European Union News - August 2011

The European Commission presented the new assistance package for the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It sets up additional financial support for state-building, water-management and sanitation, as well as education and health services for refugees. 

During the celebration of World Water Week (21 - 29 August), Development Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, reaffirms the EU's commitment to meeting the Millennium Development Goal pledge of halving the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015.

The Council and the European Parliament have reached political agreement on the draft directive aimed at combating sexual abuse and exploitation of children as well as child pornography. The new directive will harmonise around 20 relevant criminal offences and setting thresholds for maximum penalties.

The European Commission and the Cedefop presented a Green Paper in which the Professional Qualifications Directive is evaluated. The Green Paper's main aim is to gather stakeholders' views on a modernisation of this directive. The contributions can be made by 20 September 2011.

The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) support for workers increased three-fold in 2010 to over €83 million. The Fund was distributed among nine Member States and is intended to help the national authorities as they support dismissed workers in finding new job opportunities.

French, German and Spanish scientists discovered how the U2AF protein enables the pre-messenger RNA (pre-mRNA), which serves as a template for protein synthesis in the body. The pre-mRNA must first be transcribed from the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). With this study the European team discovered a new human gene regulation mechanism.

The European Commission announced a new assistance package for Jordan will provide critical support to education, renewable energy and the implementation of the country's European Neighbourhood Policy Action Plan. With this package, the Commission intends to provide new training for teachers and help to build new centres for special needs education.

A team of Joint Research Centre (JRC) scientists win a Data Fusion Contest 2011, organised by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), which challenged scientists to use the same set of high resolution spatial imagery to show their technical advances.

The Committee of the Regions, AGE Platform Europe and the European Commission have issued a brochure presenting EU funding possibilities for regional and local initiatives to promote active ageing and solidarity between generations. The brochure aims to make a particular contribution to the European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations 2012.

According to the Report on the European Research Council's operations and realisation of the objectives set out in the Specific Programme Ideas in 2010 published by the European Commission, funding schemes put in place by the institutions have captured the interest of the European Research community. The report highlights that more than 20,000 applications have been presented under the first six calls.

In view of the step up of violent crackdown against peaceful protesters in Syria, High Representative Catherine Ashton has noted in a formal statement on behalf of the EU, the complete loss of Bashar al-Assad's legitimacy in the eyes of the Syrian people and the
necessity for him to step aside.

On August 19, World Humanitarian Day, the European Commission pays tribute to those who dedicate their lives to preserving and improving the lives of others who need assistance to survive. From its Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Directorate General (ECHO), the European Commission seeks to ensure that the help allocated as main global institutional donor in humanitarian sphere delivers concrete results.