European Union News

Launched a little over a year ago by the French Head of State, the Union for the Mediterranean project, which aims to strengthen and deepen the cooperation between both sides of the Mediterrean, was officially inaugurated on July 13th 2008 at the Paris Summit for the Mediterranean, which brought together 43 European and Mediterranean States, the Community institutions and the regional organisations.

Cedefop has published its fourth report on vocational training research in Europe. Europe’s economy needs to keep its citizens in the workforce for as long as possible. No longer do companies and countries favour ‘early exit’ for their workers: the younger age groups in Europe are not large enough to replace departing workers.

The technical and financial evaluation of proposals of Marco Polo call for proposal has finished with 31 projects.

Commissioner Orban received on July 11th the Report from the  Business Forum for multilingualism, that gives a clear overview of what needs to be done to help companies gain access to new markets and new business opportunities in the globalised world.

The Official Journal of the European Union published July 11th the appointments of various members in different EU institutions. The appointments concerned are those of three Judges of the European Union Civil Service Tribunal, a Portuguese member of the Economic and Social Committee, the external auditors of the European Central Bank, and some members of the Committee of the Regions.

The European Parliament published in the Official Journal of the European Union on July 11th, the second amending budget for the financial year 2008. This document includes the sections corresponding to Agriculture and rural development, Fisheries and maritime affairs, and Regional policy.

The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work has launched a Europe-wide information campaign on risk assessment in order to reduce work-related accidents and illness. Every three and a half minutes, somebody in the EU dies from work-related causes. That's more than 150,000 deaths a year as a result of either work-related accidents (8,900) or occupational diseases (142,000).

On July 10th, the Official Journal of the European Union published the Commission's decision not to  oppose the notified concentration by which DP World Ltd  and ZIM Integrated Shipping Services, acquire joint control over  Contarsa Sociedad de Estiba, SA by way of purchase of shares.

0.9 million euro from the “EuropeAid” for a technical assistance to the EC's Delegations for the monitoring of the Energy Facility's projects.

A total of € 410.3 million of EU farm money unduly spent by Member States is claimed back as a result of a decision adopted by the European Commission. The money returns to the Community budget because of inadequate control procedures or non-compliance with EU rules on agricultural expenditure. Member States are responsible for paying out and checking expenditure under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and the Commission is required to ensure that Member States have made correct use of the funds.

The European Commission has launched a tender for the creation and operating of an appealing EU affairs Internet portal dedicated to the on-line daily publication of articles selected among the European and world press translated and edited with comments and illustrations in a maximum of EU official languages.

The Information Society and Media DGa (European Commission)  will spent 250.000 euro for the development of the european directory of women and Information and Communication Tecnologies (ICT).