European Union News - Social Affairs

The question whether a victim of domestic violence must be able to choose to resume cohabitation immediately with her attacker does not fall within the scope of European Union law, according to Advocate General Kokott. Nevertheless, the opinion of the victim must be able to be  taken into consideration in order to vary the duration of an order to stay away laid down by national law.

The First international multidisciplinary forum on new drugs will take place in Lisbon from 11–12 May and it is organised by the EU drugs agency (EMCDDA). The Forum will provide a comprehensive overview on new psychoactive substances and identify common anchor points to inform future actions.

According to the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) this Committe must fully play a link between the EU and civil society. This was one of the conclusions drawn by Mr. Andor, Commissioner with responsibility for employment, social affairs, at the EESC plenary session. He also added this is to ensure that the voice of the most vulnerable is not drowned out.

The Euromed Gender Equality Programme (EGEP) concluded a series of national and regional situation analysis reports focusing on the status of women's civil and political rights in southern Mediterranean countries. In the same context, the ETF Women and Work (WOW) project conducted studies on women’s education, training and employment opportunities in Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia. The results of both complete the overview on the status of women and on the possible ways forward to strengthen the role of women in southern Mediterranean societies.

The initiatives presented by the European Commission cover various aspects of migration, such as strengthened border control and Schengen governance or completion of the Common European Asylum System. These measures come in addition to the urgent short-term measures already taken by the Commission to deal with the migration situation in the Mediterranean and migration pressures on frontline Member States.

The European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) quarterly has been launched by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound). It provides an overview of restructuring activities in Europe in the first quarter of 2011. According this edition, EU has announced job losses and job gains almost level.