European Union News

In response to the ever increasing scale of the humanitarian crisis, the Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, Kristalina Georgieva, announced that the Commission will mobilise an additional urgent relief assistance.

The NET4SOCIETY ('Trans-national co-operation among National Contact Points for socio-economic sciences and the humanities') project has improved international cooperation in the field of economic sciences and humanities (SSH) through efforts to facilitate the participation of scientists in these fields.

The European Commission's Reflection Group on digitisation launched a consultation on how best to foster the online presence of cultural heritage. The consultation will run until 30 September 2010.

The next European Union-United States Summit will be held in Lisbon, Portugal, 20^th November. The President of the European Council, Herman van Rompuy, the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, and, on the other hand, the U.S. President Barack Obama, will be there.

Directorate-General for Regional Policy has launched a tender to establish an expert evaluation network delivering policy analysis in the European Union.

The European Commission has approved, under EU state aid rules applicable to the financial sector in the current crisis, the recapitalisation of the Dutch insurance company AEGON. The decision was taken after a detailed assessment of the company's preliminary plan submitted by the Dutch authorities on 19 November 2009 and of the final plan submitted on 26 July 2010.

ERC grant scientists have decided to centre their efforts on making a clock that will be a revolution.

The Council adopted its position on the EU draft budget for the financial year 2011, approving targeted cuts in the Commission's proposal whilst ensuring appropriate funding for the priorities of the European Union, in particular economic recovery.

Directorate-General for Education and Culture has launched a tender to study on educational support for newly arrived migrant children in UE.

Every two years, the Grand-Place in Brussels is dressed in its traditional "floral mantle" on 12th August. Each edition of the Flower Carpet is dedicated to a new theme. This year, as might be expected, the Belgian Presidency of the European Union was the obvious cornerstone of the colourful spectacle.

EU-funded scientists have developed a computerised warning sensor that monitors a ship's all-important lubricated systems. A black box attached to the ship's engine together with the unit's oil-monitoring software work together to warn a crew if the lifeblood of their vessel is under threat. The sensor can even provide solutions to get the ship back on track.

According to the data released by Eurostat on July 2010, Euro area annual inflation was 1.7%, whereas for the whole of the European Union the rate was 2.1%. Monthly inflation was -0.3% and -0.2% respectively.