European Union News - Social Affairs

The role of active citizenship in bringing together people of different faiths was discussed on Wednesday 14th of May 2008, as part of the third 'Brussels Debate' organised under the banner of the 2008 European Year of Intercultural Dialogue. The debate "New horizons: active citizenship to bridge inter-religious divides" was prepared by the European Commission in cooperation with the European Policy Centre (EPC), an independent, non-profit, Brussels based think-tank.

On 29 June 2007 the European Commission decided to consult the European Economic and Social Committee, under Article 262 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, on the Green Paper from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions — Adapting to climate change in Europe — Options for EU action.

The European Parliment and Council have published a decision oon the mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund in accordance with point 28 of the Interinstitutional Agreement of 17 May 2006 between the European Parliament, the Council and
the Commission on budgetary discipline and sound financial management.

The European Commission is to create an Expert Group on Financial Education (EGFE). The group will be composed of financial education practitioners and will aim to promote exchange of ideas, experiences and best practices. The group will also advise the Commission on its policy-making in the area of financial education. Interested candidates are invited to send an application to the Commission by 13 June 2008.

On the 15th May 2008, Peter Hustinx, Supervisor, and Joaquín Bayo Delgado, Assistant Supervisor, presented their fourth Annual Report to the press on data protection.

Via a new Calls for Proposals, the Executive Agency (EACEA) of the European Union, will finance roughly 1,500,000 euros towards projects supporting information activities for young people and youth workers on the 2009 European elections.

Established in 1987, Erasmus, the EU's flagship education and training programme for mobility and cooperation in higher education across Europe, continues to expand. Erasmus receives approximately € 450 million per annum under the EU's Lifelong Learning Programme 2007-2013. For the academic year 2006/07, figures show that 3% more students and 10% more university teachers went abroad compared to the previous year. This brought the total participants to almost 160 000 students and 26 000 teachers in that year alone. Central and Eastern European countries, as well as Turkey, have had the biggest growth in the numbers participating in the programme.

The report, drafted by Manolis MAVROMMATIS (EPP-ED, EL) welcomes the Commission's July 2007 White Paper on Sport and emphasises the important role of sport in society. It notes that about 60% of EU citizens regularly participate in sporting activities within or outside some 700,000 clubs, and that sport in a broader sense generated € 407 billion in value-added in 2004 (3.4% of EU GDP)  and employment for 15 million people (5.4% of the labour force).

On the 9th May 2008, the European Commission published its decision to set up a group of experts on financial education. The Commission issued a communication on Financial Education, which among other initiatives announced the setting-up of a group of experts with practical experience in financial education matters. The Commission highlighted that financial knowledge is very important within education.

The European Parliament welcomed on the 8th May 2008,the first comprehensive initiative of the European Commission in the field of sport. In an extensive report, the Parliament supported the Commission's approach and most of the actions contained in the White Paper on Sport, which was adopted in July 2007.

In a recent impact study, practically everyone interviewed considered the programme as one of the most, if not the most, important instruments for supporting the reform of higher education in their country. With such overwhelming positive responses, the Commission considers the continuation of the programme important and has therefore launched the fourth phase spanning the period 2007-2013. The fourth phase of the Tempus programme was launched in January may receive up to 52.5 million euros of EU funding.

On the initiative of the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, an informal dialogue took place on 5 May in the headquarters of the European Commission, bringing together around twenty high-level representatives of Christianity, Judaism and Islam in Europe. The meeting was co-chaired by European Commission President Barroso, Slovenian Prime Minister and current President of the European Council, Janez Janša, and the President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering. This year's meeting focused on two major challenges facing the European Union: Climate Change and Reconciliation.