European Union News - European Union

The Agency is currently working towards the modification of its mandate and an extension of its lifespan. Once this has been approved, the Agency will recruit over 50 new staff to various positions including those in project management, legal affairs, financing engineering, GIS systems, finance, IT and administration. Deadline for applications is 8 May 2008.

Parliament signed off the accounts of all the EU's institutions and agencies for the financial year 2006. However, it is also calling for the creation of a joint Parliament-Commission group to monitor the Commission's supervision of the structural funds and certain other matters.

The European Commission has Published in the OJ (Official Journal of the European Union) a call for proposals under the ‘Capacities’ work programme of the 7th EC Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration Activities. The European Commission (EC) wants young researchers and technicians.

The European Parliament adopted a non-binding report on a proposal for closer cooperation between EU Member States in the fight against terrorism and cross-border crime. The EP backs the plans but wants to beef up the rules on personal data protection. The report was adopted with 529 votes in favour, 65 against and 24 abstentions.

The European Parliament (EP) is failing to project an image, good or bad, of itself in the minds of over half of Europe’s citizens. The result is a lack of engagement and fall in the number of people participating in European elections. However, campaigning raises the visibility of the Parliament, and the more information people have the more positively they feel towards the institution. These are just some of the findings from a study conducted by the EU-funded CIVICACTIVE project.

The Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities has produced three new video news releases. They all address social issues which are currently high on the agenda.

The European Commission has published last 17th April the COM(2008) 198 final related to the Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council about the Implementation of the Public Health Programme in 2006.

The European Commission has published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ) a  notice for administraive procedures from the Council for athe n open call European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research (COST) (2008/C 96/09). COST brings together researchers and experts in different countries working on specific topics. COST does NOT fund research itself, but supports networking activities such as meetings, conferences, short term scientific exchanges and outreach activities. Currently more than 200 scientific networks (Actions) are supported.

The European Commission has launched a public consultation on the functioning of the Insurance Block Exemption Regulation (BER).

The European Commission have published a proposal for a council decsion on migration from the Schengen Information System (SIS 1+) to the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II) including the objective of establishing the legal framework governing the migration from the Schengen Information System in its current form (SIS 1+) to the second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II). This will include a comprehensive test, with a view to demonstrating, in particular, that the level of performance of SIS II is at least equivalent to that achieved with SIS 1+.

Results of Flash Eurobarometer survey on Data Protection that was conducted in January 2008 have been published. Previous waves of the survey had been performed three times before, in 1991, 1996 and 2003. Fieldwork was carried out from January 8th to 12th, 2008. Over 27,000 randomly selected citizens aged 15 years and over were interviewed in the 27 EU Member States.

The European Commission have published their preliminary amending fourth budget of the general budget 2008. The plan communication COM(2008) 203 final was published on the 15th April 2008.