European Union News

According to a report published by the expert group chaired by HRH Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands, there is a need to attract more male teachers to act as role models for boys, who read much less than girls. The report is, according to Princess Laurentien, a wake-up call to the member states about the crisis that affects every country in Europe.

The Commission is legally obliged to open an anti-dumping investigation following the complaint from EU Pro Sun, an industry association, providing evidence that exporting producers from China are dumping a particular product into the EU and causing injury to the Union industry. The product covered by the investigation is solar panels and their key components, i.e. solar cells and solar wafers.

The opinion adopted by the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) shows its concerns on certain aspects of the amended Commission proposal on the establishment of 'EURODAC' for the comparison of the fingerprints of asylum seekers, in particular, with regard to the access to EURODAC data by law enforcement authorities. For instance, if a fingerprint is found at a crime scene, asylum seekers can potentially be identified through EURODAC data while other individuals cannot.

Following LIBOR manipulation, the European Commission launched a public consultation on possible new rules for the production and use of indices serving as benchmarks in financial and other contracts. The contributions can be made until the 15 November.

The European Commission urged to member states to recognise skills gained outside school and university by 2015. Furthermore, the proposal aims to increase job opportunities in particular for the young unemployed and those with few formal qualifications such as older and low-skilled workers. It also seeks to increase access to higher education, especially among mature students.

The European Commission has unconditionally approved the proposed creation of a joint venture between Vodafone, Telefónica and Everything Everywhere in the field of mobile commerce in the UK. Following its investigation, the Commission concluded that the proposed joint venture will not likely lead to a significant impediment to effective competition in the European Economic Area.

The European Commission has extended the deadline for submissions to the European Year 2012 Awards to 16 of September, with the exception of the “Generations@school Competition” category whose deadline ended in June. The competition will award organisations and individuals that promote active ageing through their activities.

The Civil Liberties Committee in the European Parliament endorsed a draft law to restrict the general public's access to chemicals that can be used to make home-made explosives. Once definitly approved, the new law will mean that consumers will have to obtain a licence to buy these products, although some exemptions will be possible. The text has been already agreed by Parliament and Council representatives.

The Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee celebrated on 3 of September a meeting with European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and Commissioners Michel Barnier and Olli Rehn in which MEPs extracted the leading players'  views, to help prepare their stance on the future economic governance paper. Moreover, MEPs raised their concerns about the design of a strengthened Eurozone bank supervision regime.

The 2011 annual report of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) showed that the fund paid out a total of €128 million in 2011 to assist these workers in twelve Member States: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland and Portugal. The support was granted to co-finance active labour market policy measures proposed.

The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) opened a public consultation in order to gather views with regard to 54 potential Substances of Very High Concern. 37 substances were proposed by the European Commission. Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden and the United Kingdom have also put forward proposals for the identification of 17 substances.

The European Commission approved a new funding decision worth €3 million in order to provide water purification kits, plastic sheeting, temporary shelters and other emergency equipment to Haiti. Special attention will be paid to the provision of clean water and adequate sanitation to avoid epidemics of cholera.