European Union News

The conclusion of Europol's 2010 review of terrorism is that it continues to pose a high threat to the security of the the EU and its citizens and has become more diverse in its methods and impact.

The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the Commission, Catherine Ashton and the President of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, have denounced the use of brutal force against demonstrators in Syria.

Some EU countries participate in a common action which identifies solutions to implement the Single European Sky II (SES II) legislation and aims to improve safety, capacity, environmental performance, as well as reduce air transport costs.

The EU Hungarian Presidency held the high-level conference “New Challenges in the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020” on 20 April. One of the conclusions was that the education is essential in order to involve disabled people into the labour market.

The European Commission launched of a new website for the MASIS project, 'Monitoring policy and research activities on Science in Society in Europe', which aim is to develop and maintain structural links and interaction opportunities between scientists, policymakers and society in general.

A record of 21% of young Europeans unemployed has been reached. In order to contain this rate, the Assembly of European Regions (AER) tried to mobilise its member regions and its Youth Regional Network (YRN) during a conference on youth professional mobility.

The additional aid for the victims of the conflict in Ivory Coast is €30 million more. The European Commission increased its humanitarian assistance, bringing its total allocation to €60 million.

European researchers has linked a type of 'molecular switch', short molecules of ribonucleic acid (miRNA) with panic disorder. This investigation received Community funds and the results have been published recently in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

The EU and Croatia has reached an agreement on two more chapters during the twelfth meeting of the Accession Conference with Croatia at Ministerial level which was held on 19 of April in Brussels. With these two, there are provisionally close 30 of 35 chapters opened in October 2005. In particular, these chapters, chapter 11 -Agriculture and rural development- and Chapter 22 -Regional policy and coordination of structural instruments-, are key for preparing future negotiations.

The European Parliament's Economics Committee debated on the "six-pack" set of laws revamping economic governance proposal. Political groups differed mainly as to how much emphasis to place on fiscal austerity and on the need to devise a set of rules which also gave Member States breathing space to continue their spending on growth-promoting investments. 

The European Commission decided to revise its Code of Conduct for Commissioners including some changes which will reinforce the ethical framework by strengthening and clarifying several of the previous provisions.

According to Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski, EU draft budget 2012 is a delicate balancing act combining austerity and growth boosting measures. Its main objective is to fully support the European economy and EU citizens.