European Union News - European Union

On the 9th May, the European Commission published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ), a list of ships that were refused access to Community ports between 1 September 2007 and 31 March 2008, pursuant to Article 7b of Council Directive 95/21/EC on the port State control of ships.

EUROPE DIRECT Information Centres organise over 500 events to celebrate Europe Day on 9 May. The main theme this year is intercultural dialogue. Through the celebrations thousands of people will be able to explore the many faces of the EU.

As the EU celebrated the ten year aniversary of the the euro currency, adopted by the European Counil in 1998, Esolvakia received the go ahead to join the euro area in 2009.

60 Heads of State and Government from the EU Member States, Latin America and the Caribbean will gather in Lima, Peru, on May the 16th for the V EU-LAC Summit. The EU and Latin American and Caribbean leaders will debate two key themes for the bi-regional agenda: poverty reduction and social cohesion; and environment, climate change and sustainable development.

The European Commission through the European Environment Agency (EEA), have organised a Call for Expressions of Interest 2008 for experts to be appointed members of the Scientific Committee of the EEA (2008/C 111/15). The experts who meet best the above criteria will be appointed for a term of four years which is renewable once for a maximum of another four-year period. Expressions of interest shall be sent via the specific on-line application form (12.00 Central European Time)
or by post not later than 30 June 2008.

The second session of the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (Eurolat), held in Lima, adopted three resolutions and a message to Heads of State and the EU-Latin American summit on 13-17 May. The two Eurolat co-Presidents, MEP José Ignacio Salafranca and Chilean Senator Jorge Pizarro, were satisfied with the outcome, stressing the importance of the parliamentary dimension in EU-Latin American relations.

"The EU has a significant role to play in fostering social success" is the message set forth by Vladimír Špidla, Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities at the two-day conference on 'Responding to new social realities' which took place in Brussels on May 5th 2008. The event, brought together all EU and national players, set the stage for a new Communication on the EU Agenda for Opportunities, Access and Solidarity, planned for June 2008.

The Commission has adopted changes to the rules of access to documents from EU institutions. These changes reaffirm the Commission's commitment to transparency, up-date the rules to reflect recent case-law and aim to allow the institutions to be more efficient in responding to requests from citizens.

According to the latest figures published by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, the euro area's (EA15: consists of Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia and Finland) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate stood at 7.1% in March 2008, unchanged compared with February. It was 7.5% in March 2007. The EU271 unemployment rate was 6.7% in March 2008, also unchanged compared with February. It was 7.3% in March 2007.

According to the report from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliment on the operation of Regulation (EC) No 1606/2002 of 19 July 2002 concerning the application of international accounting standards, 1, 731 companies apply international accounting standards.

The European Data protection Supervisor released a press statement on Monday 28th April 2008 concerning issues within is policy paper on his role in EU research and technological development.

The European Commission has published recently amendments to the European standard for train signaling and speed control – the European Train Control System (ETCS) - which guarantees a common standard that enables trains to cross national borders and enhances safety.