European Union News

The Foreign Affairs Ministers agreed in strengthening the enforcement of the EU arms embargo against Syria and reinforced sanctions against the Syrian regime. With regard to the situation in Mali, the Council invited the High Representative and the Commission to make proposals with a view to a gradual return to development cooperation.

The European Commission launched a public consultation on preservation of the open internet (net neutrality); more particularly, it is seeking answers to questions on transparency, switching and certain aspects of internet traffic management, with a view to its commitment to preserve the open and neutral character of the Internet.

The Eurostat's figures show that at the end of the first quarter of 2012, the government debt to GDP ratio in the euro area stood at 88.2%, compared with 87.3% at the end of the fourth quarter of 2011. In the EU the ratio increased from 82.5% to 83.4%. The highest ratios of government debt to GDP were recorded in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Ireland, and the lowest in Estonia, Bulgaria, and Luxembourg.

The European Commission announced additional €20 million of relief aid to Syria. This will bring the European Commission's total assistance in this crisis to €63 million. The additional funding will go to projects which provide food, water, sanitation, shelter, medical support and supplies, as well as psychological support for an estimated 1.5 million Syrians inside the country as well as to Syrian refugees.

The Eurogroup decided on 20 of July to grant financial assistance for the recapitalisation of financial institutions in Spain. The financial assistance will be accompanied by policy conditionality focussing on the financial sector, and the Spanish government will retain the full responsibility of the financial assistance.

The 10th edition of the OPEN DAYS 2012 (8 – 11 October 2012) will be a time for positive reflection during the overall discussions on the future European cohesion policy, according to the Committee of the Regions. The preliminary programme for this event is now available as well as the registration at the event website.

According to the European Commission, a trade deal with Japan could boost the EU's GDP by almost one per cent and EU exports to Japan could increase by one third. Therefore, the European Institution decided to ask the Member States for their agreement on opening negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement with Japan.

Thanks to the EU's Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) many food safety risks have been averted or mitigated and safety controls ensure our food is safe, according to the European Commission. The results drawn from the RASFF 2011 report shows that in 2011 9157 notifications in RASFF related to non-compliances with EU food legislation were reported, of which 617 concerned serious risks.

The European Commission announced the projects related to the environment which will be funded with a total investment of some €516.5 million, of which the EU will provide €268.4 million, in particular, from the LIFE+ Programme.

The European Commission presented new measures to regulate fishing for deep-sea species and their habitats in the North-East Atlantic. Among the measures, the Commission proposes a reinforced licensing system and a gradual phase-out of those fishing gears that specifically target deep sea species in a less sustainable manner.

The European Commission launched a public consultation that has as main aim to help victims of cross-border traffic accidents. They may currently face difficulties because of varying time limits for claiming compensation for damage in case of an accident abroad in the EU. The contributions to the consultation can be made until 19 November.

The European Commission published a report which shows that the EU budget fell by 35% in 2011, and this fall responds to stronger measures and better controls implemented for EU funding; there are also a number of technical explanations for the drop in fraud rate in 2011. In total, €295 million in EU funds were affected by fraud, or 0.2% of the budget.