European Union News

In the context of economic crisis, EU ministers for transport have met in Brussels to analyze some strategies for the recovery of the automotive sector in Europe.

The European Commission has approved under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of the internet search and search advertising businesses of Yahoo! Inc. by Microsoft. With this merger, Microsoft aims to be a bigger competitor in search advertising for Google, and to become a real alternative to it.

A number of MEPs urged Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier to come up with common rules to regulate cross border online gambling in Europe. In a debate on 11 February many MEPs were concerned about the effects of gambling on minors, addiction and money laundering.

The key role of education and training in the recovery of Europe's economy was the main subject on the education ministers' agenda on 15 February. They discussed the importance of learning in the context of the proposal for the new 'EU 2020 strategy' to be adopted at the Spring summit in March.

The Spanish Government, currently holding the EU Presidency is to meet the new European Commission in Madrid on 23 February to study the priorities for the Spanish term, and to prepare for the March Council meeting, which will work on designing the basic structure for a new EU model of economic policy.

The 83rd Plenary session of the Committee of the Regions on the 10th February 2010 considered the item "Internet of things – An action plan for Europe and Re-use of Public Sector Information" about the review the application of the PSI re-use Directive

The European Commission has taken a number of decisions to implement the organisational consequences of the allocation of portfolios to Commissioners. Two new Directorates-General have been created: DG Energy (ENER) and DG Climate Action (CLIM).

Several events have already been held in different cities of Europe, such as Helsinki, Sofía, Prague, Dublin, Budapest, Vienna, Oslo, Warsaw, Paris, Brussels or Madrid. The last event of the year took place in Lisbon in December. Now, The Hague, in Netherlands, is hosting tomorrow the last of these events.

This four­day event (from 15 to 18 April) will bring together young talent under the slogan "We bring talent together, we create future" to launch the message of Europe as a space for Innovation. It takes over from the 2009 European Creativity and Innovation European Year.

The Ministers of Economy and Finance of the European Union are meeting in Brussels to look at some important matters, including systematically important financial institutions, the situation of Greece's public finances and the nomination of the future "number two" of the European Central Bank.

The Commission has approved the call for proposals EACEA/03/2010 under MEDIA 2009 Programme by establishing a system of automatic support to promote European cinema.

The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of 3Com Corporation by Hewlett-Packard Company, both of the US. The Commission concluded that the concentration would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it.