European Union News - European Union

All the member states have agreed to promote a European programme to facilitate labor mobility of young people with the goal of halving youth unemployment by adapting Erasmus programme to the labour market.

Higher education institutions (HEIs) willing to participate in the cooperation activities embodied within the Erasmus Programme as part of the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP), can already apply for their Erasmus University Charter. According to the Specific Call for Proposals published in the OJEU, those institutions must submit their proposals by June 30th 2010.

Over the next 4 years, more than 60 researchers from 15 countries will work together to improve the coastal management of the Mediterranean Sea. For the first time under the one research agenda, the EU-funded project will undertake an all-inclusive study of the sea, its coasts and marine ecosystems in a bid to build consensus on the future governance and prosperity of the ailing basin.

These awards, launched by the European Commission in 2000 and 2005 respectively, promote the reduction of energy consumption by public and private organisations on a voluntary basis. These initiatives count over 700 participants all over Europe, who save approximately 545 GWh each year. This is equivalent to the energy used by two mid-size European cities over the same period.

Maintaining the EU's status as the world's leading tourist destination is the aim of the Informal Meeting of Tourism Ministers, which is being held this Thursday in Madrid. The meeting will be preceded by the Conference of European tourism chiefs, which will discuss strategies for making the sector more competitive.

The Committee of the Regions (CoR) is organising a Forum on Macro-Regions with regional representatives, experts and other stakeholders from existing and emerging 'macro-regions' at the CoR headquarters in Brussels. Baltic Sea, Danube and North Sea-English Channel are the major figures of this event.

Under the banner of the 2010 European Year for combating poverty and social exclusion, the European Commission has today launched a competition for journalists reporting on issues related to the Year's themes. The European Year Journalist Award is open to print, online and audiovisual journalists and prizes will be awarded at national level and at European level for the most original and newsworthy reports.

The European Commission has published a Eurobarometer survey which shows that many Europeans do not understand what is meant by biodiversity and do not feel well informed about biodiversity loss. The Commission has at the same time launched a campaign aimed at informing the public about the loss of biodiversity in the EU.

Roma communities, the European Union’s largest ethnic minority, continue to face persistent discrimination and segregation. The European Commission urged Member States in a report today to use EU funds for the social and economic integration of Roma. A separate report evaluated the progress achieved in integration over the past two years. Participants at the second Europe-wide Roma Summit, to be held in Córdoba, Spain on 8-9 April, will review these reports.

The Constitutional Affairs Committee has given its support to a modification of the Lisbon Treaty that would allow 18 new Members of the European Parliament to take their seats during the ongoing legislature. They did not consider it necessary to call a Convention to discuss the treaty change

Barcelona will host a conference on "New skills and new jobs for a more competitive Europe" as part of the Spanish Presidency of the EU. It will be chaired by the Spanish Minister of Employment and Inmigration, Celestino Corbacho.

The Conference “The European Framework Programmes: From Economic Recovery to Sustainability” will be the key public event in a series of new Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) as cornerstone of the smart investments of the European Economic Recovery Plan