Author: SME Chamber

Admitting a new member requires the
unanimous approval of all member states and the EU must assess its capacity to
absorb the new entrant/s. Turkey applied to join the EU in 1987. Given Turkey's
geographical location and political history, the EU hesitated for a long time
before accepting its application. Some EU countries have expressed doubts as to
whether Turkey will or should be allowed to join and propose instead a
‘privileged partnership' but Turkey rejects this idea.

How large
can the EU become?

The western Balkan countries are also
turning to the EU to speed up their economic reconstruction and consolidate
their democratic institutions. Potential candidates are the former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia,
Iceland and Kosovo. Despite fulfilling the EU accession conditions,
Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland are not members of the EU because public
opinion in those countries is currently against joining.

By the end of this decade, EU
membership could grow from 27 to 35 countries. This however might also require
changes in the way the EU works. During the negotiation period candidate
countries normally receive EU ‘accession partnership' aid to help them catch up
economically.

Public opinion among EU countries is
more or less divided over the question of the EU's final frontiers. If
geographical criteria alone were applied, taking no account of democratic
values, the EU could end up with 47 member states including Russia. Russia's
membership however would clearly create unacceptable imbalances in the EU, both
politically and geographically.

Membership
conditions

1. Lisbon Treaty: Any European state may apply to become a member of the
European Union provided it respects the principles of liberty, democracy,
respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law.

2. Copenhagen
criteria: Lays down 3 criteria they should fulfil so as to become members:

Geographical
frontiers and Neighbourhood policy

Stability and security are an issue
in the neighbouring regions that border with the EU members regions Action for
example was needed to tackle emerging threats to security such as illegal
immigration, the disruption of energy supplies, cross-border crime and
terrorism. So the EU developed a new European Neighbourhood policy (ENP),
governing relations with its neighbours to the east and to the south.

Almost all these countries have
bilateral ‘partnership and cooperation' agreements or association agreements
with the EU, under which they are committed to common values. On its part the
EU offers financial, technical and economic assistance, easier access to visas,
etc…

Entrepreneurs interested in exploring
business opportunities in Tunisia are invited to submit their application to
participate in a trade delegation with a special focus on the manufacturing
industry, ICT, engineering and associated support services.

The delegation will be visiting the
cities of Sfax; Soussc and Tunis, where B2B meetings will be held. Participants
also have the opportunity to visit the Tunis Medindustrie Fair and the Tunis
Invest Forum taking place in Tunis between the 12th and 15th June 2013.

Further
information and the application form may be obtained by emailing
.

The Trade Delegation to Tunisia will take place on 9th June
 to 14th June 2013

Closing
Date for Application: Friday 3rd May, 2013

The deadline for migration to the
SEPA system (SEPA credit transfer and SEPA direct debit) is 1 February 2014. It is important for companies to
realize that this will entail that they use new formats and procedures when
sending payment information to their banks. Many companies have already been
taking the necessary measures to conform but many are still lagging behind.
Companies that do not take up the necessary changes will undergo consequences
for not being ready.

Under the SEPA End-date Regulation,
banks will not be allowed to automatically convert non-SEPA payments to SEPA
payments after Feb 2014. This means that transactions in old formats will not
be processed by the bank.

It will be however possible for banks
or other providers to offer conversion services – as long as these are
independent of the banks' normal payment chain. This will however constitute an
extra cost for the retailer (if his systems are not SEPA-ready). In addition,
such services will be available only for a limited time.

What is
SEPA?

SEPA stands for Single Euro Payments
Area and is a project managed, supported and promoted by the European Payments
Council. The initiative aims to replace differing cross border payment methods
with a single common system to increase ease, simplicity and efficiency.

In effect, the introduction of the
Euro currency as cash was only the first half of a process. Introducing this
single payments area for digital transfers is the second step in becoming a
financially streamlined area for trade and payments.

Currently it can be a challenge or
even impossible for an Irish person to buy an item online, from France, for
example, using their Irish debit card. Problems also can arise transferring
money or attempting to set up direct debits if they are cross-border. Uniform
SEPA standards for payments and banking will solve this and is a very exciting
prospect for many businesses that will be able to buy and sell services and
goods online to a much wider audience when this comes into effect.

Benefits
and Changes in a Single Euro Payments Area

Specific
requirements for business and consumers

The Council this week adopted a
directive on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) and a regulation on Online
Dispute Resolution (ODR). The new system, which is part of the
"Single Market Act" package, will provide for simple, fast and
low-cost out-of-court settlement procedures designed to resolve disputes
between consumers and traders arising from the sales of goods and services,
without long judicial proceedings.

The efficiency of ODR procedures will
also increase the volume of online shopping, especially those made by traders
in other EU countries.

The directive ADR is a win-win
situation for buyers and for sellers. A mechanism of EU rapid action that is
low-cost will save consumers billions of Euros per year and will encourage
cross-border online trade, a fundamental stimulus for growth.

On the plus side to business, they will
prevent damage to their image and will satisfy the needs of customers in a
simple and effective manner.

Companies that commit themselves to use
this service will be required to inform consumers on their websites and in the
clauses relating to the terms and conditions of sale.

Many Member States have already
introduced systems of alternative dispute resolution, but the lack of
information and uniformity in coverage or overloading of procedures make it difficult
to use.

The new Directive requires Member
States to provide ADR entities for all sectors of activity and introduce
provisions to ensure the impartiality of mediators.

Member States will have two years to
implement the ADR/ODR rules. The ODR platform will connect all national ADR
entities. The ODR platform will be operational at the end of 2015. This
single point of access should provide the facility for an interactive website
that is easy to use, free and available in all official EU languages.

Commercial operators that chose to
utilise the system will also make available on their websites an electronic
link to the ODR platform to inform consumers.

More information on ADR is available
at: http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/redress_cons/schemes_en.htm

Apprenticeship is the key to a highly
skilled workforce as it gives an opportunity to train prospective employees.
Apprenticeship includes theoretical training and work placement with an
employer through which practical training is acquired. Therefore apprentices
learn the theory and practice of the occupation.

In the coming weeks the ETC will be
organizing the call for applications for apprentices. New prospective
apprentices will be available to start their apprenticeship as from July and
are available on a daily basis up till September. During this period
apprentices are paid a stipend from the Government, hence you as an employer
are not obliged to pay any remuneration.

If you have never enjoyed the
benefits of the apprenticeship schemes you are invited to contact us for
further information. If you are familiar with the scheme and would like to
employ new apprentice/s please get in touch with ETC through one of the
following options:

Tel
– 22201302/9/10/13    email –

GRTU Renewable Energy Section
President Noel Gauci held a meeting with the Minister for Energy and the
Conservation of Water, Dr Konrad Mizzi, in order to discuss issues directly
relevant to the Renewable Energy Section. Below are the topics that were
discussed:

Launch of
the Domestic PV Scheme

The Ministry communicated that the
plan is to have the scheme launched and initiated in May. GRTU understands this
is a shorter than anticipated timeframe but quality installations are a must.
The scheme shall be ‘open ended', meaning that it will remain open until funds
are exhausted. Dr Mizzi stated that he intended to keep the Government's
commitment to oversee €20-25 million in PV investments every year, something
very encouraging to the sector and Maltese in general.

Commercial/industrial
projects

The Minister also expressed his
intention to launch one or more commercial and industrial incentive schemes,
and possibly (relatively) large scale renewable energy projects. The latter
could also include Photovoltaic farms. GRTU sees this commitment very
favorably, especially since the Minister agrees with the idea that such farms
should include as much installers as possible. GRTU has in fact long been
promoting the idea that large scale projects should be split between different
installation companies, although they remain property of the investor and
overseen by their particular representative.

Regarding commercial incentive
schemes, GRTU believes that although these could be run by Malta Enterprise,
the MRA system should be adopted so as to avoid a repeat of the suspension that
was suffered during the last ERDF scheme.

Solar water heaters and energy
efficiency

The Minister also advised that along
with the domestic PV grant scheme, a solar water heaters scheme shall also be
launched, as well as schemes for insulation (roof, double glazing etc).

Feed in
tariffs

The tariffs shall remain the same as
announced in the Budget.

Section
meeting with the Minister

A request was passed on to the
Minister and his team to attend a meeting whereby they could hear first-hand
complaints, suggestions and any comments our members would like to make. The
Minister agreed to such a request saying he would look forward to such an occasion.
GRTU thus shall be organizing such an event.

Regulation

GRTU gave explanation of the PVPFS
Scheme and the process of becoming GRTU APPROVED. The Minister expressed his
satisfaction towards such an initiative.

GRTU also conveyed certain concerns
expressed by the sector alleging towards the installation of systems prior
approval while promising customers that they would be able to apply for a
grant, this is of course not possible under the current regulations. GRTU
insisted that this was unacceptable and suggested ways of tackling the issue.
GRTU will be following up the discussion together with the MRA to try to find a
solution.

Green MT, the Authorised Packaging
Waste Compliance Scheme, has launched a CD entitled ‘Reduce Reuse Recycle'
aimed at further increasing public awareness about recycling. All derived
proceeds from the sale of the CD will go to the Community Chest fund. The
launch was attended by those involved in this year's School Recycling Campaign
organised by Green MT, which included school representatives, students and
parents. This is the second year such a campaign is being held.

The song was written by Kristina
Casolani, Boris Cezek & Dean Muscat. The remix was done by DJ Carlo Gerada.
The song and the CD are the brain child of Kristina Casolani, a leading Maltese
singer and songwriter, who was initially commissioned to create a jingle that
evolved into a song. The song is being performed at School visits all over
Malta and Gozo. At these School events Eco Councillor Romina Schembri provides
important tips to the students regarding waste separation followed by
entertainment by the Zoo team and a live performance of 'Reduce Reuse Recycle'
by Kristina Casolani.

The song aims to take the initiative
held within the schools to the homes and families of the students across Malta
and Gozo. This year's School Recycling Competition will run for eight weeks,
between March and April. The participation of Gozitan schools is particularly
strong.

Green MT's CEO, Joe Attard explained
that Green MT has diverted 44, 285 tons of recyclables from landfills between
July 2009 till the end of December 2012.  He stressed on the importance of
competition and also a level playing field for all operators in this waste management
sector.

Separating waste and recycling are a major issue for Malta's
Waste Managment Strategy and Green MT is committed to make sure that targets in
recovery and recycling will be met in the earliest time frame possible.

Speaking to trade leaders, GRTU Director
General Vince Farrugia, said that the results of the in-depth review on the
prevention and correction of micro-economic imbalances gives an excellent
report on Malta. "I'm surprised that the Government of
Malta did not make good use of this report to rebut the false statements made
about Malta in comparing our economy with that of Cyprus.

On the major issue raised by amongst
others the chairman of the European Finance Ministers, related to the status of
our large financial sector, the in-depth review states that the majority of the
very large financial sector is internationally-oriented with very little to
link to the domestic, and therefore does not pose large risks to the domestic
stability.

GRTU notes however that the issue
raised in the past by GRTU with the banks, MFSA and the Ministry of Finance,
that property developers unfairly compete with micro and small businesses for
the available credit facilities made available by the     banks through Malta's high savings ratio
is again highlighted in the Commission in-depth review. The Maltese major banks
are over-lenient with property developers with the result that Malta now is
flooded with unsold properties while the access to finance for micro and small
businesses gets higher.

Government under pressure from GRTU
resorted to the Micro-Credit Scheme, supporting small businesses, and now to
the Micro-Guarantee Scheme, effectively a commercial banks loan for small
businesses whereby government covers most of the guarantee demanded by the
banks.

The rule of economic development for Malta and therefore
Government revenue could be much healthier if Government and the banks wake up
to the facts: 98% of enterprises in Malta are small and micro enterprises and
not property developers. GRTU supports scheme to help developers transform
their unsold properties into income generating enterprises- self-catering
tourist accommodation, new office spaces, new old age residential facilities,
new back office facilities – whatever can generate new work and new enterprise.
But credit and money available to build more of the same or the expense of a
squeeze on credit for direct productive enterprise is illogical.

Within the framework of their current
EU social partner work programme, UEAPME, BUSINESSEUROPE, CEEP and ETUC held a
joint conference this week on promoting active ageing through lifelong
learning. GRTU President Paul Abela participated at this important conference
entitled European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing-From Plan
to Action.

During the event the participants were
given an opportunity to share their experiences and explain the different
initiatives in their own countries. Three objectives were identified that
required focus for the successful adoption of an action plan for Active Ageing
and Solidarity between generations: Action at legislative level, Improve living
and working conditions and Make education and training systems more effective.

Paul Abela stated that Malta is already
well on track targeting all three objectives, they are well embedded in our
national programme. Unlike some countries, Mr Abela was pleased to inform that
in Malta individuals working after pensionable age do not lose their pension
benefits. He also said that a phenomenon is developing whereby those that have
been employed all their life before going into pension decide to leap into
business while those that have been in business all their life decide to take
it a bit more easy before pension and find a stable employment. He said this
was an interesting phenomenon that should be followed.

A number of good practices were
presented amongst which that from France, the Generation Contract, whereby
employers are incentivized though a grant to employ an individual in or near
pensionable age with an younger individual. GRTU's President emphasized however
that the competitiveness and sustainability of a company cannot be jeopradised

UEPME Social Affairs Adviser Helen
Hoffmann chaired the session on "Anticipating the skills needs and adapting the
skills of older workers". For Crafts and SMEs, external support coming from
their business organisations or Public Employment Service can be a useful means
for tailor-made training of older workers as presented by an Austrian case. In
the final round table, UEAPME Social Affairs Director Liliane Volozinskis
stressed the need for adapting to an ageing workforce through a lifecycle
approach, delivering relevant continuous training and mobilising funding in a
cost-effective way, as well as broader policies on fostering health promotion,
flexible working arrangements and adequate policy frameworks. She also insisted
on return of investment for employers.