European Union News

The rapid increase of resources which are available in Europeana is probably one of the best examples to demonstrate the potential of the Internet for the dissemination of European cultural heritage. This target which is part of the Digital Agenda, will be fully addressed in the report to be submitted early 2011 by the Reflection Group set by the Commission to study the best way to promote European culture through the Internet.

Conclusions of the Joint Report by the Economic Policy Committee and the Social Protection Committee on "Progress and key challenges in the delivery of adequate and sustainable pensions in Europe" were on the agenda at the Ecofin Council held in Brussels on 17 November. Ministers approved a report on the sustainability of retirement pensions in view of ageing populations and following the economic and financial crisis.

The Official Journal of the European Union published on 18 November 2010 Regulation Nº 1031/2010 of 12 November 2010 on the timing, administration and other aspects of auctioning of greenhouse gas emission allowances. This Regulation aims to establish common rules in order to run a single auction system, considered as the most effective for the proper functioning of the single market.

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has achieved its goals for 2010 and embarked on a new phase of activity which will see scientists probe the kind of matter that existed just after the Big Bang.

14 Member States still lack to activate the missing children hotline 116 000 which offers help, support and a potential lifeline for missing children and their parents. This fact has been highlighted by the European Commission in the occasion of the celebration of the Expert Conference “Vulnerable Children on the Run, A European Challenge” hosted by Belgian Presidency.

The European Commission has presented on 17 November its energy infrastructure priorities for the next two decades. In the Communication, the Commission defines EU priority corridors for the transport of electricity, gas and oil, and outlines  a new method of strategic planning to coordinate and optimise energy network development on a continental scale.

This is one of the main findings put forward by the report on “Transatlantic airline alliances: competitive issues and regulatory approaches” as a result of a joint research made by the European Commission and the US Department of Transportation. This joint research was aimed at deepening the understanding of transatlantic air services and provide a foundation for substantive cooperation between the Commission and the DOT in the competitive assessment of airline alliances.

Members of the Eurogroup meeting in Brussels on 16 November held a discussion over the difficulties Ireland is facing in its budgetary, competitiveness and financial sector areas. Ministers, who also reviewed the situation in Portugal and Greece, agreed on taking any coordinated action, in close collaboration with the International Monetary Fund, in order to safeguard the financial stability of the Euro area.

During the European Parliament Part Session held in November, the Chamber passed a resolution backing the EU "innovation partnerships" scheme, which aims to bring together EU, national and regional players across policy areas and industries to tackle specific societal challenges. Following this path the first partnership on "Active and Healthy Ageing" should be launched in early 2011.

A year after two previous texts, the European Commission has adopted a new proposal seeking to strengthen the mechanism for the assessment of the correct application of standards part of the Schengen acquis. This mechanism aims to control the remaining obstacles verifying the elimination of controls at internal borders and to do more effective checks within national territory.

European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), Peter Hustinx, and Assistant Supervisor, Giovanni Buttarelli held a press conference on 15 November about the future of the EU legal framework for data protection, addressing in particular the European Commission's recent communication on a data protection reform strategy. They highlighted the need for an ambitious reform and called for an effective data protection scheme in the European Union.

European Parliament held on 15 November a preliminary debate within the Civil Liberties Committee, about the proposal for Directive on sexual abuse of children and child pornography. MEPs stressed the need to overcome some difficulties about this regulation based on Member States' differing sensitivities and traditions, specially in aspects related to web access blockage.