European Union News

The Official Journal of the European Union has published last 5th July its Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on ‘A European ports policy in relation to the communication from the Commission on a European Ports Policy COM(2007) 616 final.

On July 4th the Commission published a Call for expression of interest for the establishment of a list of prospective individual experts to provide expertise to ‘Fusion for Energy’. The list is drawn up for a five year period from the date of publication of this call, and applications may be submitted at any time, up to the last three months of validity of the list.

The European Commission and the rail industry (manufacturers, infrastructure managers and undertakings)  signed on the 4th july a memorandum of understanding in Rome aimed at accelerating deployment of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERMTS) throughout Europe.

The Official Journal of the European Union has published on the 4th July 2008 the Regulation (EC) No 593/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 June 2008 on the law applicable to contractual obligations (Rome I) to be applied to all contracts to be signed after 17th December 2009. The EC Regulation harmonise the regulations in this area in order to maintain and develop an area of freedom, security and justice in the European Union.

On July 4th, the Council published the Joint Action 2008/550/CFSP of June 23th, establishing a European Security and Defence College (ESDC) and repealing Joint Action 2005/575/CFSP.  The ESDC will provide training in the field of the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) at the strategic level in order to develop and promote a common understanding of ESDP among civilian and military personnel.

The European Commission has presented its Communication “Report on Implementation of the Hague Programme for 2007” COM(2008) 373 final of 2nd July 2008.

15% of Europeans suffer from some form of disability, and many face barriers such as reading a website's small text or even knowing how to access websites and online services. Despite repeated calls by the EU and government leaders to improve this situation, progress remains limited: by far the majority of websites fail to use universally accepted user-friendly solutions. On July 2nd the European Commission launched a public consultation on further measures to make websites in Europe accessible, starting with those of public administrations, and invites stakeholders to give their views. It also addresses other technologies like digital television. The consultation is open until 27 August 2008.

The European Commission's and the Executive Agency for Education, Audiovisual and Culture attracted approximately 400 people from cultural organisations from all over Europe.

On June 20th, the European Commission adopted the Decision 2008/544/EC in order to transform the former ‘Executive Agency for the Public Health Programme’ into the ‘Executive Agency for Health and Consumers’ (PHEA), amending some provisions set up by the Decision 2004/858/EC.

The Directorate-General for Energy and Transport of the European Commission and the TEN-T EA wish to have a framework contract that would allow a swift and efficient way to strengthen its capacity to follow up a number of major EU-funded projects for the deployment of the European Rail Traffic Management System along key European corridors (ERTM).

A new version of the "Guide to Cost-Benefit Analysis of Investment Projects" has been published by the DG Regional Policy. The guide has been prepared by the Commission and it is particularly addressed to people working on cost-benefit analysis of "major projects" co-financed by EU funds in the framework of Cohesion Policy. It provides useful methodological guidance to project promoters in the Member States and candidate countries. At the same time, it serves as a reference to Commission officials involved in the appraisal of "major projects".

The Commission of the European Communities has presented a proposal for  a Council Decision authorising the Italian Republic to apply a measure derogating from Article 285 of Council Directive 2006/112/EC on the common system of value added tax (COM(2008) 404 final)