European Union News

The Council has published in the Official Journal of the European Union on October 7th, 2008, its Common Position adopted on June 23rd with a view to the adoption of a Directive on airport charges. The draft Directive would establish a common framework regulating the essential features of airport charges and the way they are set, as in the absence of such a framework, basic requirements in the relationship between airport managing bodies and airport users might not be met.

The recent  completion of the “Life Competence” database will give another huge step forward to knowledge-sharing and exploitation of the results of research activities. This distinctive project has opened up all 680 EU-funded projects within FP6 Life Science and Health to public viewing in a transparent way. This not only serves to identify the funding and competences of universities, hospitals and companies involved in health research all around Europe, but it also increases the visibility of all partners in projects, opening them up to further partnerships. All in all, the projects presented represent EUR 2.4 billion in EU funding.

EC reacts to the financial crisis with a proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directives 2006/48/EC and 2006/49/EC as regards banks affiliated to central institutions, certain own funds items, large exposures, supervisory arrangements, and crisis management (COM(2008) 602 final). The Commission believes that inter-bank exposures are not risk-free and should be prudently managed. The Commission proposes to limit all inter-bank exposures to 25% of own funds or an alternative threshold of EUR 150 million, whichever is higher. Over 60 different policy options have been assessed in order to make this proposal.

The proposals aims to review some of the provisions of Directive 2003/88/EC, taking into account the European Court of Justice's case law, in particular the rulings in the SIMAP and Jaeger cases. This interpretation of certain provisions of the Directive by the European Court of Justice, following several requests for preliminary rulings under Article 234 of the Treaty, had a profound impact on the concept of ‘working time’ and, consequently, on essential provisions of the Directive.

The European Commission adopted on October 3rd, 2008, a package of measures aimed to improve  work-life balance for millions of EU citizens, both women and men. This measures included a longer and better maternity leave as well as a proposal to improve the situation of self-employed women by providing equivalent access to maternity leave, on a voluntary basis. They aim to update and improve existing EU legislation and will now be sent to the European Parliament and national governments for discussion.

The former member of the Commission responsible for trade, Peter Mandelson, submitted his resignation  on October 3rd, 2008, to the Commission President, José Manuel Barroso. Mr Mandelson resignation came after his acceptance of the invitation to join the government made by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

The European Commission adopted the Green Paper on Territorial Cohesion on the 6th october 2008, signalling the start of a major consultation with regional and local authorities, associations, NGOs, civil society and other organisations, aimed at achieving a better and shared understanding of territorial cohesion and its implications for the future of the EU's regional policy.

The Migration Information and Management Centre (CIGEM) was inaugurated on Octobre 6th, 2008 in Bamako, Mali, in the presence of Louis Michel, the European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, Amadou Toumani Touré, the President of the Republic of Mali, and Brice Hortefeux, the French Minister for Immigration, Integration, National Identity and Cooperative Development. The centre, which is financed by the EU as part of its development cooperation with Mali, is a pilot project that is to be copied in other West African countries.

The Directorate-General for Education and Culture, Directorate C 'Culture, Multilingualism and Communication', Secretariat EAC.C3 has published a tender on the 4th October 2008 for a multiple framework contract subject to further competitive tendering for the provision of integrated communication services in the field of education and culture.

Through Action 4.6 of the “Youth in Action” Programme, the European Commission, via the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA), aims to support partnership projects with regional or local public bodies or with organisations active in the youth sector at European level. The total budget to support projects under this Call is of 0.75 M€.

The Official Journal of the European Union publisjed on Octobe4r 3rd, 2008, a Calls for Proposals under the Civil Protection Financial Instrument, to promote cooperation between Member States in the filed of Civil Protection cooperation to combat forest fires. The anual budget of this Call for year 2008 is 3.5 M€.

In its position, the Council takes into account the seriousness and the worrying growth of the phenomenon of counterfeiting and piracy, in particular in a globalised economy, for the competitiveness of the European Union, for its businesses, creative forces and consumers. The Council also highlights the scale of this phenomenon on the Internet and the risks involved in counterfeiting products, which poses a health and safety hazard.