European Union News - 2008

The European Commission has authorised, under EC Treaty state aid rules, the UK authorities' package of measures designed to ensure financial stability, protect retail depositors and support the orderly winding down of Bradford & Bingley. EC was in close contact with UK Authorities and decided over the measures within 24h. after the notification. UK authorities have committed to submit a restructuring and/or liquidation plan within six months, which will be examined by the Commission under its rules on restructuring aid.

The second Agriculture and Fisheries Council under the French Presidency, was held on September 29th and 30th. The Council, chaired by Michel Barnier, followed the  meeting of the EU’s fisheries ministers. The reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was one of the main points of the Agenda, focusing an important part of the meetings.

The Commission Regulation (EC) No 960/2008 of 30 September 2008 implementing Regulation (EC) No 808/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning Community statistics on the information society indicate a list of barriers to use internet by individuals.

The European Commission has published in the Official Journal of the European Union on October 1st, 2008, a Call for Proposals to Support for the transnational distribution of European films Networking of European distributors — System of ‘selective’ support with a budget of 12,25 Meuros and  based on the decision of the European Parliament and of the Council  establishing a single pluriannual programme for Community actions in the audiovisual field for the period 2007-2013.

The Official Journal of the European Union published on the 1st october the Commission Regulation (EC) No 960/2008 of 30 September 2008 implementing Regulation (EC) No 808/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning Community statistics on the information society.

14-15 October 2008 the European Commission organize the TEN-T Days 2008 in Brussels in order to analyse the TEN-T policy in the face of the major political challenges of the decades ahead. The conferences will have the participation of Antonio Tajani, Vice-President of the European Commission.

The Directorate-General for Internal Policies, Directorate A: Economic and Scientific Policies has set up a tender in order to supply external expertise in different policy areas for total value of 2 Meuros.

The Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI), fell by 1.5 points in the  EU and by 0.8 points in the euro area, in September, leaving these values in 85.2 and 87.7 respectively. In the EU, the ESI reached its lowest level since December 1993, while for the euro area it goes back to 2001 values.

The Justice, Freedom and Security DG, Unit JLS/C/4 is going to develop an study in order to make possible developments of Community legislation in the field of electoral matters including possible modification of Directive 93/109/EC

The European Commission has published in the Official Journal of the European Union on September 30th, a Call for Proposals aiming to support information measures related to Common Agricultural Policy. This call will be funded with 2.9 M€, from appropriations in the 2009 budget.

The Official Journal of the European Union published on September 30th, the Directive 2008/68/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of September 24th, 2008, on the inland transport of dangerous goods. The conditions set up by this Directive will ensure that transport of dangerous goods by road, rail or inland waterway, is carried out under the best possible conditions of safety.

On Sunday, October 5th, 2008 FADERE (Federation of Romanians in Europe) organize the European Forum 2008. The main objective of the event will be to improve the image of the expat Romanian community and seek solutions to the problems of diaspora.