European Union News - European Union

According to a recent published Eurobarometer poll, public opinion about the EU has improved markedly. While people are still divided on whether or not their voice counts in the EU, 57% of respondents said voting in the next European Parliament elections is the best way to make their voices heard.

The Single Market Week for New Growth which will be celebrated from 15 to 20 October 2012 will focus on recalling the achievements of 20 years of the Single Market; presenting and discussing new initiatives to stimulate growth in the Single Market; and Mobilizing the views and expectations of young adults about the Single Market.

The European Commission has extended the deadline for submissions to the European Year 2012 Awards to 16 of September, with the exception of the “Generations@school Competition” category whose deadline ended in June. The competition will award organisations and individuals that promote active ageing through their activities.

The Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee celebrated on 3 of September a meeting with European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and Commissioners Michel Barnier and Olli Rehn in which MEPs extracted the leading players'  views, to help prepare their stance on the future economic governance paper. Moreover, MEPs raised their concerns about the design of a strengthened Eurozone bank supervision regime.

Following his meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, highlighted that progress on the banking union is particularly urgent. He added that setting up a single banking supervisor covering all banks in the euro area is key in this context. In addition to this, he assured that the euro is irreversible, and Greece's future is undoubtedly in the euro area.

In order to help modernising Georgia's agriculture, the European Commission announced the allocation of new EU funding to this country's programme. It will also help to build up the institutions responsible for preparing its political association and economic integration with the EU.

Aarhus has been recommended to be European Capital of Culture 2017 by the independent selection panel assessing the cities for this title. Cyprus is the other Member State in which a city will host the title in five years' time. The two winning cities will be formally nominated by the EU's Council of Ministers in May 2013.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) published a report on the eve of the World Water Week (26 - 31 August), which recommends better integration of coordinated spatial planning and water management within the European Union.

The European Commission takes stock of the results achieved so far on the online consultation launched in May 2012 on the Future of Europe. Until 9 September, all Europeans can share their views to help set the policy agenda for the years to come and shape the future of Europe. The Commission's consultation 'Your rights, your future' also asks the public about the very practical obstacles citizens face in daily life.

GDP fell by 0.2% in both the euro area and the EU during the second quarter of 2012, compared with the previous quarter. During the same period, GDP increased by 0.4% in the United States compared with the previous quarter and by 0.3% in Japan.

According to the annual Commission's report on access to documents, European citizens requested in 2011 access to a number of documents slightly lower that those requested in the previous year. The gradual reduction in the total number of documents requested might be due in part to the increasing awareness of citizens about their right to access documents and to Commission's efforts to add more and more documents to the public registry.

The Governing Council of the European Central Bank decided to keep the interest rate applied to main refinancing operations at 0.75%. In a statement after this meeting, president of the Bank, Mario Draghi, highlighted the bank's support to the single currency stressing that the euro is irreversible.