European Union News

The EU needs a long-term plan to support transition to democracy in the Mediterranean area and cope with any possible migration inflows. This was the statement made within the Civil Liberties Committee on 1 march 2011, where MEPs urged Member States to accelerate work on the asylum package and stressed the need for solidarity as regards relocating migrants.

In a judgement issued by the Court of Justice of the European Union on 1 March 2011, the Court considers that the considerations made in terms of gender of the insured individual as a risk factor in insurance contracts, constitute discrimination according to EU law. Following this Court decision, the rule of unisex premiums and benefits in insurance contracts will apply with effect from 21 December 2012.

At a specially convened summit held in Brussels on 1 March with, European Commission Vice-President Viviane Reding met CEOs and chairs of boards of publicly listed companies from 10 European countries. Participant in this event took the opportunity to discuss how to get more women into top jobs and whether self-regulation by companies themselves or regulation should be the way to make significant changes quickly. Further to this meeting Commission's Justice department also held a "mini-hearing" with social partners on the same issue.

The European Commission has launched its annual call for proposals to be funded under the LIFE+ programme, the European fund for the environment. Proposals are welcome under one of the programme’s three components: Nature and Biodiversity, Environment Policy and Governance, and Information and Communication.

Work on EU legislation to regulate derivatives trading began officially in the Economic Affairs Committee held on 28 February, with the presentation of a draft report by rapporteur Werner Langen. This report recommends that new rules should govern only privately-traded derivatives, rather than all kinds as proposed by some Member States. I also advocates for limited exemptions and scrapping proposed co-operation arrangements between clearing houses.

The European Commission has launched on 28 February a public consultation on the "Europe 2020 Project Bond Initiative" which aims at boosting the funding of projects with long-term revenue potential in line with the Europe 2020 policy priorities. The final objective is to help the private project companies to attract capital market funding from investors such as pension funds and insurance companies.

The Council of the European Union adopted on 28 February 2011 a decision implementing the UN Security Council Resolution on Libya of 26 February (UNSCR 1970/2011) and imposing additional restrictive measures against those responsible for the violent crackdown on the civilian population. These measures include ban of supply of arms and equipment which could be used for repression, as well as a visa ban and freeze of assets for Muammar Qadhafi and some members of his family.

At its meeting held in Brussels on 28 February, the Energy Council was was briefed on the state of play of discussions on the draft regulation on energy market integrity and transparency aimed at setting up a framework for monitoring wholesale energy markets in order to detect market abuse and manipulation. The Commission considers that, although market abuse and manipulation relating to financial instruments in general are already covered by other legal provisions, the particular nature of the market for gas and electricity required a separate instrument.

According to the results of the latest EU-wide opinion poll of the European Parliament, Europeans’ views of the activity of the institution remain stable. Although the figures of this survey which looks at how much EU citizens know about the institution and their opinions about its works and priorities, are broadly stable compared with previous surveys, the poll also shows substantial variation between the different Member States.

On the occasion of the 4th World Rare Diseases Day, a Eurobarometer survey shows that up to  95% of EU citizens believe there should be more European cooperation in this area and that rare disease patients should have the right to access appropriate care in another Member State. These kind of diseases affect up to 36 million Europeans who are in need of proper diagnosis and treatment.

EU-backed film 'The King's Speech' was awarded with four Oscars at last 83rd Academy Awards ceremony held in Hollywood on 27 February. The film, which was supported by EU MEDIA fund for cinema gained statuette for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and best original screenplay. Another MEDIA-backed film, 'In a Better World', directed by Denmark's Susanne Bier, was awarded with the best foreign language film.

At the meeting of the Agricultural and Fisheries Council celebrated in Brussels on 21 February, ministers held a third policy debate on the Commission communication 'The CAP towards 2020: Meeting the food, natural resources and territorial challenges of the future'. In this occasion, the debate - structured around a Presidency questionnaire, focused on balanced territorial development, which is the third main objective for the future CAP identified in the Commission communication.