European Union News - 10 November 2010

The High Level Group of the European Parliament and the European Commission concluded on 10 November 2010 its discussions on a joint "Transparency Register". This new common register for organisations and individuals engaged in EU policy making and policy implementation will merge both institutions systems.

The European Commission has presented on 10 November its Communication “Energy 2020” setting the main objectives for EU energy policy over the next ten years. This strategy details the five top priorities, which will be the base for concrete legislative initiatives and proposals to be put forward by Commission within the next 18 months, and which will be on the agenda for the discussion by Heads of States and Governments at the very first EU Summit on Energy on 4 February 2011.

The European Commission has published its 5th Report on Economic, Social and Territorial Cohesion, where it presents an extensive assessment of the economic, social and environmental situation and trends in EU regions and sets out a number of different options for adapting the policy post-2013. The conclusions put forward by this report will be the base for a public consultation on Cohesion Policy which will be open until 31 January 2011.

The European Court of Justice has ruled on the cases presented by two German applicants who were granted aids from CAP funding and whose data where published in the German public site. Tribunal puts into balance the right for public disclosure of data related to public spending at the right for data protection, and concludes by declaring invalid certain provisions of Regulation Nº 1290/2005 and the entire Regulation Nº 259/2008.

The European Commission adopted on 9 November its Enlargement Package, presenting the annual assessment of the European Union's enlargement agenda. The package comprised a Strategy paper, the Opinions on the membership applications by Montenegro and Albania and seven Progress Reports on the other candidate countries and potential candidates.

All internet users have at some time or another complained about slow surfing speeds or a tiresome wait for a video to load. A group of European engineers from Spain, Hungary and Sweden decided to try to counter such problems by monitoring traffic and tailoring services to meet demand. A number of leading communication companies have already taken up the newly developed methodology used for traffic measurements.