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European Commission Spokesman's Briefing for 09-02-23
From: EUROPA, the European Commission Server at <http://europa.eu.int>
CONTENTS / CONTENU
[01] Commission focuses on disaster prevention and reduction of risks at
home and abroad
[02] Commissioner Hübner in Andalusia: EU Cohesion Policy supporting small
business with new forms of investment
[03] Commission clears acquisition of Advanced Medical Optics by Abbott
[04] State aid: Commission authorises amendment of Italian scheme to inject
capital in credit institutions
[05] Autre matériel diffusé
Midday Express of 2009-02-23
Reference: MEX/09/0223
Date: 23/02/2009
EXME09 / 23.02
MIDDAY EXPRESS
News from the Communication Directorate General's midday briefing
Nouvelles du rendez-vous de midi de la Direction Générale Communicationb
23/02/09
[01] Commission focuses on disaster prevention and reduction of risks at
home and abroad
The European Commission today adopted two Communications related to
disasters: a Community approach to reducing the impact of natural and man-
made disasters within the EU, and a strategy for supporting disaster risk
reduction in developing countries. The Communications, adopted as a package,
represent a first attempt to establish a more strategic approach. Proposed
action at Community level focuses on areas where a common approach is more
effective than separate national approaches, such as developing knowledge,
linking actors and policies, and improving the performance of existing
Community disaster prevention instruments. With regard to developing
countries, the Commission is setting out an EU strategy to help reduce the
impact of natural disasters on countries considered to be high-risk. Both
Communications contribute to the implementation of the Hyogo Framework for
action 2005-2015, adopted at the world conference on disaster reduction.
[02] Commissioner Hübner in Andalusia: EU Cohesion Policy supporting small
business with new forms of investment
Regional Policy Commissioner Danuta Hübner visits Seville in Spain
tomorrow to take part in the signing ceremony of a 'JEREMIE' agreement
between the region of Andalusia and the European Commission. JEREMIE, which
stands for Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises, is a
partnership between the Commission, European Investment Bank and European
Investment Fund, aimed at improving access to finance for small and medium
sized enterprises (SMEs) and to support business creation. Securing credit
is crucial for entrepreneurship, competitiveness, innovation and growth,
and of critical importance for European SMEs in these difficult times in
the global economy. The regional government will be represented at the
signing ceremony by President Manuel Chaves. Andalusia is the second
Spanish region (after Catalonia) to sign such an agreement.
[03] Commission clears acquisition of Advanced Medical Optics by Abbott
The European Commission has granted clearance under the EU Merger
Regulation to the acquisition of sole control of Advanced Medical Optics,
Inc. (AMO) of the US by Abbott Laboratories (Abbott), also of the US.
Abbott is active in the development, manufacture and sale of a diversified
line of health care products. AMO develops, manufactures and sells eye
health care products. The operation was examined under the simplified
merger review procedure.
Rediffusion
[04] State aid: Commission authorises amendment of Italian scheme to inject
capital in credit institutions
The European Commission has approved, under EC Treaty state aid rules,
amendments to the Italian recapitalisation scheme which was approved by the
Commission on 23 December 2008 (see <a
href="http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/2059&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en">IP/08/2059).
The changes essentially give banks another option for remunerating bonds.
The modified scheme is consistent with the Commission's guidance on support
measures for banks during the financial crisis (see <a href="http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/1495&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en">IP/08/1495
and <a href="http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/1901&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en">IP/08/1901).
It provides in particular for an adequate remuneration of the state
intervention and appropriate incentives for an early exit of the aid
scheme. The modified measures are therefore compatible with Article 87.3.b
of the EC Treaty allowing aid to remedy a serious disturbance in a Member
State's economy.
[05] Autre matériel diffusé
• Memo And the Oscar goes to...: Unprecedented success for EU-supported
film "Slumdog Millionaire"
From EUROPA, the European Commission Server at http://europa.eu.int/
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