European Union News - European Union

Commission expects GDP in the EU to gradually return to pre-recession levels. But the economy still faces headwinds. The longest and deepest recession in EU history came to an end in the third quarter of 2009 as real GDP started to grow again. But as was expected, growth slowed in the last quarter of the year.

The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) has adopted an opinion on current EU objective of adopting a new multilateral agreement to strengthen the enforcement of intellectual property rights and to combat counterfeiting and piracy (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement - ACTA).


 

Austrian social scientist Professor Helga Nowotny has been named as the new President of the European Research Council (ERC) and Chair of the ERC Scientific Council. Professor Nowotny will take up her new role on 1 March.

The EU should start formal talks with Iceland on its application to join the bloc, says a commission report on the country's suitability for membership. The report also stresses the efforts that the country should make before joinning the EU.

The ministers of Defence of the European Union agreed on Wednesday to expand the objectives of Operation Atalanta to include control of Somali ports where pirate ships are based, as well as the possibility of "neutralising" the mother ships that allow the pirates to operate more than 1,000 km from the coast.

The Commission has made proposals to strengthen European Union's border management agency, Frontex. The proposals include reinforcing the legal framework to ensure full respect of fundamental rights during Frontex activities and enhancing the operational capacity of Frontex to support Member States.

Minimum maternity leave in the EU should be extended from 14 to 20 weeks and be fully paid, believe MEPs in the Women's Rights Committee. An entitlement to paid paternity leave of at least two weeks was also approved by the committee.

The General Affairs Council, which met on Monday in Brussels, chaired by the Spanish Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos, carried out a political discussion into how to better defend the EU's positions in the upcoming climate meetings in Germany and Mexico.

The Commission together with the EU Presidency and the United States has hosted the second EU-US expert seminar on the security of explosives in Brussels on 17-18 February, which brought together over 100 experts from the EU Member States, the US, Europol and the European Defence Agency.

Municipal policies to tackle the crisis and their application at EU level will be discussed during the three days of the summit entitled, “Networked Local Governments for a New Europe”, which will bring together representatives from 260 cities in Barcelona.

The EESC backs enhanced administrative cooperation to combat VAT fraud. Tax fraud in the EU amounts to approximately 2 to 2.5% of GDP, i.e. between 200 and 250 billion EUR. The application of the current Regulation has been unsatisfactory, argues the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)

The Spanish Government, currently holding the EU Presidency is to meet the new European Commission in Madrid on 23 February to study the priorities for the Spanish term, and to prepare for the March Council meeting, which will work on designing the basic structure for a new EU model of economic policy.