European Union News

The European Parliament has approved in plenary session a new regulation which will enable farmers and other groups to protect the authenticity and origin of their products more effectively and to ensure the correct use of protected names. The new rules will also reduce by half the time to obtain an EU quality label.

The European Commission has adopted a Communication describing a set of initiatives aimed at achieving a more competitive European maritime and marine sectors and at ensuring their sustainable growth. Commission's document analyses the potential for growth ans competitiveness which marine and maritime sectors as a whole can make to the European economy through innovative activities such as marine energy or biotechnology.

MEPs called on the European Commission to better address social issues. They also welcomed Commission President Barroso's vision on the need for a stronger EU but commenting that his federation proposals needed more ambition. Furthermore, the main groups called for a strong EU budget to deliver investments and growth.

The European Commission announced the successful pilot scheme with regard to the functioning of the Computer Emergency Response Team, or CERT-EU. For this reason, the Vice-President Neelie Kroes assured that the EU institutions can now count on a permanent CERT to deal with increasingly sophisticated cyber threats against them.

The European Commission has adopted a proposal aiming at strengthening the capacity of political parties to represent European citizens. This proposal will address the limitations due to the current legal status of European political parties increasing their capacity to truly represent EU citizens and strengthening democracy.

According to the proposal put forward by the European Commission, the European Central Bank will have the ultimate responsibility on supervisory tasks related to the financial stability of all Euro area banks while national will continue with their role in day-to-day supervision. The proposal also foresees the European Banking Authority (EBA) to develop a Single Supervisory Handbook to preserve the integrity of the single market.

The European Commission launched a consultation on the published staff working document regarding transnational company agreements. Stakeholders can contribute with their views to the discussion on the future of these agreements until the end of the year.

The European Parliament endorsed a new EU energy efficiency directive that includes measures such as renovating public buildings, energy-saving schemes for utilities, and energy audits for all large firms. Furthermore, energy companies covered by the directive will have to achieve a "cumulative end-use energy savings target" by 2020.

The European Parliament adopted a new deal with the Council which intends to provide EU firms swifter access to standard solutions to technical problems. The new regulation aims in particular to enhance the use of standards in the service sector and speed up the development process for information and technology (ITC) standards.

The European Commission welcomed the launch of the OECD report, Education at a Glance 2012, which highlights that more than 40% of secondary school teachers in five EU countries (Austria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, the Netherlands, Sweden) are aged 50 or older. Gender inequality is also a problem because the report shows that nearly a third more women than men are enrolling in higher education in the EU.

The figures published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) shows that greenhouse gas emissions from the European Union (EU) fell by 2.5% last year. The EEA highlights that the main reasons for the decrease in emissions were a milder winter in most parts of the EU, which resulted in lower heating demand from households, and reduced natural gas consumption.

The European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) signed an agreement to work together on satellite-based services that can bridge the digital divide and bring economic growth to the Mediterranean region.