European Union News

Following negotiations between the European Parliament and the Council, both institutions agreed on 13 September in some key aspects regarding the new legislation to update the Late Payments Directive. Among the decisions taken the standard deadline for both public and private sectors to pay a bill for goods or services will now be 30 days.

Despite ever greater efforts to protect biodiversity, this precious resource continues to decline. Now a group of scientists and conservationists warns that to reverse this troubling trend, society must urgently rethink its attitudes to biodiversity and change its behaviour accordingly. The team hopes its message will be heeded by world leaders when they attend the forthcoming 65th session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, which will be devoted to the subject of biodiversity. In addition, the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity is scheduled to take place this autumn.

The European Council confirmed on 13 September its political agreement on a draft regulation aimed at reviewing the EU system for the standard description of fibres and the labelling of textile products. This Council position will now be forwarded to the Parliament for second reading.

The Commission reminds companies that they must register the most widely used or most dangerous chemicals by the deadline of 30 November 2010. Registration is one of the milestones of REACH, the EU Regulation on chemicals and their safe use Companies are also reminded that they must notify the Classification and Labelling of their chemicals to European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) by 3 January 2011.

Recently-released Cuban political prisoners Ricardo González Alfonso, Normando Hernández, Antonio Díaz and Alejandro González Raga urged Parliament's Human Rights Subcommittee on 13 September for not revising the Council policy decision on Cuba of 1996. This policy decision determines the dialogue with La Havana to progress in human rights and political openness on its part.

New rules to enhance and improve the safety performance of ships were adopted by the European Commission on 13 September. The rules will introduce, from 1 January 2011, a new online register to "to name and shame" shipping companies which are performing poorly on vital safety inspections (port state controls), while those with strong safety records will be given good public visibility.

The Commission published its latest interim economic forecast on 13 September 2010. The underlying message of this update of GDP and inflation variables is that the EU economy, while still fragile, is recovering at a faster pace than previously envisaged. The updated projections include France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the United Kingdom. The seven countries concerned represent 79% of EU and almost 83% of Euro area GDP.

The European Union granted 52.3 million Euro from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) in 2009 to help some 11,000 workers dismissed in eight countries, according to a report adopted by the European Commission. The third annual report on the activities of the EGF shows a six-fold increase in applications from Member States for funding to support workers dismissed as a result of globalisation and the economic crisis.

The European Commission opened early September a consultation to evaluate the current operation of the Regulation concerning common rules for the allocation of slots at Community airports and to collect information for an impact assessment. All interested parties may submit their contributions by 29 October, welcoming concerned citizens, organisations and public authorities points of view.

The Foreign Affairs Council meeting held in Brussels on 10 September exchanged some views relating some key issues on International Investment Policy. Ministers agreed on the need to put into place a common framework to develop the new EU competence in foreign direct investment granted by the Treaty of Lisbon.

On 9 September 2010, the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) of the Council celebrated its 50th anniversary. In that occasion, its current chairman of the SCA, Mr Herman Hooyberghs, highlighted the important role of the SCA in the past, present and future for the functioning of the common agricultural policy (CAP).

Nearly 5.000 researchers have applied for EU-funded Marie Curie fellowship grants this year, an increase of 20% on last year and 70% on 2008. Around 800 fellowships worth a total of €150 million will be granted to researchers working on projects of up to three years in another country. For the first time, a funding category is available for researchers who want to restart their career after a break.