European Union News - 11 April 2012

The European Commission is targeting the 'Generation 1992', i. e. young adults born in 1992, with a creativity competition aimed at tapping into the view, experiences, insights and expectations of what the single market means to young Europeans today. The competition is one of the number of events organised across the EU to mark the 20th anniversary of the European single market.

According to a Commission's report, although the existing legislative framework appears to work well and that no fundamental shortcomings have been identified which would require substantial changes, some modifications are necessary to adapt to the evolving threats on money laundering.

The European Medicines Agency echoes the publication of the results of clinical trials of authorised medicines: 'Open clinical trial data for all? A view from regulators' in the journal PloS Medicine, which examines the reasons for and against the open access of these data. It is a from European regulators to another article which calls for open access to all clinical-trial data so that independent re-analysis of medicines' benefits and risks can be conducted.

The ABSTRESS project will work during five year in revolutionising the way in which new plant varieties are produced with the aim to create crops which resist droughts and/or infection with a type of soil fungus called Fusarium. In particular, the information obtained from studying the model plants will then be applied to the breeding of new pea varieties.

Karel De Gucht, EU Trade Commissioner and Deputy Assistant to the President of the United States Michael Froman adopted a blueprint for open and stable investment climates. The principles included in this action plan cover the elements which the EU and the US believe are necessary to attract long-term sustainable investment.