European Union News

The first workshop, “Share-PSI”, will be held in Brussels on the 10-11 of May and is organized in the framework of the “Big Idea” of the European Digital Agenda. This event brings together different actors who are related to the reuse of public sector information (PSI) and who will discuss and contribute with ideas on how to re-use "open data" of public administration. Among them, they are representatives of civil society, media, government organizations, representatives of academia and business.

The Commission presented a new strategy to protect and improve the state of Europe's biodiversity over the next decade. The strategy includes six targets and accompanying actions to greatly reduce the threats to biodiversity.

The Smart Cities Initiative is a project of European dimension for energy efficiency and for accelerating the large scale deployment of innovative low carbon technologies. On 4 February 2011, the European Council invited the Commission to launch an Industrial Initiative inter alia on 'energy saving solutions in cities'.

The Commission launches the Lorenzo Natali Journalism Prize 2011 the same day as it is taking place the World Press Freedom Day. The Prize recognises outstanding journalists, some of whom take great risks to expose injustice and suffering.

Following the publication of new rules, EU Member States Ministries of Agriculture are required to publish before April 30 2011 detailed figures on all legal persons (companies) which are beneficiaries of Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) funding in 2010.

EU-led Steering Group discussed in its first meeting how to improve the health and quality of life of older people, increase sustainability of healthcare systems and create new growth and market opportunities for Europe. With this high level Steering Group is the first time that in Europe all the stakeholders are joining forces at this scale to commit advancing innovation in active and healthy ageing.

The European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) quarterly has been launched by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound). It provides an overview of restructuring activities in Europe in the first quarter of 2011. According this edition, EU has announced job losses and job gains almost level.

This is the interim conclusion based on over 470 responses received so far to the consultation launched by the Commission with its February 2011 Green Paper. In addition, nearly all respondents stress the importance of simplifying procedures for applying for funding and accounting for its use.

The European Court of Auditors’ follow-up audit of 2011 (Special Report Nº 2/2011) set out to establish the action taken to implement the recommendations of Special Report Nº 1/2005 on the management of European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). The audit concluded that from the recommendations of the 2005 report, three of the recommendations had not been accepted, two recommendations were implemented, while the remaining twelve recommendations were implemented to varying degrees.

The Directorate General for Health and Consumer Protection (DG SANCO) of the European Commission in collaboration with the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) have announced the five winners of photo contest "The vets in your daily life".

The agreement on Cooperation in the Regulation of Civil Aviation Safety between the European Union and the United States enters into force, which will boost safety and create opportunities for businesses. With this step, it opens the way to progressively reaching the same level of mutual trust in other areas of safety and simplifies technical and administrative procedures for the recognition of certificates and approvals.

Economic sentiment declines in both the EU and the euro area but it remains well above its long-term average. It fell importantly by 2.3 points to 105.1 in the EU and more moderately by 1.1 points to 106.2 in the euro area, marking the second decline in a row in that region. The Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) for the EU and the euro area declined in April