European Union News - 2009

The European Commission has published on January, 29th the third Call for Proposals (CIP-ICT PSP-2009-3) under the work programme for 2009 of the Information and Communication Technologies Policy Support Programme as part of the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (2007 to 2013). This Call is funded with 99,5 M€.

The Communication from the Commission provides concrete proposals how to reach an agreement at the Copenhagen summit. It addresses three key challenges of the new international agreement – targets and actions, financing low carbon development and building an effective global carbon market.

European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Louis Michel, announced further 58 M€ in humanitarian aid for vulnerable Palestinian populations as he visited the Middle East region on a two-day humanitarian mission aimed at seeing for himself the destruction in Gaza following the conflict and to witness just how difficult the living conditions are there for the 1.5 million Palestinian population.

In this opinion the ECB notes that the scope of the proposed regulation covers not only cross-border electronic payment transactions and credit transfers but also cross-border direct debits. This is in line with efforts to achieve the Internal Market for payment services and with the launch of the Single Euro Payment Area (SEPA) in particular, and is highly welcomed by the ECB. However, the proposed regulation also raises some issues which require careful consideration.

The Transport Committee discussed on January, 22nd  legislative proposals to set up Intelligent Transport Systems, which will link travellers, vehicles and road infrastructure via new communication technology throughout Europe. Although MEPs and experts considered the benefits for sustainable transport, in terms of less congestion and fewer accidents, they also pointed out some possible problems relating to data protection.

Although the UCITS regulatory framework has proved to be very resilient during the current crisis, the depositaries of 4 UCITS funds who entrusted fund assets worth 1.6bn€ to Madoff entities, have not yet been recovered. The Commission considers that it is still premature to conclude if investors will not be indemnified, but will ensure that MS have dully implemented the provision of the Directive.

The signature of the "NIF Trust Fund Agreement" in the margins of the General Affairs and External Relations Council of January 26th 2009, will allow EU Member States to provide additional funds to the Neighbourhood Investment Facility (NIF), a key lever of the European Neighbourhood Policy.

The European Commission has launched a call for proposals under the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) Specific Work Programme SME, with the objective to promote entrepreneurial culture of young people, and entrepreneurship education. The projects funded will be part of the support given by the European Commission to the implementation of the Small Business Act.

The Official Journal of the European Union has published on january 26th, 2009 the Conclusions of the Council concerning a European partnership for international scientific and technological cooperation, which aims aims to develop better coherence and synergies between the various international scientific and technological cooperation activities carried out in Europe by Member States and the European Community.

The European Commission has launched a new Call for Proposals aiming to fund new actions under TEMPUS IV Trans-European cooperation scheme for higher education. The objective of Tempus Programme is to promote multilateral cooperation among higher education institutions, authorities and organisations from EU Member States and partner countries, focusing on the reform and modernisation of higher education.

The Official Journal of the European Union has published a new Call for Proposals under the Joint Harmonised European Union Programme of Business and Consumer Surveys, with the objective to carry out business and consumer surveys in Ireland. This co-operation will take the form of a framework partnership agreement between the Commission and the specialised bodies over a period of two years.

Members of the EP Civil Liberties Committee adopted on January 21st, by a large majority, a compromise reached with the Council by Claudio Fava, the MEP guiding the legislation through Parliament.  This deal paves the way for a first-reading agreement on the “sanctions directive” and will be debated at Parliament’s plenary session in Brussels on February, 19th.