EU Legislation, Initiatives, etc.
EU News: EU authorities are to get tough new powers to settle disputes among national financial supervisors and to ban risky financial products & activities, in a revamp of EU financial supervision plans agreed recently. If national supervisors fail to act, then the authorities may also impose decisions directly on financial institutions, such as banks, so as to remedy breaches of EU law.
The new EU supervisory authorities (ESAs) and the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB) should be up & running by January 2011.
EU News: Better communication by governments, parties, educational institutions and public service broadcasters is vital to overcome the perception of many citizens that ‘Europe’ is too distant and can do little to solve their real problems, say MEPs in a resolution approved last week.
MEPs believe that the EP internet television channel EuroparlTV ‘should be made more effective’, while ensuring its editorial independence, and advocate ‘making its content as widely available as possible for TV channels and online media who wish to use it’. They also call for larger budgets & greater independence for Parliament's information offices in Member States.
Press release ~ Report on journalism and new media - creating a public sphere in Europe ~ EuroparlTV
Defra: The Government has announced that they will meet the 2010 Landfill Directive target and also published responses to 2 separate consultations on meeting EU Landfill Diversion Targets (a key EU waste target with further targets to be met in 2013 and 2020) and on restrictions on the landfilling of certain wastes.
Press release ~
EU News: Tools developed using EU funds to ensure that digitally stored data can be preserved, accessed and understood for the indefinite future are now available in the form of open source software, which is available for free download and for further development into commercial applications. The EU's CASPAR (Cultural, Artistic and Scientific knowledge for Preservation, Access and Retrieval) research programme involved researchers from the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Israel, Italy and the UK.
This work complements initiatives such as Europeana, the European digital library (see MEMO/10/166). Application of ICT research to benefit Europe's citizens and businesses is a key element of the Digital Agenda for Europe adopted by the Commission in May 2010 (see IP/10/581, MEMO/10/199 and MEMO/10/200).
EU News: The European Parliament has voted to revise legislation on animals used for scientific purposes. The revised legislation, first proposed by the European Commission in 2008, will strengthen the protection of animals still needed for research and safety testing.
Through the revision of Directive 86/609/EEC the Commission has sought to strengthen EU legislation on the protection of animals used for experimental purposes.
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