European Union News

Speakers of Bulgarian and Greek will soon be able to have .eu websites in their own languages. The European Commission has adopted new EU rules to make it possible for internet users and businesses to register domain names under .eu using the characters of all the 23 official languages of the European Union, now including Cyrillic and Greek scripts. This means that later this year .eu will also be available in the alphabets used by Bulgarians, Greeks and Cypriots and special characters used in other languages.

The aim of the European Action on Drugs is to seek a European response to a growing problem which is no respecter of borders and to the potentially devastating economic and social consequences of drug abuse, particularly among the youth.

The Commission has taken firm action today against 25 Member States who prevent European consumers benefiting from the advantages of a competitive and open Energy Market by not complying with EU legislation. All the member states, except Cyprus and Malta, will be receiving letters of formal notice for not complying with applicable gas and electricity regulations. The Commission has also sent letters of formal notice to Greece, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Lithuania for maintaining a system of regulated prices in violation of the EU directives on electricity and gas.

The adoption of the Nuclear Safety Directive is a major step for achieving a common legal framework and a strong safety culture in Europe. The EU has thus become the first major regional nuclear actor to provide binding legal force to the main international nuclear safety standards, namely the Safety Fundamentals established by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the obligations resulting from the Convention on Nuclear Safety . The Directive also reinforces the independence and resources of the national competent regulatory authorities.

 The European Commission has decided to refer Austria, Ireland Italy and Spain to the European Court of Justice over non-implementation into national law of the Statutory Audit Directive. The Commission has also decided to send formal requests to Belgium, Ireland, Greece, Luxembourg, Poland and Portugal as they have failed to fully implement into their national laws the latest Directive in the field of accounting within the prescribed deadline. These formal requests take the form of "reasoned opinions", the second stage of the infringement procedure laid down in Article 226 of the EC Treaty. If there is no satisfactory reply within two months, the Commission may refer the matter to the European Court of Justice.

A new specially dedicated page has been launched within CORDIS website in order to gather all information, events and highlights focused on security research.

Following the request of the Council and the European Parliament, the Commission adopted on June 24th 2009 a legislative package proposing the setting up of an Agency for the long‑term operational management of the Schengen Information System (SIS II), Visa Information System (VIS), EURODAC and other large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice.

EU Ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries meeting in Luxembourg between June 22nd and 23rd adopted conclusions on areas with natural handicaps, on the quality of agricultural products and on sustainable aquaculture. Council also reached political agreement on a proposed regulation on the welfare of animals at the time of slaughter or killing, and had a policy debate on the reform of the fisheries control policy.

In order to reinforce and upgrade cooperation with the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), the European Commission has signed a new Memorandum of Understanding to cover issues such as reinforced cooperation through joint activities to consolidate and further develop ERA and implement and follow up the European Strategy for Particle Physics, as well as consultations and exchange of information on issues of mutual interest. The text has been published in the OJEU on June 24th.

The President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering, has welcomed the agreement on the legal guarantees for Ireland between the 27 Member States which paves the way for a second referendum in Ireland and the full ratification of the Lisbon Treaty.

The Official Journal of the European Union has published the 23.6.2009 a Call for proposals - EAC/26/2009 for the evidence based-policy and practice: call for proposals to develop networks of knowledge brokerage initiatives (2009/C 142/04).

Farmers and pet owners will soon get better information on the feed they buy, a step that will further strengthen food safety in the EU, after the Council of Agriculture Ministers adopted a regulation replacing the current legislation on marketing and the use of feed. The new legislation, based on a Commission proposal from 2008, considerably simplifies the existing procedures and it will help promote innovation and competitiveness in the European feed sector. It is also expected to lead to a more integrated single market for feed by reducing the administrative burden for feed operators. The regulation was endorsed by the European Parliament on February 5 and is expected to enter into force later this year.