European Union News - 11 March 2011

At an extraordinary meeting of the Council of the European Union held in Brussels on 11 March 2011, Heads of State and Government debated on the current situation in Libya and the Southern neighbourhood region and set the political direction and priorities for future EU policy and action. The Council saluted the courage demonstrated by the people of the region and reaffirms that it isfor them to decide their future through peaceful and democratic means.

According to the report on the implementation of Regulation concerning the Labour Cost Index (LCI) (COM(2011) 102 final), the overall degree of compliance with the LCI Regulation has continued to increase since the previous report in 2008. The report reveals that most Member States are now compliant and have continued to channel resources into implementing actions to achieve more comparable and timely index series.

The European Enterprise Awards (EEA) aim to recognise and reward the best entrepreneurial initiatives by public authorities at national, regional and local level to make Europe more entrepreneurial and business-friendly. 12 regions have been nominated to compete for the final award, whose winners will be announced on 24 May 2011 at the 5th EEA award ceremony co-hosted by the Hungarian Presidency in the prestigious National Gallery in Budapest.

In the occasion of the seventh anniversary of the Madrid train bombings that killed 191 and injured at least 1800 people commuting to work, the European Union marks the Day of Remembrance of Victims of Terrorism. Commemorating this day Vice-President Viviane Reding and Commissioner Cecilia Malmström made a joint statement expressing the EU's solidarity with the victims of all type of terrorism in the world.

The European Commission proposed on 10 March 2011 a series of measures to amend the Schengen Borders Code with the aim of facilitating the movement of people across EU internal and external borders in a controlled manner. These changes are intended to increase clarity in the current regulations and improve the system.

The Council of the European Union decided on 10 March to extend restrictive measures to five key financial entities, and to add one additional name to the list of individuals already subject to restrictive measures, in response to the gravity of the situation in Libya. This Council Decision  2011/156/CFSP entered into force  and was published in the Official Journal on 11 March.