European Union News - 25 June 2010

Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme, Minister of Foreign Affairs Steven Vanackere and State Secretary for European Affairs Olivier Chastel launched the new official website for the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The website will be the nerve centre for communication during the Belgian EU presidency, and the official source for information.

Due to finance constraints, Regions are facing increasing problems to meet the requirements to get the most from EU funding. For that reason, the Commission has put forward a set of new measures aimed at simplifying management rules for the structural and cohesion funds. The changes should help to facilitate access to the funds and accelerate flows of investment at a time when public budgets are under pressure.

New proposals to encourage cross-border e-trading by building consumer trust have been approved by the Internal Market Committee of the European Parliament. Among the measures proposed by the Parliament is the establishment of a European trust label to guarantee the reliability and quality of goods placed on the cross-border electronic market and encourage consummers to buy in this market.

The new directive entitles self-employed women and assisting female spouses of self-employed workers for the first time to maternity benefits and creates autonomous social protection rights for assisting spouses of self-employed workers.