European Union News

The European Parliament approved a new directive in which serious traffic offences committed while in another EU country will not be unpunished. The text, previously agreed with the Council, will improve road safety and make all offenders equal before the law, including those living outside the country where they commit an offence.

A report approved by the European Parliament, the MEPs consider the possibility of introducing quotas in 2012 in order to increase the number of women in corporate boards. According to the report, women should make up 30% of top management in the largest listed EU companies by 2015 and 40% by 2020. MEPs also asked to the European Commission to study this possibility.

The WTO ruled against China's export restrictions of certain raw materials backing a case jointly brought by the EU, US and Mexico. The WTO Panel has found that China's export restrictions were not justified on environmental grounds and should be removed.

According to a resolution approved by the Parliament, the influx of migrants and asylum seekers cannot justify the reintroduction of border controls. In the resolution adopted by a large majority, the MEPs are critical of moves by several Member States to reintroduce border controls, because Schengen main objectives are enhancing freedom of movement and reinforcing EU governance.

Parliament group leaders, met at the usual Conference of Presidents held during the plenary, endorse new Code of Conduct for MEPs. The Code seeks avoid conflicts of interest setting out rules and principles which MEPs will need to follow in their contacts with outside interests.

The European Commission published a new Neighbourhood Transport Action Plan to strengthen transport links with neighbouring regions to the East and South of of the EU, which proposes more than 20 concrete measures, such as extending the EU's internal aviation market and Single European Sky to neighbouring regions and joining up the Trans-European Transport Network with infrastructure of the EU's neighbours through priority transport projects.

An expert group established as part of the Seventh Framework Programme's (FP7) regional calls for 2010 has published a new report which highlights cooperative nature of EU's future research policy. The philosophy behind synergy is very much one of joining up the dots to ensure that policies are aligned and don't overlap. For the solution, the team also recommends that the Structural Funds be better exploited and they advise using the European Social Fund (ESF) to promote greater synergies between education and innovation programmes. 

The European Parliament approved new EU food labelling rules that will help to make better informed food shoppers. Labels will have to spell out a food's energy content as well as fat, saturated fat, carbohydrate, sugar, protein and salt levels, in a way that makes them easy for consumers to read.

MEPs approved a report from Parliament's Special Committee on the Financial, Economic and Social Crisis in which it proposes a European "New Deal" in order to foster innovation, job creation and R&D investment, so as to give an urgently-needed boost to European competitiveness and ensure sustainable, green growth.

The European Commission supports the decision taken by Boehringer which is agreed to remove the alleged blocking positions, i.e. some patents regarding new treatments of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This lifts the obstacles to the launch of Almirall's products and the Commission no longer needs to pursue the case.

The Regulation proposed would introduce structural measures to boost competition by allowing customers from 1 July 2014, if they so wish, to sign up for a cheaper mobile roaming contract, separate from their contract for national mobile services, whilst using the same phone number.

On the three proposals voted by the European Parliament, there are very significant differences between the position of the EP and, once adopted, Member States' position for the directive on investor compensation schemes. MEPs expects to continue the negotiations with the Council on the the two other proposals, one on derivatives and the other on short selling. With this aim, the final vote were postponed.