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UEAPME, the European craft and SME employers' organisation, issued this week its comments on the European Commission's second draft "General Block Exemption" (GBER) on State aid.

The European Recovered Paper Council (ERPC) is pleased to announce that the ‘Monitoring Report 2006’ of the ‘European Declaration on Paper Recycling’ confirms a record high for the latest paper recycling rate of 63.4%.

Encouraged by increasing Government support, establishment of energy standards, proposed tax incentives, commitment to EU environmental standards, the Czech Republic environmental and building technologies (EBT) industry is growing fast and it is offering huge and interesting growth opportunities. Particularly, the building technologies industry is riding high with numerous low-cost and low-energy buildings springing up in the major cities.

In August 2007 the large majority of euro area average MFI interest rates on new deposits and new loans were higher than in the previous month.

Euro area (EA13) GDP grew by 0.3% and EU27 GDP by 0.5% in the second quarter of 2007, compared with the previous quarter, according to second estimates from Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities. In the first quarter of 2007, growth rates were +0.8% in both the euro area and the EU27.

The total assets of euro area investment funds rose to EUR 6,003 billion at end-June 2007, from EUR 5,713 billion in March 2007. This development was mainly due to an increase in the amount outstanding of shares and other equity, from EUR 2,069 billion to EUR 2,216 billion.

The Conference Board announced that the leading index for the U.K declined 0.2 percent, and the coincident index increased 0.2 percent in August.

Green campaigners warned that proposals for certifying palm oil as sustainable are flawed. As the Round Table for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) presented proposals to label sustainable palm oil, Friends of the Earth groups staged an installation of screaming tree stumps outside the meeting in Brussels, representing the current environmental violations caused by producing palm oil.

The Budgets Committee has completed its first-reading vote on the 2008 draft budget. MEPs wish to reduce the amount allocated in the budget to the Common Foreign and Security Policy and to use the flexibility instrument to fund the EU's external policy. Funding for Galileo and the European Institute of Technology is sharply increased. If the plenary approves these proposals, some hard bargaining with the Council is in store.

The European Commission has adopted two proposals that will mark a step forward in the development and marketing of clean and safe hydrogen vehicles. The first is the setting up of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Technology Initiative (JTI), an ambitious industry-led integrated programme of Research, technology development and demonstration activities. This Public-Private Partnership driven by European industry will be implemented over the next 6 years with a financial contribution from the EU of € 470 million, to be matched by the private sector. The JTI should accelerate the development of hydrogen technologies to the point of commercial take-off between 2010 and 2020. Secondly, a number of hydrogen cars are already ripe for market introduction today. Thus, the Commission proposes to simplify their approval so that they will be seen more often on Europe's streets. Both proposals will now be considered by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers.