Cross-border debts: helping businesses recoverIn a release the European Commission acknowledge that “around 1 million small businesses face problems with cross-border debts and up to 600 million a year in debt is unnecessarily written off because businesses find it too daunting to pursue expensive, confusing lawsuits in foreign countries”. For this reason the Commission proposed “a new Europe-wide preservation order to ease the recovery of cross-border debts for both citizens and businesses”. On July 25 EU Commissioner for Justice Viviane Reding, presented the Executive’s initiative that was transmitted to the European Parliament and the Council of the EU for adoption under the ordinary legislative procedure and by qualified majority. “”Companies lose around 2.6% of their turnover a year to bad debts” said the Commissioner -. This is a weakness of our single market which we must remedy swiftly and energetically!” Businesses need a simple solution – an account preservation order effective Europe-wide – so that the money stays where it is until a court has taken a decision on the repayment of the funds”. Reding concluded: “In these difficult economic times, companies need quick answers. Every euro counts, especially for small businesses”, which are the great majority of EU businesses.Immigration: Schengen “is not fully respected””From a formal point of view steps taken by Italian and French authorities have been in compliance with EU law. However, I regret that the spirit of the Schengen rules has not been fully respected”: Cecilia Malmström, EU Commissioner for Foreign Affairs, thus provided an assessment of the decisions taken by France and Italy before exceptional migration flows recorded past spring ensuing the political developments in North Africa. The claim, pronounced on behalf of the Council, sounds like a criticism to Paris and Rome. “We need to ensure a coherent interpretation and a smooth implementation of the Schengen rules, in a spirit of solidarity and mutual trust”, said the Swedish Commissioner on July 25. “Schengen and free movement – according to Malmström – is one of the most tangible, popular and successful achievements of the European project”. The Commissioner reiterated the need to respect the Schengen governance and rules, which, she added “do not currently define the conditions under which Member States may issue travel documents to migrants who lack those of their home country”. “Our analysis also confirms that police checks carried out by French authorities remained within the limits compatible with the Schengen Borders Code. On the basis of the information received on the checks, it can not be concluded that France would have carried out systematic checks”. All this clearly demonstrates “the need to address the Schengen governance in a comprehensive and coordinated way”, the Commissioner pointed out. “A well functioning monitoring system must ensure that rules are respected by all”.Commission: consuming more fruit and vegetables”Despite the recommendations of the World Health Organisation (WHO), the great majority of European citizens do not eat enough fruit and vegetables”. Also the EU intervenes through the website of the Commission (www.ec.europa.eu), recalling that “for a balanced diet, we should eat at least 400g of fruit and vegetables a day”. “All nutritionists emphasise the importance of eating more fruit and vegetables to stay ingood shape. They are safe and good for our health”. The measure addresses both public health and Europe’s agricultural market: “Over the last few weeks, the crisis has obliged farmers to throw away perfectly safe vegetables which found no no buyers. To help the producers get through this difficult period, the European Commission has made 210 million euro available to producers in the EU as emergency funding”. The fall in vegetable consumption worsened since the so-called “E Coli crisis” affecting the sale of cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables struck in June. “Since then, consumption has started to recover but it is still not back to normal despite the fact that we now know for sure that cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, courgettes and so on had nothing to do with the crisis”. underlined the Commission. “Generation after generation, the same thing happens: compared to our parents and grandparents, we eat less and less vegetables”. The EU’s food safety standards are widely recognised as “the highest in the world”.
