European Union News

According to a recent survey published by the Commission shows that almost half of the European citizens considers the right to move and reside freely in the European Union is the most important citizens’ right. Furthermore the Commission has helped to resolve 90% of open free movement cases.

The European Commission has cleared acquisition under the simplified merger review procedure of Lubrizol, a US specialty chemical company by Berkshire, a US company which is engaged through its subsidiaries in diverse business activities.

A team of Spanish researchers has developed a method that can determine the chemical composition of liquids and determining whether a suspicious device is explosive or not. With this method, police can declare a suspicious device safe or potentially explosive and judges can use conclusive scientific test results on the nature of dangerous liquids in court.

The EU TEN-T Executive Agency has added a Financial Engineering section to its website in order to explain more in detail this sector. The reason of such change is that the Financial Engineering sector aims to help find solutions to attract more private sector financing and to contribute to the improvement of the management of the TEN-T programme as a whole.

The European Commission confirms that it is fully prepared to respond to humanitarian needs stemming from the fighting and its aftermath, following the dramatic events in Libya with the speedy progress of National Transition Council troops into Tripoli.

The 'Colorful but Colorblind' project has been granted by the prestigious award from the US-based Society of Professional Journalists. The project is a series of 25 short films telling the stories of Roma communities living in central and Eastern Europe. The aim was to encourage a more nuanced coverage of Roma issues and a greater participation of Roma journalists in mainstream media operations.

On 23 of August, the Europe-wide Day of Remembrance of the victims of all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, several EU justice ministers signed the Warsaw Declaration. The document symbolises mutual understanding and solidarity in the context of the difficult and painful experiences linked to totalitarian regimes.

EU funded research developed a technique to produce real-time, high-resolution images of distant galaxies. The technique, called Electronic Very Long Baseline Interferometry (e-VLBI), allows multiple radio telescopes throughout the world to work together to simulate one giant telescope. This not only improves the quality of observation results but also helps to maximise the return on investment in radio telescopes.

The European Union approved two new financial assistance programmes for Tunisia for a total of €110 million. The first programme supports the economic recovery measures adopted by the Tunisian government and the second programme is aimed at increasing the competitiveness of the Tunisian economy. These two programmes are part of the additional aid being provided by the EU to Tunisia following the January 2011 revolution.

The European Commission presented the new assistance package for the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It sets up additional financial support for state-building, water-management and sanitation, as well as education and health services for refugees. 

During the celebration of World Water Week (21 - 29 August), Development Commissioner, Andris Piebalgs, reaffirms the EU's commitment to meeting the Millennium Development Goal pledge of halving the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015.

The Council and the European Parliament have reached political agreement on the draft directive aimed at combating sexual abuse and exploitation of children as well as child pornography. The new directive will harmonise around 20 relevant criminal offences and setting thresholds for maximum penalties.