Author: SME Chamber

The Member
States rejected the mandate for the trialogue negotiations with the European
Parliament and the European Commission on the product safety package. The
Member States could not find a compromise on how to deal with mandatory origin
labelling. The Lithuanian Presidency will continue to find a compromise ahead
of the Competitiveness Council on 2 and 3 December. If no compromise is found,
it is likely that the Product Safety Package will not be adopted before the
European Parliament elections next year.

GRTU
representatives have attended the General Assembly and the 13th Annual Forum of
INSULEUR, the Network of the Insular Chambers of Commerce and Industry of the
EU held in Gozo on 8th November 2013.

Entitled
"Europe 2020 strategy in insular regions through active citizenship"
this event addressed issues as important to our economies as the institutional
proposals on EUROPE 2020 Strategy from the perspective of the interests of
island territories.

Europe
2020 is the European Union's main strategy aiming to put European economy back
to growth. The main objective for European economy is to become smart,
sustainable and inclusive. Islands should develop integrated and tailored
solutions to meet such territorial challenges as well as create future
opportunities. The Europe 2020 Strategy should play an important role in these
regions as they provide a range of intervention tools that can be tailored to
the specific territories themselves, dealing with a range of territorial
characteristics.

The
Forum gave voice about it to politicians, economists, chambers representatives
and academics of high level, coming from local, national and European level.

OHSA-Malta in
collaboration with the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work has
produced 13 roll-up posters related to various aspects of Health and Safety at
the place of work.  The idea behind this
project is that they are exhibited at suitable locations inside companies and
organizations in Malta and Gozo.

The
inauguration of these posters was held on the 21st November 2013 at the offices
of the Authority in Pieta.

In his
short address during the inauguration of the project, the Hon Dr Deo Debattista,
Chairperson of the Authority, commended the Authority for this and many other
initiatives which promote the need to protect adequately occupational health
and safety. Dr. Debattista invited the Authority to continue emphasizing the
preventive aspect as a means to further reduce accidents at the place of work.
He also thanked the employees of the Authority for their dedicated and fruitful
work towards Maltese Society as well as Media Consulta as representatives of
the European Agency in Malta. 

The European
Parliament has given its final approval to the European Union's long-term
budget and its budget for next year, ending months of often ill-tempered
negotiations with the member states. MEPs in Strasbourg also approved new
legislation on cohesion policy, the last policy area of the multi-annual
financial framework (MFF) on which disagreements persisted right up to the
vote. Other programmes linked to the MFF also won MEPs' backing.

The full
Parliament voted on Tuesday (19 November) in favour of the long-term budget,
with 537 votes to 126, and 19 abstentions. The annual budget was approved on
Wednesday with 494 for, 158 against, and 13 abstentions. The member states gave
their backing to the 2014 budget on Tuesday in the General Affairs Council. The
MFF is scheduled for adoption without discussion at a Competitiveness Council on
2 December.

The MFF
fixes at €960 billion the financial commitments the EU can make during the
years 2014-20, and sets limits for actual payments of €908bn. The budget for
2014 – the first budget year of the new multi-annual cycle – sets commitments
at €142.6bn and payments at €135.5bn, down 6.2% from the 2013 annual budget.
The budget cuts prompted resistance from the Green and leftist groups in the
Parliament.

In July,
following an agreement in principle with the Council of Ministers, the European
Parliament set out conditions for its final approval, and the vote had been
postponed twice because of MEPs' continuing dissatisfaction with member state
compliance.

The
European Parliament cannot unilaterally make changes to the MFF, but it does
have the power to adopt or reject it. The Parliament's conditions included
additional money to cover shortfalls in the current annual budget – approved by
the Council earlier this month – and the creation of a high-level working group
that will study ways to strengthen the EU's own revenue system. The Parliament
has received assurances from Lithuania, the current holder of the rotating
presidency of the Council of Ministers, about the composition and remit of the
working group.

The
Strasbourg plenary votes also covered programmes linked to the MFF, including
the European Social Fund, the Erasmus+ exchange programme, and the Connecting
Europe facility. MEPs struck a last-minute compromise with the Council on
cohesion policy, salvaging a hard-won deal over the conditions under which
regional aid could be suspended.

The
final agreement states that a member state's "significant non-compliance" with
EU fiscal rules would be grounds for suspension of aid – which is likely to
apply more frequently than the "persistent non-compliance" that MEPs had
sought, but still not so widely as the simple "non-compliance" that member
states had wanted.

Grazzi ghal inizjattiva  ‘Free Travel Weekend' li giet organizzata
bejn il-15 u s-17 ta' Novembru u li ghaliha ppartecipaw numru sabih ta' membri
tal-GRTU, l-istabbilimenti Għawdxin irrapurtaw negozju tajjeb hafna.

"L-istabbilimenti li joffru
akkomodazzjoni speċjalment il-lukandi, restoranti, kif ukoll servizzi oħra
turistiċi f'Għawdex, esperjenzaw domanda qawwija mill-eluf ta' Maltin li telgħu
Għawdex grazzi għall-opportunità ta' vjaġgar b'xejn bejn iż-żewġ gżejjer.

Il-GRTU tirringrazzja
l-inizjattiva tal-Ministeru t'Għawdex li qajmet tmiem il-ġimgħa, normalment
kwiet f'Għawdex b'influss ta' turisti domestiċi u tfahhar  wkoll id-diversi attivitajiet li gew
organizzati fuq dawn it-tliet t'ijiem f'Għawdex fosthom kunċerti, tours
kulturali, avvenimenti sportivi.

Il-GRTU tirringrazzja ukoll
lil Gozo Channel u l-Korp tal-Pulizija, filwaqt li jawguraw li din l-inizjattiva
tiftaħ aktar opportunitajiet biex l-istaġun turistiku f'Għawdex ikun estiż
għas-suq domestiku matul ix-xhur xitwin kollha.

GRTU Malta
Chamber of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises, GRTU urges all its members in
the waste sector, including, waste carriers, skip loader operators, waste
management facility operators, to attend a meeting called by the Ministry for
Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate Change.

The
meeting is being held at Le Meridien Hotel in St Julians on Monday 25th
November 2013 at 2pm. During the meeting a technical team from the same
Ministry will present a short preview of the Government's Waste Management Plan
for the years 2013 to 2020. A public consultation document has been issued
covering most waste streams. Feedback in writing is to be forwarded to . This is a very
important meeting and all operators are urged to attend. Amongst other issues
the document outlines the way forward in Mixed Waste collection contracts, the
operation of Schemes for recyclable waste, the times of collection of mixed
waste, changes in collection vehicles. These topics show the level of
importance of the meeting and why one should be present.

The
consultation document can be found on the Ministry s website and can be
downloaded easily for one and all to see. Although it is a 184 page document
readers can go through an initial index and assess subjects related to their
operations and consequently after reading make up their own ideas and
assessment of the said document and they way they think it will effect their
current situations.

We urge one and
all to be present. Change is always accompanied by new ideas. In 2013 we cannot
be afraid of change and accordingly looking at new ways of how to make sure
that a market sector of operation grows in a more efficient and coordinate
manner.

Any queries
prior to the meeting are to be sent to
up to
noon Monday 25th November and they will be answered accordingly.

A package deal comprising the 2014 EU budget and the
financing of EUR 400.5 million to  remediate flood and drought damages in
four member states was agreed today by the Council and the European Parliament
at a meeting of the Conciliation Committee.

"I believe that today's agreement on the 2014 EU
budget is a good start for the new  programming period", said
Vice-Minister for Finance of Lithuania and President of the Council Algimantas
Rimkunas. "I'm glad that we could reach an agreement with the European
Parliament on the financing of priority areas such as growth, employment, innovation
and humanitarian aid. We also agreed to reinforce the financing on migration,
FRONTEX, the European Asylum Support Office, Europol and the three supervisory
authorities which are important for the proper implementation of the Economic
and Monetary Union."

The agreement on the 2014 EU budget, which is the
first under the multiannual financial framework (MFF) for 2014-2020, meets
three objectives:

–     It
preserves member states' budgets from additional pressure which might force
them to strengthen their consolidation efforts at national level by setting the
level of funds significantly below the 2013 budget;

–     It leaves
sufficient margins under the MFF ceilings to allow the EU to cope with
unforeseen situations;

–     It ensures that European taxpayers' money is
spent on the most urgent political priorities, notably on measures to boost
growth and create jobs, in particular for young people.

There are more
than 186 000 organic farms across Europe, cultivating an area of 9.6 million
hectares, i.e. 5.4% of the total agricultural area in the European Union (EU),
the report "Facts and Figures on Organic Farming" issued today by the
European Commission points out.

The report gives an overview of organic
agriculture in Europe based on the data available and its evolution over recent
years. It shows in particular that organic holdings are overall bigger than
conventional farms in the EU and their managers are younger. Permanent pasture
represents the biggest share of the organic area (about 45%), followed by
cereals (around 15%) and permanent crops (about 13%). Besides poultry, which
registers the highest number of animal organic heads, the rest of organic
livestock is led by sheep (46%) and bovines (30%) at European level.

Full report:
http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/markets-and-prices/more-reports/pdf/organic-2013_en.pdf

Il-MEUSAC,
flimkien mal-Ministeru għat-Trasport u Infrastruttura, se jorganizza sessjoni
ta' konsultazzjoni fuq Proposta għal Regolament li jistabbilixxi qafas fuq
l-aċċess għas-suq għas-servizzi portwarji u t-trasparenza finanzjarja
tal-portijiet. KUMM(2013) 296.

Din
il-konsultazzjoni ser tiffokka l-iktar fuq:

Il-bżonn li jiġu żviluppati konnessjonijiet taż-żoni interni li
huma identifikati sew bħala sfida importanti u dan diġà huwa indirizzat permezz
tal-politika tat-TEN-T.

Tliet kwistjonijiet li jistgħu jżommu lis-servizzi portwarji
milli jkunu organizzati bl-aħjar mod: (i) pressjoni kompetittiva dgħajfa li
huma suġġetti għaliha ħafna mis-servizzi portwarji minħabba r-restrizzjonijiet
fuq l-aċċess għas swieq; (ii) monopolji jew oligopolji li jistgħu jwasslu għal
abbużi tas-suq; u (iii) piżijiet amministrattivi żejda marbuta mal-użu ta' dawn
is-servizzi f'ċerti portijiet, minħabba nuqqas ta' koordinazzjoni fi ħdan
il-portijiet.

L-investimenti
meħtieġa biex il-kapaċitajiet portwarji jiġu adattati għall-ħtiġijiet li qed
jinbidlu huma possibbli biss f'qafas politiku u regolatorju stabbli li jnaqqas
l-inċertezzi ekonomiċi u li jiżgura kundizzjonijiet ekwi.

Din il-laqgħa
ta' konsultazzjoni ser issir nhar l-Erbgħa, 27 ta' Novembru 2013, bejn l-10.00
u nofsinhar, ġewwa Dar l-Ewropa, 254 Triq San Pawl, il-Belt Valletta.

Biex
tirreġistra, inti ġentilment mitlub tibgħat email fuq l-indirizz
elettroniku , sa mhux aktar tard minn nofsinhar
tat-Tlieta,
26 ta' Novembru.