European Union News

The ECOFIN Council has met for the second time under Czech Presidency, and started preparations for the European Council to be held in March. These preparations concern some major issues in the economic scenario for the coming months such as the possible single market review, the implementation of national measures under the European Economic Recovery Plan, or issues of space for the execution of fiscal stimuli, reduced VAT rates and the appropriate timing of budget consolidation.

Commissioner for Regional Policy, Danuta Hübner, recently announced that more than €38 billion was paid out to Member States in 2008 through the European Union's Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund. This support co-financed thousands of regional development projects across the EU, ranging from major transport, environmental and energy infrastructure to investment in innovative SMEs and training.

The agreement signed in Luxembourg at the Safer Internet Day organised by the European Commission will empower teenagers to deal with potential risks they may face online, like cyberbullying or revealing personal information. This is the first agreement to be signed at European level which will involve 17 leading web firms such as Arto, Bebo, Dailymotion, Facebook, Giovani.it, Google/YouTube, Hyves, Microsoft Europe, Myspace, Nasza-klaza.pl, Netlog, One.lt, Skyrock, StudiVZ, Sulake/Habbo Hotel, Yahoo!Europe, and Zap.lu.

The Official Journal of the European Union has published on February 10th 2009, a new Call for Proposals for for modal shift, catalyst, motorways of the sea, traffic avoidance and common learning actions under the Second Marco Polo Programme. The proposed budget for 2009 Call, which will close on May 8th , will be approximately 62 M€.

The Commission has published in the Official Journal of the European Union of February 10th 2009, the prior notification of a concentration between French undertakings Dassault Aviation, TSA and Thales, and invites interested third parties to submit their possible observations to the Commission no later than ten after this publication.

The European Commission has published in the Official Journal of the European Union on January 10th, 2009 a new call under Erasmus Mundus Programme 2009-2013, inviting to submit proposals aiming to promote cooperation between higher education institutions and academic staff in Europe and Third Countries.

President of the European Commission, José Manuel Durão Barroso, stressed the increasingly crucial role that the European Union must assume in managing instability. In his speech addressed at the Munich Security Conference on February 7th, President Barroso pointed out some of the challenges the World is now facing and  which are starting to have serious geopolitical and social repercussions.

The European Commission has launched a call for evidence on the review of the application of the Investor Compensation Schemes Directive, Directive 1997/9/EC, which aims to protect investors against the risk of losses in the event of an investment firm's inability to repay money or return assets held on behalf of their clients. Interested parties can reply to this call until April 8th 2009.

The European Commission has published in the Official Journal of the European Union on February 7th 2009 two Calls for Proposals related to the Programme of support for the European audiovisual sector, MEDIA 2007 and to the Preparatory Action MEDIA International part of the said Programme. The total budget allocated to these Calls amounts to 6,86 M€.

After carrying an extensive study into the economic and cultural impact of territorial spending obligations imposed in film support schemes, the European Commission has decided to keep its present policy about the State aid assessment criteria until new rules on State aid to cinematographic and other audiovisual works come into effect, or, at the latest, until December 31st 2012.

The EU's “For Diversity. Against Discrimination.” prize for journalists has been awarded today to a French article about gay football players, in a tie with a Danish article about women who convert to Islam. The third prize went to a Portuguese article while the special Roma Award has been won by a Greek journalist. The award ceremony took place in Prague on February5 at the Kaiserstejnsky Palace.

The European Commission (EC) has cleared the proposed acquisition of joint control of Porterbrook Leasing Company Limited and its subsidiaries (Porterbrook) of the UK by OP Trust Private Markets Group (OP Trust) of Canada, Deutsche Bank AG (DB) of Germany, Lloyds TSB Bank plc of the UK and Antin Infrastructure Partners FCPR, a UK investment fund controlled by BNP Paribas SA (BNP) of France. The EC concluded that the proposed operation would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or in any substantial part of it.