European Union News

After the surge in July 2010, the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) continued to improve in both the EU and the euro area, albeit at a slower pace. It rose to 102.7 in the EU and to 101.8 in the euro area. In both the EU and the euro area the ESI is above its long-term average.

Next 2nd and 3rd December in Brussels it was given the award for the 2011 Accessibility Award Access City that promotes improving accessibility for people with disabilities in the European scene.

A team of EU-funded researchers from Denmark and the UK after discovering that two heads are indeed better but only when both partners are equally competent and could agree after discussing the problem soundly.

European Union and European Investment Bank have funded water and sanitation project to benefit a million Malawians.

New research shows how using biosynthetic corneas can help regenerate and repair damaged eye tissue, and give human vision a significant boost. Presented in the journal Science Translational Medicine and funded in part by an EU Marie Curie International Fellowship, the study finds that the optimisation of these implants could provide an effective and safe alternative to donated corneas for patients who need treatment.

Commission's consultation on the Green Paper "Unlocking the potential of cultural and creative industries" has had more than 350 contributions submitted. They will help the Commission better respond to the needs of cultural and creative industries in Europe.

Researchers in the UK and Canada have discovered that vitamin D deficiency is linked to autoimmune diseases and cancer. The findings have important implications for public health, in particular prenatal care.

Research under the Census of Marine Life initiative, funded in part by the EU, has resulted in the discovery of at least 1,200 new species, and generated more than 2,600 publications. The latest in a long list of achievements is a species inventory of distribution and diversity in 25 key ocean areas. The inventory is part of a collection of articles published in PLoS (Public Library of Science) ONE.

An international team of scientists working from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Chile has discovered a neighbouring planetary system that shares many features with our Solar System. The findings, published in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, are an outcome of a large-scale survey being conducted with the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher, or HARPS spectrograph.

75% of Europeans think that stronger coordination of economic and financial policies among EU Member States would be effective in fighting the economic crisis, according to the Spring 2010 Eurobarometer. 72% of Europeans support a stronger supervision by the EU of the activities of the most important international financial groups. Europeans’ main areas of concern in the crisis were the current economic situation, unemployment and rising prices.

According to the results of an EU-funded study, car travel increases global temperatures more than an air travel for the same journey but only in the long term. Travelling by plane, on the other hand, adversely affects short-lived warming processes at high altitudes. The findings are part of the QUANTIFY ('Quantifying the climate impact of global and European transport systems') project and have been published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

The European Commission is committed to taking the necessary steps to improve the situation of Roma people and their social and economic integration in society. On 7 April 2010 the Commission adopted a Communication on the social and economic integration of Roma in Europe, the first ever policy document dedicated specifically to Roma.