LAW

Animal testing: EU law protects the EU market from cosmetic products containing ingredients which have been tested on animals, the EU’s top court ruled Wednesday, wherever that testing may have been conducted.
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Latest news from the European Court of Justice
EU law firms
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Inside the EU Institutions

Council Watch

UN summit on global refugee crisis – EU strengthens legal arsenal against ISIL-Da’esh and Al-Qaida – Human rights and democracy: EU annual report 2015 adopted – Council conclusions on the application of Bosnia and Herzegovina for membership of the EU – National productivity boards backed by Council – Andorra taxation agreement approved by EU – Bratislava Declaration and Roadmap
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Commission Watch

Cooperation Agreement with Cuba – End of roaming charges in the EU in 2017 – Number of first time asylum seekers – humanitarian aid to Yemen – guidance on local public support measures that do not constitute state aid – Austrian waste management market – energy in the EU – economic development and resilience in the Eastern Partnership – EU assistance package to benefit the Palestinian people – Eastern Partnership – investigation into Luxembourg’s tax treatment of GDF Suez (now Engie)
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Parliament Watch

LIBE MEPs in Lebanon – EuroLat openingL deeper EU-Latin integration needed – Social dumping: MEPs call for fair wages and social justice for workers – On this day 40 years ago: signing of the act for direct European elections – Parliament this week: Schulz in London, delegations to Lebanon, car emissions
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EU diary

26 Sep: European Parliament Committee Meetings
26-27 Sep: ICT Proposers’ Day 2016
28 Sep: Horizon 2020 Smart, green & integrated transport
28-30 Sep: European Health Forum
29-30 Sep: Competitiveness Council
The Week Ahead
Long-term diary