European Union News

The 42th Governing Board of the European Agency for Reconstruction (EAR), was held on Thursday, 12 June and Friday, 13 June 2008. The meeting took place in Pristina, Kosovo, where the Agency started its reconstruction work on behalf of the EU in 1999, in the immediate aftermath of the conflict. In December 2008, the EAR will officially close its doors as its mandate is coming to an end. But the Agency has already started to hand over the EU assistance programmes to the European Commission delegations in the Balkans. 12 June 2008

Europe needs a strong Cohesion Policy after 2013. That was the consensus in over 100 contributions to a public consultation on the issue, Danuta Hübner, Commissioner for Regional Policy, said today. She was speaking at a presentation of the Fifth Progress Report on Economic and Social Cohesion. The two-part document comprises a report on the public consultation, and an analytical report on regional economies, which shows that less developed regions continue to show strong growth, underpinned by a shift towards sectors of the future.

On the 13th June 2008 the European Commission published in the European Union presented a communication from the Commission to the  Council and  the European Parliment titled Financial Information on the European Development Funds. This document is to be annexed to the draft budget for 2009. in accordance with the 1979 agreements on budgetary procedure.

On the 17th June 2008, the European Commission published a proposal for a Council regulation (EC, Euratom) No …/.. establishing a Guarantee Fund for external actions. The purpose of this proposal is to undertake a codification of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2728/94 of 31 October 1994 establishing a Guarantee Fund for external actions. The new Regulation will supersede the various acts incorporated in it ; this proposal fully preserves the content of the acts being codified and hence does no more than bringing them together with only such formal amendments as are required by the codification exercise itself.

The compromise reached between Parliament negotiators and the Council on the directive on the return of illegal immigrants was approved at first reading by the full Parliament on Wednesday. This legislation, which is a step towards a European immigration policy, will encourage the voluntary return of illegal immigrants but otherwise lay down minimum standards for their treatment.

Ms Brenda King, president of the European Economic and Social Committee Section for Employment and Social Affairs on the 18th June 2008, addressed the Polish Parliament Sejm and called for action to tap a potentially large labour pool by integrating people with disabilities into the labour market.

The European Commission welcomes support of the European Parliament for its proposal to fit passenger cars with Brake Assist Systems (BAS) as early as 2009. As many as 8000 vulnerable road users, pedestrians and cyclists, are killed every year in the EU. The use of BAS can considerably reduce the stopping distance of a vehicle in an emergency situation and will safe lifes. It will provide more safety with less legislation. The proposal will now be discussed by the Council of Ministers.

The European Union�s Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) will join UEFA, FARE, FIFPro, football players and others in signing a pledge� supporting respect for diversity at a launch event for EURO 2008� on 7th June in Basel, Switzerland. This pledge� is timely as a spate of events in Europe over the past year has shown that the spectrum of racism and other forms of intolerance still haunt the sport.

According to the most recent figures In the construction sector from Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, the seasonally adjusted production fell by 0.8% in the euro area (EA15) and by 0.4% in the EU27 in April 2008, compared with the previous month. In March, production decreased by 2.8% and 2.7% respectively. Compared with April 2007, output in April 2008 dropped by 2.4% in the euro area and by 0.3% in the EU27.

On 10 June 2008, the Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration between Dupont and Danisco by which the undertakings E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (‘DuPont’, USA) and Danisco U.S., Inc. (‘Danisco’, USA) which is controlled by Danisco A/S (Denmark) acquire joint control of the undertaking DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol LLC (‘DDCE’, USA) by way of purchase of shares in a newly created company constituting a joint venture.

On 9th June 2008, the Commission received a notification of a proposed concentration by which the undertaking Northern States Agency, Inc. (‘Northern States’, USA) controlled by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (‘Berkshire Hathaway’, USA) and the undertaking Münchener Rückversicherungs-Gesellschaft AG (‘Munich Re’, Germany) acquire joint control of the undertaking Global Aerospace Underwriting Managers Limited (‘GAUM’, United Kingdom) by way of purchase of shares.

MEPs have approved Slovakia's bid to adopt the euro on 1 January 2009. At the same time, they stressed that Slovakia should make further efforts to keep its rate of inflation down and continue structural reforms to its economy. In a report drawn up by David Casa (EPP-ED, MT), Parliament agrees with the Commission that Slovakia has met the criteria to join the euro.