European Union News

Four out of five Europeans say that they consider the environmental impact of the products they buy reveals a Eurobarometer survey published today. Environmental consideration was highest in Greece where more than 9 in 10 of those surveyed said the impact of a product on the environment plays an important aspect in their purchasing decisions.

On 29-30 July, 350 experts and participants from across the EU will meet in Göteborg for a conference on the creativity and cultural habits of children and young people. The conference takes place within the context of the European Year of Creativity and Innovation.

The Council for General Affairs and External Relations met on 27 July. The Ministers discussed EU enlargement and agreed to pass on Iceland's application for membership to the Commission. The ministers were also given a presentation of the Commission's proposal for a Baltic Sea Strategy, and discussed about other external issues. 

The Commission has presented a number of suggestions for revision of the current Block Exemption Regulation, which expires in May 2010 as well as the Guidelines on supply and distribution agreements (vertical restraints). The amendments suggested by the Commission take into account two major changes in the distribution sector in recent years: the increasing buying power of large retailers and the development of on-line sales . To seek the opinions of stakeholders, Commission launched a public consultation, which will be opened until September 28th 2009.

The European Commission has issued a call for proposals under the programme "Europe for citizens" to finance projects that test and develop international exchange programs to establish partnerships between civil society organizations.

These amendments will facilitate the implementation of the 455 programs of the cohesion policy for 2007-2013. The Commision will invest 347,000 million EUR, representing over one third of the EU budget. This is intended to accelerate the flow of investment to the project and the people most affected by the crisis in the regions of Europe.

The European Forest Fires Information System (EFFIS) reports on the fires in forest areas in Europe. According EFFIS, the current situation poses a high or even extreme fire risk in many parts of southern Europe and will continue in critical condition over the next few days.

Fuelling knowledge and understanding among young Europeans of the diversity of European cultures and languages is high on the EU agenda. A case in point is the 'Bridging Insula Europea' project, which seeks to offer young people the life skills they need for successful development of their personal and professional lives. The project is funded under Comenius, a 'Lifelong learning' sectoral programme.

The Member States have adopted a modernised and simplified version of the EU rules on coordination of social security systems, unther the Swedish Presidency. The decision of the Council was unanimous and without debate.

The Council of Ministers has followed the European Parliament in approving a proposal from the European Commission to modernise European legislation – the so-called GSM Directive – on the use of the radio spectrum needed for mobile services. The GSM Directive of 1987 reserves the use of part of the 900MHz spectrum band to GSM (Global System for Mobile or originally Groupe Spécial Mobile) access technologies such as mobile phones. The updated Directive now allows the 900 MHz frequency band to be used to provide faster, pan-European services such as mobile internet while ensuring the continuation of GSM services. This new flexibility will foster stronger competition on Europe's telecoms market and contribute to a more rapid and more widespread roll-out of wireless broadband services, one of the drivers of economic recovery. 

According to the latest report issued by the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and 20,382 are citizens of the EU and EFTA countries affected by H1N1 virus. In addition to these confirmed cases, there have been 35 deaths. England is the country with more infected: 11,159 confirmed cases.

Although 61% of Europeans think further impacts of the economic crisis on jobs are to be expected, and a third of those in work are 'very concerned' that they may lose their jobs in the crisis, 72% of EU citizens still feel that the EU has a positive impact in creating new job opportunities and fighting unemployment. These figures are put forward by a new survey delivered on July 24th.