European Union News

MEPs at the Foreign Affairs Committee in the European Parliament voting on the Commission's 2012 progress report on Serbia, they stressed that starting the talks in June 2013 is achievable.

European Commission Vice President Antonio Tajani, Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, presented recent Commission projects on educating the educators at the fourth meeting of EU SME envoys. The Commission underlined that entrepreneurship education needs to be boosted.

The European Parliament approved three resolutions in relation to the European Commission’s Annual Growth Survey of the EU. According to MEPs, much more must be done this year to cut unemployment, thoroughly democratise EU economic governance and ensure that structural reforms foster growth.

The European Parliament approved a proposal to protect public health through the tightening of noise limits for cars. MEPs also recommended introducing labels to inform consumers about new cars' noise levels and adding sound to hybrid and electric vehicles to alert pedestrians.

The European Commission presented a new strategy to protect open internet and online freedom and opportunity, which articulates the EU's vision of cyber-security in terms of five priorities: Achieving cyber resilience, drastically reducing cybercrime, Developing cyber defence policy and capabilities related to the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), developing the industrial and technological resources for cyber-security, and establishing a coherent international cyberspace policy for the European Union and promoting core EU values.

The European Commission made a proposal to strengthen the protection of the euro and other currencies against counterfeiting through criminal law measures. In particular, the proposed Directive includes the strengthening cross-border investigations and introducing minimum penalties, including imprisonment, for the most serious counterfeiting offences.

The European Commission published a report that include recommendations such as to apply a limit on the number of players per club, a review of the issue of 'third-party ownership', where a player is effectively leased to a club by an agent, and an end to contractual practices which inflate transfer fees, such as where a club extends the protected period during which players cannot be transferred without its consent.

The European Commission presented the OMEGA research project, that uses light to help achieve higher broadband speeds. According to the Commission, the technology developed by the OMEGA project could ensure that every office and household has enough bandwidth to connect a range of "smart" objects to each other like phones, cars and domestic appliances.

MEPs adopted a major reform of the EU's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). The vote sets out clear and strong measures to tackle this problem. Among other measures, MEPs called on member states to prevent setting quotas that are too high to be sustainable from 2015 on.

The European Commission presented the results of joint commitments from media, technology, telecoms and online companies to make the internet a better and safer place for kids. Among others, all devices (including smartphones, tablets, computers and games consoles) could be equipped with parental control tools and screens with simple tools for users to report harmful content and contact.

The European Union will support with almost €4 million from the TEN-T Programme a project to support and accelerate Airport Collaborative Decision Making (A-CDM) and Airspace Management (ASM) with a view of optimising resources at European airports and progressing towards an efficient and flexible use of airspace.

The European Research Council (ERC) published the outcome of the latest round of its top-up funding scheme 'Proof of Concept'. A total of 60 grants, worth €150,000 each, have now been awarded to researchers who are already ERC grantees in order to bridge the gap between their work and marketable innovation.