European Union News

Europe's regional and local representatives have asserted their strengthened position under the new Lisbon treaty rules at the constituent plenary session of the Committee of the Regions' 2010-2015 mandate. 344 regional presidents, parliamentarians, mayors and county councillors from across Europe have met in Brussels to elect their new leadership, debate the political priorities of regions and local authorities in Europe for the next five years, and in particular the future of regional policy.

The European Commission has published in the Official Journal of the European Union on February 10th 2010 a Call for Proposals related to the Programme of support for the European audiovisual sector, MEDIA 2007 and to the Preparatory Action MEDIA International part of the said Programme.

The European Parliament elected the new European Commission by 488 votes to 137, with 72 abstentions, in Strasbourg on Tuesday. The vote took the form of a single ballot on the whole College of Commissioners, consisting of one Commissioner from each of the 27 EU Member States.

50% of European teenagers give out personal information on the web – according to an EU study – which can remain online forever and can be seen by anybody. Today, Safer Internet Day, the European Commission is passing a message to teenagers: "Think before you post!"

The Commission has published the results of the public consultation on the EU 2020 strategy. It consists of two documents in the context of the preparation for the Europe 2020 strategy, the successor to the Lisbon strategy.

European research ministers have made a commitment in San Sebastián to increase investment in R&D and to promote a culture of trust in scientists, without forgetting that research must be accountable to the public.

The European Commission has concluded that Romania had taken effective action to correct its budget deficit. But in view of a sharper-than-expected recession in 2009, the Commission proposes to extend the deadline by one year to 2012 to bring the deficit below 3% of GDP.

After the last hearing with Kristalina Georgieva, the European Parliament will finally hold a vote to approve or reject the Commission team as a whole. It comes two weeks later than the initial prevision.

The European Commission has officially announced the winner of the EU organic logo competition. Over the past two months, some 130,000 people have voted online to choose the new organic symbol from three finalists. The winning design is by Dusan Milenkovic, a student from Germany, who gained 63% of the overall vote for his “Euro-leaf” logo.

In its Communication entitled ‘Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES): we care for a safer planet’ , the Commission announced the establishment of a Partners Board to assist the Commission in the overall coordination of GMES. The Official Journal of the EU of February 8 has published the decision that creates this organ.

The Directorate General for Information Society and Media of the European Commission has issued a call for proposals on the MEDIA 2007 Programme, which finances the networking and mobility of students and trainers in Europe.

The EU Micro-finance Facility for business start-ups will be funded partly by its "Progress" employment and social solidarity programme and partly by unallocated margins in the EU budget, says a compromise agreement reached by MEPs and the Spanish Presidency on Thursday evening.