Author: SME Chamber

Russian
sanctions on food products, a response to EU action following the ongoing
crisis in Ukraine, could have a significant impact on the stability of prices
in the retail sector. The restrictions, which apply to the farming sector, have
been places on the trade of food products such as fruits and vegetables, dairy
and meat products.

On the 26th of
August, EU negotiators have aborted talks concerning better market access for
EU reinsurers over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
The abandoning of talks recognizes that it is unlikely to remove rules forcing
the industry to post as much as 100% collateral against their American
liabilities.

On the 18th of
August, deputy EU Justice Commissioner Martine Reichers gave a speech
concerning the progress on the data protection reform directives. Just when
progress is accelerating, opponents are trying to slow it down by using the
recent ruling of the European Court of Justice regarding the right to be
forgotten.

However Reichers says she will not allow them to use this vital
ruling to stop the opening of a single digital market for EU companies and
better privacy protection for EU citizens. The ruling asks for a balance
between the legitimate interests of Internet users and the fundamental rights
of citizens. Negotiations concerning the data protection reform have been
ongoing for more than two and a half years. Heads of State and Government want
to adopt a strong EU General Date Protection framework by 2015.

Further information on data
protection can be found at: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/

The European
Court of Justice has yesterday upheld the Commission's 2007 decision on
MasterCard's multilateral interchange fees, wholly rejecting the card scheme's
appeal. Following this ruling, the adoption of proposed regulation for open,
transparent and lower card fees for all payment users must be a priority.

EuroCommerce, the original
complainant in the MasterCard case and a party throughout the proceedings,
wholly welcomed the opinion and trusts that it will provide great impetus to
the Council and Parliament to proceed quickly with the proposal for EU
Regulation which should bring great benefits for European commerce and all
consumers.

The ECJ affirmed all the
findings of the General Court, holding in particular that the interchange fees
could not be regarded as ‘objectively necessary' as ‘the system was still
capable of functioning without these fees.'

GRTU is very pleased with this
decision and augurs that MasterCard will re-assess its fees, not only
cross-border but at national level also. We call on the regulators to move
swiftly to adopt the proposed EU Regulation by the end of this year. Indeed, we
see the ruling as giving support to the European Parliament's extension of the
original Commission proposals. We urge the Council to follow the Parliament's
excellent lead.

In particular, GRTU calls on
the Council and Parliament to:

set interchange fee caps at 0.2% for
debit and 0.3% for credit as an absolute maximum, with the option for member
states to set lower or fixed caps;

include a fixed cap of maximum 7
cents for debit transactions;

include commercial cards in the fee
caps and;

implement both
domestic and cross-border fees within 6 months.

GRTU President Paul Abela, Executive Council and CEO
congratulate Karmenu Vella who is set to become the next Maltese Commissioner
on the important portfolio he has been allocated. EU Environment, Maritime and
Fisheries are indeed very important issues.

Present your ideas on how to raise awareness
about sustainable consumption and win sponsorship prizes!
Through
the European Network I SHOP FAIR (a network of critical consumers standing up
for social and ecological subsistence strategies) five NGOs from Malta, Poland,
Austria and Germany are giving cash prizes to any project that gives the public
an understanding of "Ethical Consumption".

Any idea
that engages the public to think about responsible consumption will be
admissible for the competition!

There
are 18 prizes (First-1000€, Second-500€, Third-250€) to be won that are
distributed over 3 categories being:

Best Public
Action: (e.g. flashmobs, postcard actions, panel discussions, creative
info-booths, etc…)

Best Alternative Consumption Project
(e.g. clothes swap parties, repair cafes, ‘cutting-back-on-consumption'
experiments, etc…)

Best Eco-Fair Structural Consumption
Change (e.g. change of supplier to fair trade products, replace products, fair
purchasing in communities, sport clubs, schools, etc…)

Each category
will then be divided into two further sub-categories: those in which the
applicant(s) are below the age of 20 and those in which the applicant(s) are
above the age of 20.

Winners will
also receive a travel package to attend the European Consumption Summit that
will take place in Germany in Bonn, Germany from 19th to 21st of June 2015!

This
competition is being launched in Poland, Malta, Austria and Germany, but we
also warmly welcome participants from other countries.

Applications
can be downloaded from the I SHOP FAIR website (http://www.ishopfair.net/competition).

In August the
Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) fell in the euro area ( by 1.5 points to
100.6) 1 and the EU ( by 1.2 points at 104.6).

Euro area developments

After a
broadly flat development over the last five months, August's decrease shifted
the euro area headline indicator back to its December 2013 level. Worsened
sentiment resulted from deterioration in retail trade, consumer, industry, and,
to a lesser extent, services confidence. Construction confidence remained
broadly unchanged. Amongst the largest euro area economies, sentiment dropped
significantly in Italy (-4.1), sending the ESI below its long-term average of
100, and in Germany (-1.9). Milder contractions were booked also in France
(-0.6) and the Netherlands (-0.8), while sentiment remained flat in Spain.
Since January 2014 construction confidence in Malta has reduce by -11. Weakened
industry confidence (-1.5) was caused by managers' more careful views on
expected production, while assessments of the current level of overall order
books and the stocks of finished products stayed broadly unchanged. By
contrast, managers' assessments of the level of past production and, to a
lesser extent, export order books, which do not enter the calculation of the
confidence indicator, improved.

Services
confidence slid somewhat (-0.5) owing to downward revisions of managers'
assessments of the past business situation and past demand, while their demand
expectations remained virtually unchanged. The deterioration in consumer
confidence (-1.6) was driven by more negative assessments of future
unemployment and the future general economic situation, and, to a lesser
extent, future savings and households' future financial situation. Falling
retail trade confidence (-2.3) was the result of mangers' more pessimistic
views on both the present and expected business situation together with a
worsened assessment of the adequacy of the volume of stocks. Malta retail trade
has lower by -18.4 from January to the month of August. The broadly flat
development of construction confidence (-0.2) reflected downward revisions of
the level of order books partially offset by a small improvement in employment
expectations. The slight increase (+0.4) in financial services confidence (not
included in the ESI) was backed by more positive appraisals of the past
business situation and past demand, while demand expectations were revised
downward.

Employment
plans saw an upward revision in services, while they remained broadly unchanged
in industry and construction and deteriorated in the retail trade sector.
Selling price expectations increased in services and construction, but declined
in the other two surveyed business sectors (industry and retail trade).
Consumers' price expectations were revised downward.

EU developments

The
relatively more moderate decrease of the headline indicator in the two largest
non-euro area EU economies, the UK (-1.1) and Poland (-1.0), resulted in a less
severe contraction for the EU ESI (-1.2) compared to the euro area.

EU
construction confidence improved, while, as in the euro area, industry, retail
trade, services and consumer confidence slipped. Financial services confidence
booked a more robust improvement (+1.9). Contrary to the euro area, EU-wide
employment plans were revised downwards in industry but increased slightly in
construction and remained flat in retail trade. EU price expectations were in
line with those for the euro area apart from a broadly flat development in
services.

GRTU has
endorsed the Malta Business Expo. Therefore you have been selected to
participate in this unique initiative, which is also endorsed and supported, by
the Hon. Dr Chris Cardona, Minister of the Economy, Investment and Business, as
well as by other Constituted Bodies in Malta, representing every aspect of the
Maltese economy.

The
Malta Business Expo is exceptional both in its form as an online business
exposition, and also in its reach, being accessible and available from anywhere
in the world, at any time of the day and night, or day of the year.

Since
the best enterprises in the local market have already started taking up
residence on the select number of stands allocated for each industry, you are
urged to act expediently and join them in securing your own presence.

If you
would like more information a representative can come to your premises and
offer a presentation of the Malta Business Expo. All you need to do is to choose
a date and time that is convenient for you by visiting http://www.maltabusinessexpo.com/new2/form_app.php

In August 2014,
the DG ECFIN flash estimate of the consumer confidence indicator decreased in
both the EU (by 0.9 points to -6.4) and the euro area (by 1.6 points to -10.0)
compared to July.

Computation of Flash CCI

To
compute the flash consumer confidence indicator for the EU and euro area, DG
ECFIN uses the data available on the cut-off date. The estimation procedure
combines historical data with information from those Member States for which
data are available in the reference month. Experience has shown this procedure
to be statistically reliable.