European Union News - European Union

The Belgian EU presidency has intended to promote biodiversity through a series of acts and activities within the context of the UE.

In response to the ever increasing scale of the humanitarian crisis, the Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, Kristalina Georgieva, announced that the Commission will mobilise an additional urgent relief assistance.

The next European Union-United States Summit will be held in Lisbon, Portugal, 20^th November. The President of the European Council, Herman van Rompuy, the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, and, on the other hand, the U.S. President Barack Obama, will be there.

Directorate-General for Regional Policy has launched a tender to establish an expert evaluation network delivering policy analysis in the European Union.

ERC grant scientists have decided to centre their efforts on making a clock that will be a revolution.

The Council adopted its position on the EU draft budget for the financial year 2011, approving targeted cuts in the Commission's proposal whilst ensuring appropriate funding for the priorities of the European Union, in particular economic recovery.

Directorate-General for Education and Culture has launched a tender to study on educational support for newly arrived migrant children in UE.

Every two years, the Grand-Place in Brussels is dressed in its traditional "floral mantle" on 12th August. Each edition of the Flower Carpet is dedicated to a new theme. This year, as might be expected, the Belgian Presidency of the European Union was the obvious cornerstone of the colourful spectacle.

According to the data released by Eurostat on July 2010, Euro area annual inflation was 1.7%, whereas for the whole of the European Union the rate was 2.1%. Monthly inflation was -0.3% and -0.2% respectively. 

The European Commission has proposed to amend existing European rules on the supervision of financial conglomerates, according to its work creating a safer and sounder financial system and preventing a future crisis.

GDP increased by 1.0% in both the Euro area and the EU27 during the second quarter of 2010, compared with the previous quarter, according to flash estimates published by Eurostat. In the first quarter of 2010, growth rates were +0.2% in both zones. In the case of Spain, the economy grew by 0.2% in the second quarter.

The Council of the European Union adopted on 12 August 2010 a decision extending the mandate of the European Union monitoring mission in Georgia (EUMM Georgia) by twelve months until 14 September 2011. The main tasks of the Mission remain the same, focused on stabilisation, normalisation, confidence building as well as informing European policy and future Union engagement.