EU Legislation, Initiatives, etc.
EU News: Ahead of World Malaria Day (25 April 2011), EU-funded researchers discovered that drugs originally designed to inhibit the growth of cancer cells can also kill the parasite that causes malaria. They believe this discovery could open up a new strategy for combating this deadly disease, which, according to World Health Organisation statistics, infected around 225m and killed nearly 800,000 people worldwide in 2009.
EU News: The need to ensure that citizens & businesses are easily able to access an open & neutral internet has been underlined by the European Commission in a report adopted last week week.
The Commission has asked the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) to undertake a rigorous fact-finding exercise on issues crucial to ensuring an open & neutral internet, including barriers to changing operators, blocking or throttling internet traffic (e.g. voice over internet services), transparency & quality of service.
The Commission will publish, by the end of 2011, evidence from BEREC's investigation, including any instances of blocking or throttling certain types of traffic. If BEREC's findings and other feedback indicate outstanding problems, the Commission will assess the need for more stringent measures.
EU News: The European Commission has adopted the 17th update of the list of airlines banned in the European Union. Some airlines – including 4 all-cargo air carriers from Indonesia and 1 air carrier from Ukraine – have been removed from the list as safety concerns have been satisfactorily addressed.
However, all air carriers certified in Mozambique have been banned from flying into the EU as have the operations of Air Madagascar for two specific aircraft because of significant safety deficiencies requiring decisive action in both cases.
EU News: “A delicate balancing act combining austerity and growth boosting measures for 500 million Europeans". This is how Budget & Financial Programming Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski describes the draft EU budget 2012 as adopted by the Commission on 20 April 2011;
The draft budget for 2012 represents €132.7bn in payments amounting to a 4.9 % increase on 2011. The proposed increase for next year’s budget amounts to the bare minimum required to honour the Commission’s legal commitments. Any decrease below this figure would require member states and the European Parliament to break the legal commitments that have been made on existing contracts.
EU News: The European Commission has invited stakeholders' views on the forthcoming revision of EU rules on the public financing of broadband infrastructure. Comments should be submitted by 31 August 2011. In light of the results, the Commission will decide whether a revision of the guidelines is indicated and, in the affirmative, put forward a proposal for discussion in early 2012 – See ‘Consultations’ section for more information.
