European Union News - July 2009

To finance the economic recovery plan, €2.4 billion will have to be found in the 2010 EU budget. Parliament backs the plan but is refusing to let it be funded at the expense of other policy priorities. This is one of the issues in the budget negotiations between Parliament and Council that began on 10 July.

The Commission has issued a call for proposals under its "Europe for Citizens". This call aims to support and encourage civil society organizations at European level to reinforce the values of citizenship.

The Official Journal of the European Union has published the decision to renew the Portuguese on his office until 2014. European Parliament has yet to give its approval to this decision.

The Commission has issued a call for applications for financial support to European consumer organisations in 2009 with the aim of complementing, supporting and watching the policies of the member States, and contributing to protect the health, the security and the economic and legal interests of the consumers.

The General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union has published a call for tenders for the consultancy, strategic review and planning services relating to the EU Council public website.

The Commission is calling for an EU-wide ban on smoking in public places by 2012. Today, not all EU countries have strong anti-smoking regulations, and there are big differences between member states. Tobacco is the leading avoidable cause of death in the EU, and about 170 million Europeans are smokers.

The European Commission has published a Green Paper on "Promoting the learning mobility of young people" with the aim of opening up a debate on how best to boost the opportunities for young people in Europe to develop their knowledge and skills by going abroad. Spending a period in another country for studying, learning, work experience or volunteering is one of the fundamental ways in which young people can strengthen their future employability as well as their personal development. With this Green Paper the Commission is launching a public consultation which will be open until 15 December 2009.

Everyone who wants to participate in OPEN DAYS 2009 European Week of Regions and Cities is now able to get registered online. The event will take place in Brussels from 5 to 8 October 2009, and it is expected that milliards of people will participate in the 300 events that are expected to be held across the participating countries.

The Official Journal of the European Union has published a Call for Proposals to grant subsidies to promote transport policy objectives. The policy priorities have been fixed in the 2009 Work Programme adopted by the European Commission. Main topics selected are road safety, transport safety and internal market (for inland and maritime navigation). The total budget is EUR 4,750,000.

The Official Journal of the European Union has published the Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18th June 2009 on the establishment of a European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET). The text is not binding, but offers six recommendations to all Member States on ECTVET.

 The Council has adopted a regulation establishing a programme to aid economic recovery by granting Community financial assistance to projects in the field of energy, approving all the European Parliament's first reading amendments.

The EU Council will develop a new public web site. It will start with a previous phase of consultancy, strategic review and planning services relating to the EU Council public website.