EU Legislation, Initiatives, etc.

EU News: Since 2000, the European Union, through its Cohesion Policy funds, spent almost €5bn for co-financing energy efficiency measures in the Member States. The European Court of Auditors has assessed whether Cohesion Policy investments in energy efficiency were cost-effective.
 
The Court found that the projects selected by Member State authorities for financing did not have rational objectives in terms of cost-effectiveness (i.e. cost per unit of energy saved).  The planned payback period for the investments was 50 years on average, and up to 150 years in certain cases.
Press release & links
 
EU News: The European Food Safety Authority has announced the launch of a major initiative designed to facilitate access to data, enhancing transparency in risk assessment.  The programme, to be developed in cooperation with the Authority’s partners & stakeholders, will consider how best & to what extent technical data used in risk assessments can be made available to the broader scientific community & interested parties.
Press release & links
 
HPA: The ‘Case studies, Exercises, LEarning, Surveys & Training across Europe (CELESTE)’ consortium led by the Health Protection Agency has been awarded the Multiple Framework Contract for ‘Scripting, planning, conduction and evaluation of exercises, training and assessment implementing the draft decision on cross-border threats to health’. 

The contract, which is signed between the HPA and the European Executive Agency for Health and Consumers is worth a maximum of €6m for the whole duration (including the possible extension).
Press release & links
 
EU News: A resolution to keep up pressure on the Commission & member states to explore all avenues for pooling sovereign debt was adopted last Wednesday. The text affirms that fears of free-riding can be overcome by carefully-crafted solutions, so debt pooling need not be automatically taboo. It also points out that the Eurozone is unique in having a single currency, but no common bond market.
Press release
Spotlight on women at Serco – Anita’s story