European Union News - 10 February 2009

Commissioner for Regional Policy, Danuta Hübner, recently announced that more than €38 billion was paid out to Member States in 2008 through the European Union's Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund. This support co-financed thousands of regional development projects across the EU, ranging from major transport, environmental and energy infrastructure to investment in innovative SMEs and training.

The agreement signed in Luxembourg at the Safer Internet Day organised by the European Commission will empower teenagers to deal with potential risks they may face online, like cyberbullying or revealing personal information. This is the first agreement to be signed at European level which will involve 17 leading web firms such as Arto, Bebo, Dailymotion, Facebook, Giovani.it, Google/YouTube, Hyves, Microsoft Europe, Myspace, Nasza-klaza.pl, Netlog, One.lt, Skyrock, StudiVZ, Sulake/Habbo Hotel, Yahoo!Europe, and Zap.lu.

The Official Journal of the European Union has published on February 10th 2009, a new Call for Proposals for for modal shift, catalyst, motorways of the sea, traffic avoidance and common learning actions under the Second Marco Polo Programme. The proposed budget for 2009 Call, which will close on May 8th , will be approximately 62 M€.

The Commission has published in the Official Journal of the European Union of February 10th 2009, the prior notification of a concentration between French undertakings Dassault Aviation, TSA and Thales, and invites interested third parties to submit their possible observations to the Commission no later than ten after this publication.

The European Commission has published in the Official Journal of the European Union on January 10th, 2009 a new call under Erasmus Mundus Programme 2009-2013, inviting to submit proposals aiming to promote cooperation between higher education institutions and academic staff in Europe and Third Countries.