European Union News

According to the results of the Second report on the implementation and functioning of the local border (LBT) traffic regime, the European Commission has concluded that the regime is working well in practice. Despite the little amount of available data, the Commission concluded that the LBT regime is helping to makes life significantly easier for people living near the external land borders and there is little evidence that the regime is being abused. Consequently, the Commission is not considering amending the LBT Regulation

During the European Parliament Plenary session held in Strasbourg between 14 and 17 February 2011, MEPs gave its consent to the most ambitious trade agreement the EU has ever negotiated. Thanks to the Parliament, the final text of the agreement includes a safeguard clause to protect European industry and the EU has received guarantees from Seoul that the new Korean legislation on car CO2 emission limits would not be detrimental to European car makers.

The European Commission is decided to tackle the low levels of consumer and business confidence in online transactions. For that purpose, it has launched an open consultation questioning about how electronic signatures, identification (eID) and authentication can help to overcome these reluctances by enhancing the way to verify people's identities and signatures. Interested parties can send their points of view to the Commission until 15 April 2011.

The European Commission has proposed to suspend import duties on certain cereals imported into the EU until the end of June 2011 in order to ease the pressure on the EU market, especially for animal feed. Backed by Member States on 17 February within the Management Committee, this decision aims to help maintain a good balance on the EU market. The suspension relates to existing tariff rate quotas for low and medium quality soft wheat and for feed barley, and reduces their respective preferential tariffs to zero for the volumes under the quota.

On 11 February, the European Commission opened two own initiative investigations to verify whether code-share agreements between four companies operating in the European Union complies with EU competition rules. The investigations relate, in particular, to the agreements between Deutsche Lufthansa  and Turkish Airlines in one case, and, in the second case, between TAP Portugal and Brussels Airlines.

The European Commission has announced that six substances of very high concern will be banned from EU market due to their carcinogenic, toxic for reproduction effect or their persistence in the environment and accumulate in living organisms. Operators wishing to sell or use these substances will need to demonstrate that the required safety measures have been taken to adequately control the risks, or that the benefits for the economy and society outweigh the risks. Where feasible alternative substances or techniques exist, a timetable for substitution will also have to be submitted.

Members of the European Parliament meeting in Plenary Session on 17 February, have approved a resolution which calls for urgent measures to combat food price manipulation and ensure that food production is maintained in the EU. The text reflects Parliament's position in relation to the effects that climate change and commodity speculation are having in threatening food security inside and outside the EU.

Nearly one in eight European households includes a child under the age of six. One in five of these children, who represent 19 million children, are at risk of poverty. For that reason, the European Commission has launched for the first time an action plan aimed at giving every child a better start in life and to lay the foundations for successful lifelong learning, social integration, personal development and employability later in life.

Neelie Kroes, European Commission Vice-President for the Digital Agenda, has issued an urgent call to twenty one EU countries to rapidly introduce all the legislative measures necessary to allow the pan-EU deployment of mobile satellite services that could be used for high-speed internet, mobile television and radio or emergency communications to EU consumers and businesses.

According to a resolution adopted by the European Parliament on 16 February, within the general context of economic crisis and progressive population ageing Europe is currently going through, it is crucial that Member States ensure that pension schemes can sustainably deliver an adequate income to the EU's growing number of retired people. The text approved in Plenary session also addresses issues such as pension's portability, as well as inequalities faced by women and older workers.

The EU has presented its agenda for reinforcing the right of the child. On this agenda are listed eleven actions that the European Commission will adopt in the coming years. This program implements the principles of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU through specific actions on security policies and child welfare, including the promotion of justice more suited to smaller, more information children about their rights and try to make the Internet a safer space for them.

During the European Parliament plenary session held in Strasbourg on 16 February, MEPs gave green light to the proposed Directive to prevent fake medicines from entering the legal supply chain. Under these new rules, manufacturers will have to include new safety features on the packages and new rules will apply to on-line sales, as well as to distributors and intermediaries.