European Union News - 04 May 2011

The European Commission have chosen the six FET contenders at the FET11 conference and exhibition which will receive around €1.5 million each to refine their proposal for one year, after which only two will be selected. FET Flagship contenders will have to look beyond traditional ICT research and link up with specialists in other fields like health, material and neuro-sciences and neuro-robotics.

The initiatives presented by the European Commission cover various aspects of migration, such as strengthened border control and Schengen governance or completion of the Common European Asylum System. These measures come in addition to the urgent short-term measures already taken by the Commission to deal with the migration situation in the Mediterranean and migration pressures on frontline Member States.

The European Commission has delivered a feasibility study on a future initiative on European contract law made by an expert group. The study covers the most relevant practical issues in a contractual relationship, such as legal rights for faulty goods and rules on which contract terms may be unfair.

The EURONEST Parliamentary Assembly, which consists of 60 MEPs and 10 MPs from each of the five eastern partner countries, has been inaugurated by EP President Jerzy Buzek. Among the decisions taken on its constituent meeting, EURONEST adopted and signed its constitutive act.

On 9th of May of 1950, Robert Schuman, French Foreign Minister gave a speech that marked the beginning of the road towards the EU. For this reason, on May 9 we celebrate Europe Day as well as the 61st anniversary of the birth of the European Coal and Steel Community. In order to celebrate this day, the European institutions open their doors to show their work to the citizens.

The first workshop, “Share-PSI”, will be held in Brussels on the 10-11 of May and is organized in the framework of the “Big Idea” of the European Digital Agenda. This event brings together different actors who are related to the reuse of public sector information (PSI) and who will discuss and contribute with ideas on how to re-use "open data" of public administration. Among them, they are representatives of civil society, media, government organizations, representatives of academia and business.