European Union News - 2008

The Commission has published in the Official Journal of the European Union on July 15th, a Call for Proposals for the development of actions in conservation and environmental policy in the scope of the Programme LIFE+.

Since its launch, in 2004, 173 million people have a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) in their pocket. Citizens from 31 European countries can use the card to get the medical care they need if they fall ill or have an accident in one of the participating countries (the EU, Norway, Liechtenstein Iceland and Switzerland).

First international Symposium on Marine Propulsors (SMP) is going to take place in Trondheim, Norway on 22-24 of June 2009. SMP’09 is the first in a series of international symposiums dedicated to hydrodynamics of all types of marine propulsors.

Launched a little over a year ago by the French Head of State, the Union for the Mediterranean project, which aims to strengthen and deepen the cooperation between both sides of the Mediterrean, was officially inaugurated on July 13th 2008 at the Paris Summit for the Mediterranean, which brought together 43 European and Mediterranean States, the Community institutions and the regional organisations.

Cedefop has published its fourth report on vocational training research in Europe. Europe’s economy needs to keep its citizens in the workforce for as long as possible. No longer do companies and countries favour ‘early exit’ for their workers: the younger age groups in Europe are not large enough to replace departing workers.

The technical and financial evaluation of proposals of Marco Polo call for proposal has finished with 31 projects.

Commissioner Orban received on July 11th the Report from the  Business Forum for multilingualism, that gives a clear overview of what needs to be done to help companies gain access to new markets and new business opportunities in the globalised world.

The Official Journal of the European Union published July 11th the appointments of various members in different EU institutions. The appointments concerned are those of three Judges of the European Union Civil Service Tribunal, a Portuguese member of the Economic and Social Committee, the external auditors of the European Central Bank, and some members of the Committee of the Regions.

The European Parliament published in the Official Journal of the European Union on July 11th, the second amending budget for the financial year 2008. This document includes the sections corresponding to Agriculture and rural development, Fisheries and maritime affairs, and Regional policy.

The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work has launched a Europe-wide information campaign on risk assessment in order to reduce work-related accidents and illness. Every three and a half minutes, somebody in the EU dies from work-related causes. That's more than 150,000 deaths a year as a result of either work-related accidents (8,900) or occupational diseases (142,000).

On July 10th, the Official Journal of the European Union published the Commission's decision not to  oppose the notified concentration by which DP World Ltd  and ZIM Integrated Shipping Services, acquire joint control over  Contarsa Sociedad de Estiba, SA by way of purchase of shares.

0.9 million euro from the “EuropeAid” for a technical assistance to the EC's Delegations for the monitoring of the Energy Facility's projects.