European Union News

The European Commission has cleared the proposed acquisition of American Life Insurance Company ("ALICO") and Delaware American Life Insurance Company ("DelAm"), by MetLife, Inc., (“MetLife”) and the proposed acquisition of Chloride, a UK-based electrical equipment supplier, by the U.S. company Emerson.

Using natural means and without any hormonal induction, EU scientists have succeeded in obtaining viable mass eggs from Atlantic bluefin tuna in captivity. Pressure on endangered wild stocks could be significantly relieved if breeding can be developed on a commercial scale.

The Council and the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States of the European Union have adopted a decision on the signing and provisional application of the Protocol to Amend the Air Transport Agreement between the United States of America, of the one part, and the European Community and its Member States, of the other part. The decision has been published in OJ on 25th August 2010.

A new design methodology, process and tool environment has been created under the four-year SPEEDS ('Speculative and exploratory design in systems engineering') project that is set to significantly enhance Europe's embedded systems industry. Designed for model-based, safety-critical systems, the product not only improves design quality but cuts down time and cost.

EU-funded scientists have discovered that stem cells from one of the main organs of the immune system can be reprogrammed to form hair follicle stem cells, thanks to alter the environment in which the cells are grown. These results demonstrate that it is possible to alter stem cells without genetic manipulation.

The European Commission adopted an opinion on a proposal by seven EU Member States (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden) for a European Investigation Order, a system facilitating justice authorities' work in obtaining evidence for transnational criminal proceedings (or investigations). The proposal would allow authorities to request their counterparts to investigate, share and gather evidence.

The EC has extended until the end of 2010 the liquidity support scheme for banks in Slovenia.

European Defence Agency has launched a tender to address key European defence technical and industrial dependences. This tender has been published in OJ on 21th August, 2010.

The EC has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition by the French group Lactalis of Spanish group Puleva's dairy business, after concluding that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in Europe or Spain.

On July 2010, Italian authorities confiscated €60 million of Mafia assets. In the UK, £92.3 million was seized from an international crime ring with property in Dubai. The seizures only claim a fraction of the total wealth of criminals, which today can be easily transferred across borders.