"Summit backs 'fifth freedom' for EU scientists
EU agrees climate plan deadline
EU leaders agree to wrap up talks by the end of the year on an ambitious plan to fight climate change.
Most Comprehensive Exhibition To Date of Peter Doig Is On View at Tate Britain Peter Doig, Bomb Island 1991
Summit backs 'fifth freedom' for EU scientists
EU leaders gathered in Brussels last week agreed to step up efforts to improve working conditions for researchers and increase knowledge transfer between universities and business as a way to reverse the 'brain drain' of European talent.Attitudes of European citizens towards the environment  |
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Creative Europe by Ziga Turk
LJUBLJANA -- At the Spring European Council meeting held March 13-14, European Union member states' leaders will launch the second cycle of the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs, a strategy launched in 2000 with the aim of making the EU the most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world.New EU rules on sky marshals
The European Parliament agrees new rules on sky marshals and airport security.Interview: Belgium's foreign workers register 'not aimed at EU'
Limosa, a little-known scheme that requires foreigners to register with social security before heading to Belgium for temporary work, has raised concerns in Brussels EU circles. The official behind the scheme, Sarah Scaillet, seeks to clarify the new law in an interview with EurActiv.EU wants Serbia to stay on European path
Meeting two days after the collapse of the Serbian government, EU foreign ministers urged Belgrade not to turn its back on Europe, and called on Serbia's citizens not to support the nationalists in the upcoming elections.Only in Belgium… (complete the sentence)
Realising that its international reputation is not, ahem, what it once was, Belgium has launched a PR campaign called “Only in Belgium” to try to attract investment. Apparently this initiative goes across the language divide in the country - so much so that the map on the homepage prominently displays all three regions.Hewitt for the Commission - you heard it here first
Now the Daily Telegraph in its gruesome eurosceptic tone is speculating about Patricia Hewitt as Britain’s next nominee to be a European Commissioner. Now I reckon I got there first with this one - I posted about it first on 29th November 2007. Not bad, eh? Devil’s Kitchen commented on it at the time as well…
French students shy of real world
The BBC's Emma Jane Kirby is told in Montpellier that France's education system is out of sync with the world of business.High-speed Internet: EU leaders reject binding targets
European leaders did not endorse the Commission's bold goal of connecting almost one in three households to high-speed broadband internet by 2010. Instead EU states are encouraged to "set ambitious national targets".EU agrees tight schedule for climate and energy deal
Europe's leaders have pledged to find agreement on controversial CO2 reduction and renewable energy laws before the end of the year, in a bid to maintain a strong position in international climate change negotiations. Energy intensive industries were given assurances that the measures would safeguard their competitiveness.Summit approves 'Union for the Mediterranean'
EU leaders have given the green light to a compromise, struck by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, to create a 'Union for the Mediterranean', an initiative aimed at upgrading the EU's relations with its neighbours from North Africa and the Middle East.EU leaders endorse 'necessary' defences against state funds
Each EU country should, "if necessary", be able to block foreign investments carried out via state-owned vehicles, state the conclusions of the European Council, which also confirmed member states' support for an internationally-agreed code of conduct for sovereign wealth funds.Surveys: EU public worried about food prices, climate change
Europeans are increasingly concerned about climate change and think EU agricultural policies are failing to address rising food costs, according to two new Eurobarometer surveys published yesterday (13 March). Three quarters of Europeans also say they are ready to pay more for greener goods, but few have actually done so, the surveys found.EU moves to catch up on microchip revolution
The European Union is losing the technological battle for the mass deployment of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) chips, seen as the driver of the creation of an "Internet of things," the Commission warned. It announced it would put forward new legislation "by the end of the year," including new funds to boost the development of this revolutionary technology.Green NGO demands nanotech legislation
Consumers are unknowingly using hundreds of products containing potentially toxic nanomaterials, according to a new report by Friends of the Earth (FoE). The NGO is calling for a moratorium on the commercial release of any new food products until a specific legislative framework regulating nanomaterials as new substances is developed.Commission seeks to improve governance of EU agencies
The European Commission yesterday (11 March) renewed its efforts to define the role of its numerous regulatory agencies, charged with advising the EU institutions and taking technical decisions in fields ranging from food safety to the bloc's police and judicial missions, by establishing common rules for all three institutions to boost their "transparency and effectiveness".Interview: EU urged to sustain its 'creative industries'
Supporting creative industries through better intellectual property protection and the development of world-class IT infrastructure must become a priority for the EU, at a time when China and India are catching up on research and scientific innovation, Slovenia's Minister for Growth Ziga Turk told EurActiv ahead of the Spring Summit.EU technology institute to start operations by 2010
Even after the final approval of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), opinions diverge on the necessity of the institute, which was originally deisgned as the European rival to the US Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Nevertheless, concrete research, education and innovation actions are expected to start by 2010.Swords Paperclips from the North
It looks like Nicolas Sarkozy’s pet foreign-policy idea has been sporked, good and proper; his idea of a “Mediterranean Union” is now officially an ex-parrot, after it failed to get German support. As we’ve been saying right back to 2005, the key fact of European politics at the moment is that Angela Merkel has achieved a degree of influence that no other chancellor since Willy Brandt could claim; whether it’s over the economy, the Middle East, Russia, the EU budget, or the EU’s internal organisation, all roads now pass through Berlin. Helmut Kohl and Konrad Adenauer both operated in a triumvirate with a very strong and universally respected French president and a very strong (and pretty respected, but far from universally so) European Commission President; there’s certainly an argument that the Barroso commission is the best for some time, but nobody could seriously describe Nicolas Sarkozy as a leading force in European politics. The UK is absorbed by its own self-inflicted crisis; Italy is coming over all Italian; problems go either to Brussels or Berlin for solution.
