European Union News - September 2009

No fewer than 93 Master's level translation programmes from 24 Member States and three non-EU countries participated in the call, and 34 of these have been selected to be members of the EMT network for an initial period of four years. A further call will be launched in 2010.The Commission's initiative has been warmly welcomed by the academic community.

The panel responsible for selecting the European Capital of Culture for 2014 recommended that the title be awarded to Riga. The other Latvian cities still in contention were Cesis and Liepaja. The formal nomination of Riga by the EU Council of Ministers will probably be in May 2010.

From 16 to 22 September 2009, hundreds of European towns and cities will participate in the eighth edition of European Mobility Week and invite their citizens to a wide range of activities promoting sustainable mobility, under the theme "Improving City Climates"

The Economic and Social Council of the European Union will announce on September the 29 winners of the first European Design Award for Design Zeronine EESC Sustainable Present among the more than 100 projects submitted.

Growth expected to return in the second half of 2009. Forecasts are still uncertain but fears of a severe, prolonged recession are fading. But as economic activity at the end of 2008 and beginning of 2009 was worse than initially estimated, GDP is still expected to fall by 4% overall this year in both the EU and the euro area, as forecast in the spring. However, uncertainty remains rife, and while the recovery may surprise on the upside in the very short term, how sustainable it will be remains to be seen.

The EP has unveiled three films which will compete for this years LUX Prize, given annually by the EP to support European Cinema, in the framework of Venice Festival. These are "Eastern Plays", by the director Kamen Kalev, which is a joint Bulgarian-Sweden production; "Sturm" by Hans-Christian Schmid which is produced by a German, Danish and Dutch team, and "Welcome" by Philippe Lioret which is a French production.

After the holiday break, the European Parliament holds between 14 and 17 September its first plenary meeting of the political year. Important issues, such as the vote of investiture of the President of the Commission's inaugural address Jerzy Buzek and the G-20 in Pittsburgh occupy the agenda of this meeting.

In an effort to end an impasse in international climate talks, the commission has published a plan for financing the fight against global warming in developing countries. It proposes an EU contribution of between €2bn and €15bn a year by 2020. The plan provides a starting point for discussions in the parliament and council to define the EU’s position on one of the toughest issues facing the UN climate conference in Copenhagen in December.

MEPs will vote on Wednesday 16 September on whether to appoint José Manuel Barroso for a second term as President of the European Commission.

In less than two weeks, on 24–25 September, the leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies will meet in Pittsburgh, USA, for the autumn’s G20 summit. The global economic crisis and the financing of action on climate change are set to be the main items on the agenda.

The European Commission has approved two applications from Belgium for assistance under the European Globalisation adjustment Fund (EGF) – the first to benefit under revised EGF rules.

On 10 and 11 September, the Committee of the Regions (CoR) will hold an extraordinary Bureau meeting in Uppsala, Sweden which will be chaired by Luc Van den Brande, President of the CoR. This official gathering of local and regional representatives from across Europe is the first of a series of events organized by the CoR in Sweden, in the frame of the Swedish Presidency during the second semester of 2009.