European Union News - 18 April 2011

The Communication 'Towards robust quality management for European Statistics' adopted by the European Commission proposes to reinforce the quality of European statistics by moving from correction to prevention. This objective is of a crucial importance in strengthening economic governance for the euro area and the EU as a whole.

The European Commission adopted an evaluation report of the Data Retention Directive which established data retention as a response to urgent security challenges, following major terrorist attacks in Madrid in 2004 and in London in 2005. In concrete, it evaluates how Member States have transposed the Directive and assesses the use of retained data and the impact on operators and consumers.

The 2010 Anual Activity Report provides an overview of the key results and achievements of the European Court of Auditors (ECA). Among this results a key indication of impact: 90% of audit recommendations have been accepted by the auditees.

"Solar Decathlon Europe”, the project from Autonomous University of Madrid, is the winner in the  category of communication of the annual Sustainable Energy Europe Awards 2011, organized in the framework of the EU Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW), held from 11 to 15 April.

On 31 March the European Parliament held a debate about ethics in the emerging new technologies. ETICA's final event, presenting its findings, was hosted by the EP's science assessment panel, STOA. One of the conclusions was the need to open a deeper debate on the ethical problems that may arise in the use of these new technologies.

MEPs at Trade Committee gave a green light to new rules aimed at making exports of arms for sport and recreational uses more transparent and efficient, while helping to fight illegal trafficking. One of the main goals of this report is establishing rules for export authorisation and the import and transit of firearms.

In the framework of EU-US Justice and Home Affairs Ministerial held in Gödöllo (Hungary), Neelie Kroes, European Commission Vice President for the Digital Agenda, EU Home Affairs Commissioner, Cecilia Malmström, and Secretary of the US Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano agreed to strengthen trans-Atlantic cooperation in cyber-security by defining the issues to be tackled by the EU-US Working Group on Cyber-Security and Cyber-Crime.