European Union News - January 2011

The European Commission has approved under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of McAfee, a vendor of information technology security, by Intel. The approval is conditional upon a set of commitments ensuring fair competition between the parties and their competitors in the field of computer security, a growing concern due to the exponential rise in the number of malware such as viruses.

Some of Europe’s most promising bands get the recognition they deserve at the European Border Breaker Awards. These European awards, which reward European artists who have gained public favour outside their home country, were awarded in a ceremony which served as opening for one of the most important musical events on the European stage.

The European Commission has presented EU's flagship initiative for a resource-efficient Europe, which provides a long-term framework for actions in many policy areas, supporting policy agendas for climate change, energy, transport, industry, raw materials, agriculture, fisheries, biodiversity and regional development. This strategy is the seventh and last of the Europe 2020 flagship initiatives which aim at building smart, sustainable and inclusive growth for Europe.

On the eve of its Plenary Session on 27 and 28 January 2011, the Committee of the Regions has invited interested regional and local representatives as well as practitioners to share good practice and discuss on topics centred around the objectives set out for the European Year of Volunteering. The forum, which will take place in Brussels on 26 January, will debate over the great potential of volunteering for the social, economic and territorial cohesion of Europe.

This is one of the main conclusions drawn from the Report of the European expert group on future transport fuels, which has been presented to the European Commission. This report, which for the first time has developed a comprehensive approach covering the whole transport sector, affirms that the European Union will have to move to an oil-free and largely CO2-free energy supply for transport if it wants to meet the objectives set in terms of environmental impact and security of energy supply.

The European Union has come a long way in its efforts to better protect Animal Health, ensuring along the way Food Safety. The role of the veterinary profession, which celebrates this year its 250th anniversary, has been pivotal in making food in the EU safe. Acknowledging this contribution, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) declared 2011 World Veterinary Year, an event in which the Commission will actively participate in order to raise awareness about the role of veterinarians.

Under the title “Ready to grow?, the European Commission has gathered together on 25 January, a important panel of experts and representatives from business and innovation agencies from all Europe in order to debate over the future of Competitiveness and Innovation Programme. This Conference is part of the series of actions aimed to determine future approaches and actions to be in place within a programme which is primarily focused on supporting innovative European SMEs.

Within the context of an open debate on the future of public pension systems in some member states, the European Economic and Social Committee has put forward its analysis of the situation and what would be some of the implications of different measures in this field. In this report, prepared at the request of the Commission, the Committee upholds that increasing the retirement age alone will not solve this problem and that success of funding pension systems largely depends on active employment policies.

The case of the dioxin situation in Germany was at the centre of the agenda for ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries meeting in Brussels on 24 January at the first Council of the year. Although measures have been take carefully and German authorities have implemented the necessary controls, the European Commission has announced some legislative measures in order to avoid futures crises, and has warned about the effects of unilateral measures taken by states.

The European Commission has adopted measures to make participation in the EU's current Seventh Framework Programme for Research more attractive and more accessible to the best researchers and most innovative companies, especially Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). Based on the simplification plan unveiled by the Commission in April 2010, these measures will take effect at once at will also inspire access conditions for the next EU research and innovation programme.

This is the general period laid down by the draft Directive on Consumer Rights which has been agreed by the Council on 24 January 2011. With this new directive, Brussels aims to improve the functioning of the internal market, guaranteeing a higher level of protection for consumers in distance and off-premises contracts, including on-line contracts, mail orders, telephone, etc.

The European Commission has released some preliminary results related to the on-line public consultation about the review of the Directive on the re-use of public sector information which took place between September and November 2010. Further to these preliminary data, the Commission is expected to deliver over the following weeks a report with the main conclusions drawn from this consultation.