European Union News - 2008

The Directorate-General for Research has published last 13th September a call for tender for the development of a study to assess fund-raising from philanthropy for research funding in European universities with a maximum budget of 0,3 meuros.

Aiming to prepare the establishment of a network of projects to demonstrate the use of CCS technology in power plants, the Commission launched a call for tender for an external service provider to assist in establishing and running this network. The Call for Tender will be opened until October 6th, 2008.

The European Commission has presented on the 11th September a Report about the European Space policy progress COM(2008)561 final. The Report provides an overview on the main progress achieved in the first year of the implementation of the European Space Policy (ESP), as elaborated jointly by the European Commission and the Director General of the European Space Agency.

The European Commission has presented on the 9th September a proposal for a Decision about the mobilisation of 10.7 Meuros of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund based on the Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006 to Delphi and Alytaus Tekstile.

Multilingualism and Intercultural Dialogue is the spotlight on Wednesday 10 September in the fifth Brussels Debate of the 2008 European Year of Intercultural Dialogue.

The European Commission approved an extension of the aid from France and Italy to the experimental rolling motorway service between Aiton and Orbassano which uses the existing line between Lyon and Turin. The service is being operated by AFA – Autoroute Ferroviaire Alpine – from 2007 to 2009.

The European Commission published in the Official Journal of the European Union on September 11th, a Call for Proposals concerning the implementation of the MEDIA 2007 programme of support for the European audiovisual sector MEDIA 2007. The Call, funded with 3,5 M€, aims to support audiovisual festivals.

The European Commission published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) of September 10th, 2008, the Decision 2008/721/EC, setting up an advisory structure of Scientific Committees and experts in the field of consumer safety, public health and the environment. This Decision will repeal Decision 2004/210/EC.

The European Commission Directorate General for Informatics (IDABC) organises its Open Source Software Event 2008 on 20 October in Málaga, in the Spanish Region of Andalucía. It is organised with the regions of Andalucía and Extremadura in parallel with the Open Source World Conference. It is the fifth edition of this event and it is estimated a total participation beyond 6,000 attendees.

The European Commission published, in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), on September 10th, 2008 a new Call for Proposals under the ‘Europe for Citizens’ programme, to promote structural support for European public policy research organisations and for civil society organisations at European level. The total budget for the co-financing of operating grants is around 600,000 Euro in 2009.

The new CPV codes describing the Calls for Tenders published by the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities will start working on September 17, 2008.

The European Commission has presented last 3rd September a proposal for a Council Recommendation on mobility of young volunteers across Europe Brussels COM(2008) 424 final with the aim to promote the mobility of young volunteers in Europe.