European Union News - 16 December 2010

European countries have already set a concrete target to reduce poverty and social exclusion by at least 20 million by 2020, and for that purpose the European Commission has put in place the European Platform against Poverty and Social Exclusion putting forward the ways in which it will help Member states to achieve this objective. It is now Member states' turn to move up a gear in fighting social exclusion, for what they will count upon Commission's support mobilising policies like social protection, employment and education, as well as EU funding.

The European Commission has launched two online consultations in order to gather opinion over the future of funding instruments in the field of environment. The first consultation related to the next financial instrument for the environment, which will succeed the LIFE+ instrument after its expiry at the end of 2013. The second one seeks opinions over the financing of Natura 2000 Network. Interested parties may submit their opinions until 15 and 17 February respectively.

In the digital era, the transmission of data is made possible via diverse channels, including wireless communication, optical fibres and storage media. But as changes emerge, so do the needs in this field, and for that purpose the MODE-GAP ('Multi-mode capacity enhancement with PBG -photonic band gap- fibre') project is developing the next generation internet infrastructure to improve the capacity of broadband core networks, making bandwidth 100 times larger than the current capacity.