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European Commission Spokesman's Briefing for 08-12-08
From: EUROPA, the European Commission Server at <http://europa.eu.int>
CONTENTS / CONTENU
[01] EU partnership to help 800,000 workers in the defence industry better
adapt to change – EMBARGO 14h00 CET
[02] State aid: Commission adopts guidance on bank recapitalisation in
current financial crisis to boost credit flows to real economy
[03] Consumers: Commissioner Kuneva launches EU online consumer education
programmes in Bulgaria and Romania
[04] Post-négociation: le groupe d'experts de la Commission évalue
l'avancement des solutions harmonisées aux obstacles transfrontaliers
[05] Capitales européennes de la culture 2014 : réunions de
présélection en Suède et en Lettonie
[06] Nouveau plan d'action drogues de l'UE (2009-2012): une avancée
majeure pour affronter le problème de la drogue de façon plus efficace et
plus européenne
[07] Saving Lives - Commission acts to improve organ donation across Europe
[08] Environment: EU and Ukraine sign agreement for enhanced civil
protection cooperation
[09] Commissioner Danuta Hübner and London Mayor Boris Johnson launch
European Cohesion Policy package for UK capital
[10] Contamination incident by dioxins and PCBs in pork meat from Ireland
[11] Autre matériel diffusé
Midday Express of 2008-12-08
Reference: MEX/08/1208
Date: 08/12/2008
EXME08 / 08.12
MIDDAY EXPRESS
News from the Communication Directorate General's midday briefing
Nouvelles du rendez-vous de midi de la Direction Générale Communicationb
08/12/08
[01] EU partnership to help 800,000 workers in the defence industry better
adapt to change – EMBARGO 14h00 CET
The European Commission and the main actors in the defence industry today
launched a new partnership to help better anticipate and manage the changes
facing the sector. The initiative – presented at a forum on restructuring
in Brussels – brings together the Commission and the Aerospace & Defence
Industries Association of Europe (ASD), the European Metalworkers
Federation (EMF) and the European Defence Agency (EDA). It will monitor
developments in the industry, while the partners will exchange know-how on
anticipating skills needs and managing restructuring in a socially
responsible way.
[02] State aid: Commission adopts guidance on bank recapitalisation in
current financial crisis to boost credit flows to real economy
The European Commission has published detailed guidance on how Member
States can recapitalise banks in the current financial crisis to ensure
adequate levels of lending to the rest of the economy and stabilise
financial markets whilst avoiding excessive distortions of competition, in
line with EU state aid rules. The guidance takes account of the fact that
the credit crunch is now beginning to affect the real economy and that
financially sound banks may need state capital to ensure an adequate level
loans to companies. The Communication complements and refines the broader
guidance document adopted on 13 October 2008 (see <a href="http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/1495&format=HTML&aged=0&language=FR&guiLanguage=en">IP/08/1495),
to ensure Member States had rapid guidance on the adequate pricing of state
capital injections into banks designed to stabilise the banks themselves.
The present guidance further addresses the necessity of appropriate
safeguards to ensure that the public capital is used to sustain lending to
the real economy and not to finance aggressive commercial conduct to the
detriment of competitors who manage without state aid. Such safeguards also
need to provide incentives for maintaining state intervention in the
financial sector only as long as the crisis in the financial markets so
requires. This approach ensures fair competition between Member States,
fair competition between banks and a return to normal market functioning as
soon as possible.
[03] Consumers: Commissioner Kuneva launches EU online consumer education
programmes in Bulgaria and Romania
EU Consumer Commissioner Meglena Kuneva will today in Sofia launch a new
internet programme designed to help adults and children know more about
their basic consumers rights. You’ve bought a new hi-fi system and when
you get it home it doesn’t work properly; you ordered books on the
Internet, but you’ve never received them; you receive an invoice for an
abnormally high mobile telephone bill; you booked a package holiday abroad
before the summer, but it was nothing like what was described in the
brochure. What can you do? How do you resolve these consumer problems? The
EU online information consumer education programme ("DOLCETA"
www.dolceta.eu) aims to provide some answers to these important questions.
It sets out clearly – in three levels for basic to more advanced users -
what consumer rights you have, on issues from sales contracts, to
guarantees, to settling disputes and taking out a credit loan. The
programmes are designed to be used by trainers and teachers in adult
education, as well as in schools for 15-18 year old students, in primary
schools, and for training or reference work by consumer organisations,
government agencies, by NGOs or community education programmes. The online
consumer education tools already exist in other EU languages, today it is
extended to Bulgaria and Romania.
[04] Post-négociation: le groupe d'experts de la Commission évalue
l'avancement des solutions harmonisées aux obstacles transfrontaliers
Le Groupe consultatif et de suivi sur la compensation et le règlement-
livraison (CESAME) de la Commission européenne a publié un rapport
détaillé sur les quatre années qu'il a consacrées la suppression des
obstacles découlant des pratiques du marché et affectant la compensation
et le règlement transfrontaliers des transactions sur valeurs mobilières.
Le rapport résume tous les travaux réalisés par le secteur
d'activité pour supprimer les six «obstacles Giovannini» que les
pratiques du marché créent l'encontre des opérations de post-
négociation, et il donne un aperçu des progrès concernant neuf autres de
ces obstacles liés, quant eux, au secteur public. Il passe également en
revue d'autres questions liées la post-négociation, examinées par le
Groupe.(pour plus d'information: IP/08/1903 – O. Drewes - Tel. 299 24 21 -
Fax. 295 1413)
[05] Capitales européennes de la culture 2014 : réunions de
présélection en Suède et en Lettonie
Les jurys chargés d’évaluer les villes candidates au titre de
“Capitale européenne de la culture 2014” vont se réunir partir du 8
décembre en Suède puis en Lettonie pour une présélection dans chacun de
ces deux Etats Membre. Les villes présélectionnées par le jury devront
compléter leur candidature d'ici la fin de l'été 2009. Les deux villes
qui porteront finalement le titre pour 2014 — une en Suède et une en
Lettonie — seront sélectionnées l'automne de l'année prochaine.
[06] Nouveau plan d'action drogues de l'UE (2009-2012): une avancée
majeure pour affronter le problème de la drogue de façon plus efficace et
plus européenne
Le Conseil a adopté aujourd'hui le plan d'action drogues de l'UE (2009-
2012) que la Commission avait présenté en septembre 2008. Ce nouveau plan
d'action témoigne de la convergence des politiques européennes en
matière de drogue, lesquelles se fondent sur des données et non sur des
idéologies".
[07] Saving Lives - Commission acts to improve organ donation across Europe
Today, the Commission adopted important safety and quality measures for
organ donation and a 10 point action plan to work with Member States on
strengthening organ donation and transplantation systems in Europe. For
many patients, organ transplantation represents the only life saving
treatment available. There are currently 56,000 patients waiting for a
suitable organ donor in the EU. It is estimated that every day 12 people
die while waiting for transplantation. The Directive and Action Plan
address three key challenges: improving the quality and safety of organs
across Europe, increasing organ availability and making transplant systems
more efficient and accessible. – EMBARGO 12h30 CET
[08] Environment: EU and Ukraine sign agreement for enhanced civil
protection cooperation
At 15:30 today, the European Commission and the Ukrainian Ministry of
Emergencies and Affairs of Population Protection (set up as a result of the
aftermath from the Chornobyl Catastrophe) will sign an arrangement for
cooperation and mutual assistance during emergencies. It will be signed by
Minister Volodymyr Shandra and DG Environment's acting Director-General,
Jos Delbeke. The arrangement is considered a major step forward in
relations between the EU and Ukraine. It will provide for the facilitation
of mutual assistance during emergencies, cooperation on the assessment of
environmental impacts of disasters, mutual observer-status participation in
civil protection exercises and training sessions - as well as for
cooperation on available partner civil protection capabilities. The
arrangement will enable the EU and Ukraine to combine their expertise and
know-how to coordinate operations in the event of major disasters. The
first arrangement between the Commission and Ukraine was signed in 2007 and
encompasses the exchange of information during emergencies. European civil
protection assistance was given to Ukraine through the Community Civil
Protection Mechanism in August 2008 in a series of floods which hit the
country. Assistance was also provided in November 2007 during the Kerch
Strait accident followed by a post disaster needs assessment mission to the
area in 2008 - with the assistance of a team of international experts from
the European Commission, UNEP and EU Member States. EU-Ukraine cooperation
will continue in 2009 in light of the new Eastern Partnership initiative
recently proposed by the Commission. Photo-op at 15:30 in DG Environment,
Av. de Beaulieu 5, 1160 Bruxelles. For more information: European civil
protection – <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/environment/civil/index.htm">http://ec.europa.eu/environment/civil/index.htm
Eastern Partnership initiative: <a href="http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/1858&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en">http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/1858&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
Rediffusion
[09] Commissioner Danuta Hübner and London Mayor Boris Johnson launch
European Cohesion Policy package for UK capital
Danuta Hübner, European Commissioner for regional policy, visits London on
8 December to launch the new European Cohesion Policy programme for the
city. She will present the new £319 million (€ 382 million) package for
the capital together with Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, and Tony McNulty,
Minister for Employment and Minister for London. As part of her visit to
the city, the Commissioner will see two projects in East London which have
received EU support for start-up companies.
[10] Contamination incident by dioxins and PCBs in pork meat from Ireland
The Commission follows closely the contamination incident to ensure public
health protection. During routine monitoring by the Irish authorities of
the food chain for a range of contaminants, elevated levels of
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were found in pork meat. As these PCB
levels might be an indicator for unacceptable dioxin contamination, further
investigations were immediately started to determine the dioxin content and
to identify the possible source of contamination. Yesterday, the analytical
results confirmed the presence of very high levels of dioxins in pork meat,
about 100 times the EU maximum level of 1 picogramme/gram fat for dioxins
and 1.5 picogramme/gramme fat for the sum of dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs.
Possible adverse human health effects are related to long term high level
exposure to dioxins and PCBs. A short term peak exposure to dioxins and
PCBs does not result in adverse health effects. However adequate measures
have to be taken to remove highly contaminated products from the food chain
to limit human exposure as much as possible. The use of contaminated animal
feed was identified to be the source. Preliminary evidence indicates that
the contamination problem is likely to have started in September 2008. All
possibly contaminated feed has been blocked. The contaminated feed was
provided to 10 pig farms which are producing about 10 % of the total supply
of pigs in Ireland. Pigs from these farms were after slaughter processed by
meat processing plants which are responsible for about 80 % of the total
supply of pork meat and pork meat products from Ireland. Given the high
levels found and that it is not possible to trace back the Irish pork meat
and pork meat products to the farms affected by the dioxin contamination
incident, the Irish authorities decided yesterday to recall from the market
all pork products produced from pigs slaughtered in Ireland, even if not
more than 10 % of the Irish pig meat production is affected by the
contamination incident. Distribution details of possibly contaminated pork
meat and pork meat products to other Member States and third countries will
be provided to the Rapid Alert System for Feed and Food (RASFF) later
today. Besides pig farms, the contaminated feed was also delivered to some
cattle farms, however no dairy farms are affected. The use of this
contaminated feed in a cattle diet is much more limited than in a pig diet
but, as a precautionary measure, the affected cattle farms are blocked and
investigation are ongoing to determine if the bovine meat is contaminated
at unacceptable levels. The Commission is closely following up this
contamination incident and the actions taken to withdraw any potentially
contaminated pork meat and pork meat products from the market ensuring
consumer health protection. The Commission will organise within very short
notice a meeting with the competent authorities from the affected Member
States to share information and to ensure a harmonised enforcement approach
across the affected Member States to ensure a high level of human health
protection. The Commission will provide regular updates on developments in
this contamination incident.
[11] Autre matériel diffusé
• Memo the Council endorses EU Action Plan on Drugs 2009-2012
• Memo on Q&A: EU Directive and Action Plan on organ donation and
transplantation – EMBARGO 12h30
• Speech by Commissioner Kroes ' The role of state aid in tackling the
financial & economic crisis', Brussels
• Speech by Commissioner McCreevy at the Annual Association of European
Journalists Christmas lunch, Dublin – EMBARGO 15h15 CET
From EUROPA, the European Commission Server at http://europa.eu.int/
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