15 January 2008

News from the EU

 

EU president – A newly-created post

The Lisbon treaty, signed in December 2007, will create the new post of a permanent president to head the Union for a period of two and a half years, which will replace the current system of rotating six-month presidencies between EU Member States. Moreover, the position of High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, currently held by Javier Solana, will be upgraded and merged with the post of Commissioner for External Relations. 

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HealthPROelderly project

The healthPROelderly project, aiming to collect models of good practice in the area of health promotion for older people, and in which EFN is taking part, is slowly arriving to its end. The final conference will take place in Warsaw, Poland, on 15-16 May 2008. The last fase of the project (fase 5), aiming to develop the evidence-based guidelines; and to revise and publish the evaluation tools, will start in May 2008 to end in December 2008.

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Passport-free travel spreads to Eastern Europe

On 21 December 2007, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia and the Czech Republic joined the Schengen area, allowing the EU citizens to travel between 24 European countries without border checks.

Cyprus and Malta joined the Eurozone

On 1st January 2008, Cyprus and Malta adopted the Euro as their currency. These two new arrivals bring the number of the eurozone to 15 Member States. The EFN members will, therefore, be able to use the euro for the EFN General Assembly to be held in Cyprus, in October 2008.

EU Member States to maintain their budgets in 2008

Being responsible for the monetary policy of the Eurozone, the European Central Bank decided to keep its main interest rates on hold against a background of rising inflation and slowing growth, and called on some EU members to shore up their budgets in 2008 to lower fiscal imbalances and comply better with the Stability and Growth Pact. A series of attacks by the European Central Bank President, Jean-Claude Trichet, on collective bargaining agreements that adapt wages to increased costs of living have been strongly criticised by trade unions throughout the EU.

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