Author: SME Chamber

GRTU's National Executive Council has this week met the
Opposition with most of the Nationalist MPs. GRTU President Paul Abela stated
that in line with the interest of GRTU members we do our best to maintain good
relations with not only the Government of the day but also the Opposition.

Mr
Abela said that GRTU wants to maintain regular contact with the Opposition to
help us in reaching our goals for our members. He also took the opportunity to
wish Dr Beppe Fenech Adami a speedy recovery.

GRTU is not satisfied with the amount of information
and support businesses operating in Libya are receiving. He recalled that when
there was the outbreak of the crises the Government of that time had brought
social partners together for briefings and sought to support businesses in
Libya. The messages businesses were getting after the crises was to try to hold
talks and establish business as many other countries had already gained ground.
GRTU therefore called on MCESD to convene with urgency to be briefed and discuss
the subject.

President Abela also mentioned GRTU's opposition to the
decision taken to waive CVA obligations for teachers working in Valletta. Mr
Abela asked ‘why are these employees being treated differently? Why are the
employees of our members, Government employees and employees of other larger
institutions such as the banks being discriminated?' He said that GRTU had
already expressed its clear disagreement with this through our member on the
CVA board.

The Leader of the Opposition Dr Simon Busuttil said that the
Opposition always welcomes opportunities to meet an important partner as the
GRTU. This constituted the second meeting with one of the main stakeholders
which was started two weeks ago with the UHM. He continued saying that the
Opposition intends to meet with all the important stakeholders and social
partners at MCESD.

Dr Busuttil stated that this was important because
politicians do not possess all the knowledge and they should merely represent
the aspirations of society and business is part of this. Dr Busuttil also
expressed the Opposition's concern with Libya and they themselves had asked for
a Parliamentary sitting on the subject as they were not pleased with the level
of transparency of the situation. He also said that the Opposition backed
GRTU's position against the Smart Card Development and the free entrance to
Valletta to teachers. Dr Busuttil said that these were clearly populist
decisions aimed at pleasing a particular group and not for the benefit of
society as a whole.

The Opposition was pleased that the economy is still doing
well however it was preoccupied with the high level of Government spending and
with the dwindling sales in retail which is also evident from Eurostat
Statistics.

Following this initial exchange the GRTU officials discussed
the issues and priorities it currently has in more detail.

GRTU President and CEO have this week met Hon Anthony Agius
Decelis, Commissioner for Simplification and Reduction of Bureaucracy, whom
explained Government's plans in putting in place the promise we have been
hearing about for long, red carpet treatment for business.

Hon Agius Decelis said that the first part of the
programme, the consultation with various stakeholder, was now almost complete
and the second stage involved evaluation, lists prioritization of proposals and
take action directly with the relevant Ministries and Departments to ensure
they deliver and the necessary changes are made. He said that they have already
introduced a fast trek application system with MEPA and invited the GRTU to
make concrete suggestions that we together could work on. Hon Agius Decelis
emphasized that the sharing of data between Government Departments was
necessary and they were also introducing a sunset clause whereby if a reply by
the relevant Authorities is not given by a specified deadline, an application
form for instance, would be considered accepted.

GRTU stated that more transparency and clarity was
required for a number of processes where it is clear what a business needs to
adhere to and not end up depending on the whims of individuals. More clarity
for instance is needed with funds and schemes where a business knows clearly
whether it is eligible or not to benefit and what it needs to do. Nothing not
clearly stated beforehand can be requested after or used as an excuse to deny
funds. GRTU also mentioned that it would be putting forward also Customs, VAT
and Procurement issues to the Commissioner in order to improve the conditions
for business. 

The Saudi Government has given permission to the country's
financial regulator to open the stock market to direct investment by foreign
financial institutions.

The cabinet authorized the Capital Market Authority –
at a time it sees as appropriate – to allow foreign financial institutions to
buy and sell stocks on the Saudi stock market, according to rules to be laid
down by the CMA. The statement did not specify a timetable for the market to be
opened, or give any details of the rules under which the reform would take
place, but according to the article below from Arab News this will start in
2015. Saudi authorities, who want to use the market to create jobs, diversify
the economy beyond oil and expose local firms to more market discipline, have
been preparing for the opening for years, and have completed most technical
preparations. But the government has delayed implementing the reform,
apparently concerned about causing volatility in the market as well as the
political sensitivity of allowing foreigners to build large stakes in top Saudi
companies.

Such decisions by the Saudi government indicate that
they want to diversify as much as possible the economy of the country and not
depend only on oil and gas revenues and this is one of the sectors which will
boost further the financial resources of the country.

Further information on this article can be found at: http://reut.rs/1piRuWd

New
opportunities for European businesses, affordable energy bills for consumers,
increased energy security through a significant reduction of natural gas
imports and a positive impact on the environment: these are some of the
expected benefits of the energy efficiency target for 2030 put forward today by
the European Commission in a Communication.

The
proposed target goes beyond the 25% energy savings target which would be
required to achieve a 40% reduction of CO2 emissions by 2030. At the same time
the framework on energy efficiency put forward today aims to strike the right
balance between benefits and costs.

Günther
H. Oettinger, Vice-President of the EU Commission responsible for energy said:
"Our proposal is the basis to drive the EU towards increased security of
supply, innovation and sustainability, all in an affordable way. It is
ambitious and at the same time it is realistic. The energy efficiency strategy
will complete the 2030 framework on energy and climate which has been presented
in January 2014. Our aim is to give the right signal to the market and
encourage further investments in energy saving technologies to the benefit of
businesses, consumers and the environment."

The
Communication on energy efficiency and its contribution to energy security and
the 2030 framework presented today also reviews progress towards the European
Union's 20% energy efficiency target for 2020. The EU is currently forecast to
achieve energy savings of 18-19% in 2020; however, the agreed target of 20% can
be reached if all EU countries fully implement the already agreed legislation.
The Commission does not intend to propose new measures, but calls on the Member
States to step up their efforts to ensure collective delivery of the 2020
target.

Benefits
of current energy efficiency policies

Among
the proven advantages for business and consumers are, for instance:

1. Energy
intensity in EU industry has decreased by almost 19% between 2001 and 2011.

2. More efficient
appliances like refrigerators and washing machines are expected to save
consumers €100 billion annually – about €465 per household – on their energy
bills by 2020.

3. New buildings
consume half as much energy today as they did in the 1980s.

Long-term
benefits

The
Communication also explores the positive impacts of energy efficiency on the
lives of Europeans over the next sixteen years:

1. For every additional 1 percent in
energy savings, EU gas imports are expected to fall by 2.6%, decreasing our
dependence on external suppliers.

2. More energy efficient buildings will
offer 'ancillary benefits' to people who live and work in them in addition to
reducing their energy bills. For example, better windows can provide for
increased air quality and protection from external noise.

3. Energy efficiency policies will
create new opportunities for European businesses such as construction firms and
equipment manufacturers. In line with this, new local jobs are created.

What's next?

As the
Communication announces, the European Commission will review progress on energy
efficiency in 2017. It will explore the question whether additional indicators
should be used to express and monitor progress towards the energy efficiency
target. This could be indicators, such as energy intensity, which better take
account of underlying changes in and projections for GDP and population growth.

Member States
must step up their work to prevent, detect and report fraud affecting EU funds,
according to the Commission's annual report on the protection of financial
interests (PIF report).

The report sets out detailed recommendations on areas
that national authorities should particularly focus on in this respect. The
report finds that detected fraud in EU spending accounts for less than 0.2% of
all funds. Nevertheless, the Commission believes that greater efforts at
national level both on combatting and detecting fraud should be deployed. The
annual PIF report therefore recommends, amongst other things, that Member States
review their controls to ensure they are risk-based and well-targeted.

On the
positive side, the report notes that good progress is being made at national
level to implement new rules and policies which will strengthen the fight
against fraud in the years ahead. Moreover, at EU level, the past 5 years have
seen major advances in shaping a stronger anti-fraud landscape. These
initiatives can have a marked impact on fraud levels, once they are fully
implemented.

According
to the report, fraud affecting the EU budget, which was detected by national
authorities, decreased slightly in 2013 compared to 2012. On the expenditure
side, €248 million in EU funds were affected by fraud, equivalent to 0.19%
of the expenditure budget. This compares to €315 million the previous year
– a drop of about 21%. On the revenue side, suspected or confirmed fraud
amounted to €61 million, representing 0.29% of traditional own resources
collected for 2013. This compares to €77.6 million the previous year, also
marking a drop of 21%. While the overall financial impact of fraud affecting EU
funds decreased last year, the number of cases reported in EU spending
increased compared to the previous year. This may be the result of stronger
measures to detect fraud at an earlier stage, thereby reducing the overall
amount of funds affected. It also may signal better reporting of fraud by some
Member States.

As you might recall some years back the Government had
launched an advantageous scheme to encourage businesses to set up their
website. The scheme was very successful however it closed and no scheme to
replace it was issued ever since.

The Government has acknowledged the importance of
online selling and has earlier this month launched a consultation paper that
will lead to a new E-Commerce scheme for businesses.

GRTU is holding a consultation session to explain the
plans the Government has and gather your feedback on what you think the new
scheme should look like, including what support and funds you would need to
develop your own website.

The session will be held as follows:

Date: Tuesday 4^th August 2014

Time: 14.00 – 15.30

Venue: GRTU, Exchange Buildings, Republic Street, Valletta

The Fast Track
to Innovation scheme will be open to applications from January 2015. It will
support small consortia of three to five organisations with strong business
participation to give promising ideas the last push before entering the market.
It is open to ideas in any area of technology or application and to any legal
entity established in the EU or in a country associated to Horizon 2020.

The contests
for the five innovation prizes will start in late 2014 and early 2015. The
prizes, worth €6 million in 2015, cover three different thematic areas of
research: health ("Reduction of the Use of Antibiotics Prize",
"Food-Scanner Prize"), the environment ("Reduction of Air
Pollution Prize") and ICT ("Collaborative Sharing of Spectrum",
"Optical Transmission Prize").

The updated
Work Programme adopted confirms details of the calls for proposals for 2015
first announced last December and specifies the deadlines for proposals. All
funding opportunities under Horizon 2020 are accessible from the Participant portal which can be accessed at: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/home.html

On 20 March,
the European Council declared not to recognise the illegal
"referendum" in Crimea, considered in clear violation of the
Ukrainian Constitution, and condemned the illegal annexation of Crimea/Sevastopol
to the Russian Federation, committing not to recognise it. in this context, the
European Council asked the Commission to evaluate the legal consequences of the
annexation and to propose economic, trade and financial restrictions regarding
Crimea/Sevastopol for rapid implementation.

Therefore
it was decided to develop an Information Note to Business in order to outline
the impact of the illegal annexation on business and to give information to EU
business present in Crimea/Sevastopol regarding the situation on the ground.

This
note can be accessed through:

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/where/neighbourhood/documents/info-note-to-business_en.pdf

This
joint European Commission/EEAS document has been drawn up following
consultation with business associations, sectoral associations. Member States
and other stakeholders. This Note is not intended to constitute legal advice
and should not be seen as providing guidance/recommendations. Moreover, it
should be considered as a 'living document' and may, thus, be subject to
revision in light of the continuously evolving situation.

The sixth round of EU-US trade talks, the Transatlantic Trade
and Investment Partnership (TTIP), concluded in Brussels on 18 July.