European Union News - 27 December 2012

The European Environment Agency (EEA) took stock of the 2012, ‘European Year of Water’, and also presented important findings in many other areas, including air, climate, biodiversity and chemicals. According to EEA, Europe needs to redouble efforts to keep sufficient quantity and quality of fresh water to maintain our ecosystems that sustain our society and economy.

The European Commission allocated additional EU funding for Ukraine for 2012. The support is part of the Eastern Partnership and will focus on energy reform and the involvement of citizens in local development. This is the second part of the Annual Action Programme 2012 for Ukraine. The first part of the programme was adopted in August 2012 and amounted to €70 million.

The European Commission has concerns that transatlantic cooperation of Lufthansa, United and Air Canada may harm premium passengers on the Frankfurt-New York route because it could result in higher prices, in breach of EU antitrust rules. The Commission has therefore invited interested parties to comment on commitments proposed by the three companies to address competition concerns about their transatlantic cooperation.