European Union News

A new report from Eurofound, published by the end of February 2009 maps innovative and good practice government and company measures to keep workers in employment. It shows how companies are using short-term working, paid/unpaid sabbaticals and 'pay for jobs' clauses in restructuring agreements and how social partners are reacting to these developments.

The European Commission adopted on October 22nd 2008 a Decision on setting up a European Cluster Policy Group with the aim to explore how to better assist Member States in supporting the emergence of more world-class clusters in the EU. Following a call for applications, the members of the Group have now been appointed.

The European Commission adopted on March 17th 2009 a proposal long-term plan to improve further the state of the northern hake stock in EU waters. This plan will replace the recovery plan which has been in place since 2004, and which has successfully helped the northern hake stock recover from almost collapse to the safe target size advised by scientists, putting forward as new objective the achievement of  maximum sustainable yield for this species.

Biometric visas, like biometric passports, should improve security provided the fingerprints they include are reliable. Following an agreement with the Council approved by the EP Civil Liberties Committee on March 16th 2009, children under twelve will be exempted from the requirement to provide fingerprints. MEPs also recommended some management methods as to facilitate registration and access to VIS and to reduce costs for MS.

After consulting the Economic and Financial Committee, the Council of the European Union has issued two opinions that analyze the situation in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria in the European convergence and serving as a revision to the programs that both countries must follow between 2008 and 2011

Euro area annual inflation was 1.2% in February 2009, up from 1.1% in January, while EU annual inflation was 1.7%, down from 1.8% in January. A year earlier the rate in the Euro area was 3.3%, and 3.5% in the European Union. These figures come from Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities.

Representatives from more than one hundred European universities and other stakeholders in the training of translators gather in Brussels on 16 and March 17 to complete the program that has launched the European Master in Translation and agree on the criteria that the programs Training must meet to obtain a quality label common EMT.

As part of the implementation of directives and regulations to regulate the market for electricity and gas in Europe, the Commission has prepared a report which highlights the progress that has been performed in this field in recent years, and warns of gaps in the transposition of standards into national legislation of some Member States and the need of continue investing in infrastructure.

Directive 2009/12/EC of March 11th 2009 on airport charges, was published by the Official Journal of the European Union on Marcha 15th 2009, with the objective to set common principles for the levying of airport charges at Community airports. Following this objective a common framework regulating the essential features of airport charges and the way they are set will be established for EC airports whose annual traffic is over five million passenger movements.

On Monday the European Commission will officially launch a guide on the hunting of wild birds to ensure the activity is carried out in accordance with EU nature legislation. It aims to clarify the hunting requirements of the EU's oldest nature law, the Wild Birds Directive, which celebrates its 30th anniversary on the 2nd of April 2009. This is one of the key tools in helping achieve the EU's objective of halting biodiversity loss. The guide on sustainable hunting be launched at an official ceremony in Paris by the French Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo and the Director General of the Commission's Directorate General for Environment, Karl Falkenberg.

Making Europe the world leader in ICT is the goal of the new strategy proposed on March 13th 2009 by the European Commission. In its Communication, the Commission proposes a strategy to establish Europe's industrial and technology leadership in information and communication technologies (ICT), to make Europe more attractive for ICT investments and skills, and to ensure that its economy and society benefit fully from ICT developments.

MEPs adopted a resolution on the occasion of the V World Water Forum to be held in Istanbul from 16 to March 22. MEPs call for the removal of global subsidies to the distribution of water, because they are leading to artificially low prices and to overexploitation of resources. Moreover, MEPs want the problem of water management and water resources to included in the agenda of the conference on climate change in Copenhagen.