EU reflection group for the best political recipe

14.12.2007 A French-inspired idea to sketch the best political recipe for how to deal with Europe's future challenges - the EU reflection group - will be chaired by Spain's former prime minister Felipe Gonzalez. Latvia's former president Vaira Vike-Freiberga and Nokia's chief Jorma Ollila will be the group's vice-chairs. According to Czech deputy prime...

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EU work permit 'blue card' faces opposition

The European Commission's plan to attract non-EU workers has run into difficulties, as several member states question whether Brussels' bureaucracy should play a role in the area. On Thursday (6 December), interior and employment ministers from the 27-nation bloc failed to give complete backing to a set of ideas tailored...

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Stronger regional partnerships must be at heart of EU policy for SMEs

As published on the www.cor.europa.eu , the EU needs to focus much more on regional-level partnerships if it wants to create a more business-friendly environment for small and medium-sized enterprises in Europe.  This was one of the key messages to emerge at the ‘SMEs and Entrepreneurship Conference’, organised by the...

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The biggest ever enlargement of the Schengen zone in two weeks time

It will be a "quite nice Christmas gift", as the EU home affairs commissioner Franco Frattini said,  which will allow people from Central and Eastern Europe to move freely across the rest of the EU bloc. Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic - which...

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Introduction to the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue

In his interview with EUobserver (EUobserver.com), the EU's commissioner for culture, Jan Figel, outlines, using a popular German expression for multi-ethnic communities, that: “After enlargement, and in times of globalisation, in times of growing migration, so-called 'multi-culti' realities are very visible.” "The EU is the only 'geopolitical innovation' based on...

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Bosnia starts pre – membership EU talks

As published on the EUobserver.com, Bosnia and Herzegovina is due on Tuesday to initial an agreement seen as the first step towards the EU membership talks. BiH is the final  Western Balkan country to fully set off on the European path. ‘’I have decided to initial the Stabilisation and Association agreement...

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