European Union News - European Union

Yesterday afternoon Serbia submitted a formal application for membership of the EU. Serbian President Boris Tadić handed his country’s application for EU membership to Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt in Stockholm.

A huge disappointment is what the European Parliament delegation to the COP15 said about the agreement on climate change which was reached at last in Copenhagen. The outcome and the procedure show an urgent need to reform the UN working method.

The Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Miguel Ángel Moratinos, has explained the objectives of the Spanish Presidency of the EU at the headquarters of the European Council and maintained that all the political initiatives of the six-month period which begins on 1 January will be designed to overcome the economic crisis, based on the principles of innovation, peace, welfare and gender equality.

Two years after the adoption of modernising EU TV rules removing outdated restrictions on digital TV over the internet, video on demand and mobile TV, only three countries – Belgium, Romania and Slovakia – have officially notified the European Commission of measures putting them in place, as required under EU law. EU countries had until 19 December 2009 to turn the modernised rules for Europe's audiovisual industry into national law.

The Official Journal of the European Union on December 18 includes the publication of Regulation (EC) No. 1244/2009 of the Council amending the list of countries whose citizens require visas to enter the EU. The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia have been removed from this list.

Parliament has adopted the final EU budget for 2010, which will be €141.4 billion in commitments and €122.9 billion in payments. The main challenge for this year's budget was to find the funding for the already agreed but not yet financed economic recovery plan, which will cost the EU €2.4 billion next year.

Parliament has set up its Election Observation Group for the 7th legislature. The group, of 13 MEPs, will be co-chaired by Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Gabriele Albertini (EPP, IT), and Development Committee Chair Eva Joly (Greens/EFA, FR). Its first assignment will be to observe the January 2010 presidential elections in Ukraine.

The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) will, for the first time, open its doors in Vilnius. The Presidents of Lithuania and Latvia, Dalia Grybauskaitė and Valdis Zatlers, along with Commissioner Vladimír Špidla, the Institute's Chair of the Management Board, Eva Welskop-Deffaa and the Director of the Institute, Virginija Langbakk will unveil the new premises at a ribbon cutting ceremony. The ceremony will honour the launch of one of the EU's youngest agencies whose aim is the promotion of gender equality issues.

European parliament hosts today in its plenary session in Strasbourg a debate about EU budget for 2010. The main challenges are to find an agreement about recovery plan and to help restructure dairy sector.

The Official Journal of the European Union has issued a decision under the Council of the European Union on prevention and settlement of conflicts of exercise of jurisdiction in criminal proceedings

European leaders have pledged a total of €7.2bn over the next three years to help poorer nations cope with global warming, hoping to boost support for an agreement in Copenhagen. Moreover, they agreed to create several monitoring mechanisms for banks.