European Union News

The European Commission puts new amendments on the table to overcome deadlock on Food for the Deprived scheme. The amendments proposed will add a second legal base, namely social cohesion, reflecting the scheme's important social dimension. Moreover, a further change is to remove the proposed provision for co-financing the scheme in future.

According to the latest statistics published by Eurostat, the economic crisis has made it more difficult for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to access banking credit. The data issued shows that the proportion of unsuccessful loan applications by SMEs has risen. The largest increases in unsuccessful loan applications were observed in Bulgaria, Ireland and Latvia.

The Competitiveness Council meeting held on 30 of September ended with an agreement reached on the launching of 'More Years Better Lives' initiative, a joint research programme. Ministers agreed that Joint Programming in research in the area of demographic change and population ageing as in the proposed initiative 'More Years Better Lives' will contribute to the reduction of fragmentation of research efforts of Member States.

The European Parliament approved a resolution proposing to extend European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) crisis measures until the end of 2013. In addition, MEPs backed the Commission's proposal to continue the EGF beyond the current multi-financial framework in a resolution adopted by show of hands.

In its judgement, the Court of Justice of the European Union, addresses the extent of possible violations of the trademark “function” and answers the reference for preliminary ruling raised by British courts in relation to a claim put forward by the company Interflora against Marks & Spencer for the use of one of its trade mark as a keyword on Google referencing service.

The annual financial report has been published by the European Commission. This report shows detailed information on what the EU money was spent on and how was it managed. According to Commissioner responsible for Financial Programming and Budget Janusz Lewandowski, it is essential that EU taxpayers are provided with the fullest possible information. In addition, the implementation rate of the EU budget reached 97% in 2010.

The European Commission presented a report in which it considers that the social networks could improve the default settings in order to better protect minors' privacy. Although a majority of sites tested do give youngsters age-appropriate safety information, only two out of nine social networking sites (Habbo Hotel and Xbox Live) have default settings.

A new Eurobarometer recently published by the European Commission shows there is a broadly favourable vision to key elements of the forthcoming CAP reform package. Those key elements where there was an agreement were the concept of enhancing the link between Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) payments and environmental protection throughout the EU and limiting the amount of payments any individual farm.

The Council approved a compromise text aimed at ensuring that food labels carry essential information in a clear and legible way. Thus, the new draft regulation requires labelling to be clear and legible. Its main objective of the new regulation is to enable consumers to make balanced and healthier dietary choices.

The Council adopted a Directive on cross-border exchange of information on road safety offences on the basis of a text agreed with the European Parliament. The objective of this directive is to combat road traffic offences that considerably jeopardise road safety, by  facilitating cross-border exchange of information. The United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark, due to their special position under the Lisbon treaty with regard to policy cooperation, do not participate in this measure, but may decide to join in later.

A study which brought together 175 scientists across 126 research centres around the world, plus the EU funds, has permitted to discover 16 new sections of the genetic code associated with lung function. This new discovery could shed more light on the molecular basis of lung diseases.

The 28th Annual Report on monitoring the Application of EU Law issued by the European Commission shows a decrease in the number of infringement procedures launched by the Commission against Member States for failure to apply EU law. An innovative online platform for exchange of information between the Commission and almost all Member States, has played a major role in this context.