EU web links

A collection of links to web sites of the European Union institutions and other European business web sites.

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Enforcement of intellectual property rights — 09 May 2008, 16:46 CET

Enforcement of intellectual property rights - European Commission initiatives to enforce intellectual property rights, including the Enforcement Directive and background documents on counterfeiting and piracy.

Lobbyists activities - EP Legislative Observatory texts — 08 May 2008, 23:33 CET

Development of the framework for the activities of interest representatives (lobbyists) in the European institutions - European Parliament Legislative Observatory - COM(2007)0127 - A6-0105/2008

2008 Convergence Report of the European Commission — 07 May 2008, 17:56 CET

The European Commission concluded on 7 May 2008 that Slovakia meets the criteria for adopting the euro and made a proposal to the Council to this effect. The regular Convergence Report on euro readiness, adopted by the Commission, shows that the other nine countries with a so-called 'derogation' have made progress on the road to the single currency, but do not yet meet all the conditions for euro adoption. The Council of EU finance ministers (ECOFIN) will take the final decision on the adoption of the euro in Slovakia in July, after Parliament has given its opinion and EU heads of state and government have discussed the subject at their summit meeting in June.

Towards EMU@10 - Research resources — 02 May 2008, 19:35 CET

This umbrella project embraces a wide array of research activities to mark 10 years of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). In May 2008, it will be 10 years since the final decision in May 1998 to move to the third and final stage of EMU - together with the decision on which Member States would participate – followed by the launch of the euro on 1 January 1999. The project has three dimensions: assessing the economic achievements of the euro area’s first decade; identifying current and future challenges; and developing policy proposals in response to those challenges.

Small Business Act for Europe — 01 May 2008, 17:52 CET

The European Commission has proposed in the Community Lisbon Programme the preparation of a Small Business Act for Europe whose main aim will be to set principles and concrete measures to improve the framework conditions for European SMEs, while taking full account of their diversity.

Report on fraud regarding non cash means of payments in the EU: the implementation of the 2004-2007 EU Action Plan — 30 April 2008, 00:20 CET

The European Commission has published a report on the actions undertaken on prevention of payment fraud between 2004 and 2007 following an Action Plan on this matter. This report shows that the security of means of payment and payment systems is a necessary condition for improving consumer confidence and trust in new payment services. From a regulatory point of view, the security of means of payment has been addressed in recent legislation, namely in Payment Services Directive, and also the third Money Laundering Directive by means of the "know your customer" obligations. The development of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) by industry will provide an opportunity to build on the legislative framework to increase both security and trust.

Special Eurobarometer survey on health and long-term care — 30 April 2008, 00:04 CET

According to this Eurobarometer report carried out in 2007, most Europeans expect to need long-term care at some point in their lives (with an EU average of 13% seeing this as inevitable, 32% likely and 29% unlikely but possible). However, 86% of Europeans would prefer to be cared for in their own homes or that of a relative should they become dependent, as opposed to only 8% preferring an institution. (pdf format)

Long-term Care in the European Union — 29 April 2008, 23:59 CET

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 on 28 April 2008. Meanwhile, the vast majority of Europeans (almost nine out of ten) favour home- or community-based care over care in an institutional setting. The projected growth in demand for long-term care services presents a major challenge for national governments. But the report also shows that Member States are striving to guarantee access for all to quality care by providing adequate resources to meet this demand. (pdf format)

Spring economic forecasts 2008 - 2009 — 28 April 2008, 15:56 CET

EU Macro-economic forecasts: growth moderates, price pressures a worry but, overall, EU weathers external headwinds rather well.

Pilot on eHealth indicators — 25 April 2008, 17:47 CET

Pilot on eHealth indicators: 'Benchmarking ICT use among General Practitioners in Europe' final report - the European Commission on 25 April published a pan-European survey on electronic services in healthcare (eHealth) that shows 87% of European doctors (General Practitioners) use a computer, 48% with a broadband connection. European doctors increasingly store and send patients' data such as lab reports electronically. In using such eHealth applications, doctors and medical services have already improved healthcare in Europe through, for example, more efficient administration and shorter waiting times for patients. The report also highlights where doctors could make better use of ICT to offer services such as telemonitoring, electronic prescriptions and cross border medical services.

The Birds Directive — 25 April 2008, 17:01 CET

Council Directive 79/409/EEC on the conservation of wild birds, commonly referred to as the Birds Directive, is the European Union’s oldest piece of nature legislation and one of the most important, creating a comprehensive scheme of protection for all wild bird species naturally occurring in the EU.

Putting Trade Policy at the service of development — 22 April 2008, 18:11 CET

EU Trade Policy and Market Access for Developing Countries 2006-2007 - Report from DG Trade of the European Commission to the European Parliament - April 2008.

Public consultation on the possible revision of the existing legislation on emergency oil stocks — 22 April 2008, 14:43 CET

The European Commission has launched an online consultation to ascertain the views of interested parties on the possible revision of the existing legislation on emergency oil stocks.

European Qualifications Framework — 18 April 2008, 15:20 CET

The EQF is a common European reference framework which links countries' qualifications systems together, acting as a translation device to make qualifications more readable. It has two principal aims: to promote citizens' mobility between countries and to facilitate their lifelong learning.

EU-FIRE — 16 April 2008, 22:42 CET

Innovative optoelectronic and acoustic sensing technologies for large scale forest fire long term monitoring. EU-FIRE project has the objective to design a really modern and efficient fire monitoring system and to develop a prototype in order to demonstrate the feasibility of a large scale forest fires long term monitoring, an thus the way to improve the quality of life in European wooded areas.

European Ombudsman annual reports — 15 April 2008, 19:19 CET

Annual reports on the European Ombudsman's activities. The European Ombudsman investigates complaints about maladministration in the institutions and bodies of the European Union.

Credit agreements for consumers — 10 April 2008, 22:51 CET

The European Council on 8 April approved the amendment voted by the European Parliament on the EU Directive establishing common rules on consumer credit.

Debate Europe - Democracy - Dialogue – Debate — 28 March 2008, 12:50 CET

Help give direction to the future of Europe. Join in any number of debates and give us your views on the challenges facing Europe today. Do you think it's going in the right direction? Are the institutions making a difference where it really counts? Are they being overly meddlesome in trivial areas and not meddlesome enough in others, such as securing jobs and protecting consumers? Where do you stand on the climate change debate? Where do you see Europe's borders ending? Take this opportunity to play your part in defining the road ahead.

Quarterly report on the euro area - March 2008 — 27 March 2008, 12:40 CET

The economy has to contend with strengthening external headwinds but the euro area is showing resilience helped by strong growth in emerging markets, shows the latest Quarterly Report on the Euro Area (QREA). The most recent hard and soft data are consistent with the growth forecast announced on 21 February. The Report also looks at why growth and inflation have become more stable in industrialised countries in recent decades, a phenomenon economists refer to as the 'Great Moderation'. It shows that labour market reforms have succeeded in increasing employment levels but that there is a growing divide on the labour market, with the burden of reform falling on those not subject to standard labour contracts. It also shows that the economies of the Member States are reacting differently to the ongoing inflationary pressures. Finally, in its focus section, the QREA argues that East Asia could take inspiration from the European economic and monetary experience to the benefit of the region and indeed the whole world.

European Institute of Innovation and Technology - EIT — 12 March 2008, 22:53 CET

The European Parliament adopted on 12 March 2008 the Regulation establishing the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). European Commission President José Manuel Barroso stated: "I am delighted with this decisive step forward towards establishing the EIT. The EIT is set to become an important feature of Europe's innovation landscape. It will facilitate and enhance partnerships and cooperation between the worlds of business, research and higher education across the European Union, thereby helping to continue to boost jobs and growth in Europe in the future."

Agencies of the EU — 07 March 2008, 12:42 CET

A number of specialised and decentralised European Union agencies have been established to support the EU Member States and their citizens. These agencies are an answer to a desire for geographical devolution and the need to cope with new tasks of a legal, technical and/or scientific nature.The EU’s agencies are grouped into four categories: Community agencies - Common Foreign and Security Policy agencies - Police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters agencies - Executive agencies.

Gender mainstreaming of employment policies in practice — 06 March 2008, 13:35 CET

The European Commission just published an expert report analysing gender mainstreaming in practice in the field of employment policies. The report also presents concrete examples of gender mainstreaming implemented over the last few years in 30 European countries.

Women and men in decision-making — 06 March 2008, 13:24 CET

This website on women and men in decision-making gives an insight into the relative numbers of women and men participating in the decision-making process and taking up leadership positions in the European Institutions, the 27 Member States of the European Union, the EEA countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway), and two of the EU candidate countries (Croatia and Turkey). The website contains data and indicators that cover decision-making in political, public and juridical and social and economic domains both on European and national level. For the political domain only, decision-making at regional level is also covered.

GÉANT European research network — 29 February 2008, 19:47 CET

GÉANT2 is the seventh generation of pan-European research and education network, successor to the pan-European multi-gigabit research network GÉANT. The project within which the network is funded began officially on 1 September 2004, and will run for four years. This site provides information on the network, and on the other project activities which will be carried out alongside it. GÉANT2 is co-funded by the European Commission and Europe's national research and education networks, and is managed by DANTE.

IT Girls: IT careers for women — 29 February 2008, 13:04 CET

Information Technologies make our lives richer and more comfortable. They connect people worldwide and they even help save lives. However, not enough people in Europe are choosing careers in Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) – especially not enough women. A career in the ICT sector has no limits anymore. Your job can range from traditional engineering or programming to designing new types of mobile phones or saving the environment. Information and Communications Technologies are important to every aspect of our lives.