European Union News

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, as the EU representative, and the US Deputy Secretary of State, Jim Steinberg, will visit Sarajevo on 6 and 7 April in the framework of a joint strategy to promote stability in Bosnia and Herzegovina and its integration in the Euro-Atlantic community.

The European Commission has adopted proposals to enhance the EU's role in global health. The objective is to make Europe's contribution more effective so as to better accompany developing countries in getting back on track towards achieving health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

European citizens would for the first time be able to directly suggest new legislation through the European Citizens' Initiative, proposed in detail today by the European Commission

The Presidency has supported by a vast majority of ministers meeting in the Agriculture Council called for action in areas ranging from the reinforcement of the agro-food industry to a better balancing of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and EU competition rules.

The Commission’s annual work programme translates the annual policy strategy into policy objectives and an operational programme of decisions to be adopted by the Commission. It sets out major political priorities and identifies legislative initiatives, executive and other acts that the Commission intends to adopt for the realisation of these priorities

Barcelona to host Second European Forum on Cultural Industries over two days (29 and 30 March) as prologue to Informal Meeting of Ministers of Culture on 31 March More than 500 representatives of European culture seek new strategies to boost the sector

As from 5 April, the EU Visa Code will become applicable. The Visa Code gathers into a single document all legal provisions governing decisions on visas. It increases the transparency, develops legal security and ensures equal treatment of applicants while harmonising rules and practices for the Schengen States (22 Member States and 3 associated states) applying the common visa policy

The European Commission has proposed new rules to step up the fight against trafficking in human beings. The new proposal will help to combat modern slavery by ensuring consistency of national rules on crimes and penalties, better assistance for victims and tougher action to prosecute criminals responsible for trafficking.

The European Commission has published the spring Consumer Markets Scoreboard, which reveals that EU consumers are still not reaping the full benefits of the internal market due to barriers to cross-border commerce. It also underlines the variation in the ability of consumers to afford goods and services from one country to another.

The European Commission has proposed new rules obliging EU countries to impose more severe punishment on those who sexually abuse children. The proposal also calls for criminal prosecution of activities like 'grooming' (befriending children with the intention of sexually abusing them) and "sex tourism", even if the child abuse has taken place outside the EU.

The European Council has agreed on the key elements of the new strategy for jobs and growth, the EU 2020 strategy. To president Van Rompuy, who chaired the meeting on 25-26 March, the strategy sums up the European model of social market economy with a strong environmental dimension.

The Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (AECI) has launched a call for proposals for the work programme 2010"Intelligent Energy for Europe". The budget of the call is EUR 56 million.