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European Commission Spokesman's Briefing for 01-01-09
From: EUROPA, the European Commission Server at <http://europa.eu.int>
MIDDAY EXPRESS
News from the Spokesman's midday briefing
Nouvelles du rendez-vous de midi du Service Presse et Communicationb
Midday Express 09/01/2001
[01] Internal Market : EU consumers continue to benefit, but reforms must
be accelerated
There is growing evidence that consumers, businesses and citizens are
getting tangible benefits from the increasing integration of the European
Union's Internal Market. But the European Commission's third progress
report on the functioning of product and capital markets warns that if
economic reforms are not deepened and accelerated, the EU risks missing the
growth potential offered by new technologies and economic performance
overall will continue to be hampered by an over-rigid economy. The European
Councils of Lisbon and Feira, in recognising reform as the key to growth,
competitiveness and full employment in the knowledge-based New Economy,
pushed structural reform to the top of the political agenda. For its part,
the Commission has already delivered a significant number of policy actions
requested at Lisbon and Feira and more will be implemented in the early
months of 2001. The next opportunity to develop the programme of economic
reforms to transform Europe into the most competitive economy in the world
will be the Stockholm European Council in Spring 2001.
[02] October 2000 compared to October 1999 - volume of retail trade up by
1.0% in euro-zone ; EU15 up by 1.7%
(! embargo 12 am !) In October 2000, as compared to October 1999, the
volume of retail trade rose by 1.0% in the euro-zone and 1.7% in the EU15,
Eurostat estimates today. Compared to September 2000, sales decreased by
0.2% in the euro-zone and by 0.1% in the EU15. In October 2000, highest
growth rates were registered for "household goods" both in the euro-zone
(3.0%) and the EU15 (4.1%). "Food, drinks, tobacco" increased by 1.2% in
both areas, "textiles, clothing and footwear" by 0.2% in the euro-zone and
2.5% in the EU15. In October 2000, sales decreased in all sectors, except
in "food, drinks and tobacco" for the euro-zone (0.1%) and the EU15 (0.2%).
"Household goods" decreased by 0.6% in the euro-zone, but were stable in
the EU15. The index of "textiles, clothing and footwear" fell by 0.6% in
the euro-zone and 0.3% in the EU15.
[03] L'Année européenne des langues lance ses 43 premiers projets
La Commission européenne a choisi une première tranche de 43 projets dans
le cadre de l'Année européenne des langues. Ces projets bénéficieront d'une
subvention communautaire d'environ 1,7 million d'euros. L'Année européenne
de langues, organisée par l'Union européenne et le Conseil de l'Europe, a
deux thèmes principaux. L'Europe est et restera multilingue.
L'apprentissage des langues apporte des avantages culturels et économiques
importants. D'où le slogan de l'Année "les langues ouvrent des voies /
languages open doors".
MIDDAY EXPRESS
From EUROPA, the European Commission Server at http://europa.eu.int/
© ECSC - EC - EAEC, Brussels-Luxembourg, 1995, 1996
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