European Union News - European Union

MEPs demanded €1.5 billion in fresh money to finance the economic recovery plan and €300 million for a new dairy fund in a vote on Thursday. In general, they restored the Commission's preliminary draft budget after the Council's cuts.

At the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and end the division of Europe into two blocs, the Sakharov Prize 2009 has fallen on Memorial, an organization, whose first leader was himself Andrei Sakharov, dedicated to defend human rights in the states that formed part of the Soviet block

Despite signs of recovery, the EU finance ministers have decided that the time has not yet come to withdraw government support for the economy. Preparing a coordinated strategy for a timely exit from stimulus policies is, however, needed so that all member states can start to improve their public finances within the next two years.

Nikiforos Diamandouros (Greek), Vittorio Botoli (Italian) or Pierre-Yves Monet (Belgian) will outline their priorities in a hearing before the Petitions committeee on 30 November. They have been chosen by this committee among six applications received for the post of European Ombudsman.

Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina must catch up on the reforms needed to qualify for a short-stay visa waiver like those of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, said Civil Liberties Committee MEPs. The European Commission should report on the two countries' progress early in 2010, and also start a dialogue on visas with Kosovo, they added.

The commission's annual report on countries aspiring to EU membership says Croatia has entered the final stage of accession negotiations. It urges the country to pursue efforts to meet the EU's conditions for joining, particularly its fight against corruption and organised crime.

The European Parliament's annual journalism prize, for work that promotes better understanding of EU institutions or policies, was awarded by EP President Jerzy Buzek on Thursday. The prize (€5,000 in each category), went to Ines Possemeyer (written press, Germany), Szlankó Bálint (internet, Hungary), Zbigniew Plesner (radio, Poland) and Elke Sasser and Kristian Kähler (TV, Germany).

The official journal of the European Union of October 15, 2009 includes the publication of two calls for proposals to implement, in different ways, European education.

On 12 October, the Health Council endorsed a strategy for a coordinated EU approach to the H1N1 influenza pandemic. It addresses key issues such as vaccine availability, global cooperation and the continuity of essential services.

The EU needs a stronger financial supervisory architecture with a single financial supervisory authority, said Parliament in a resolution on the Pittsburgh G20 summit. MEPs also stressed the need for long-term fiscal sustainability, so as to avoid imposing too heavy a burden on future generations. But the priorities now must be to create jobs and protect people from the impact of the crisis.

The European Research Area Board (ERAB) has released its first annual report, highlighting the need for a new spirit to be instilled in European research by 2030. The overriding message in the publication is the need for the kind of fervour for change that swept through Europe during the Renaissance period in the 15th and 16th centuries. Today, an equivalent revolution in thought, society and science is needed to deal with the undeniable challenges that confront the soon-to-be world population of nine billion people.

The supplement of the European Union Official Journal has published on the 8th October a call for tender to improve civil protection cooperation for the candidate countries for civil protection cooperation for the candidate countries and potential candidates.