European Union News

President Barroso will represent the Commission at the G8 summit for the fifth time, which this year takes place under Italian chairmanship in L'Aquila (Italy). G8 leaders will notably address the global economy, including trade, climate change and energy, Africa/development and food security.

The landscape for ICT (Information and Communication Technology) standardisation has dramatically changed over the last decade. Alongside the traditional standard stetting organisations, specialised and mostly global fora and consortia have become more active and several have emerged as world-leading ICT standards development bodies, such as those responsible for the standards covering the internet and the World Wide Web. This development is not reflected in the EU standardisation policy. Fora and consortia standards cannot currently be referenced, even if they could be of benefit in helping to achieve public policy goals.

The Directorate-General for Information Society and Media (European Commission) will allocate a maximum of 0.3 meuros for the development of an study about flagships initiatives.

The assistance package of €40mio will fund several programmes in different areas such as the strengthening of culture policies and civil society, support of SME networks, border management, air quality governance and disaster preparedness. All the projects to be financed with this programme will have a regional scope as they each will each benefit at least two of the seven partner states along the Eastern border of the EU (Russia, Ukraine, Republic of Moldova, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia).

The Commission has issued a call for proposals which finances with 400 million euros the activities under the programme CULTURE 2007-2013

The European Commission adopted nine decisions addressed to Austria, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Greece, Spain, France, Hungary and the Slovak Republic concerning temporary exemptions in 94 zones or agglomerations from the EU's air quality standards for airborne particles known as PM 10.

The European Commission decided not to raise any objections to a new aid scheme which will encourage modal shift of freight from road to rail and inland waterway within the UK.

The Official Journal of the European Union has published the Council Decision of 30 June 2009 appointing a new member of the Commission of the European Communities.

The Official Journal of the European Union 2.7.2009 has published the Council Directive 2009/71/EURATOM of 25 June 2009 establishing a Community framework for the nuclear safety of nuclear installations.

 The Commission has launched an award which aims to promote innovation in ICT that will contribute to substantial and measurable improvements in energy efficiency, and that have the potential to provide visible and convincing showcases for investment by business, citizens or both.

The Official Journal of the European Union C 150/17 has published on the 2nd July the prior notification of a concentration Fiat/Chrysler (Case COMP/M.5518).

The European Commission will allocate a maximum of 0.4 million euros for a study on access to justice in cases of discrimination based on gender, race, ethnicity, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation.