EU Agenda: Week Ahead - September 21 to September 26, 2009
17 September 2009, 23:50 CET
The week's events in the European Union including EU Council, Commission and Parliament meetings and other EU-related conferences and events. Events for the week of 21 September - 26 September, 2009.
Council of the EU
European Commission
European Parliament
Other Institutions
Monday 21 September
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European Mobility Week (EU) More than 200 million people across Europe and beyond are expected to take part in thousands of events to promote sustainable mobility. Every year a theme is chosen to highlight a particular aspect of mobility. This year the chosen theme will focus on urban transport's impact on climate change. The focus of this year's event is "Improving City Climates". |
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Transport ministers: Working dinner (Sodertalje, Sweden) The Swedish Minister for Communications, Ms Asa Torstensson, will invite fellow European colleagues to an informal dinner on the Future of Transport. Participants will be given a chance to update themselves on the most recent developments within Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) and the heavy vehicle industry. Also, there will be an opportunity to discuss what tomorrow’s transport system should look like. |
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EC President Barroso at the UN (New York) Mr Barroso will attend the Summit on Climate Change, which is being convened under the auspices of UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon. It will be an opportunity for world leaders to meet and discuss the main issues facing the Copenhagen negotiations later in the year. |
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Justice & Home Affairs Council (Brussels) The work of the Justice and Home Affairs Council will be almost exclusively devoted to immigration and asylum matters. The Council will have a first exchange of views regarding two documents presented by the Commission on the external aspects of migration: a communication on the establishment of a joint EU resettlement programme for refugees in third countries; the proposal for a decision establishing the European Refugee Fund for the period 2008 to 2013, as part of the General programme "Solidarity and Management of Migration Flows." |
Tuesday 22 September
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European Mobility Week (see above) |
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EC President Barroso at the UN (see above) |
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Innovation Policy: 5th Brussels Debate (Brussels) The 5th Brussels Debate "Innovation policy: time to step on the gas", in the framework of the European Year of Creativity and Innovation 2009, will examine how innovation can help EU enterprises emerge from the current recession stronger and how it can help the EU address global challenges. |
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Car-free Day in the Helsinki region (Helsinki) Public transport within Helsinki will cost just one euro throughout the day. The same goes for Espoo and Vantaa, and discounts will also apply for travel across city limits in the capital region. |
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EU Budget 2008 Financial Report The annual "EU Budget 2008 Financial Report" will look at which Member States got what in 2008, and on which areas the EUR 130.9 billion budget was spent in that year - the second of the enlarged EU-27 and the 2007-2013 financial framework. |
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EESC Energy Efficiency Days From 22 to 25 September, the Economic and Social Committee (EESC) will celebrate it's "Save it! Energy Efficiency Days" with the award-winning Pallet house, a sustainable building made of recycled wooden pallets at Quai aux Briques (Saint-Catherine) in Brussels. |
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EU Job Days 2009 (Brussels) The Brussels European Job day, which takes place on 3 October, will be organised for the third time in the Berlaymont, as part of the European Job days that are being organised in over 200 European cities between mid-September and mid-October 2009. It attracts every year 10,000 participants in Brussels, from over 30 nationalities and over 40 employers, advertising around 2,000 jobs. This year for the first time, there will be an area where people can directly test their skills in a number of areas. |
Wednesday 23 September
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EC President Barroso at the UN (see above) |
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EESC Energy Efficiency Days (see above) |
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EU Job Days 2009 (see above) |
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European Day of Languages (Brussels) The Commission has organised a number of activities in the week leading up to the annual European Day of Languages (EDL), the 26 September. The purpose of the EDL is to draw the public's attention to the importance of language learning, raise awareness of all the languages spoken in Europe and encourage lifelong language learning. |
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EC Weekly Meeting of the College |
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Urban Mobility: Action Plan The Commission is expected to adopt the Action Plan on urban mobility, a follow-up of the Green Paper on urban mobility that was adopted in September 2007. The consultation and debate that followed the Green Paper confirmed the added value of action at EU level in the area of urban mobility. |
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Adoption of the Financial Supervision Package The Commission will adopt a legislative package that will for the first time set up a truly European system of supervision for the financial sector. It envisages the formation of a European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB), which is to monitor and assess risks about the stability of the financial system as a whole and where necessary to issue warnings and recommendations to prevent those from materialising. The other key element of the package is the creation of a European System of Financial Supervisors, involving new European Supervisory Authorities for the banking, securities and insurance and occupational pensions sectors, which will be responsible for co-ordinating and facilitating the work of national supervisors. |
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Education Ministers Meeting (Informal) (Goteborg, Sweden) The most important issue for education policy is: how can we create the best conditions to enable our pupils to achieve the best possible results? At European level, the important role of teachers and school leaders has been highlighted many times. At the informal meeting of education ministers in October the Swedish Presidency will further highlight this issue. |
Thursday 24 September
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EESC Energy Efficiency Days (see above) |
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EU Job Days 2009 (see above) |
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European Day of Languages (see above) |
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Education Ministers Meeting (Informal) (see above) |
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Boosting Lending to SMEs: EIB Conference (Paris) For the first time in France, the European Investment Bank (EIB) will bring together small businesses and their financial partners on 24 September, from 14.00 to 18.00, to compare their impressions of the financial crisis one year on and to explain in practical terms their SME strategies. |
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Competitiveness Council (Brussels) Under the internal market and industry part on Thursday, the Competitiveness Council is expected to: adopt conclusions on improving the functioning of the internal market, with a focus on three priority areas: 1. practical information, 2. administrative cooperation and 3. enforcement, including problem-solving. |
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G20 Summit (Pittsburgh, USA) The G20 - a group representing 85% of the world's economy including finance ministers and central bank governors of 19 countries as well as the EU - will meet to discuss progress made since the G20 meetings in Washington DC in November 2008 and in London in April 2009, which were convened as a response to the global finanical crisis. Participants at the Washington DC G20 summit agreed to an Action Plan, which was reviewed at the London summit. The Pittsburgh summit will take stock of progress made and assure a sound global financial recovery can be achieved. |
Friday 25 September
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EESC Energy Efficiency Days (see above) |
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EU Job Days 2009 (see above) |
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European Day of Languages (see above) |
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Competitiveness Council (see above) |
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G20 Summit: Pittsburgh (see above) |
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EU Researchers' Night (EU) Researchers' night is an initiative by the European Commission that offers the public a unique opportunity to discover the world of research during one evening. On 25 September dozens of labs, universities, businesses, and research foundations will open their doors to anyone interested in how they work and what they do. People all over Europe will be able to become a "scientist for one night", use sophisticated instruments and take part in experiments. |
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European Day of Languages in Finland (Oulu, Vaasa, Finland) The Council of Europe and the European Union celebrate the European Day of Languages annually on 26 September. |
