European Union News - 22 June 2011

The Green Paper presented by the European Commission aims to gather stakeholders’ views on the modernisation of the Professional Qualifications Directive (Directive 2005/36/EC). In the light of the results published in the paper, the Commission has decided to update the Directive with the possible ways forward that build on past achievements while developing new approaches to enhance mobility.

Commissioner on Regional Policy Johannes Hahn stated in a discussion held on 21 June in the Regional Development Committee that “intermediate” regions, i.e. regions with a GDP of 75% to 90% of the EU average are on an equal footing. Mr Hahn also presented the legislative package on cohesion policy for 2014-2020.

The Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee in the European Parliament believes that the latest proposals from EU finance ministers for the EU economic governance package are insufficient. Committee chair Sharon Bowles stated that the Committee leaves the door opened for a farther vote in July, so the Council can come back with an improved offer.

An independent selection panel has recommended the Polish city of Wrocław for the title of European Capital of Culture in 2016. Poland and Spain are the two Member States hosting a European Capital of Culture the mentioned year. The formal nomination by the EU's Council of Ministers will take place in May 2012.

The European Commission presented a report in which 14 social networking sites have been tested. The main goal is to evaluate whether they do give minors age-appropriate safety information, respond to requests for help and prevent minors' profiles from being searched via external search engines. According to the report, only two social networking sites (Bebo and MySpace) protect privacy of minors' profiles by default.