European Union News

European scientists have identified two new genes connected with hereditary renal diseases with a new way of studying networks of proteins, combining systems biology and biochemistry. This study moves forward gene research by taking this innovative network approach. Moreover, this method could also be used to find genes for more common diseases such as diabetes or obesity.

According to the ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union, EU law can prevent transferred workers, even those employed by a public authority of a Member State and taken over by another public authority, from suffering a substantial reduction in salary by reason only of the transfer.

As one of the priorities for the Polish Presidency of the European Union, participants in the Conference on Shared Responsibility organised by the Ministry of Economy in cooperation with the Responsible Business Forum tried to provide answers to the question on how to increase the presence and efficiency of CSR in the European Union. The conference was held at the Polish Baltic Fryderyk Chopin Philharmonic in Gdańsk on 5th September 2011.

Flash estimate for the second quarter of 2011 showed an increase of Gross Domestic Product both in the Euro are and the European Union as a whole of 0.2% and 1.6% respectively, compared with the second quarter of 2010. In the first quarter of 2011, growth rates were +0.8% in the euro area and +0.7% in the EU.
 

The EU-funded GalileoCast project brings together three small companies to develop innovative weather-related services that use satellite positioning technologies. 'GalileoRoads' is one such service being launched by this project, using hybrid methods that combine fixed and mobile meteorological observations to produce very-high-resolution road condition models and weather forecasts.

The world's largest magnetic confinement fusion device, the Joint European Torus (JET), goes back to work following a 22-month period where the device was out of action whilst being upgraded and commissioned. Thanks to this device the European scientists are about to embark on the first round of experiments of fusion power as a safe, clean, and virtually limitless energy source for future generations.

The European Heritage Days, a joint action of the European Commission and Council of Europe which gives access to visitors to thousands of rarely opened sites and unique events, expects counting with more than 20 million people participating in 50 countries across Europe.

The Conference of Foreign Affairs Committee Chairpersons (COFACC) held on 4-5 September had as main aim discussing how to enhance the cooperation with the eastern and southern neighbours of the European Union. During the meeting, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski presented the current foreign policy under the Polish Presidency of the EU Council.

According to the data released by Eurostat, the volume of retail trade grew by 0.2% in the European Union in July 2011. However, these figures show that in annual terms retail sales index decreased by 0.2% in both zones in July 2011.

The decision to bring trade relations with global partners at EU level further to the establishment of the common market, has facilitated Europe to become the largest trading bloc in the world. This position which implies that the European Union must keep an open approach in its trade relations, also provides that it can stand firm in demanding openness and reciprocity from other trading partners.

European scientists have discovered how honeybees depopulation is directly related to the exposure of colonies to low doses of insecticides, as they have a higher risk of dying from infection by Nosema ceranae (N. ceranae). These findings support the theory that combining more N. ceranae with a high pesticide content in beehives could contribute to colony depopulation.

Following the positive outcome of the quarterly review on the implementation of the stabilization programmes in both countries, the Council of the European Union adopted on September 2 two decisions in order to facilitate the release of the next instalments of financial assistance for both Member States. Accordingly, Ireland would receive 7.5 billion Euro and Portugal 11.5 billion Euro.