European Union

With European elections coming up in May 2019, you probably want to know how the European Union impacts your daily life, before you think about voting. In the latest in a series of posts on what Europe does for you, your family, your business and your wellbeing, we look at what Europe does for home owners.

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As a citizen of the European Union, you have the right not only to live, work, study and do business anywhere in the EU, but also to buy property. Two-thirds of Europeans own their own home; some of them are still paying back a loan or mortgage, while others own their home entirely. Those who have finished paying their mortgage spend less on housing, so it is quite understandable to want to buy your own home, not only to live in but also as a means of saving money.

© klublu / Fotolia

The two main difficulties you will face when buying a house in another EU country concern understanding the legal environment for residential property and financing the purchase. The EU is working to make it easier and safer for you to do both by funding initiatives such as CROBECO and IMOLA, which aim to increase transparency around and information about the real estate market and to harmonise land registries. In addition, the Mortgage Credit Directive is helping to open up the mortgage market in the EU.

Once you own your home, you will need to pay property taxes. In the absence of EU-wide tax rules, you will need to make sure with the authorities of both the country where you are tax-resident and the country where you are buying a property which laws apply and what taxes you need to pay, and where. Fortunately, most countries have signed bilateral agreements destined to avoid double taxation, so you will only have to pay the tax once.

Further information

• European Parliament, study ‘Cross Border Acquisitions of Residential Property in the EU: Problems Encountered by Citizens’, 2016, http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2016/556936/IPOL_STU(2016)556936_EN.pdf
• Housing statistics, http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Housing_statistics

Written by Alina Dobreva,

© European Union 2017 – Source : EP

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s State of the Union address to the European Parliament, and the subsequent debate, on 12 September 2018 is to be the last one during the current mandate. It comes in the context of the ongoing reflection on the future path of the European Union, especially in view of the European elections next May. The debate will therefore be an occasion to reflect on the legacy and achievements of this Commission, to present the priorities until the end of the mandate and to follow up on the ongoing debate on the future path of the European Union of 27.

President Juncker’s speech is expected to be accompanied by a set of concrete initiatives and proposals with the aim to deliver positive results for citizens by the time of the Sibiu summit in May 2019. This year’s speech comes as the campaigns for the European elections start to take shape, but also in the period of intensive debate on the Commission’s proposals for the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), which set out the Commission’s vision of the EU financing of policies during that period.

The State of the Union debate now forms part of the process for the adoption of the annual Commission Work Programme and thus plays an important role in identifying major political priorities to be agreed in interinstitutional dialogue.

This briefing is an update of an earlier one, of September 2017, by Eva-Maria Poptcheva.

Read the complete briefing on ‘The 2018 State of the Union debate in the European Parliament‘.

Weekly schedule of President Donald Tusk 10-16 September 2018

Remarks by President Centeno following the Eurogroup meeting of 7 September on ongoing discussions on labour market reforms, Portugal and euro area reforms ahead of December Euro Summit.

Plenary session and Committee meetings, Strasbourg

Source : © European Union, 2018 - EP

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