Current affairs

The European Council stressed the importance of structural reforms, fiscal responsibility and investments in the National Reform Programmes of all Member States. The European Fund for Strategic Investments is a concrete step in speeding up economic growth in Europe. The European Council also underlined the significance of concluding the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) trade negotiations between the European Union and the United States by the end of the year.

The Ministry of Employment and the Economy (MEE) has invited a number of influential EU figures from Brussels to Finland to learn about the theory and practice of the Finnish bioeconomy. The group of more than 10 people includes top-level civil servants from the various departments of the European Commission, as well as the EU ambassadors of leading bioeconomy countries.

The European Council convened in Brussels on 18 December. The main theme of the meeting was the Commission's investment plan with the aim of creating economic growth and attracting private investments.

The Permanent Representation will be closed during holiday season between 24–26 December 2014, as well as on 1 and 6 January 2015.

The EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan announced today that the Union supports the Finnish milk producers suffering from the Russian import ban by 10.7 million euros.

In 2015, Finland's EU policy priorities will include competitiveness to strengthen growth and employment, better regulation and Union as a strong global actor. The Government sets out its most important EU policy objectives each year. The newly appointed EU institutions have recently begun their work and next year will be important in terms of developing interinstitutional relations.

The European Commission investment plan, streamlining of EU regulation, digital internal market and EU-US free trade negotiations dominated the discussions during Prime Minister Alexander Stubb's visit to Brussels. During his one-day visit, Stubb met European Council President Donald Tusk, European Parliament President Martin Schulz, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Commission Vice-Presidents Frans Timmermans and Jyrki Katainen.

Permanent Representation of Finland to the European Union calls for tenders for works and service which can be foreseen and estimated, urgent situations excluded. / La Représentation Permanente de la Finlande auprès de l’Union européenne lance un appel d’offres ouvert pour des entrepreneurs et des sociétés d’entretien.

In December 2013, for the first time since the ratification of the Lisbon treaty, security and defence were brought up for discussion in the European Council. Behind this process were several reasons, including the changing nature of threats and shifts among the global powerbrokers. Additional motivation was provided by the dwindling defence budgets in Europe. Events in 2014 - with the crisis in Ukraine being the most illuminative example - introduced a new sense of urgency.

On Thursday 23 October, the European Council agreed on the European Union’s climate and energy policy framework. EU leaders endorsed, as a binding target, to reduce the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% from the 1990 level by 2030.