European Union News

The European Commission has made a series of recommendations for further action in Burlgaria and Romania in judicial reform and in the fight against corruption. The Commission also proposes to make an overall assessment of Bulgaria and Romania's progress under the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism since accession in summer of 2012.

The European Commission published a revision of the tachograph legislation in which it wants to make fraud more difficult and reduce the administrative burden. In addition, in the proposal the Commission also wants to make full use of new technological opportunities such as satellite positioning. With the new measures, the Commission intends to expect to save companies €515 million per year.

Among the projects launched under the FP7 2012 call for proposals, the European Commission has opened a call for open access to primary environmental data. The aim of this study is to explore in a comparative manner across environmental science disciplines, the main barriers and opportunities related to open access (free of charge online access) to primary environmental data, notably from EU-funded projects but also taking into account national and local data.

The EU27 external current account recorded a deficit of €38.8 billion in the first quarter of 2011, compared with a deficit of 27.7 bn in the first quarter of 2010, according to the latest available data. In addition, there is a €16.9 bn surplus on trade in services.

The FOOD4ME project points out that individuals tailor-made diets will help improve the health and well-being. The physical and genetic make-up of each individual would be assessed to ensure the right diet is going to work for the right person.

Commission starts legal procedure against nine countries which are not yet notified all national measures needed to fully implement the European Union Mediation Directive. This Directive entered into force on 21 May and it applies when two parties who are involved in a cross-border dispute voluntarily agree to settle their dispute using an impartial mediator. Now these nine countries have two months to respond.

The European Investment Bank, Agence Française de Développement and a broad grouping of development bodies, social investors and microfinance service providers launched FEFISOL, the European Solidarity Financing Fund for Africa. The €15 million FEFISOL fund will provide microfinance funds for poor rural households across Africa and will help finance small scale investment in agricultural activities.

The Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to ensure the financial stability of the euro area. Among the measures, they will support a new programme for Greece, together with the IMF and the voluntary contribution of the private sector. With the new measures, the Council intends to stop the risk of contagion, improving the Greek debt sustainability as well as improving the Eurozone's crisis management.

Since 20 of July, new EU rules on toy safety entered into force. With the new Toys Directive all actors involved in the production, selling and control of toys on the EU market will get more responsibilities to better protect children. The new directive addresses a wide range of issues to ensure that toys do not present any health hazards or risk of injury.

The OPEN DAYS is a key event at which cities and regions showcase their capacity for creating growth and jobs, implementing European Union cohesion policy, and prove the importance of the local level for good European governance. The preliminary programme for this event can now be downloaded, and registration is available in the event website.

A team of researchers from the Dublin-based Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) carried out a comprehensive study of cancer cells, which shows how cancer cells react to chemotherapy. This new knowledge will move forward the development of increasingly effective cancer treatments and could go some way to reducing relapse.

A special promotion programme for fruit and vegetables has been adopted by the Commission to address the difficulties faced by this sector following the E.coli crisis. The objetive is to promote European fresh products on the internal market and in third countries.