CEPI - European Council of Real Estate Professions

House prices, as measured by the House Price Index (HPI), fell by 0.3% in the euro area and rose by 1.0% in the EU in the first quarter of 2014 compared with the same quarter of the previous year. These figures come from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

The European Commission adopted on 2 July new proposals which aim to reduce the environmental impact of new and renovated buildings by increasing resource efficiency and improving the information available about the environmental performance of buildings. The Communication on Resource Efficiency Opportunities in the Building Sector was published as part of the Circular Economy package which also includes a Communication “Towards circular economy: a zero waste programme for Europe”, a legislative proposal on waste policy review and two other communications on green jobs and a green action plan for SMEs.

A fully functioning Single Market for services is an important goal for the European Union and the European Commission is looking for experience-based evidence as to what remaining obstacles exist. It has published a questionnaire aimed at providing it with such evidence, including non-regulatory restrictions and the effectiveness and consistency of the existing legal framework applying to a sample of services activities.

The new European Parliament held its first plenary session in Strasbourg on 1 July. The first item on the agenda was the election of the President and Vice-Presidents. The candidate who obtains an absolute majority in a secret ballot is elected President. German MEP Martin Schulz was re-elected as President with 409 votes for a two and a half year term. The Parliament will now elect 14 Vice-Presidents on a single ballot. It also decides on the composition of each committee and sub-committee, which in turn elect their Chairs and Vice-Chairs. The first committee meeting will take place on 7 July in Brussels.

On 18 June general agreement was reached at the Permanent Representatives’ Committee (Coreper) on the European Commission proposal for the revision of the Third Anti-Money Laundering Directive and accompanying regulation on information accompanying transfers of funds. This follows the completion of a first reading in the European Parliament on 11 March 2014, and paves the way for the start of trialogue negotiations in the autumn.