European Union News

Ministers responsible for the Environment meeting in Brussels within the Council on 20 December, reached an agreement which will make pest control products and other everyday items safer to use. The Council determined its first-reading position on revised EU rules concerning biocidal products, which covers a wide range of pest control products, such as insecticides, disinfectants and repellents, but not medicines or agricultural pesticides.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has brought key players from the mobile phone industry to the virtual table for an agreement on best practices for mobile web content, the group has announced. The framework, 'Mobile Web Application Best Practices', aims to foster cooperation between industry giants to build a more positive experience in the mobile environment.

The European Court of Auditors has put forward a Special Report pointing out a series of elements in the system of specific measures for agriculture in favour of the outermost regions of the Union and the smaller Aegean islands, whose implementation could be improved. This report assesses to what extent the new approach introduced in such scheme in its 2006 revision, has been adopted in order to improve the efficiency of the system.

There many different aspects in everyday life which are related to the science branch called Metrology which refers to the science and application of measurement. Today, Europe's metrologists are working together in the European Metrology Research Programme (EMRP), and are helping to address the grand challenges facing the world today in diverse fields such as the environment, energy and health.

The European Commission published 22 December a report on indirect land use change related to biofuels and bioliquids, acknowledging that this pretice can reduce greenhouse gas emissions savings associated with biofuels, but also identifying a number of uncertainties associated with the available models. The Commission will make an impact assessment and take into consideration potential changes to the existing legislation.

On 21 December, Commissioner Malmström officially launched the new website dedicated to the fight against trafficking in human beings, a tool which aims at supporting actions in this field. Commissioner Malström was backed by Myria Vassiliadou, the new Anti Trafficking Coordinator, who will act in order to strengthen EU action against human trafficking

The Task Force to assess Member States' use of EU funding with regard to the social and economic integration of Roma, established in September by the European Commission has now reported its initial findings. According to them it seems that while EU funds offer considerable potential for bolstering Roma inclusion, bottlenecks at national, regional and local levels are limiting their effective use by Member States.

Commission Vice President Siim Kallas responsible for Transport, expressed on 21 December Commission's concern about the level of disruption to travel across Europe caused by severe snow. The European Commission has described this situation as unacceptable and declared it should not happen again.

On 21 December the European Commission presented draft legislation to strengthen rules on the control of major accident hazards involving chemicals. The revision of the so-called Seveso II Directive will align the legislation to changes in EU chemicals law and will clarify and update other provisions, with the objective to establish stricter rules and improve the level and quality of information available to the public in the event of an accident.

European Ministers in charge for the environment took note at the Council meeting held in Brussels on 20 December of a report from the presidency on work concerning the proposals to allow member states to restrict the cultivation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in their territory. Although the Council is willing to continue discussions with the Commission on this issue, most delegations have expressed two conditions to do so.

After nine months of negotiations, the European Parliament confirmed on 16 December the agreement with the Council on the new regulation on implementing powers for the Commission. This new regulation, proposed by the Commission shortly after the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, means a wide ranging reform of the so-called 'comitology' system. It will enter into force on 1st March and will automatically replace the existing system.

The European Commission has published on 20 December a Communication outlining the most serious tax problems that EU citizens face in cross-border situations and has announces plans for solutions. This Communication also puts forward that some measures should be implemented in order to make national tax systems more compatible so that citizens will not be deterred from engaging in cross-border activities.