European Union News - 2009

The European Commission is launching a consultation on the improvement of supervision for the financial services sector. Following the report of the high-level group on financial supervision in the EU chaired by Jacques de Larosière, published on February 25th 2009, the Commission intends to come forward by the end of May 2009 with a Communication setting out its proposals on the future of the EU supervisory architecture followed by specific legislative measures in autumn 2009 . Before doing so, it wishes to take into account the views of all interested parties.

Danuta Hübner, European Commissioner for Regional Policy, announced on March 9th 2009 that 105 billion Euro will be invested in the "green economy" through the EU Cohesion Policy. The funding, which represents more than 30% of the regional policy budget for 2007-2013, offers a solid platform for job creation and a significant boost for regions and cities in their quest to maintain Europe's global leadership in the field of green technologies.

The European Parliament's Industry Committee,  meeting in Brussels on March 9th 2009, agreed on a maximum charge for making mobile phone calls while abroad. These charges  should fall from the current €0.46 to €0.40 per minute (excl. VAT) in summer 2010. However, MEPs rejected some proposals to set further and lower price caps for 2010-2013.

Policy makers and top managers of the most important transport operators, manufacturers and logistic companies meet in Brussels between March 9th and 10th at a conference chaired by Vice President Tajani. During these two days, experts will have the opportunity to discuss the future challenges for the transport sector and kick off the preparation of the 2010 White Paper on the Future of Transport Policy.

Following complaints received from companies, associations, NGOs, universities and other organisations involved in EU-funded projects and contracts, the European Ombudsman, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, has decided to open a new investigation into the timeliness of payments by the European Commission. The Ombudsman wants to find out which measures the Commission has taken recently to tackle late payment problems.

In its Report on ex ante verification of additionality in the regions eligible under the Convergence objective for the period 2007–2013, published on March 6th 2009, COM(2009) 112 final, the European Commission summarises the main findings of the verification of this principle at the ex ante stage for the period 2007-2013 along with an analysis from an economic perspective. In this Report, the Commission considers that there is clearly room to improve the information and the methodology for determining and verifying additionality, which is an important principle of cohesion policy. The Commission intends to engage in a more in-depth and permanent dialogue with Member States on how to overcome the shortcomings and improve the application of the principle.

The European Commission has published in the OJEU of March 7th 2009, its Decision of October 31st 2009 (2009/177/EC), implementing Council Directive 2006/88/EC as regards surveillance and eradication programmes and disease-free status of Member States, zones and compartments. This decision lays down certain requirements for the application and information about the control measures for aquatic animal diseases.

The 2006-2009 scheme for the restructuring of the European sugar industry resulted in the renunciation of 5.8 million tonnes of quota, very close to the initial objective of 6 million tonnes. At the end of this 4-year process, a key element of the 2006 sugar reform, EU quota for sugar and isoglucose has been lowered to 14 million tonnes (of which 13.3 million tonnes for sugar).

The European Defence Agency (EDA) Steering Board has agreed to approve a project for the next generation European military earth observation satellites. This Multinational Space-based Imaging System (MUSIS) project has been launched by six European Union Member States: Belgium, Germany, Greece, France, Italy and Spain. The project has now become an EDA Category B project and will be open to participation of other EDA participating Member States, if their proposed contribution is acceptable to the existing contributing Members.

The European Chemicals Agency has announced a conference related to EU Regulation on Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) of substances and mixtures based on the UN Globally Harmonised System (GHS). The conference will take place in Brussels on the 17 June 2009.

The Official Journal of the European Union has published in the edition of 6 march of Explanatory note with regard to the definition of a ‘parent carrier’ in Regulation (EC) No 80/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council on a Code of Conduct for computerised reservation systems and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 2299/89.

The European Commission will provide nearly a quarter of a billion euro in humanitarian aid to vulnerable people in twelve African countries, with 8.5 additional M€ specifically allocated for ECHO Flight, a special humanitarian air service. All funds are channelled through the Commission's Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO) under the direct responsibility of Commissioner Louis Michel.