European Union News

On the 5th september it has been presented the main findings of IEA Review of the EU's Energy Policy. This is the first time that the IEA has made an in-depth analysis of European Energy Policy. The Review strongly endorses the broad outlines of the Commission's energy proposals tabled during the last year. 

It has been published the Communication of 5th September 2008 from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions related to the ex-post evaluation of the ‘Information Society Technologies (IST)’ Thematic Priority in the Sixth Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration (RTD) (COM(2008) 533 final).

The EC has published the report from the Commission on the application of Council Recommendation of 12 July 1999 (1999/519/ec) on the limitation of the exposure of the general public to electromagnetic fields (0 hz to 300 ghz) COM(2008) 532 final - 1.9.2008 based on the recommendations of the Scientific Committee for Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR).

The Official Journal of the European Union, OJEU, published on September 5th a Council Decision on the existence of an excessive deficit in the United Kingdom. This Decision comes after an overall assessment of the economic situation in the UK, and is based on the excessive deficit procedure (EDP) to ensure that Member States avoid excessive government deficits or that they correct such deficits when they occur.

It has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union the Commission Decision of 14 December 2004 amending Commission Decision 2002/610/EC on the aid scheme which France is planning to implement for the start-up of new short sea shipping services.

The European Parliament has adopted a resolution calling on the Commission to submit proposals prohibiting the cloning of animals for food supply purposes, as well as the  farming of cloned animals or their offspring and the placing on the market or importing of products derived from cloned animals. MEPs refer to the higher mortality problems of cloned animals and the harm that allowing cloning techniques could cause to the image of the European agricultural model which is based on product quality and the respect for stringent animal welfare conditions.

The European Commission launched on September 4th a public consultation in search of the best strategies to boost Europe's leadership in ICT (Information and Communications Technology) research and innovation in the next decade. The public consultation will be opened for contributions  until November 7th 2008.

The European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) have encouraged the European Payments Council (EPC) to move ahead with the launch of the SEPA Direct Debit scheme. Under this scheme, bank customers would be able to arrange direct debits to pay companies with bank accounts in any of the 31 European countries participating in SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area).

MEPs have adopted a series of legislative reports concerning the classification, labelling and packing of substances and mixtures. The first-reading agreement concerns the implementation of the UN level agreed, GHS (Globally Harmonised System) on classification, labelling and packaging of hazardous substances into EU legislation.

The Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) published on September 4th the Information communicated by the United Kingdom regarding State aid granted under Commission Regulation (EC) Nº 70/2001 on the application of Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty to State aid to small and medium-sized enterprises.

The European Commission published in the OJEU on September 3rd, a Call for Proposal for the support of networks of cinemas screening European films. The call offers a four-year partnership agreement, with a maximum budget available for the first year of 8,5 million Euro.

On the 3rd September 2008 the Official Journal of the European Union has published the authorisation for State aid pursuant to Articles 87 and 88 of the EC Treaty in a UK cases where the Commission raises no objections. The Commission concludes that the notified State aid (N 593/07) measure, “the Energy Technologies Institute”, is compatible with the common market, pursuant to Article 87(3)(c) of the EC Treaty. It accordingly decided not to raise objections to the notified measure. The date of adoption of the decisión was the 23.6.2008.