European Union News

The European Commission has handed on June 2010 a mandate for the development of relevent standards on  common charging system for electric cars, scooters and bicycles to the European Standardisation Organisations bodies, CEN-CENELEC and ETSI. Thanks to this mandate plugs and connectors will use the same standard all across Europe, providing a true European solution independently of brands or countries. The Commission expects that the standard will be ready by mid-2011.

The European Commission has presented a campaign aiming to inform European passengers about their rights against problems which could appear when travelling around Europe. At the beginning of the Summer season, when millions of Europeans are starting or planning their holidays, the Commission provides them with a multilingual website where they can find full information about their rights as passengers.

According to the 7th Annual Report presented by the European Commission to the Parliament and the Council of June 25th (COM(2010)334 final) which gives the overview of third country trade actions against the European Union, the number of new investigations and trade defence measures imposed in 2009 was very high. In the Commission opinion, the standards applied in a number of measures against EU exporters leave something to be desired.

The 10 films pre-selected to compete for 2010 European Parliament LUX Prize were unveiled on Monday June 28th, at the Brussels European Film Festival. These films, made in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Romania and the UK, reflect the creative excellence of European cinema, which Parliament is pleased to support.

The Official Journal of the European Union publishes in its issue dated June 29th the notification of proposed concentration between the German transportation company  Deutsche Bahn and British Arriva. The Commission invites any interested party to send its comments over this operation until 10 days after publication in the OJ.

The European Union and the United States of America signed on June 28th 2010 an EU-US agreement on the processing and transfer of financial messaging data (the so-called SWIFT Agreement) for purposes of the US Terrorist Finance Tracking Programme (TFTP). This signature follows the adoption by the Council of a decision plus accompanying declarations.

The European Commission adopted on June 28th 2010 its Annual Report 2010 on the European Union's development and external assistance policies and their implementation in 2009. This Commission Staff document portrays the main elements and results of the European Union's external action in development and external assistance.

About 450.000 international successions occur every year in the European Union representing more than 120 billion Euro. The legal fact originated from the succession of EU citizens owning properties in different member states has now a new tool which provides relevant information both for citizens and legal practitioners.

The European Commission has recently adopted two major initiatives that will see changes to the financial regulations and a simplification of the procedures surrounding the EU's research Framework Programmes, in order to cut red tape and focus on research results. As well as making it easier for researchers to gain access to EU funds, the new rules would also help fuse more public and private funding, giving investment a stronger punch.

President Barroso and President Van Rompuy state after the conclusion of the summit meeting of the G20 in Toronto between June 26th and 27th, that this meeting has proven to be what it said it would be: the premier forum for international economic cooperation. Leaders meeting in Toronto have agreed on the next steps to take in order to ensure a full return to growth with quality jobs, to reform and strengthen financial systems, and to create strong, sustainable and balanced global growth.

Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme, Minister of Foreign Affairs Steven Vanackere and State Secretary for European Affairs Olivier Chastel launched the new official website for the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The website will be the nerve centre for communication during the Belgian EU presidency, and the official source for information.

Due to finance constraints, Regions are facing increasing problems to meet the requirements to get the most from EU funding. For that reason, the Commission has put forward a set of new measures aimed at simplifying management rules for the structural and cohesion funds. The changes should help to facilitate access to the funds and accelerate flows of investment at a time when public budgets are under pressure.