In principle, every tax-liable business must submit a VAT return. The Commission wants to introduce an EU-wide mandatory standard VAT return. This consists of a standard form, harmonised tax periods and deadlines for the submission of VAT returns as well as harmonised rules on making corrections to the VAT return.

The European Commission argues in favour of targeted support for CCS and puts various options up for discussion: subsidies for CCS investors, CO₂ emission performance standards or a mandatory CCS certificate system for carbon emitters such as power stations and industrial plants.

The updated cepDefault-Index shows that the creditworthiness of the individual crisis countries is developing in different directions. The same applies to the core Eurozone countries.

In the group of crisis countries, Ireland and Spain make a positive impression as the creditworthiness of both countries is increasing. Unlike Greece, which is still a long way from regaining its creditworthiness. In Italy too, the erosion of creditworthiness continues.

In the group of core countries, Belgium and Finland are showing a reduction in creditworthiness for the first time. In France, a clear reversal of the downward trend in creditworthiness is still not apparent.

The cepDefault-Index 2014 is divided into two sections: The creditworthiness trends for Belgium, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain are presented with detailed explanations.  The creditworthiness trends for the remaining euro and EU countries, as well as other economies such as Switzerland, South Korea and the USA, are set out in the Annex.

Airlines can only emit greenhouse gases if they own the corresponding emission rights ("certificates"). Since 2012, all flights have, in principle, been obliged to own certificates for the entire flight distance between two EU airports and flights between an EU airport and an airport in a non-EU country. As the inclusion of aviation in the EU Emission Trading System (ETS) has come up against considerable international opposition, the EU resolved that, in 2012, the ETS would only apply to flights between EU airports. The European Commission now proposes that airlines should require certificates for emissions from flights to and from third party countries between 2014 and 2020 in respect of the distance flown over the European Economic Area (EEA).

The Communication sets out the up-dated EU crisis rules for state aid to banks during the crisis from 1st August 2013. It replaces the 2008 Banking Communication and supplements the remaining crisis rules. Together, they define the common EU conditions under which Member States can support banks with funding guarantees, recapitalisations or asset relief and the requirements for a restructuring plan.

The Commission intends all phases of the public procurement process to take place electronically from end to end and software systems for this to be compatible EU-wide. A binding European standard is to be developed for electronic invoicing, in particular.

Youth unemployment has risen dramatically as a consequence of the economic and debt crisis in the EU. The Commission presents the Member States with various measures to combat the high youth unemployment level. In this regard it emphasises that the Member States can only increase their competitiveness and thereby achieve more growth and employment by way of “deep structural reforms”.

The European Commission initially wants to adopt non-binding guidelines to make it easier for the Member States to adapt to the negative consequences of climate change. For this purpose, the Commission wants to support the build-up and provision of knowledge about adaptation measures. In addition, the European standardisation organisations are to examine whether industry standards, in the areas of energy, transport and construction, take sufficient account of climate change.

The Commission wants to harmonise consumer protection for travellers. For this purpose, bookings in travel agents and online will be placed on an equal footing.

The EU Commission proposes an extensive overhaul of the digital single market rules. Part 1 of the cepPolicyBrief concerns net neutrality and the full harmonisation of the rights of end-users. Part 2 deals with the notification requirement for telecomms providers, radio frequencies and virtual broadband access. The change to the Roaming Regulation and cross-border fixed-network connections within the EU will be considered in Part 3.