Author: SME Chamber

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.

Mr Fenech specified that GRTU is all in favour of the
integration of ex-convicts into the world of work as everybody deserves a
second chance. The relationship with the employer in this process however must
also be catered for specifically. It must be transparent, disclosing of the
persons' past and emphasizing on how the person wants to work to be able to
give this person a chance to give a meaningful contribution. He also expressed
GRTU's intention to collaborate as would be required to support the businesses,
the Authorities, the NGOs and the individuals seeking integration.

GRTU has organized an information and
training session in collaboration with the Central Bank of Malta in view of the
introduction of the €10 from the new Europa series of banknotes on 23rd
September.

This new banknote was unveiled
at the very beginning of the year, in January. It will be the second banknote
in the Europa series and, like the €5, will incorporate several new security
features which aim to maintain the trust that 334 million people across the
euro area have in their money.

The banknotes of the Europa
series are being introduced gradually over several years. The €5 was introduced
in May 2013 and during the coming years the remaining denominations of the
Europa series will also be issued.     

Participants were also given
samples of the new €10 Banknote and trained on the new security features. While
the new €10 resembles the one first issued in 2002, it has been given a fresh
look and has several new and enhanced security features. Like the first series of
euro banknotes, the new €10 banknote will be very easy to check manually and
visually, using the "feel, look and tilt" method. In addition to the portrait
of Europa in the hologram and the watermark, the notes include an emerald
number, which changes colour from emerald green to deep blue when tilted. The
€5 and €10 banknotes of the Europa series are more durable as they have a
protective coating. This means that the banknotes will need to be replaced less
frequently, thus lowering costs and reducing the impact on the environment.

In the new Europa series one can
also find little Malta which has been included in the map on the banknote as
well as ‘BĊE' written in Maltese fonts for Bank Ċentrali Ewropew.

The Eurosystem is taking steps
to support the adaptation of cash-handling machines and authentication devices
by the September launch date. Owners of such equipment are advised to contact
their suppliers or manufacturers as soon as possible in order to get ready for
the new €10 note.

The Central Bank of Malta
offered to provide direct training to the staff of companies that would like to
learn how to recognize counterfeits especially for employees that do not have
easy access to machines such as drivers that work outside the premises.

One of the clarifications
following the meeting is that the detector pens work on ES 1 and ES 2 notes
equally. The pens contain a solution of iodine which shows a brownish colour
when reacting with starch. Unlike banknote paper almost all commercially
available papers contain starch. That is why counterfeits usually show the said
colour reaction. The coating on the ES 2 banknotes has no influence on the
test.

MIP has today issued a notice that it was extending the
deadline of the Expression of interest (EOI) for the installation of
Photovoltaic Panels on factory roofs in Industrial Parks in Malta and Gozo and
stating that it was awaiting a ruling from the State Aid Monitoring Board. No
further clarifications in relation to the questions made during the
clarification meeting or the meeting held last week between GRTU and MIP were
given.

GRTU immediately expressed its clear concerns on the
EOI with MIP and last week met MIP CEO Joshua Zammit and emphasized that much
more clarification was needed in relation to this EOI. The project requires
some necessary changes as currently no serious bid could be made with the
current state of this EOI and without the necessary information. GRTU's
members, the majority of the sector, all said that if one should adhere to the
conditions of the tender and EU regulations vis-a-vis asbestos and other OHSA
regulations, they could not consider this EOI both in their own merit, as consortia
or even if they involved their foreign partners and mother companies. This
because of very valid reasons which GRTU explained in detail and therefore GRTU
on behalf of its members would have every reason to question any successful bid
at this stage. In its current state fulfilling the requirements of the EOI
without knowing the rate of return, soundness of roofs, other expenses involved
and basic details such as who will own the PV's at the end of the contract,
simply does not make sense.

Well aware of the limitations of the area available
for these kinds of projects GRTU feels that giving Maltese enterprises the
chance to participate is very important. GRTU wants to make sure they do not
lose out on this golden opportunity for other reasons that are beyond our
members' control, such as size of company or past experience that Maltese
companies could not have because of the size of the market. GRTU has already
given MIP suggestions of how this can be worked out.

GRTU's words are backed by its members, the experts in
this sector. Such expertise should not be taken for granted and that is why we
constantly urge the Authorities to effectively involve GRTU and its members
during the drafting phase of such projects so that we avoid these kinds of
situations. Just recently a scheme launched by Malta Enterprise had to be
retreated because of poor consultation and planning and as GRTU we can recall
countless other schemes that concerned this sector which were also evidently
planned by people who did not have enough knowledge of this sector. GRTU has
success stories to tell, one clear example of this are the schemes managed by
MRA. The only people that deserve merit for these successes are our members for
their continuous feedback and goodwill from the authorities and their
employees. There is nothing reasonable that could hinder MIP from following
suit. The expertise we have in our industry is valuable and should be utilized
in the best way possible for the benefit of MIP itself, the tenants, installers
and their employees and the country as a whole. GRTU would be more than happy
to help and avoid the wastage of a great deal of time and money for all parties
involved.