European Union News - 2008

The Commission is currently exploring the benefits of adding to the EU's MEDIA programme – created in 1991 to promote the development and the distribution of European films across borders – a new MEDIA MUNDUS programme to strengthen cultural and commercial relations between Europe's film industry and film-makers of third countries.

At the occasion of AUTOMATICA 2008, one of the leading international trade fairs in robotics and automation held this year in Munich/Germany, the European Commission has announced a policy to boost European robotics. The European Union will double its investments between 2007 and 2010 with almost € 400 million to support European robotics research. This ambitious programme aims to forge stronger links between academia and industry, and plans to fund a widespread experimentation by academic researchers and industry. The European Commission also calls on the industry to intensify its efforts in producing critical components in Europe, such as gears, in order to face competition from Asia and avoid strategic dependencies on other regions of the world.

On 13th December 2007, the European Commission adopted the Regional Competitiveness and Employment Operational Programme for Gibraltar in the United Kingdom for the period 2007-2013. The Programme falls within the framework laid out for the Regional Competitiveness and Employment Objective and has a total budget of around €11.6 million. Community funding through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) amounts to some €5.8 million, which represents approximately 1.1% of the total EU investment earmarked for the United Kingdom under the Cohesion Policy 2007-2013

On the 10th June 2008, the European Commission released notification of non-opposition to a concentration between ArcelorMittal and Borusan. Dating back to the 3rd June 2008 when the Commission decided not to oppose the above notified concentration and to declare it compatible with the common market.

The European Commission has published a new Calls for Proposals for the new pilot project "Erasmus for Young  entrepreneurs" with an allotted 2.85 million euros. The objective of the call is to facilitate exchange of experiences, learning and networking for nascent EU entrepreneurs through periods spent at companies of experienced entrepreneurs in
other EU Member States. The specific objective of the pilot action is to contribute to enhancing entrepreneurship, internationalisation and competitiveness of potential start-up entrepreneurs in the EU and newly established micro and small enterprises.

On the occasion of the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is pleased to invite you to its second literary summer, a series of lunch time meetings with European authors who will introduce us to their latest novel.

On 16th June 2008 the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) will host in Brussels the launching conference of the research project “MOVE TOGETHER", financed under the European Commission's 7th Framework Programme for RTD. Co-organised with the Institute of Studies for the Integration of Systems (ISIS, Italy), leader of the project consortium, the conference will establish a dialogue between citizens from the 27 EU member states representing the different cultures and urban settings of Europe and experienced stakeholders and decision-makers in the urban transport sector.

Joe Borg, EU Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, will attend tomorrow an international conference in Portorož, Slovenia, to open a debate on the maritime-related challenges and opportunities for the Mediterranean Sea basin. The discussions will focus on cooperation and governance in a variety of maritime sectors and activities such as environment, sea transport, surveillance and research.

The Lisbon Strategy's implications for education, training and social inclusion were the focus of a seminar organised by the Committee of the Regions' Commission for Economic and Social Policy (ECOS), in Logroño, Spain, today, 6 June. The event, held at the invitation of Pedro Sanz Alonso, President of the Autonomous Community of La Rioja, highlighted the importance of providing young people with the skills needed for an increasingly competitive labour market.

The 18th meeting of the EC-US Task Force on Biotechnology was hosted on 5th-6th June 2008 by the JRC Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (IHCP). The meeting has been preceded by a workshop on "Current status and potential developments of nanobiotechnology research" on 3rd-4th June in Ispra.

At the Heiligendamm Summit in June 2007, the G-8 acknowledged an EU proposal for an international initiative on energy efficiency tabled in March 2007, and agreed to explore, together with the International Energy Agency, the most effective means to promote energy efficiency internationally. A year later, on 8 June 2008, the G8 countries, China, India, South Korea and the European Community decided to establish the International Partnership for Energy Efficiency Cooperation, at the Energy Ministerial meeting hosted by Japan in the frame of the 2008 G8 Presidency, in Aomori.

This year’s EU-US Summit will take place in Brdo, Slovenia on Tuesday 10 June. The Summit will cover the full gamut of global and regional issues where the EU and the US seek to act in partnership. Issues for discussion will include assisting the development of Kosovo, following up on the Middle East peace initiative launched last year at Annapolis, shaping a comprehensive and binding post-2012 global agreement on tackling climate change, and working together to promote energy efficiency as well as energy security through the diversification of supply sources and the development of sustainable new forms of energy. Strengthening of the economic and regulatory cooperation and the deburdening of enterprises on both sides of the Atlantic will also be discussed, following the cooperation in this field in the framework of the Transatlantic Economic Council (TEC). The EU will also be asking the US for an update on progress towards its commitment to bring further EU Member States into the US Visa Waiver Programme.