European Union News - Regional Policy

The Official Journal of the European Union has published the decision to renew the Portuguese on his office until 2014. European Parliament has yet to give its approval to this decision.

Everyone who wants to participate in OPEN DAYS 2009 European Week of Regions and Cities is now able to get registered online. The event will take place in Brussels from 5 to 8 October 2009, and it is expected that milliards of people will participate in the 300 events that are expected to be held across the participating countries.

The Official Journal of the European Union has published a Call for Proposals to grant subsidies to promote transport policy objectives. The policy priorities have been fixed in the 2009 Work Programme adopted by the European Commission. Main topics selected are road safety, transport safety and internal market (for inland and maritime navigation). The total budget is EUR 4,750,000.

The Council has decided by written procedure to appoint Pawel Samecki as new Commissioner on Regional Policy in place of his compatriot, Danuta Hübner, newly elected MEP in June elections.

The European Commission will allocate a maximum of 0.4 million euros for a study on access to justice in cases of discrimination based on gender, race, ethnicity, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation.

The main conclusion of the Electricity Supply Outlook Report is that there is no reason to expect electricity disturbances this Summer under usual weather conditions.

The President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering, has welcomed the agreement on the legal guarantees for Ireland between the 27 Member States which paves the way for a second referendum in Ireland and the full ratification of the Lisbon Treaty.

As proposed by CoR president Luc Van den Brande and first vice-president and Mayor of Dunkirk Michel Delebarre, the White Paper on multilevel governance calls on the EU institutions and Member States to step up the involvement of local and regional authorities in the preparation and implementation of EU policies. By adopting a White Paper for the first time in its history, the CoR has given a political signal shortly after the European elections and just before the renewal of the European Commission.

Five years on from enlargement, the Baltic Sea region is facing pressing challenges including the deteriorating state of the Baltic Sea, poor transport links, barriers to trade and energy supply concerns. These problems have been exacerbated by a lack of effective coordination.The Strategy, presented by Commissioner for Regional Policy, above all aims to maximise the development potential of the Member States and regions in the Baltic Sea area, which is home to nearly 100 million people. 

 The European Commission has published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) dated June 28, 2008 two calls for proposals for grants to foundations and political parties at European level. The total budget for both calls is 18.21 million. 

Europe's maritime regions have the potential to help the EU out of the economic doldrums and to meet the Lisbon strategy goals of more and better jobs, according to Luc Van den Brande, president of the Committee of the Regions, the EU's assembly of regional and local representatives. Speaking at European Maritime Day in Rome, President Van den Brande said it was time to "boost the 'blue potential' of the green economy", but warned that this would not be possible without a significant increase in European funding.