|
|
|
European Commission Spokesman's Briefing for 01-04-24
From: EUROPA, the European Commission Server at <http://europa.eu.int>
MIDDAY EXPRESS
News from the Spokesman's midday briefing
Nouvelles du rendez-vous de midi du Service Presse et Communicationb
Midday Express 24/04/2001
[01] Structural Funds : Commission approves euro 6 million support for
Hamburg
The European Commission has approved a development programme for the German
region of Hamburg covering the period 2000-2006. This programme amounts to
euro 6 million in financial support from the European Union. It concerns
areas in economic and social reconversion, and as such eligible to
"Objective 2" of the Structural Funds. The European funding will attract a
further euro 6 million in investment from the public sector, making total
spending of euro 12 million. The programme is intended to promote the
region's development and structural adjustment, aims to create 100 new jobs
and safeguard 500 existing ones.
[02] Fonds structurels : la Commission approuve une aide de 184 millions
d'euros en faveur de la Hesse
La Commission européenne a approuvé un programme de développement de la
région de la Hesse pour la période 2000-2006. L'aide financière accordée à
ce programme par l'Union européenne s'élève à 184 millions d'euros. Le
programme concerne des zones en cours de reconversion économique et sociale,
éligibles à ce titre à l'objectif n°2 des Fonds structurels. Le concours
financier européen attirera en outre des investissements provenant du
secteur public pour un montant de 123 millions d'euros et des
investissements privés atteignant 235 millions d'euros, pour une dépense
totale de 542 millions d'euros. Le programme a pour objet de promouvoir le
développement et l'adaptation structurelle de la région. Il vise à créer
3.200 emplois, à en sauvegarder 8.000, à créer 900 postes d'apprentissage
modernisés et à développer 200 hectares d'implantations commerciales.
[03] Structural Funds : Commission approves a euro 2.2 billion support
programme for Bavaria
Michel Barnier, member of the European Commission responsible for Regional
policy, signed a regional development programme for the German region of
Bavaria for 2000-2006. This programme will support the economic and social
conversion of Bavarian areas facing structural difficulties and will
provide euro 536 million in financial support from the European Union. The
European funding will attract a further euro 490 million in investment from
the public sector and euro 1200 million from the private sector, which
brings total spending on the programme to over euro 2200 million. The main
aim of the programme is to create, protect and improve the competitiveness
of 21,000 jobs in the region. It is expected that 5,500 new jobs will be
created, as well as a number of other benefits to the region including the
renovation of urban sites and the clear-up of polutted land.
[04] Structural Funds : Commission approves euro 3.2 billion for transport
infrastructure in German regions
Michel Barnier, the Commissioner responsible for Regional policy, has
signed a programme for improving transport infrastructure in German regions
between 2000 and 2006. The programme amounts to almost euro 3.156 billion,
euro 1.592 billion of which will be financed by the Structural Funds. The
public and private sectors will finance the remainder (contributing euro
1.205 billion and euro 0.359 billion respectively). The programme is
intended to support major transport infrastructure projects in the east
German "Länder" as part of "Objective 1" aid for these regions. It should
result in 232 km of new roads, 18 km of new railways, 214 km of upgraded
and extended existing railways and 15 km of upgraded existing waterways.
[05] EU informs US of terms of the EU government support for the Airbus
A380 programme in full respect of 1992 Bilateral Agreement
Fulfilling its obligations under the 1992 EU-US Bilateral Agreement on
Trade in Large Civil Aircraft, the European Commission has informed the US
government of the terms of government support for the Airbus A380
programme. The information provided confirms that the support fully
respects the criteria established by this Agreement for the provision of
direct support by EU Member States for the development of Large Civil
Aircraft.
[06] Euro-zone external trade deficit euro 1.0 billion in February 2001 ;
euro 6.8 billion deficit for EU15
(! embargo 12 am !) According to Eurostat, the first estimate for euro-zone
trade with the rest of the world in February 2001 was a euro 1.0 billion
deficit, compared with -0.3 billion in February 2000. The revised January
2001 deficit was 6.2 billion, against -5.2 billion in January 2000. Euro-
zone trade recorded a deficit of 7.2 billion for the first two months of
2001, compared with -5.5 billion in 2000. The first estimate for February
2001 extra-EU15 trade was a euro 6.8 billion deficit, compared with -6.7
billion in February 2000. In January 2001 there was a revised deficit of
13.8 billion, against -13.6 billion in January 2000. There was a deficit
estimated at 20.6 billion in the first two months of 2001 compared with -
20.3 billion in 2000.
[07] EU and Senegal extends their Fisheries Agreement by three months
At the end of their fourth round of negotiations, the European Union and
Senegal have agreed to extend the current Protocol to their Fisheries
Agreement by three months, from 1st May 2001 to 31 July 2001. The two
parties believe that this extension will allow for the continuation of the
negotiations to enable them to agree on a new mutually satisfactory
Protocol. The principles guiding the fixation of fishing possibilities
under this new Protocol are : protection of fish resources, application of
the precautionary approach and the taking into account of socio-economic
dimension in the fisheries sector. EU vessels target tuna, deep-water
shrimp, demersal (bottom-living) species such as hake and species living in
shallower waters such as cephalopods and groupers. The financial
compensation paid by the EU under the current Protocol amounts to euro 48
million over four years.
[08] Commission calls for rapid move towards new generation Internet
Protocol to secure success of future wireless services
The European Commission yesterday hosted the first meeting of a European
industry-led Task Force established to develop a comprehensive action plan
by the end of 2001 to ensure the timely availability of the next generation
of the Internet protocol (Internet Protocol version 6 or IPv6) as called
for by the Stockholm Summit. The Task Force is comprised of senior
executives broadly representing all key industrial and research sectors
affected by IPv6, including European Internet service providers, telecom
operators, mobile operators, equipment supply industries, research networks,
and key "application" sectors. Erkki Liikanen, Commissioner responsible for
Enterprise and Information Society said : "Our objective is to ensure that
Europe's competitiveness in wireless technologies, is not jeopardised by
the lack of a clear road map towards IPv6. The rapid and continued growth
of the Internet as the key infrastructure of the global knowledge economy
now requires new policy measures to ensure that it can continue to meet new
requirements. Europe, in particular, must act quickly if the constraints of
the existing Internet protocols (IPv4) are not to hold back realisation of
the Lisbon Strategy objectives." It is estimated that at current growth
rates, the current Internet protocol will run out of Internet addresses in
2005. It is therefore imperative that IPv6 be introduced before the
launching of e.g. 3G mobile communications that is built on the idea of
each device having their own internet address and the integration of these
systems with Internet access.
[09] La Commission a nommé les nouveaux membres du Groupe Européen
d'Ethique des Sciences et des Nouvelles Technologies
Le respect des droits de l'homme et des libertés fondamentales est
clairement inscrit dans le Traité sur l'Union européenne. Ainsi, l'action
communautaire, par exemple en matière de politique de recherche ou de
législation sur la brevetabilité des inventions issues des biotechnologies,
se réfère-t-elle explicitement aux principes éthiques fondamentaux. C'est
en décembre 1997 que la Commission européenne institua le Groupe Européen
d'Ethique (GEE) comme successseur du Groupe des conseillers sur la
biotechnologie lui-même créé en 1992. Le GEE est chargé de donner des avis
sur l'ensemble des aspects éthiques des sciences et des nouvelles
technologies et non plus des seules biotechnologies dans le cadre de
l'élaboration ou de la mise en place de législations ou de politiques
communautaires.
[10] Autre matériel diffusé
Note sur la préparation du Conseil Pêche
Beef market situation : update on 20 April 2001
MIDDAY EXPRESS
From EUROPA, the European Commission Server at http://europa.eu.int/
© ECSC - EC - EAEC, Brussels-Luxembourg, 1995, 1996
|
