European Union News

The European Commission imposed fines over 17 European producers of prestressing steel for operating a cartel that lasted 18 years until 2002 and covered all but three of the then European Union Member States. Further to this decision, and based on their cooperation in the investigation process, the Commission has reduced these fines to the companies ArcelorMittal, Emesa/Galycas/ArcelorMittal (Espaňa), WDI/Pampus and Rautaruukki/Ovako.

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2010 has been jointly awarded to Professor Konstantin Novoselov and Professor Andre Geim of the University of Manchester in the UK. Novoselov and Geim have been awarded this Prize for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene.

A report published confirms that the EU has missed its target of halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010. The assessment of implementing the Commission's Biodiversity Action Plan shows that Europe's biodiversity remains under severe threat from the excessive demands we are making on our environment, such as changes in land use, pollution, invasive species and climate change. Nevertheless, the assessment reveals that significant progress has been made over the last two years. Important lessons learned from implementing the action plan will underpin the EU's post-2010 strategy.

European Union Justice Ministers have approved a law which ensures translation and interpretation rights in criminal proceedings. The law guarantees the right of suspects to obtain interpretation throughout criminal proceedings, including when receiving legal advice, in their own language in all courts in the EU.

The Second Knowledge for Innovation Forum of the European Parliament (K4I) is taking place between 11 and 14 October. During these days, the role of innovation in tackling the grand challenges will be at the centre of discussion with stakeholders and policy makers from all over Europe and beyond.

During the celebration of the European Parliament plenary session, MEPs adopted on 7 October, two resolutions seeking a more flexible cohesion policy, which will take into account the characteristics of different regions as well as simplify the procedures and improve systems for monitoring and evaluation.

Five experts from France, Belgium, Sweden, Austria and Germany are part of the European civil protection team deployed to support the Hungarian authorities in their efforts to combat the pollution caused by the break of a sludge depository in the city of Ajka. Commission liaison officer arrived to in Hungary on Saturday, 9 October.

The United Nations Climate Change Conference, held in Tianjin, China, between 4 and 9 October 2010, has shown that a lot of work still remains to be achieved before the celebration of the Climate Conference in Cancún. The Tianjin meeting has, nonetheless, paved the way for the adoption of a balanced package of decisions in the forthcoming Climate Conference in Cancún, which will takes forward global action to combat climate change.

All EU institutions raised their voice to mark the eighth World Day against the Death Penalty, celebrated on 10 October. The Council of Europe and the European Union reaffirmed their opposition to the use of capital punishment in all circumstances, and their commitment to the abolition of the death penalty worldwide; besides, the European Parliament also adopted a resolution condemning capital punishment and calling for an unconditional worldwide moratorium on executions.

The European Commission has presented its Communication entitled “Smart Regulation in the European Union” in order to ensure that European legislation really benefits European citizens and businesses. This Communication outlines the measures that the Commission intends to put in place in order to ensure better quality and relevance of legislation helping  achieve the ambitious objectives for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth set out by the Europe 2020 Strategy.

The Committee of the Regions (CoR) adopted on 6 October, during the celebration of the Open Days 2010 held in Brussels, a Resolution on the Cancun Climate Summit appealing to regions and local authorities to sign local climate action pacts setting out concrete measures in the fight against climate change.

The European Parliament's 24 committee chairs met the College of Commissioners for the first time on 7 October, to give their input to the Commission work programme for 2011. This meeting lisbon Treaty's mandate for further cooperation between the two institutions.