European Union News

“Promoting Innovation Through Public Procurement: Best Practice & Networking” is the title of the conference that will take place in Brussels on 23-24 March 2010, organized by the Directorate General for Industry and Entrepreneurship.

La Granja (Segovia) iwill host the first informal meeting of ministers for Europe of the Spanish Presidency, where the Secretary of State for the EU, Diego López Garrido will present the aims of the Spanish Presidency, along with the broad lines of the joint programme of the trio of Presidencies (Spain, Belgium and Hungary)

A glittering show will mark the success of this years' winners of the 2010 European Border Breakers Awards (EBBAs). 8 award winners will be performing live in the show together with Jools Holland and last years' EBBA winner Ida Corr. The show will be covered on television throughout Europe. The European public have voted for the act they would like to receive the 'Public Choice EBBA' and the winner will be announced during the show.

The euro area (EA16) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 10.0% in November 2009, compared with 9.9% in October. It was 8.0% in November 2008. The EU27 unemployment rate was 9.5% in November 2009, compared with 9.4% in October. It was 7.5% in November 2008. For the euro area this is the highest rate since August 1998 and for the EU27 since the start of the series.

On 19 January, the INNO-Learning Platform of the PRO INNO Europe initiative is organising a panel discussion on 'Measuring the Impact of European Innovation Policy Cooperation Initiatives'.

The TEN-T EA is organising its second Project Management Workshop in Brussels on 12-13 January 2010. The event, which mirrors the first Project Management Workshop held in December 2008, will feature both a plenary session as well as smaller breakout thematic sessions, aimed at providing participants with more in-depth information on more specific topics.

From today until January 19th, the European Parliament will hold a series of public hearings with the 26 candidate Commissioners put forward by the Council and Commission President José-Manuel Barroso.

Three European cities are set to kick off a year-long culture fest featuring exhibitions, music and theatre. The cities chosen to be this year's European capitals of culture are Essen and the Ruhr region of Germany, Pécs in southern Hungary and Istanbul in Turkey. Taking over from Linz (Austria) Vilnius (Lithuania), the three have put together a packed programme of events that should attract tens of thousands of visitors.

The level of innovation in regions varies considerably across almost all EU countries. This is one of the main findings of the 2009 Regional Innovation Scoreboard (RIS), published by the JRC's Institute for the Protection and Security of the Citizen (IPSC), together with the Commission's Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry and the Maastricht University (MERIT).

The Spanish EU presidency called Thursday for a common European stance on the use of body scanners at airports while EU members are divided over its use at airports.

Romania absorbed under 3% of the European funds that could be accessed by Romanian firms, authorities and organizations during 2007-2013, three years after the country’s accession to the EU,

The Business Climate Indicator (BCI) for the euro area improved further in December, and the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) rose once again in December to 92.0 (+4.1 points) in the EU and to 91.3 (+2.5). It is their ninth consecutive monthly increase. But they remain at a low level.