European Union News

The project for a Directive on energy efficiency proposed by the European Commission on 22 June presents re measures which would boost energy saving and help EU reach 2020 goal of 20% reduction.

The joint transparency register for lobbyists and other interest groups is launched on 23 June. The main advantage of this joint register is providing one source of information for citizens and lobbyist will have to register once.

The Green Paper presented by the European Commission aims to gather stakeholders’ views on the modernisation of the Professional Qualifications Directive (Directive 2005/36/EC). In the light of the results published in the paper, the Commission has decided to update the Directive with the possible ways forward that build on past achievements while developing new approaches to enhance mobility.

Commissioner on Regional Policy Johannes Hahn stated in a discussion held on 21 June in the Regional Development Committee that “intermediate” regions, i.e. regions with a GDP of 75% to 90% of the EU average are on an equal footing. Mr Hahn also presented the legislative package on cohesion policy for 2014-2020.

The Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee in the European Parliament believes that the latest proposals from EU finance ministers for the EU economic governance package are insufficient. Committee chair Sharon Bowles stated that the Committee leaves the door opened for a farther vote in July, so the Council can come back with an improved offer.

An independent selection panel has recommended the Polish city of Wrocław for the title of European Capital of Culture in 2016. Poland and Spain are the two Member States hosting a European Capital of Culture the mentioned year. The formal nomination by the EU's Council of Ministers will take place in May 2012.

The European Commission presented a report in which 14 social networking sites have been tested. The main goal is to evaluate whether they do give minors age-appropriate safety information, respond to requests for help and prevent minors' profiles from being searched via external search engines. According to the report, only two social networking sites (Bebo and MySpace) protect privacy of minors' profiles by default.

This Strategy adopted at the Environment Council held in Luxembourg on June 21st 2011 is considered by EU ministers as a key instrument to enable the EU to reach its overall 2020 headline target. Ministers also underlined that further discussion over the actions to ensure the effective and coherent implementation of the Strategy should still be put in place.

According to the new EU Regulation in matters related to maintenance obligation in cross-border situations, applicable from June 18th 2011, children and families across the European Union will benefit from speedier maintenance payments when families split up. Thanks to a new EU-wide system, absent parents will no longer be able to evade their obligations.

Research, Innovation and Science Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn announced on June 21st the outcome of the competition "You Name it" launched to name the future EU funding programme for research and innovation. This name was suggested both by a Czech student, Marcela Endlova and a Polish teacher, Beata Zyngier.

A team of EU-funded researchers is leading the development of a unique type of sustainable zinc-based rechargeable battery for electric vehicles (EV) and hybrid EVs (HEVs). This resulting battery device will have the energy and power density necessary to compete with alternative battery technologies in the HEV and EV markets. Furthermore, the project will also construct prototype battery units for industry standard testing.

The draft regulation proposed by the Commission strengthens and clarifies provisions for foods intended for vulnerable groups of the population who need particular protection. The proposal establishes a single EU list of substances that can be added to these foods. The substances covered in the list include, among others, minerals and vitamins.