European Union News

The European Commission presented on January, 21st 2009, a comprehensive ten year strategy plan to promote safe, secure, clean and efficient shipping. The long-term competitiveness of European shipping and related maritime industries in world markets, and the adaptation of the entire seaborne transport system to the challenges of the 21st century are at the heart of this strategy plan.

The European Group on Ethics (EGE), met on January 21st with Mariann Fischer Boel, the Commissioner responsible for Agriculture and Rural Development, to present the main recommendations of the Group's opinion on the ethical implications of modern developments in agriculture technologies. This recommendations will help to address the new challenges and opportunities which lie ahead for EU agriculture in relation to  modern developments in agriculture technologies.

The European Commission has published on January, 20th 2009 a Report addressed to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, on the implementation of the Trans-European Transport Network Guidelines during the period 2004-2005, according to Article 8 of Decision 1692/96/EC.

Czech Minister of Justice, Mr. Jiří Pospíšil, presented on January 20th, the priorities of the Czech Presidency in the area of Justice in the Committee on Legal Affairs of the European Parliament (JURI). Issues such as e-Justice, common rules for cross-border implications in family law, or the need to strengthen legal certainty for EU citizens will be in the agenda during Czech Presidency.

The Official Journal of the European Union has published on January 21st 2009, the announcement of a prior notification of concentration procedure concerning the Irish airlines Ryanair and Aer Lingus II. Interested thirds parties are invited to send their observations by January 31st.

The European Commission published on January 16th 2009 its Annual Report on the implementation of the European Fisheries Fund (EFF) for the year 2007. This report has been compiled in accordance with Article 68 of Regulation (EC) No 1198/2006 on the EFF and covers the actual implementation of the EFF in 2007. In addition, the first chapter of the report looks at the major events of 2007, in particular the adoption of the Implementing regulation and the guidelines for the implementation of EFF assistance, as well as the adoption of the National Strategic Plans (NSPs) and the Operational Programmes (OP).

The Official Journal of the European Union has published a summary of the non-confidential documents related to the operation of concentration between Nokia and Navteq, which was found to be compatible with the common market and the functioning of the EEA Agreement by Commission Decision on July 2nd, 2008.

The European Commission has published a European Database for Financial Education (EDFE) on the "Europa" website. It has been designed to reference numerous financial education programmes offered by public or private institutions in the European Union.

The European Commission sent a Statement of Objections (SO) to Microsoft on 15th January 2009. The SO outlines the Commission’s preliminary view that Microsoft’s tying of its web browser Internet Explorer to its dominant client PC operating system Windows infringes the EC Treaty rules on abuse of a dominant position (Article 82).
In the SO, the Commission sets out evidence and outlines its preliminary conclusion that Microsoft’s tying of Internet Explorer to the Windows operating system harms competition between web browsers, undermines product innovation and ultimately reduces consumer choice.

This year, for the first time, 185 cities from all 27 EU Member States, will benefit from the "Urban Atlas", which has been produced by the European Commission and Member States with the support of European space technology.  Whether big or small, European cities need reliable and comparable urban planning information for safe, sustainable and prosperous development, and Europe's “eye in the sky” will provide them with tools for smart development.

The European Commission has agreed  on new rules for the use of data link in air traffic management (ATM) systems in Europe. Data link technology revolutionizes communications between air traffic controllers and pilots through supplementing voice communications with an air-ground data link.

Prior notification of a concentration procedure between Rabobank and polish bank Bank Gospodarki Żywnościowe, was published on January 16th in the Official Journal of the European Union.