European Union News - European Union

At the opening of the plenary session on Monday January 12th, EP President Hans-Gert Pöttering called for an immediate cease-fire and the end to the violence between Israelis and Palestinians. President Pöttering accused Hamas of starting the escalation of violence, but he also reminded that the right to defence does not justify violence against civilians. He suggested a political solution to the conflict and supported the plan promoted by France and Egypt.

The Commission will fund with more that 1.1 M€ Transatlantic Exchange Partnerships within the EU-Canada  programme for co-operation in higher education, training and youth. Applications may be submitted until April, 1st 2009.

Compared with the same date for November 2007, thirteen Member States recorded a fall in their unemployment rate, and fourteen an increase. The largest falls were observed in Poland (8.5% to 6.5%) and Slovakia (10.5% to 9.1%), and the highest increases in Spain (8.6% to 13.4%) and Estonia (4.1% to 8.3%)

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek and Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra introduced the main priorities  and the work program of the Czech Presidency, in a ceremony held in Prague on January, 6th. Three key priorities will be in focus for this period, which will be identified by “the three E's”: Economy, Energy and Europe in the world. The motto is a ‘Europe without barriers’.

The Official Journal of the European Union published on January, 6th,  the favourable Commission's opinion on the request from Ireland to accept Council Decision 2008/381/EC establishing a European Migration Network.

On January 1st, 2009, two major events were on the Eu Agenda. Not only Slovakia was ready to adopt the Euro, but it did so on the same date of its 10th anniversary. With Slovakia, the number of European Union countries that share the same currency grew to 16. All available data showed that in this first day, the changeover from the Slovak koruna to the euro was made with no problems, and citizens were able to withdraw euro cash from ATMs all over Slovakia and to use it for daily payments.

MEPs have adopted updates to European law on two aspects of the “plumbing” of the financial system: the aim, on the one hand, is to reflect in law the increasingly interconnected operation of clearing and settlement systems, and, on the other hand, to create a level playing field for central banks in Europe regarding the rules on accepting credit claims (receivable assets resulting from bank loans) as collateral from commercial banks.

The Official Journal of the European Union has published last 20th december 2008 the  Commission Decision of of 16 December 2008 on the Early Warning System for the use of authorising officers of the Commission and the executive agencies.

The European Parliament adopted at second-reading the 2009 general EU budget, whose level of payments is set at €116.096 billion, representing almos 0.9% of the European Union's Gross National Income (GNI). The level of commitments has been set at €133.845 billion, which is 1.03 % EU GNI. EP President Hans-Gert Pöttering signed off the official 2009 EU budget in Strasbourg.

In less that two weeks the euro area will have two reasons to celebrate: the number of European Union countries sharing the same currency will grow to 16 with Slovakia, and we will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the euro. A special €2 coin has been issued to commemorate the anniversary and a documentary film describing the road to the euro and its benefits was screened December, 18th. In the meantime, preparations are in full swing in Slovakia.