European Union News

The 2012 Campaign "European Professional Football against Hunger", organised by the European Commission, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the Association for European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) intends to raise awareness about the urgent need to assist the victims of hunger and to put them back on the path to self-sufficiency. In addition, the funds for the most deprived in the EU has increased by €500 million in 2012.

The European Commission published a study which highlights that if the internal market for electronic communications were completed, the EU gross domestic product (GDP) could grow by up to €110 billion a year. In addition the study carried out by an international team of experts points out three main types of policy measures to tackle obstacles.

An event celebrated in Brussels by the European Commission marks the launch of the European Agenda for Adult Learning. Overall, this agenda shows a renewed commitment to adult learning at EU level. It focuses on providing second-chance opportunities for low qualified adults by strengthening their basic skills, such as literacy, numeracy and digital knowledge.

The eligibility of Greek bonds used as collateral in Eurosystem monetary policy operations has been temporarily suspended by the European Central Bank (ECB). Additionally, the Governing Council decided that the liquidity needs of affected Eurosystem counterparties can be satisfied by the relevant national central banks. On the other hand, the President of the Eurogroup assured that it was expected the S&P decision to lower Greek ratings to Selective Default.

The Foreign Affairs Council meeting held on 27 of February ended with the agreement on the decision to strengthen the restrictive measures against the Syrian regime. European Ministers called on President Assad to immediately end the killing of civilians, withdraw the Syrian army from besieged towns and step aside in order to make room for a peaceful transition. In addition, the Council agreed to extend EUNAVFOR Atalanta, the EU operation fighting piracy off the Somali coast, until December 2014.

The European Union celebrates the 20th anniversary of the Single Market in 2012. The Commission highlights that the job is not finished even if the Single Market has helped create millions of jobs and make Europe increasingly competitive. Therefore, it has presented an update of the efforts aimed a delivering growth, social progress and competitiveness.

The final results of the first operation targeting rail traffic along the EU Eastern border made by twenty-four Member States, Croatia, Turkey, Norway and Switzerland ended with around 1.2 million cigarettes seized. The exchange of information was easier during the operation called "Operation Barrel", because of the setting up in OLAF's headquarters of an operational coordination centre with contact persons from the Member States, third countries and Europol.

The European Commission's second on Trade and Investment Barriers Report, which describes the progress achieved in dismantling barriers to the markets of six strategic economic partners, recognises some success stories in the removal of certain trade barriers, but also underlines the overall persistence of barriers for European business to access key markets.

The European Commission welcomed the success of 'The Artist' and 'The Iron Lady', both European films, at the 84th Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood celebrated on 26 of February. This year, nine nominated films received support from the European Union's MEDIA programme for cinema.

The Foreign Affairs Council meeting held on 27 of February adopted its conclusions on the EU priorities at the UN Human Rights Council. The EU reaffirms its strong support to the Human Rights Council and states its intention to present a resolution on the situation of human rights in Burma/Myanmar.

The opinion adopted by the European Economic and Social Committee on the Connecting Europe Facility put forward the idea of creating an energy super-network underpinned by decentralised smart networks with regard to fill the missing links in European energy, telecom and transport infrastructure.

In order to improve the European competitiveness, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) has decided to create a permanent forum on science needs of industry. The initiative was launched following the roundtable "Scientific Support to European Industrial Competitiveness", organised by the JRC on 15 February.