Historical enlargement of the borderless zone

The EU's borderless zone expanded to nine mostly eastern European countries at midnight on Friday (21 December) in its biggest enlargement so far. Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic - which all joined the EU in 2004 - are part of this enlargement to the so-called Schengen area. Land and...

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EUROBAROMETER Public opinion in the EU

The current Standard Eurobarometer, Eurobarometer 68 was carried out between September 22nd and November 3rd 2007. This Autumn Standard Eurobarometer covers 31 countries or territories: The 27 EU Member States, the three candidate countries (Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey) and the Turkish Cypriot Community in the area not controlled by the government...

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Committee of the Regions and European Economic and Social Committee redefine their cooperation on a new basis

A new cooperation agreement between CoR and EESC was signed on 17th December, by the presidents of the two institutions, Michel Delebarre and Dimitris Dimitriadis, and their secretaries-general, Gerhard Stahl and Patrick Venturini. The first agreement was signed in 1999, following the provisions introduced by the Amsterdam Treaty. This agreement established the joint services of...

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First MS to ratify the new EU treaty

On 17th December, just few days after the document was formally signed off by EU leaders in a formal ceremony in Lisbon, Hungary ratified the new EU treaty as the first of the 27 member states. A parliamentary vote saw 325 votes in favour, 5 votes against and 14 abstentions for the new...

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“Member States and the Regions delivering the Lisbon strategy for growth and jobs through EU Cohesion Policy, 2007-2013

This is the title of a communication that the European Commissioner for regional policy, Danuta Hübner, presented on 12th December. The communication is a part of the Lisbon package and it was elaborated in collaboration with the Commissioner for social affairs and employment, Vladimir Spidla. It illustrates how the regions are implementing cohesion policy to...

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Denmark decided not to have referendum

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Danish Prime Minister, announced last week that his government had decided not to hold a referendum on ratification of the new Reform Treaty of the EU, signed on Thursday 13 December by the heads of state and government in Lisbon ("The Lisbon Treaty"). This was a result of...

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