European Union News - Internal Market

The TEN-T EA is organising its second Project Management Workshop in Brussels on 12-13 January 2010. The event, which mirrors the first Project Management Workshop held in December 2008, will feature both a plenary session as well as smaller breakout thematic sessions, aimed at providing participants with more in-depth information on more specific topics.

The number of persons employed in the euro area (EA16) fell by 0.5% in the third quarter of 2009 compared with the previous quarter, according to national accounts estimates published by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities.

The EU has revised the contract value thresholds, above which its rules on public purchasing apply, with effect from January 2010.

Member States have decided that the new Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) will have its seat in Ljubljana, Slovenia. This decision paves the way for the timely setting up of the Agency and thus the effective implementation of the Third Legislative Package on the Liberalisation of the Energy Markets.

The EU is seeking an increasingly close relationship with Ukraine, going beyond co-operation, to gradual economic integration and a deepening of political co-operation.

The Commission has proposed to the Council a 15-month extension of anti-dumping measures regarding certain leather footwear from China and Vietnam. The original duties, which are 16.5% on Chinese shoes and 10% on Vietnamese shoes, were imposed in 2006. Following an industry request, the Commission investigated to see whether the measures should continue after their normal expiry date. The investigation found an extension of the measures to be justified.

The European Communities has donated 2 million eirps to the Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund (DDAGTF) for the years 2010 and 2011.This last donation brings the EC's total contribution to the DDAGTF to CHF9.2 million.

In 2008, EU27 external trade in services recorded a surplus of 78.4 billion euro, compared with a surplus of 86.9 bn in 2007 and a surplus of 71.4 bn in 2006, according to latest Eurostat release.