European Union News - European Union

This Monday, International Women's Day, the ministers of employment and social affairs of the European Union (EU) are defining the instruments and the main lines of action in Europe's strategy against gender-based violence.

The European Commission plans to use a series of measures aimed at sig nificantly reducing the pay gap between men and women over the next five years. The average gender pay gap in the EU currently stands at 18%. To lower this rate, the Commission plans to raise awareness among employers, encourage initiatives to promote gender equality and support the development of tools to measure the gender pay gap

Without enough money, the EU 2020 strategy risks turning into "another vague scoreboard for the Member States", the EP Budgets Committee warned on Thursday when adopting its priorities for the 2011 budget. According to the committee, next year's budget should focus on youth, research and recovery from the economic crisis.

From 6 to 7 March the European Union and Morocco will hold a pioneering summit in Granada, which will be the first between the two entities;  the Spanish Presidency hopes that it will mark "a turning point" in the relationship and serve as an example for the region. The summit is also the first between the EU and a third country held under the Treaty of Lisbon, the first between the EU and an Arabic country and the first of the Spanish Presidency-in-turn.

Spain's Miguel Ángel Moratinos will host an informal meeting of EU Foreign Affairs Ministers on 5 and 6 March in Córdoba, which will examine various issues related to the EU's external action. These meetings, known as Gymnichs (the name of the German castle where the first meeting was held in 1974) are held every six months.

The EU's first Internal Security Strategy was adopted by the ministers for the interior on 25 February. It lays down a European security model, which integrates action on law enforcement and judicial cooperation, border management and civil protection, with due respect for shared European values, such as fundamental rights.

The European Commission has adopted a Green Paper which sets out options for a European Union approach to the protection of forests and to information about forest resources and their condition. Responses to the Green Paper from the public, Member States, EU institutions and other stakeholders will guide the Commission on whether additional action is needed at EU level.

The European Commission has cleared the proposed merger of Orange UK and T-Mobile UK, respectively France Télécom's (FT) and Deutsche Telekom's (DT) UK subsidiaries. The decision is conditional upon the amendment of an existing network sharing agreement with Hutchison 3G UK (3UK), to ensure that there remain sufficient competitors in the market, and the divestiture of a quarter of the combined spectrum of the merging parties in the 1800 MHz band, which is one of three frequency bands currently used for mobile communications in the UK.

Member States have never performed better in writing agreed Internal Market rules into national law on time, but still need to improve the way those rules are applied in practice, according to the European Commission’s latest Internal Market Scoreboard.

Spain, as the Presidency in Office of the European Union, has activated the co-ordination mechanisms existing in the heart of the EU for catastrophes such as the one which occurred this Saturday in Chile, with a view to sending immediate aid to this country, once the damages have been assessed and such aid is requested by the Chilean authorities.

The European Commission Interoperable Delivery of European eGovernment Services to public Administrations, Businesses and Citizens (IADBC) has announced the opening of a public consultation on the European Interoperability Strategy (EIS). The consultation opened on the 23rd February 2010 and closes on the 6th April 2010.

Funding for 150 new posts in the European Parliament and an increase in the budget provision for hiring MEPs' assistants was approved by Parliament on Thursday. Due to Parliament's vastly increased powers and tasks under the Lisbon Treaty, extra staff are needed in Parliament's political groups, its administration, and to work with MEPs.