European Union News - Social Affairs

"The EU has a significant role to play in fostering social success" is the message set forth by Vladimír Špidla, Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities at the two-day conference on 'Responding to new social realities' which took place in Brussels on May 5th 2008. The event, brought together all EU and national players, set the stage for a new Communication on the EU Agenda for Opportunities, Access and Solidarity, planned for June 2008.

Last 1st May it has been published the first call for proposal of the AAL Joint Programme with a total budget of 57.7 M€ to develop projects under the topic "ICT based solutions for Prevention and Management of Chronic Conditions of Elderly People".

The European Commission, via the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency, have launched a Call for proposals for projects supporting information activities for young people and youth workers. The calls for proposals, framed within the ‘Youth in Action’ programme, will dispose of a budget of 900,000 Euros.

A communication was published on the 22nd of April 2008, from the European Commission (EC), the European Parliment, the Council the European Economic and  SOcail Committee of the regions on on the protection of consumers, in particular minors, in respect of the use of video games.

The demands for and costs of long-term care provision in the EU will rise significantly by 2050, according to a new report presented by the European Commission. Meanwhile, the vast majority of Europeans (almost nine out of ten) favour home- or community-based care over care in an institutional setting.

On 4 December 2007, the European Commission approved INTERACT 2007-13, a European Territorial Cooperation Programme that covers the whole of the European Union, plus Norway and Switzerland. The Programme aims to promote good governance of Community-funded Programmes that fall within the framework of the European Territorial Cooperation Objective and has a total budget of around €40 million. Community investment through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) amounts to some €34 million, which represents approximately % of the total EU investment earmarked for the European Territorial Cooperation Objective under the Cohesion Policy for 2007-13.

The European Parliament (EP) is failing to project an image, good or bad, of itself in the minds of over half of Europe’s citizens. The result is a lack of engagement and fall in the number of people participating in European elections. However, campaigning raises the visibility of the Parliament, and the more information people have the more positively they feel towards the institution. These are just some of the findings from a study conducted by the EU-funded CIVICACTIVE project.

The Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities has produced three new video news releases. They all address social issues which are currently high on the agenda.

People should not be criminalised for the file-sharing of copyrighted material if they are not profiting from doing so, the European Parliament has recommended.

The JHA Council, on the 18th April 2008, adopted conclusions on practical cooperation which invite the Commission to come forward in the near future with proposals to provide adequate support for practical cooperation activities between Member States, including the creation of an Asylum Support Office which would provide for adequate structural and financial backing in order to guarantee the level of ambition necessary to complete the Common European Asylum System.