European Commission presents a blueprint for a European degree
On Wednesday 27 March, the European Commission presented a communication promoting cross-border cooperation between higher education institutions with the aim of creating a voluntary European degree. In view of the diversity of the higher education systems across Europe, the Commission proposes a gradual approach for Member States towards a European degree, with two possible entry points: - a preparatory European label that would be given to joint degree programmes which meet the proposed European criteria; - a European degree as a new type of qualification based on common criteria and anchored in national legislation. In 2025, the Commission plans to launch ‘European degree pathway projects' within the Erasmus+ programme to provide financial incentives for Member States to engage in the pathway towards a European degree. The package also includes two proposals for Council recommendations to support the higher education sector: one aimed at improving quality assurance processes and the automatic recognition of qualifications in higher education, and the other at making academic careers more attractive and sustainable.
Member States still divided over the revision of the Energy Taxation Directive
Member States reportedly remain highly divided on the review of the Energy Taxation Directive (ETD) after the meeting of the high-level Working Party on tax matters on Tuesday 26 March. The Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU hoped to get more political guidance during this meeting but it appeared that less than half of the Member States would support the ETD proposal as it stands. Several Member States, such as Bulgaria, Latvia, Malta and Romania, reportedly maintain their objections to the proposed indexation of taxation levels while others, such as Finland and France, would be disappointed with the watering-down of the proposal. The possible inclusion of a review clause to assess in the future whether biomass should be added would also reportedly be a sensitive topic. Member States will continue discussing this file at technical level on 25 April.
European Commission hosts a webinar on eInvoicing on 17 April 2024
The European Commission is organizing on Wednesday 17 April from 10h to 12h a webinar on eInvoicing to discuss its recent eInvoicing Directive Report and gather feedback about the future of eInvoicing. The webinar is open to anyone and aims to engage the entire eInvoicing community in a conversation about the future of eInvoicing. The agenda for the webinar includes: - a presentation of the report's key findings on the impact of the eInvoicing Directive 2014/55/EU; - a presentation of the studies conducted to feed the report; - a possible intervention by an EU Member State representative on the importance of electronic invoicing and its implementation; - a company use case of eInvoicing implementation; and – a discussion on the future of the eInvoicing policy accompanied by a Q&A. Interested stakeholders can register here.
ETAF Conference on 17 April 2024
Register here: https://sweapevent.com/etafconference17april2024
