We would like to take the forthcoming resolution of the legislative package of the Commission on strengthening economic governance as an opportunity to once again bring our position to your attention. From the point of view of the BAK, there are still serious concerns in respect of the legislative package in its present form.

On Tuesday, the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament has agreed the report on the Directive proposal on Deposit Guarantee Schemes. Private savings deposits are to be guaranteed up to Euro 100,000 EU-wide. The Social Democrat rapporteur Peter Simon stated that this legislative change would be necessary to ensure that banks would take appropriate measures to secure these deposits and would not rely on the state to foot the bill in case of crisis.

The fight against high unemployment and poverty in the European Union, the emphasis on the particularly important role of education, investments in research and in EU infrastructure projects and the demand to retain the 2 pillar system for the Common Agricultural Policy are some of the central requirement of the European Parliament on the future EU budgets from 2014.

With its Transport White Paper the European Commission is presenting its strategies towards a competitive and resource efficient transport system by 2050 and defines as major objective a transport-dependent CO2 reduction by about 60 percent compared to its level in 1990.

The new financial architecture, Economic Governance and ways out of the crisis were the central topics at the Brussels Economic Forum, which the European Commission organised this week. The proposals on Economic Governance, which is to be adopted by June, were very welcomed by most discussion partners.

The logo of the incoming Polish EU Presidency symbolises dynamics, positive energy and solidarity. Poland introduced the logo, the obligatory visual symbol of any EU Presidency, even before taking over the EU Presidency for the first time on 1 July 2011. Poland is part of the fourth Trio Presidency, which will also include the Danish and the Cypriot Council Presidency in 2012. Details of the plans of the Polish EU Presidency were not yet introduced officially.

Right at the top of agenda was the aid package for Portugal. Portugal was granted an amount of 78 billion Euros. The decision was made to divide the aid for Portugal equally between the European Financial Stabilisation Mechanism (EFSM), the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

This week, the European Parliament voted on the new EU Transparency Register. Following lengthy negotiations, the European Parliament (EP) and the EU Commission agreed on a joint Transparency Register. It replaces the previous register of lobbyists of the EU Commission. Each organisation and each individual person wishing to make a contribution to EU policy has to register therein. The intention is to make the register available online in June.

Over half a million petitions have been sent in support of a Financial Transaction Tax. By doing so they helped convince the Members of the European Parliament to demand a Europe-wide Financial Transaction Tax on March 8.

The Transport Committee of the European Parliament this week voted on the so-called Eurovignette Directive and expanded the scope for setting HGV toll tariffs. In future, the cost of air and noise pollution shall also be included in HGV toll calculations. However, the impact of this new approach will be extremely moderate in practice.