European Union News - 03 June 2008

There is a "considerable risk" that the private media's pursuit of profit could compromise its ability to act as a watchdog for democracy, warns a report adopted by the Culture and Education Committee on Tuesday. MEPs advocate "editorial charters" to prevent owners, shareholders or governments from interfering with editorial content, and ombudsmen to protect media freedom. They also want status of weblogs clarified, and suggest introducing fees for commercial use of user-generated content.

Close to the end of the Slovenian presidency of the European Union, the 2871st meeting of the Competitiveness Council on 29 and 30 May in Brussels yielded a number of decisions in the field of research. This includes among other things the go ahead for the new Joint Technology Initiative on Fuel Cells and Hydrogen (FCH JTI) as well as the launch of the Ljubljana Process.

The European Commission, Directorate-General for Environment, Civil Protection Unit, is launching a Call for Proposals with the aim of identifying projects on an EU civil protection rapid response capability which might be eligible for financial support. This financial support will take the form of grants.

The 7th biennial Baltic Sea States Summit will be held on 3 and 4 June in Riga, Latvia. Reform of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) and the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region will both feature on the Summit agenda. The European Union firmly believes that the Summit will result in a more effective CBSS and looks forward to working with it as an important actor in the region.

Danuta Hübner, European Commissioner for Regional Policy, today opens an EU-Russia seminar in Moscow with Mr. Dmitry Kozak, Russian Minister of Regional Development. The two-day seminar, entitled 'Strategic and governance aspects of regional policy', involves experts from Finland, Germany, Portugal and Spain, together with representatives from Russian ministries, universities and regions. The event takes forward work in progress under a Memorandum of Understanding on regional policy dialogue that the European Commission signed with the Russian Federation in May 2007.

The launch of negotiations for a new agreement with Russia, preparations for the forthcoming EU-Russia Summit, and international issues will be high on the agenda when Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy, Benita Ferrero-Waldner visits Moscow on 3 and 4 June. In addition to meetings with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin and Foreign Minister Sergeij Lavrov, Commissioner Ferrero-Waldner will address Members of the Duma and representatives of the European business community.

The European Commission has allocated an additional €5 million to reduce acute malnutrition and mortality in West Africa's Sahel region. The aid targets the most vulnerable – in particular an estimated 1.3 million acutely malnourished under-five as well as five million pregnant and breast-feeding women. The countries covered are Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger as well as the Sahel regions in the north of Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Nigeria and Togo. The €5 million is in addition to the €25 million already made available in June last year and the extra €5 million allocated for further food aid in the Sahel this year. The recent massive global increase in food prices has further intensified the pressure on the most vulnerable groups in a region chronically prone to crisis.

Accordning to the lastest figures published by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, Industrial producer prices up by 0.8% in euro area Up by 0.9% in EU27 (compared with March 2008.

The European Commission has stepped up its efforts to promote the use of the charge-free European emergency number 112 in the EU. This February, the Commission asked national authorities to improve public awareness of 112, after a survey showed that only 22% of EU citizens know they can call 112 throughout Europe in an emergency.

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) was officially opened today by European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and Vice-President Günter Verheugen together with Gérard Onesta, Vice-President of the European Parliament, and Finnish Prime Matti Vanhanen. Located in Helsinki, ECHA is responsible for managing the implementation of the REACH requirements in relation to the registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction processes of chemical substances. ECHA formally began its activities a year ago and its work has been devoted to intensive preparations, including staff recruitment and establishing support structures and procedures.

Intercultural Dialogue in the workplace will be in the spotlight on Wednesday 4 June in the fourth Brussels Debate of the 2008 European Year of Intercultural Dialogue. The debate entitled “Couscous Culture: is that what Intercultural Dialogue in the workplace is all about?" is organised by the European Commission in cooperation with the European Network Against Racism. It will take place at 18:30h in the Residence Palace and will be opened by EU Commissioner Vladimír Špidla.

This year's Green Week, the biggest annual conference devoted to European environment policy, will take place from 3 to 6 June at the Charlemagne Building in Brussels. Under the slogan "Only One Earth – Don’t waste it!" Green Week 2008 will focus on the need for Europe and the rest of the world to make its use of resources more sustainable. In addition to 38 conference sessions, there will be an extensive side-events programme, including a ceremony on 3 June at which Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas will announce the winners of the European Business Awards for the Environment 2008. Eleven companies from seven Member States have been nominated.