European Union News

The INCLUD-ED project final conference will present and discuss the successful actions, mainly in education which are contributing to overcoming social exclusion in Europe and promoting social cohesion. In addition, key messages will be provided at the conference in order to develop more efficient educational and social policies in Europe.

The first quarterly report of Commission's Task Force for Greece summit for approval to the Commission and the Greek Government focuses on finalising, with the Greek authorities, a comprehensive road-map of technical assistance. In a number of priority areas such as tax administration and administrative reform, the report shows how work is already moving into the implementation phase.

The European Parliament approved a resolution which defends to keep the internet open and neutral. MEPs agreed that EU telecoms rules must be enforced and called on the European Commission to monitor internet traffic management practices.

EU Member State representatives reached an agreement on a draft law that will ensure defendants’ right to information in criminal proceedings wherever they are in the EU. Under the new law, suspects of a criminal offence will have to be informed of their rights in a language they understand. The proposed Directive will now pass to the European Parliament for adoption in the coming weeks, before final adoption by ministers meeting in the Council.

The European Commission published two reports which recommends to policy-makers to do more in order to help schools tackle low achievement in mathematics and science. The reports conclude that although much has been achieved in updating mathematics and science curricula, support for the teachers responsible for implementing the changes is still lacking.

The European Union, the United States and Japan decided to to get a further boost to the introduction of electrical cars with an international agreement. In particular, the partners agreed to closely cooperate on convergence of regulatory obligations related to electric vehicles in the global context.

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction published its 2011 annual report in which draws conclusions such as that there are over 1.3 million regular opioid users in the EU and Norway. Furthermore, the report highlights that the use of inject drugs – heroin - is declining.

The European Commission will adopt on the 29 November an Open Data Strategy which means a set of measures aimed at increasing government transparency and creating a €32 billion a year market for public data. The measures include a modification of the existing Directive on the re-use of public sector information and the deployment measures such as a creation of open data portals at European level.

Staff teams from the European Commission (EC), European Central Bank (ECB), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) visited Lisbon during November 7-16 for the second quarterly review of Portugal’s economic program. Among the conclusions raised by them, overall the program is off to a good start. However, its success crucially depends on continued implementation of a wide range of structural reforms.

The European Parliament approved a recast of the 2001 EU legislation on liberalised rail services in which it encourages new rail operators to enter the market and supply high-quality services. MEPs also proposes a regulator to enforce compliance with competition rules.

The Polish Presidency of the European Union and the European Commission are organising in close co-operation the sixth Ministerial eGovernment Conference, entitled "Borderless eGovernment Services for Europeans". During the conference, key European eGovernment decision makers will meet in Poland to talk about the future of eGovernment.

The winner of the 2011 LUX film Prize is "Les neiges du Kilimandjaro" by Robert Guédiguian. The award has been granted by the European Parliament to this film that questions the injustices of today's societies and their political and trade union conflicts, and makes a plea for tolerance.