European Union News

The European Commission published on November, 17th, 2008 in the Official Journal of the European Union, OJEU, a new call for proposals – i2i-Audiovisual - to support independent European Production companies in the access to funding from banks and financial institutions, under the MEDIA 2007 Programme.

On the eve of the G20 summit to be held in Washington, the European Commission is launching an appeal for development to be given a place in the new "Bretton Woods II" architecture. This call comes with the celebration of the European Development Days (EDD) to be held in Strasbourg (France) at the same time as the G20 summit.

The OJEU published on November, 14th, the Codified version of Regulation (EC, EURATOM) Nº 1101/2008, adopted by the European Parliament and the Council, on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities. This version comes after the substantial amendment of Council Regulation (Euratom, EEC) Nº 1588/90.

The EU and China, together with the United States and Canada, reached on November, 13th, a landmark agreement on the treatment of financial information services in China. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in Geneva addresses the concerns that had led the European Commission to launch WTO consultations on this matter in March 2008. The changes are due to be put in place by June, 1st, 2009.

Since 1984 more than 12,000 draft regulations have been cleared in relation to EU-trade.

The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), Budget Unit has launched a tender of organising conferences in Member States, candidate countries or other countries.

On November, 10th, the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) adopted an opinion on the Final Report by the EU-US High Level Contact Group on information sharing and privacy and personal data protection, which was presented by the Presidency of the European Union (EU) in June 2008. The Report defines common principles on privacy and data protection as a first step towards the exchange of information between the EU and the United States (US) to fight terrorism and serious transnational crime. It also identifies options for a possible instrument that would apply the agreed common principles to data transfers.

The European Commission authorised on the 12 november 2008 a Polish aid scheme which intends to encourage the development of multimodal transport through the construction of logistics centres and terminals.

The Official Journal of the European Union has published on the 12th november a corrigendum to Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 of 11 July 2006 laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund.

The Official Journal of the European Union published on November, 12th, 2008, the Council Joint Action 2008/851/CFSP adopted on November, 10th, on a European Union military operation to contribute to the deterrence, prevention and repression of acts of piracy and armed robbery off the Somali coast. This action comes after the UNSC's and the Council's expressions of concern about the upsurge of piracy attacks off the Somali coast, which affect humanitarian efforts and international maritime traffic in the region and contribute to continued violations of the UN arms embargo.

The European Council published on November, 11th, 2008, Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA, adopted on October, 24th, 2008, on the fight against organised crime. This Decision follows Commission's Communication of March, 2004 about the measures to be taken on the fight against terrorism and other forms of serious crimes.

The EC has published a call for tender related to health and high risk insurance — Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and Instrument for Stability.