European Union News - Social Affairs

The draft agreement reached between the EP and the Council on the European Protection Order will make possible that Crime victims who have been granted protection in one EU Member State will be able to get similar protection if they move to another. This protection would cover, for instance, victims of gender violence, harassment, abduction, stalking or attempted murder.

EESC members approved on 21 September two opinions to enforce the fundamental rights of EU citizens and combat the exclusion of people with disabilities. The EESC believes that the legally-binding obligation to promote fundamental rights must lead to concrete activities. Furthermore, the EESC warns against any cuts in social expenditure due to austerity measures in times of crisis.

Civil society organisations from the EU and Turkey have made a joint statement in which they call on both parties to move the accession process forward. They also call for the independence of the country's professional organisations following the forthcoming reform of Turkey's constitution.

In all cases of domestic violence, the European Union law does not preclude a mandatory injunction to stay away being even if the victim wishes to re-establish cohabitation with the offender. While the right to be heard must give the victim, that procedural right does not confer on victims any rights in respect of the choice of form of penalties to be imposed on the offenders in accordance with the rules of national criminal law nor in respect of the level of those penalties. A measure of protection under criminal law against acts of domestic violence is intended to protect not only the interests of the victim but also the more general interests of society.

According to the ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union, EU law can prevent transferred workers, even those employed by a public authority of a Member State and taken over by another public authority, from suffering a substantial reduction in salary by reason only of the transfer.

As one of the priorities for the Polish Presidency of the European Union, participants in the Conference on Shared Responsibility organised by the Ministry of Economy in cooperation with the Responsible Business Forum tried to provide answers to the question on how to increase the presence and efficiency of CSR in the European Union. The conference was held at the Polish Baltic Fryderyk Chopin Philharmonic in Gdańsk on 5th September 2011.

The "APSIS4All" project, which is financed with EU funds, is aimed to make self-service terminals, such as public transport ticket vending machines or public information kiosks and cash dispensers, to the Europeans who have a disability or the 87 million Europeans aged 65 and over. In order to carry out this purpuose, the project will design and validate personalised interfaces, including contactless cards, to help overcome existing accessibility barriers.

The EU has launched a new project that seeks to develop appealing, affordable and healthy food products that could prevent common nutritional problems among those vulnerable to poverty. By exploring means to lower the production costs and increasing the knowledge about this particular group of consumers this project will hopefully stimulate development of food products that can make a difference as well as make them available and attractive to people who really need them.

The 'Colorful but Colorblind' project has been granted by the prestigious award from the US-based Society of Professional Journalists. The project is a series of 25 short films telling the stories of Roma communities living in central and Eastern Europe. The aim was to encourage a more nuanced coverage of Roma issues and a greater participation of Roma journalists in mainstream media operations.