European Union News

On the tenth anniversary of 9/11, President Van Rompuy and President José Manuel Barroso made a joint statement in which they stressed that promoting the rule of law, human rights and democratic governance, open intercultural dialogue and providing economic and educational opportunities is the best guarantee to enhance the security. The European Parliament's President, Jerzy Buzek also underlined that Europe and the United States, together with their international partners, will always stand united in the fight against terrorism of all kinds.

120 representatives from 30 member regions of the Assembly of European Regions (AER) met in Italy on the occasion of Eurodyssey’s annual Forum celebrated on 8 and 9 September. During the celebration of such forum, the European Commission promised to give its support for the extension of the programme.

The EU external current account recorded a deficit of €43.2 billion in the second quarter of 2011, compared with a deficit of €33.1 billions in the second quarter of 2010, according to the latest available data. In addition, the external balance of trade in services was in surplus by €22.9 billion.

The Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) is launched by the European Commission in order to support Member States' efforts to prevent violent radicalisation and the recruitment of individuals to terrorist activities. The main aim of this network is to identify good practices and promote the exchange of information to connect key actors involved in countering radicalisation across the EU.

The Court of Justice of the EU expressed its views on the case of an Italian MEP who is charged with the offence of making false accusations against a public official in the performance of her duties. The Court highlights that immunity may not be granted unless there is an obvious, direct link between the opinion expressed by the MEP and the performance of his parliamentary duties. In addition, it falls within the exclusive jurisdiction of the national court hearing the case.

Two major EU-funded nuclear waste-disposal projects have allowed researchers to reach a consensus on several key issues surrounding the chemical durability of both high-level waste glass and spent nuclear fuel, thanks to the publication of their results.

The new draft report on the Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area has been discussed in the Transport Committee at the European Parliament. The draft report builds on the Commission white paper on EU transport policy from now to 2050 and it sets realistic targets for 2020 according to MEPs.
 

36 mayors and regional politicians from the EU and Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine inaugurated on 8 of September the new platform set up by the EU Committee of the Regions, the Conference of regional and local authorities for the Eastern Partnership (CORLEAP).

The result of a public consultation to which nearly 200 organisations and individuals responded shows that higher education, research and business organisations strongly support the mission of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). In addition, the respondents considere that the EIT should play a distinctive role in 'Horizon 2020', the future EU Programme for Research and Innovation, and forge closer links with other European and national efforts.

The European Commission adopted the first measure to ensure that by 2015 that the life-saving eCall system will be fitted to all new models of cars and light vehicles. The measure consisted in a Recommendation which urges Member States to ensure that mobile phone network operators upgrade their infrastructure so that eCalls are efficiently passed on to emergency services.

The EU and US signed an agreement known as IUU fishing to strengthen bilateral cooperation to combat illegal fishing. This statement is the first of its kind in the longstanding partnership between the EU and the US on fisheries management. They have agreed that the seafood they import from each other will not be caught illegally.

The European Commission adopted a Communication on security of energy supply and international cooperation. According to the Commission, this Communication sets out for the first time a comprehensive strategy for the EU's external relations in energy which has as main goal to improve coordination among EU Member States in such field.