The right to a basic bank account for all European citizens: Commission welcomes Council adoption

The European Commission has welcomed the adoption by the EU’s Council of Ministers of the Directive on the transparency and comparability of payment account fees, payment account switching and access to a basic payment account.The Directive will foster the creation of a real Single Market for retail financial services bringing numerous benefits to EU citizens by providing them with a right to a basic payment account irrespective of their place of residence or financial situation. The Directive will also substantially improve the transparency of bank account fees and make it easier to switch a bank account from one bank to another.

The Directive will now be signed by the European Parliament and published in the Official Journal of the European Union. Member States will then have two years after its entry into force to implement the Directive into their national law.

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_STATEMENT-14-237_en.htm

Pilot project for the development of a common methodology on reference budgets (2014-2015)

The contract for establishing the European Reference Budgets Network and developing a common methodology for building reference budgets in EU Member States was awarded to Applica and the Herman Deleeck Centre for Social Policy, University of Antwerp. The work will be carried out with the support of national experts and stakeholders.The first report, reviewing the state of the art of reference budgets in all EU Member States, will be published in July. Watch this space!
 
Source:http://www.referencebudgets.eu/

Political Guidelines for the next European Commission

When presenting the Political Guidelines for the new European Commission, President Jean-Claude Juncker stated: “I am a strong believer in the social market economy. It is not compatible with the social market economy that during a crisis, ship-owners and speculators become even richer, while pensioners can no longer support themselves”.

http://ec.europa.eu/about/juncker-commission/docs/pg_en.pdf

EAPN’s 10 arguments for active inclusion

The European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN) has produced a short leaflet giving 10  arguments for an integrated active-inclusion strategy, to reduce poverty, exclusion and inequalities and to enable everyone to live a decent life and participate in society.
Active Inclusion is a strategy developed by the European Commission in 2008 and is designed to support people of working age who are experiencing social exclusion to live a life in dignity and help them move towards a decent job or to get more confidence and skills to participate more actively in their communities.
Open the 10 Arguments to support Active Inclusion here

The 12th OPEN DAYS October 2014

Entitled “Growing together – Smart investment for people”, the opening session will analyse challenges and opportunities related to the launch of a new cohesion policy cycle, in the presence of the highest level of EU representatives. Guest-speaker Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD, is confirmed to present two flagship publications: The Regional Outlook, which will be launched with this occasion, and the report on Regional Well-Being

http://www.cor.europa.eu/de/events/opendays/Pages/od-2014.aspx

An EU Directive to ensure adequate minimum income

The right to an adequate minimum income should be recognised as a fundamental right and should enable people to live a life in dignity, support their full participation in society and ensure their independence across the life cycle. This is why we call for the adoption of an EU framework directive on Adequate Minimum Income Schemes that establishes common principles, definitions and methods, to achieve a level playing field across Europe. We developed this message in a position paper that was adopted last week by our members.

- See more at: http://www.socialplatform.org/news/an-eu-directive-to-ensure-adequate-minimum-income/#sthash.YBULsiPf.dpuf

Source: Social Platform/30.June 2014

Study: EU countries 'not interested' in the Commission's economic recommendations

Only 18% of the European Commission’s recommendations for economic reforms, aimed at paving the way to economic recovery, are actually implemented by the member states, according to a new study by the European Parliament.

http://www.euractiv.com/sections/euro-finance/study-eu-countries-not-interested-commissions-economic-recommendations-303109