Tuesday 13 July 2010: Report on free movement of workers and new Eurobarometer survey on mobility
The European Commission will present a communication reaffirming the free movement of workers and highlighting major developments in the last years. This paper offers an overview of the rights of EU migrant workers (updating the Commission's 2002 communication on the subject). The aim is to raise awareness and promote the rights of migrant workers. A new Eurobarometer on mobility will be presented at the same time. Mobility concerns 10% of Europeans, some 50 million people, have already lived and worked abroad.
The free movement of workers is a success in legal terms, but citizens' access to the right to move and live in another European country can still be improved. To achieve the Europe 2020 employment and growth objectives, the European Commission will work on facilitating and promoting intra-EU mobility in the context of the new strategy for the single market (following the presentation of the Monti report). This communication is a first step in that direction and a basis for further work.
Every EU citizen has the right to work and live in another Member State without being discriminated against on grounds of nationality. However, despite the progress made, there are still legal, administrative and practical obstacles to exercising that right. Other factors also influence trans-national mobility. These include housing issues, language, the employment of spouses and partners, return mechanisms, historical 'barriers' and the recognition of mobility experience, particularly within SMEs. Tackling these problems therefore calls for a broader approach, combined with effective implementation of the principle of free movement. The Europe 2020 strategy reinforces the importance of facilitating and promoting EU mobility.
European Commission website on free movement of workers - social affairs
http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=25
Guide "Working in another EU country" 2007 update
http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp
Thursday 15 - Friday16 July 2010: Launch of e-Justice Portal: Justice at a click
The e-Justice online portal will help removing legal barriers for all the 9 million European citizens who engage in cross-border civil justice procedures. No matter where people reside or travel, they will have equal access to legal information across the entire European Union.
Did you leave your mother country to move within the EU and want to contact a notary to purchase an apartment there? Were you a victim of fraud during your holidays in another EU Member State, and you need to find a lawyer there? Or are you a judge who needs to consult rules applying in other EU countries? The answer should be just a click away, available on the new e-Justice portal.
The European e-Justice web portal, made of over 12 000 pages of content, will be launched in 22 official EU languages. It is an easily accessible tool for citizens and lawyers dealing with cross-border legal issues, providing a wealth of information on the legal systems of all EU Member States.
The portal will be launched at the EU Justice Ministries meeting in Brussels, on Friday 16 July.
Monday 19 July 2010: The Commission, the Council and the Parliament bring together religious leaders to discuss how to combat poverty and social exclusion
Around twenty senior figures from the Christian, Jewish, Muslim religions as well as from the Sikh and Hindu communities from fourteen Members States (France, United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, Denmark) will meet in the Berlaymont in Brussels to discuss the importance of combating poverty and social exclusion with a view to European governance.
Among the religious dignitaries present:
His Beatitude Ieronymos II Archbishop of Athens and of all Greece
His Eminence Cardinal P?ter Erd?, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest - moved
His Eminence Metropolitan Joseph, Representative of the Orthodox Church of Romania to the European Union
The Right Reverend Christopher Hill, Church of England;
His Excellency Peter Skov-Jakobsen, Bishop of Copenhagen The Evangelical, Lutheran Church in Denmark
His Eminence Metropolitan Emmanuel, President of the Conference of European Churches;
Dr. Dalil Boubakeur, Rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris
His Excellency Gilles Bernheim, Chief Rabbi of France;
His Excellency Monsignor Adrianus van Luyn, Bishop of Rotterdam, President of the Bishops' Conference of the European Communities (COMECE)
Maharadja Sivarama Swami, Governing Body Commission of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
Bhai Sahib Mohinder Singh, Chairman of the Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha
The meeting will be hosted by Jos? Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission and co-chaired by Herman van Rompuy, President of the European Council and Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament.
Monday 19 to Tuesday 20 July 2010: Conference "CAP post-2013"
The European Commission will organise the Conference "CAP post-2013" in Brussels on 19 and 20 July. It will gather leading representatives and stakeholders from the agricultural sector.
The aim of the conference is to bring together the varied elements of contributions presented during the public debate on "The Common Agricultural Policy after 2013 - Your ideas matter" and to provide the opportunity for further discussion around the following broad themes:
Why do we need a common agricultural policy?
What do citizens expect from agriculture?
Why reform the CAP?
What tools do we need for the CAP of tomorrow?
The conference will also be an important step in the Commission's preparations for a Communication to be issued later in the year that will prepare the ground for proposals for the CAP post-2013.
The conference will be opened by Dacian Ciolo?, Commissioner responsible for Agriculture and Rural Development, who will also chair the plenary sessions
European Commission's website on the Conference:
http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/cap-post-2013/conference/index_en.htm
Thursday 22 July 2010: Annual Report on Intellectual Property Rights at Customs
The European Commission will publish its annual report on customs enforcement related to intellectual property rights (IPR). This report sets out the number of IPR infringing goods detained by Customs in 2009, including information on the type of products, the countries of origin, the type of rights and many other issues.
Customs play an important role on the enforcement of intellectual property rights, such as trademarks, copyrights and patents, by detaining any goods that they suspect of infringing these rights. EU legislation allows Customs to control these goods to see if they are possibly in violation of IPR. After customs suspects that a violation might exist further procedures will be followed, including informing the right holders and the holder of the detention. It is then up to the right holders to pursue the matter through a court under national provisions.
Monday 21 June 2010: Record numbers of Erasmus students
Launched in 1987, the Erasmus programme has supported nearly 2.5 million students and university staff with grants to study, teach or get practical experience abroad. Since 2007, the programme has also offered students the possibility to go abroad for a work placement in a company or other organisation.
"Generation Erasmus" includes students and academic staff from all EU Member States, as well as Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Turkey.
The sources:
European Commission's website on the Erasmus programme
http://www.ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-programme/doc80_en.htm
Wednesday 23 June 2010: Award Ceremony of the REAL fake school competition on counterfeiting and piracy
The news:
The award ceremony of the REAL Fake competition takes place on 23 June 2010 in the European Parliament. Young people across Europe were given the chance to produce short videos, games, cartoons or other educational material that highlight the implications of counterfeiting and piracy. Alternatively, participants could design a winning logo for the European Observatory on Counterfeiting and Piracy.
Following a careful selection by a jury from hundreds of entries, the winning contestants have been invited for a grand award ceremony at the European Parliament's premises. The winning schools are from Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Greece and Spain.
Next to Commissioner for Internal Market, Michel Barnier, President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek and notable MEPs Bill Newton Dunn (ALDE), Edith Herczog (S&D) and Andreas Schwab (EPP), fashion designer Yasmine Le Bon and Philippe Lacoste, Vice-President of Unifab, are to make key appearances at the event.
The Ceremony will also be the public kick-off for an exhibition at the European Parliament, where various counterfeited items are on display next to their almost indistinguishable originals. Products range from electronic tools and car parts to toys, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.
Award site and more info on the Observatory on counterfeiting and Piracy:
http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/iprenforcement/observatory/real_fake_competition_en.htm
Wednesday 23 June 2010: Meeting of Energy Commissioner G?nther Oettinger with Ukraine's Fuel and Energy Minister Yuriy Boyko
The news:
Ukraine Energy Minister Boyko will present the Ukrainian Gas law which is expected to have passed the first hearing in the Ukrainian Parliament by the time of the meeting and inform EU Energy Commissioner Oettinger about recent developments and further steps concerning modernization of the Ukrainian Gas Transportation System.
Ukraine is a key transit country for energy resources from Russia to the EU, particularly for gas and, in the future, for oil. A major challenge is the need to guarantee the overall performance, safety and security of the Ukrainian natural gas transit network and this has been one of the main objectives of the enhanced EU-Ukraine energy co-operation since 2001.
In October 2009, negotiations on the accession of the Ukraine to the Energy Community were concluded. In December 2009 the Energy Community Ministerial Council took the political decision of agreeing with the accession of Ukraine to the Energy Community. The finalisation of the accession is still ongoing.
European Commission's website on bilateral EU-Ukraine Energy Relations:
http://ec.europa.eu/energy/international/bilateral_cooperation/ukraine_en.htm
Friday 25 June to Sunday 27 June 2010: The G8 and G20 summits in Canada - restoring confidence and leading the world towards sustainable and inclusive growth
The G8 summit will take place from 25-26 June in Huntsville (Muskoka district, Canada) and the G20 summit from 26-27 June in Toronto (Canada).
The G20 leaders' process has been designated the premier forum for international economic cooperation at the Pittsburgh summit in 2009. The June summit of the G20 will focus on the fiscal exit from the crisis and on laying the foundations for sustainable and balanced growth. It will also serve to keep the pressure on leaders to implement previous commitments, notably on financial market reform and the reform of international financial institutions.
The G8 summit will focus on development policy issues, including progress towards the Millennium Development Goals and a Canadian initiative for child and maternal health. Furthermore, G8 leaders will discuss peace and security, non-proliferation, terrorism and organized crime. The June summit will also have an important accountability dimension to demonstrate that G8 leaders keep their commitments made over the years.
Both leaders' gatherings will also help keeping up the momentum in global trade talks (Doha Development Round) and in the UN climate change negotiations.
The European Union is a full member of both the G8 and the G20. The European Union will be represented at both summits by the President of the Commission, Jos? Manuel Barroso, and the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy. Commission President Barroso participates for the sixth time in the G8 and for the fourth time in the G20. He spelled out his view on the EU priorities for the G20 Summit on 13 May 2010 (see MEMO/10/192). President Barroso said in this context: "The G 20 remains a key vehicle for the EU to drive forward a reform agenda which tackles the challenges exposed and which commits our international partners to deliver, too. Recovery from the crisis and a shift to sustainable, responsible, growing economies and markets are shared goals that can only be delivered by a shared global effort." The European Council on 17 June is set to finalise EU preparations of the G 20 summit.
The G8 members are: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union. This year's summit will also include outreach sessions with leaders from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.
The G20 leaders' process includes the leaders of the European Union and 19 countries: South Africa, Canada, Mexico, United States, Argentina, Brazil, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Indonesia, Saudi-Arabia, France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, Turkey, Russia, Australia. In 2010, the G20 presidency also invited Spain, the Netherlands and the chairs of the African Union (Malawi), NEPAD (Ethiopia) and ASEAN (Vietnam).
The two summits take place at a time where global economic recovery is gaining strength, but uncertainties remain regarding its strength and sustainability, not least because of mounting deficit and debt levels. Multiple other global challenges persist like the need to re-vitalise climate change and world trade negotiations, as well as the need to tackle international peace and security issues ranging from Iran and Iraq to Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Middle East and North Korea. The G8 and G20 summits therefore come at a crucial time to provide political impetus in finding and implementing solutions to these global challenges.
The EU played a key role in launching the G20 leaders' process, and has provided much of the political impetus and substantive thinking that has established it as the primary forum for global discussion and coordination on economic and financial issues.
In 2010 Canada chairs the G8 and South Korea chairs the G20. A second G20 summit will take place in Seoul on 11-12 November 2010.
In 2011 France will take over the presidency of both the G8 and the G 20.
Websites of the G20 and G8 summits:
http://g20.gc.ca/home/
http://g8.gc.ca/home/
Monday 28 June 2010: EU-OPEC Energy Dialogue
The 7th EU-OPEC Ministerial meeting will discuss the most recent energy policies and oil market developments in the EU and OPEC and prepare the ground for future joint activities.
Comissioner Oettinger will highlight the initiatives that the EC took in cooperation with the industry and Member States to maximise safety in offshore oil and gas installations.
Within others Energy Commissioner G?nther Oettinger, Abdalla Salem El-Badri, Secretary General of the OPEC and Pedro Luis Marin Uribe, President of the EU Energy Council and State Secretary Ministry for Industry, Tourism and Trade of Spain will attend the meeting.
The EU imports around 37% of its oil imports from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). High oil prices and uncertainty in oil markets have been encouraged by growth in oil demand and a reduction of spare capacity. In this context, the EU and OPEC have established in the second half of 2004 a high-level bilateral dialogue to enhance producer-consumer relations.
The EU aims at a more stable international oil markets and prices, an attractive investment climate, a more transparent market, a better market analysis and forecasts as well as, technological and international cooperation. OPEC's role is the coordination of petroleum policies, fair prices for petroleum producers and efficient, economic, regular supply to consuming nations and a fair return in capital to those investing in the industry.
European Commission's website on EU OPEC Energy Dialogue:
http://ec.europa.eu/energy/international/organisations/opec_en.htm
Wednesday 30 June 2010: Commission unveils its European Tourism policy
The European Commission is going to approve the Communication "Europe, top tourist destination in the world - a new political framework for European Tourism". The Communication proposes a new consolidated framework for action and a series of initiatives at European level to be implemented in close cooperation with representatives of the public and private tourism sector. The consolidated framework should bring an added value to actions of the Member States in this field. The specific objectives of this set of actions will be: boost the competitiveness of the European Tourist sector, consolidate the European tourism image as an ensemble and promote the continuous sustainable development of tourism.
Until 2007 EU tourism has constantly recorded an increase both in income from tourism and in the number of tourist arrivals. To face the global challenge of competitiveness, particularly in relation to emerging countries, the new European economic strategy "Europe 2020" recognises the key role of tourism in the European industry, and aims at strengthening it under the strict bind of a responsible and sustainable development.
European Commission's website on:
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/tourism/index_en.htm
Thursday 1 July 2010: Further cuts in roaming charges for mobile phone users as new EU roaming rules enter into force
Under the EU's Roaming Regulation, from 1st July 2010, roaming charges for calls made from mobile phones whilst in another EU country will fall to 39 cents per minute for calls made and 15 cents per minute for calls received, excluding VAT. Also, from 1st July 2010, to protect people from 'bill shocks' for surfing the Internet with their mobile phones and laptops while travelling in other EU countries, operators will have to impose a €50 cut off limit per month for those customers that have not yet set their own cut-off price limit for downloading data. Since March 2010, operators have had to offer customers the possibility to set their own cut-off price limit per month for downloading data while travelling in other EU countries. Thirdly, from 1st July 2010 the wholesale cap of €1 per MegaByte down or uploaded introduced in 2009 will fall to 80 cents per MB. Finally, operators will not be able to charge their customers for the receipt of a voice mail message while roaming in another EU country.
The first EU Roaming Regulation, which entered into force on 30 June 2007, introduced limits to the wholesale and retail charges for roaming voice calls in the EU. These limits were foreseen until 30 June 2009. New EU rules on roaming rules adopted by the EU's Council of Ministers and European Parliament in June 2009 entered into force on 1 July 2009 and extended the Regulation to include text messages and mobile data services. It introduced a 'Euro-SMS tariff' limiting the price that consumers could be charged for sending a text message while in another EU country to €0.11 excluding VAT and introduced a wholesale cap of €1 per MB down or uploaded. The new rules foresaw further price cuts and new provisions to limit 'bill shocks' for data roaming from 1 July 2010.
Since the adoption of the Roaming Regulation in June 2007, prices for mobile phone calls abroad have already fallen by up to 70% compared to the prices in 2005, the cost of sending a text message while abroad has been reduced by 60% on average and transparency has been increased. Consumers can now move around Europe without being afraid to turn on their mobile phones. With the new lower price caps, the savings for consumers will be even greater.
Monday 19 to Tuesday 20 July 2010: Conference "CAP post-2013"
The news:
The European Commission will organise the Conference "CAP post-2013" in Brussels on 19 and 20 July. It will gather leading representatives and stakeholders from the agricultural sector.
The aim of the conference is to bring together the varied elements of contributions presented during the public debate on "The Common Agricultural Policy after 2013 - Your ideas matter" and to provide the opportunity for further discussion around the following broad themes:
Why do we need a common agricultural policy?
What do citizens expect from agriculture?
Why reform the CAP?
What tools do we need for the CAP of tomorrow?
The conference will also be an important step in the Commission's preparations for a Communication to be issued later in the year that will prepare the ground for proposals for the CAP post-2013.
The conference will be opened by Dacian Ciolo?, Commissioner responsible for Agriculture and Rural Development, who will also chair the plenary sessions
European Commission's website on the Conference:
http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/cap-post-2013/conference/index_en.htm
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