Effective action assessments have also been published regarding compliance with Council recommendations under the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP), potential breaches of the debt and deficit criteria under the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), and on certain Member States’ plans for structural reforms with a budgetary impact outlined in their Economic Partnership Programmes (EPP).

2. EU Member States Ministers and the European Parliament reached agreement on the 2014 budget, which will amount to €142.6 billion in commitments and €135.5 billion in payments. The compromise represents a 9.4% drop in spending compared with the 2013 budget and is €400 million less than the figure put forward by MEPs last month, but nearly €500 million more than the figure proposed by Member States Ministers. The 2014 budget is the first in the EU’s new seven-year Multiannual Financial Framework, under which the European Parliament is expected to get new discretionary powers to move funds around within budget headings.

The EU border agency, Frontex, Europol and EASO, the European Asylum support office, will see their budget increased, in response to the recent tragedy in Lampedusa. Also, the European Securities and Markets Authority, the European system of financial supervisors and the European Banking Authority will get additional funding to assist with their work overseeing the EU’s financial markets. The compromise also featured the decision to front-load the financing for Erasmus and COSME, the EU programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises.

3. Marking the start of the fourth European Semester for economic policy coordination in the EU, the European Commission adopted the Annual Growth Survey, which sets out general economic priorities for Member States to follow when drawing up their budgets and reform plans over the next year. The Alert Mechanism Report (AMR) screens EU economies for potential macroeconomic imbalances, and indicate which economies require further analysis. Part of the exercise looks at Germany, which the Commission said would investigate to examine whether its trade surplus hampers economic growth across the rest of the eurozone.

This year the Annual Growth Survey is accompanied by the draft Joint Employment Report, which for the first time will include a scoreboard on employment and social policies, as well as a staff working document outlining how the country-specific recommendations have been implemented in the Member States. Finally, the Single Market Integration Report takes stock of progress in the single market in sectors that are essential to promote future growth.

4. The EU Competitiveness Council adopted the review of the Professional Qualifications Directive. The review is aimed at making the system of mutual recognition of professional qualifications more efficient in order to achieve greater mobility of skilled workers across the EU. The main features of the directive include the creation of a European professional card; changes to the current system, such as the insertion of the principle of partial access to certain professions and the clarification of common training requirements, as well as measures for a better use of existing instruments such as the Internal Market Information (IMI) system. The adoption of the new directive by the Council follows an agreement with the European Parliament at first reading. The European Parliament approved the directive at its plenary session of 9 October 2013.

5. The European Commission will adopt on 25 November a proposal to amend the Parent Subsidiary Directive (2011/96/EU) in order to close off opportunities for corporate tax avoidance. The Parent Subsidiary Directive is one of the measures announced in the 6 December 2012 Action Plan for a more effective EU response to tax evasion and avoidance. It was originally conceived to prevent the double taxation of same-group companies based in different Member States. However, loopholes in the Directive have been exploited by some companies to avoid paying any taxes at all. The proposal aims to close these loopholes. First, it will introduce a common anti-abuse rule into the Directive. This will allow Member States to ignore artificial arrangements used for tax avoidance purposes and to tax on the basis of real economic substance. Second, it will ensure that the Directive is tightened up so that specific tax planning arrangements are no longer eligible for the tax exemptions provided under the Directive.

6. The EU and US concluded the second round of week-long negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). Continuing from the first round which started in July, negotiators discussed investment rules, trade in services, energy and raw materials, as well as a range of regulatory issues, including regulatory coherence, technical barriers to trade and sectoral approaches. Talks on public procurement took place before the planned October meeting, cancelled due to the US government shutdown. In addition to the physical meetings in Brussels, video conferences took place covering plant health and hygiene measures, intellectual property rights, competition policy and small and medium enterprises.

Video-conferences on tariffs and on sustainable development, including labour and environment, are planned for the coming weeks. A meeting to discuss financial services regulation is scheduled in Brussels for 27 November. The next round of TTIP talks will take place in Washington DC in the week of 16 December. After the December round, the two Parties will take stock, identify areas of convergence and areas where political guidance might be needed.

7. Ireland will become the first eurozone country to exit a bailout programme, after deciding that it will not request a temporary credit line when its €85 billion rescue finishes on 15 December. With interest rates on 10-year Irish government bonds now standing at 3.5%, down from a peak of 15% in 2010, the Irish government has decided to return to the markets for its financing needs. The Commission’s Autumn Forecast, released last week, expects Ireland’s economy to continue its recovery in 2014 and 2015 with GDP growth of 1.7% and 2.2% respectively. Its unemployment rate has also started to fall and is expected to hit 12.3% next year. But Ireland’s debt to GDP ratio will peak at 124% before falling to 121% and 119% over the next two years. This will still be almost double the 60% limit set by the eurozone’s Stability and Growth Pact.

8. Checks by Spain at its border with Gibraltar did not break EU laws, the European Commission has ruled. "The Commission has not found evidence to conclude that the checks on persons and goods as operated by the Spanish authorities at the crossing point … have infringed the relevant provisions of Union law," it said in a statement. Britain has complained Spain was breaking EU law by imposing "politically-motivated" checks at its border with Gibraltar. Spain has argued that Gibraltar has not done enough to stem what it says is an increasing flow of smuggled cigarettes out of the territory, which has a low sales tax. Cigarettes are about 40% cheaper in Gibraltar than in Spain. The Commission said that the crossing point was "challenging, in view of the heavy traffic volumes in a relatively confined space and the increase in tobacco smuggling into Spain". The Commission said Spain should improve traffic flows at the border crossing, for example by increasing the number of vehicle lanes, and carrying out better targeted checks on travellers. It urged Britain to improve safeguards against tobacco-smuggling. Both sides should exchange intelligence on tobacco-smuggling, the Commission added. Gibraltar is not part of the European Union’s Schengen passport-free area, so travellers between Spain and Gibraltar are subject to passport and customs checks.

9. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that a refugee from Iran who had arrived in Germany from Greece should not be returned to the Greek authorities because he would "face a real risk of being subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment". The case concerns an Iranian national, identified as ‘Mr Puid’, who arrived in Germany irregularly by transiting through Greece. His application for asylum lodged in Germany was declared inadmissible on the grounds that Greece was the member state competent to examine the application, as defined by the EU’s Dublin II regulation, which required that Puid was transferred to Greece. Puid was therefore transferred to Greece. He appeal for annulment of the decision rejecting his application, which led to the fulling by the ECJ. The Commission launched in 2010 an infringement procedure against Greece with regard to its asylum system.