EU plans to exempt smallest firms from having to draw up annual accounts came under fire from a leading European small business group yesterday (10 March), claiming it will distort the internal market without cutting red tape. 

The installed capacity of wind and solar energy projects approved in the Czech Republic is nearly four times what can be safely fed into the country's electricity grid, energy distributors said on Wednesday (10 March).

There is no case for emergency action to crack down on naked selling of credit default swaps, as called for by France and Germany, British authorities said on 10 March. At the same time, the US warned that EU plans to regulate hedge funds could cause a transatlantic rift.

South Stream and Nabucco, the two competing gas pipeline projects supported by Russia and the EU respectively, should combine efforts in a joint cost-cutting drive, according to Eni, an Italian oil company with a stake in South Stream.

European Union ambassadors agreed to propose protecting bluefin tuna as an endangered species on Wednesday (10 March), a move that would effectively ban international trade in the species.

An overwhelming majority of MEPs yesterday (10 March) pushed the EU executive to weigh up the costs and benefits of a possible tax on financial trading to compensate taxpayers for bank bailouts and plug public deficits.

The European Parliament defied the EU executive today (10 March), casting a vote against an agreement between the EU, the US and other major powers on combating online piracy and threatening to take legal action at the European Court of Justice.

The European Heritage Label should be established as an EU-wide initiative, Culture Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou suggested yesterday (9 March), presenting plans to highlight historical sites across Europe that "symbolise European integration, ideals and history".