European Union News - 2009

The European Commission has published a call for projects within the program "People", 2009, within the VII Framework Program for research, technological development and demonstration, by which it will fund partnership initiatives and university-business gateway between the European Union.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published in the Official Journal of the European Union on April 24th 2009, the launch of a selection procedure that aims to draw up a reserve list of external experts to be considered for the membership of a working group of scientific experts to externally review the quality of the scientific outputs of the Authority.

The Commission welcomes the European Parliament's endorsement of a proposal to extend term of copyright protection for performers and record producers from 50 to 70 years. The Commission is also pleased that the Parliament's text has further strengthened the position of performers by introducing a new claim for session players amounting to 20% of record labels' offline and online sales revenue.

In its annual Progress Reports, the European Commission takes stock of the concrete reform achievements made by countries within the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) in 2008 and identifies the areas where further efforts are needed. Individual country reports for each country with an ENP Action Plan and a sectoral report accompany the policy paper.

A group of EU-funded researchers are counting the costs of the damage caused by invasive species in Europe. Writing in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, scientists from the DAISIE project highlight the invasive species with the greatest economic and environmental impacts. The findings of the project will contribute to the EU's Strategy on Invasive Alien Species.

During the latest Fusion for Energy (F4E) Governing Board the accession of Switzerland to F4E was reported to be formally approved by both chambers of the Swiss Parliament with an overwhelming majority.

On April 28th and 29th, Ministers responsible for higher education from 46 European countries will meet in Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, to take stock of the achievements of the Bologna Process, set a new agenda, and agree priorities for the European Higher Education Area for the next decade up to 2020. The latest Bologna Stocktaking Report put forward by the Commission, which is to be presented to Ministers during this event, concludes that good progress has been made in implementing the Bologna reforms, although pointing out that asymmetries still remain.

The European Central Bank has published in the Official Journal of the European Union on April 22nd, its Decision of March 19th on the establishment of the TARGET2-Securities Programme Board (ECB/2009/6). The T2S Programme Board is established as a streamlined management of the Eurosystem with the task of developing proposals for the Governing Council on key strategic issues and executing tasks of a purely technical nature in relation to T2S.

The European Commission has agreed to propose to the Council to provide a medium-term loan to Romania of up to €5 billion. The proposed financial assistance, which is expected to be on the agenda of the next meeting of the EU finance ministers on May 5th,  would be part of a multilateral package which will total up to €20bn. The assistance is conditional upon the implementation of a comprehensive economic programme to which the Romanian authorities committed to and which will, ultimately, put the Romanian economy on a sound and sustainable footing.

Unlimited computing power, computers mimicking the brain, mind-controlled wheelchairs and friendly robotic companions are part of a new European plan to boost visionary research, unveiled by the European Commission today. With more investment and cooperation in high-risk research on future information technologies, Europe can lead the way in turning bright research ideas into future technologies. The Commission has proposed to boost Europe's high-risk research into future technologies by doubling research investment at national and EU level in this area by 2015. The Commission will lead by example, increasing the current funding of € 100 million per year by 70% by 2013.

The European Commission has adopted a Communication paving the way for a new classification of agricultural areas with natural handicaps. With the help of scientific experts, the Commission has identified 8 soil and climate criteria as a basis for objectively and clearly classifying such areas. However, before presenting a legislative proposal, the Commission needs more data to assess their feasibility. Therefore, Member States are asked to provide simulations using national data to show how the criteria might work. The new classification system is likely to be in place in 2014; meanwhile the current system remains in force.

The number of dangerous consumer products withdrawn from the EU market rose by 16% in 2008 compared to in 2007, the Commission's annual report on the Community rapid alert system for non-food dangerous products ("RAPEX") reveals today. This rise from 1 605 notifications in 2007 to 1 866 last year shows that the capacity of the RAPEX system has substantially increased again in 2008, following a substantial investment of resources and training by the European Commission and Member States.