European Union News

The European Commission has proposed to amend existing European rules on the supervision of financial conglomerates, according to its work creating a safer and sounder financial system and preventing a future crisis.

The team of EU-funded scientists behind the EcoBot series (I, II, III) of robots has generated energy by feeding the machine food waste and raw materials. They have now set their sights on converting energy from urine for the same outcome.

The European Commission has opened a public consultation in order to gather the points of view of stakeholders regarding the situation of  the implementation of the Directive on electronic commerce (2000/31/EC), and the future of electronic commerce in the internal market. Consultation is open until 15 October 2010.

The EU’s Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC) cares for countries affected by emergencies and disasters get immediate help. After its successful actions in the past, the commission wants now to transform the MIC into a genuine operational centre with its own resources, which could be deployed immediately.

The European Commission has presented on 9 August 2010 the Proposal for a Council Decision (COM(2010) 426 final) on the conclusion of an Agreement between the European Union and the SwissConfederation establishing the terms and conditions for the participation of the Swiss Confederation in the ‘Youth in Action’ programme and in the action programme in the field of lifelong learning (2007-2013).

Thanks to EU-funded research, medical experts will be able to more quickly identify the harmful bacteria or fungus which may be lurking in the wounds of burn victims and causing an infection, speeding up the diagnostic and healing process by days.

GDP increased by 1.0% in both the Euro area and the EU27 during the second quarter of 2010, compared with the previous quarter, according to flash estimates published by Eurostat. In the first quarter of 2010, growth rates were +0.2% in both zones. In the case of Spain, the economy grew by 0.2% in the second quarter.

The Council of the European Union adopted on 12 August 2010 a decision extending the mandate of the European Union monitoring mission in Georgia (EUMM Georgia) by twelve months until 14 September 2011. The main tasks of the Mission remain the same, focused on stabilisation, normalisation, confidence building as well as informing European policy and future Union engagement.

A two-woman research team from European Universities is braving chilly temperatures to fuel our understanding of how life could exist on other planets in the Solar System. Their work is part of the EUROPLANET RI (European planetology network research infrastructure) project, which is seeking to foster a culture of community through a range of networking activities for greater cooperation in the field of planetary sciences.

The European Commission has approved under EU state aid rules the rollout of a public open network (Xarxa Oberta) in the Spanish region of Catalonia. The network will serve the connectivity needs of the regional administrative centres in the region and will be open at wholesale level to electronic communications operators seeking access to it.

Industrial production in the Euro area this year 2010 has grown by 8.2% and in the EU by 7.7% compared to June 2009, according to data provided by Eurostat. Referring to monthly comparative the rate has decreased 0.1% in the Euro area but has remained stable in the whole of the European Union in June 2010 compared with May 2010.

The European Central Bank has issued on 29 July 2010, a Decision establishing that Central Banks will have access to transaction-level data on all participants of all TARGET2 components extracted from TARGET2 for the purposes of ensuring the efficient functioning of TARGET2 and its oversight. The nature of the data and operations managed under TARGET2 makes it necessary to preserve the highest level of confidentiality.