European Union News

A directive approved by the European Parliament will ensure that revenue from these charges is used to improve the performance of transport systems and cut pollution. On average, 3 to 4 euro cents per vehicle/km may be added to charges for using transport infrastructure to cover the external costs of road haulage. The directive will cover not only trans-European transport (TEN-T) networks, but all motorways, and will apply to vehicles of over 3.5 tonnes.

The proposal on the creation of a unitary patent protection system, which has been introduced by the enhanced cooperation procedure, has now to deal with the complaint lodged by Italy and Spain to the European Court of Justice before pass to the Council and European Parliament final approval.

The inquiry opened against the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS) has been closed by the European Ombudsman after its successor, the European Banking Authority (EBA), published a list of participants in a public hearing about remuneration policies for the European financial sector.

In 2010, the European Consumer Centres' network (ECC-Net) provided free help and advice in over 71,000 consumer cases, up by 15% compared to 2009, according to the network's 2010 annual report. One in three complaints concerned transport, of which almost 60% were about air travel (partly due to the volcanic ash crisis). More than half of the complaints handled concerned online purchases.

The European Commission approved under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of sole control of Unilever's Sanex business (Sanex) by Colgate-Palmolive.

More than 213,000 students received 'Erasmus' grants, the EU grants for study and training abroad, during the 2009/10 academic year. This means a new record and 7.4% increase on the previous year's figure. Erasmus is the world's most successful student exchange programme and, on current trends, the EU will reach its target of supporting 3 million European students by 2012/13 since the programme's launch in 1987.

Corruption is estimated to cost the economy of the EU €120 billion per year. Therefore, the Commission sets up a new mechanism, the EU Anti-Corruption Report, to monitor and assess Member States' efforts against corruption and encourage more political engagement. This will help Member States to better enforce legislation and fully implement their international commitments, as well as to improve the coherence of their anti-corruption policies and actions.

According to the latest report published by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), cases on the shiga toxin-produced E. coli in Germany, the vehicle of the outbreak has not yet been identified and intensive investigations are ongoing. The results of these investigations will determine the assessment of this risk. Rapid identification of potential cases linked to this outbreak, within Germany or among persons who have travelled to Germany since the beginning of May, is essential to prevent the development of severe disease.

European Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas is challenging industry to come up with a truly European journey planner that includes all countries and transport modes. The Commissioner stressed that while we are supposed being in one European market, there is too many journey planners. He also added that although the technology already exists, travellers still have to switch tickets from air to rail or sea, to urban or road transport.

The Fourth Review Mission to Greece was integrated by staff teams from the European Commission, European Central bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF). Its main goal was to discuss recent economic developments and policies needed to keep the country’s economic program on track. The mission has reached staff-level agreement with the authorities on a set of economic and financial policies needed to meet program objectives.

During its 18th meeting, the Member State Committee unanimously agreed on four draft decisions based on ECHA’s testing proposal examination and on five draft decisions based on compliance checks. The Candidate List will be updated soon as the seven new substances and the “toxic for reproduction” will be added as the basis for identification as an Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) for cobaltdichloride.

The study, which contributes to the realisation of Priority Project 3 (“High speed railway axis of southwest Europe”), will specifically look at track bed design and electrification along certain sections of the Vitoria-Bilbao-San Sebastián high speed line. It will receive €2.35 million in EU co-funding.