European Union News

The European Commission is establishing a Centre for Media Pluralism and Media Freedom in Florence thanks to a grant of €600,000. The new Centre is foreseen to start in December 2011 under the Professor Pier Luigi Parcu presidency. Its main objective is to develop new ideas on how to ensure a highly diverse and free media.

The European Medicines Agency hosted the first workshop on 27 and 28 October 2011 which assembled European and international experts to discuss the way forward in developing ophthalmology medicines. The participants also tackled the development of treatment in childhood eye disorders and they agreed that further discussion and research is needed before they can provide guidance in other areas such as trial designs and endpoints in inflammation of the eye.
 

Going Local 2011 initiative from the European Commission in the framework of the Digital Agenda has its next stop in Spain. This edition will be celebrated with two different events, one in Madrid (digital contents) and the second one in Sevilla where topics such as the spectrum, eGovernment and social innovation topics will be discussed.

The Commission on behalf of the EU signed an agreement with Israel that will allow the EU’s Galileo global-navigation satellite system to establish a satellite receiving station in Israel. In addition, it has been also signed a deal on deepening cooperation in the field of tourism.

The European Medicines Agency has introduced a simplified process for handling requests from companies that wish to register as micro, small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The process expected to reduce the administrative burden on companies and to speed up the SMEs assignment and renewal process.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) and the Pyrenees Working Community (CTP) have recently signed an agreement to work together in order to assess climate change impacts in the Pyrenees. According to Jacqueline McGlade, the EEA Executive Director, temperatures are rising faster in mountainous regions, making them particularly vulnerable to climate change.

Experts from the US Government joined counterparts from EU Member States to simulate how cyber security authorities on both sides of the Atlantic would cooperate in response to attacks. The test were made in Brussels on 3 November.

The Governing Council of the ECB published the modalities for the new covered bond purchase programme (CBPP2). Among them, the purchases of euro-denominated covered bonds issued in the euro area will be carried out by the Eurosystem by means of direct purchases. In addition, the interest rate on the main refinancing operations of the Eurosystem will be decreased by 25 basis points to 1.25%. This latest decision has been announced by the new ECB President, Mr Mario Draghi.

The European Commission intends granted €4 million humanitarian aid to assist people affected by floods in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. The funding will provide the people at risk with food and medical care, shelter, clean water and sanitation.

The EU-GRAD project, funded under the European Union Lifelong Learning Programme, is celebrating its international seminar next 15 November 2011 in Madrid, Spain. This seminar will serve to present the results of the National Case Studies (France, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain) and Conclusion Report carried out by the EU-GRAD consortium in the first semester of 2011. It will also be an open forum where participants will have the opportunity to debate about current mobility trends in Europe.

The responsibility of Member States and beneficiaries with regard to the European regional policy communication and transparency have been some of the points that were highlighted during the workshop "Communicating regional policy today and after 2013" held at the Open Days in Brussels.

The European Commission President José Manuel Barroso has issued a statement in which he has expressed his concerns with regard to the current situation in Greece. He has appealed for national and political unity in Greece. He also issued a joint statement with President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy in which they took note of the intention of the Greek authorities to hold a referendum.