The Week in Europe 12-18/05/01

24.05.2001 | Euroskop

EU news in brief

Romano Prodi : "Determined to deliver"

Speaking on May 14 in Brussels at the inaugural ceremony of the Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, European Commission President Romano Prodi declared that the cancer of poverty urgently needs to be removed if Least Developed Countries are overcome the many challenges they face. Recalling that the European Union is today one of the world's largest donors of development aid, he stated : "It is in our power to remove that cancer and it is our duty and responsibility to do so". President Prodi set out the different measures already taken and being taken to fight poverty by the EU in the areas of health, trade, debt and development assistance. He called on the whole of the international community to commit themselves to joint action to eradicate poverty. President Prodi reiterated the EU's commitment to making a success of the conference saying : "A Global Programme of Action for the next ten years is needed, and this conference must produce one. But the EU will call the conference a success only if the programme agreed here is implemeneted and genuinely improves the lives of poor people. The EU for its part is determined to deliver.". [Background text SPEECH/01/216]

Franz Fischler : "It is time for Austria to think genuinely European"

"Austria as a small State can only profit from the membership in the European Union. Economically speaking, it has already profited. I hope that Austrians will also fully discover the political benefits of EU-membership. Our years of EU-apprenticeship are over. It is time that Austria starts to think genuinely European", said Franz Fischler, European Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries in his opening speech on 'Austria in the EU' at the University of Innsbruck. Mr Fischler stressed that Austria's accession to the EU has had "clearly positive" results from both an economic and political point of view. According to Commissioner Fischler, since joining the Union five years ago, Austria has achieved a higher growth rate in GDP, an overall productivity increase of 1% per year, increased competitiveness which has drawn in substantial foreign investment and substantial progress in the regional development, especially in the Burgenland. He urged Austria to build up alliances together with other countries in Europe, particularly with its neighbours and the CEECs. [Background text SPEECH/01/220]

Dialogue with Citizens : Commission launches new guide on data protection rights

The European Commission has published a new guide entitled "Data Protection in the European Union", which provides citizens and businesses with information on their rights regarding the collection and use of personal data and on what to do when their rights are violated. As technology advances, the means available to transfer and process data become ever more sophisticated. This free guide provides useful tips on who is entitled to handle personal information and how data can be legitimately processed. It is the latest in a series of guides published under the "Dialogue with Citizens and Business" initiative, which aims at raising awareness amongst the European public of their rights and opportunities in a single European market. The Dialogue initiative offers practical information and, through a systematic analysis of feedback from citizens and businesses, enables the Commission to monitor how the Internal Market operates in practice and to promote policies which better reflect the needs of citizens and businesses. [Background text IP/01/697]

Commission proposes bold EU strategy for sustainable development

The European Commission has called on next month's Gothenburg European Council to take urgent action to secure a better quality of life for present and future generations. This requires sustained economic growth which supports social progress and respects the environment, a social policy which underpin economic performance, and a cost-effective environmental policy. To this end, the Commission proposes a European sustainable strategy consisting of three parts. Firstly, a set of cross cutting proposals to ensure that future policy making is more coherent and cost effective, as well as to promote technological innovation and stronger involvement of civil society and business in policy formation. The future reviews of common policies such as the Common Agricultural Policy, the Common Fisheries Policy and the Common Transport Policy should have sustainable development as their central concern. Secondly, a set of headline objectives and EU-wide measures to tackle the biggest challenges to sustainable development not dealt with in the Lisbon strategy: climate change, threats to public health, depletion of natural resources, traffic congestion and land use problems. Finally, it identifies the steps needed after the Gothenburg summit to implement the strategy and to take stock of progress. In future sustainable development will be on the agenda of every spring European Council. [Background text IP/01/710]

BSE : Scientists publish risk assessments for Costa Rica, Kenya, Slovenia and Romania

On May 16, The Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) advising the European Commission on BSE related issues has published its opinion on the Geographical Risk of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (GBR) in Costa Rica, Kenya, Slovenia and Romania. The evaluation of the geographical risk of presence of BSE focuses on the risk for animals to incubate the disease. The Committee concludes that is highly unlikely that cattle infected with the BSE agent are present in domestic herds of Costa Rica (GBR level I). They found that this is unlikely but not excluded in the herds of Kenya and Slovenia (GBR level II) and that it is likely that BSE is present in the cattle herds of Romania (GBR level III) although this is not yet confirmed. Slovenia is the first accession country that is classified as GBR level II. All other accession countries evaluated so far have been classified at level III of Geographical BSE Risk. Similarly, all EU Member States are classified at level III except for Sweden, Finland and Austria (level II). [Background text IP/01/707]

The Commission grants Euro 55.7 million in humanitarian aid to the Balkans

The European Commission has approved a comprehensive euro 55.7 million plan for the Balkans enabling the Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) to continue providing assistance to refugees, displaced persons and other vulnerable population groups. The countries concerned by the decision are Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) and Albania. The plan covers the period to the end of February 2002. More than half of the sum available is for Serbia (euro 34.4 million), which has the highest number of refugees in Europe. The aim is to meet humanitarian needs on the ground and reduce dependence on humanitarian aid, thus preparing for ECHO's gradual withdrawal from the Balkans and paving the way for longer-term development strategies. Assistance will focus mainly on the housing, health and social sectors. [Background text IP/01/711]

Commission publishes progress report on women in science

In the world of science, as perhaps in most other areas of life, women are severely under-represented. Worldwide, a meagre 3% of science, engineering and technology researchers are women. This is not only inequitable it denies the world of science an invaluable resource. Remedying this is essential to fulfilling the strategic objective of the European Research Area launched by European Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin at the beginning of last year. Now a new report has been produced by the Directorate General for Research detailing the progress made in addressing gender issues in European research since an action plan was launched at the beginning of 1999. Its conclusion is that greater gender equality in science is essential for scientific progress and will bring science close to society. As to the representation of women in the Commission's own evaluation panels for research projects the report shows that the proportion of female evaluators has risen from 6% in 1996 to 30% in the year 2000. However, the report issues a warning that gender equality in science will only come into being as a result of shared commitments and actions by all parties involved in scientific research. [Background text MEMO/01/181]

Full report available at :

http://europa.eu.int/comm/press_room/

Euro-zone bank charges too high, says Consumer Commissioner, David Byrne

Speaking to consumer groups in Berlin on May 18, European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, David Byrne, condemned the high level of charges imposed by banks for transferring small amounts of money within the EU. Referring to studies undertaken by the Commission, Mr Byrne said that it was incredible that with the sophisticated telematic links throughout the EU a consumer will still be charged by the banks an average of 17% to send money from one Member State to another. "It is an exorbitant amount", said Mr Byrne. [Background text IP/01/719]

Pre-accession farm aid for Bulgaria : go-ahead for payments for euro 53 million SAPARD-programme

On May 15, the European Commission decided to confer the management of SAPARD aid to the Bulgarian authorities. This decision allows the Bulgarian authorities to commence the implementation of the yearly euro 53 million worth SAPARD Programme for Bulgaria. Payment of a first advance can now be made. Bulgaria is the first candidate country which can now move to the operational phase of the innovative SAPARD initiative. This first decision on the provisional conferral of management of aid covers the three main measures of the Bulgarian SAPARD programme : investments in agricultural holdings, improvement in the processing and marketing of agricultural and fisheries products and, the development and diversification of economic activities and alternative income. "For the first time, the Commission has allowed a decentralisation of the management of external aid to a recipient third country. By decentralising management, SAPARD gives our future members an opportunity to gain valuable experience in applying the mechanisms for the management of in particular rural development programmes, but also for any programme involving EU-funds. I am therefore particularly happy to see that Bulgaria's considerable efforts in preparing for the implementation of this innovative initiative have led us to an unprecedented success", said Franz Fischler, Commissioner for Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries. [Background text IP/01/692]