New EC proposals on immigration

'Europe is an immigration continent — there is no doubt about it. We are attractive to many. But we are not good enough at attracting highly skilled people' said Commission President Barroso, at a Press conference in Strasbourg on 23 October 2007. He explained that the Commission has adopted two major proposals in the field of immigration. The first is about the EU Blue Card, which aims to harmonise the admission procedures for highly qualified workers. The second provides for a general framework to be applied in all cases: a single application procedure for a single work and residence permit as well as a common set of rights for third-country nationals who reside and work legally in Europe.

http://www.europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/07/650&type=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

The Commission's international priorities for 2008

The European Commission has just adopted its new work programme for 2008 which focuses on the globalisation agenda. Regarding immigration, the Commission will propose further steps towards a common migration policy combining well managed labour migration and effective action against illegal migration and human trafficking. Regarding the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), it will continue to support political, economic and social reforms in partner countries, providing a tailor-made response to needs of ENP countries within a common policy framework. Building on the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, the ENP is also expected to develop the longstanding regional dialogue and cooperation with all the countries of the Mediterranean region.

http://www.europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/07/1578&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

European Commission sounds alarm over humanitarian impact of climate change

'Climate change is an increasing threat to development and humanitarian relief efforts' warned Louis Michel, the European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid during the World Food Programme (WFP)’s Executive Board meeting on 24 October. He added: 'We must now confront the challenges presented by ever-more extreme climate events to see how the humanitarian community can best prepare itself since the most vulnerable people will be those that suffer the most. There is a real risk that, in the future, we'll have climatic refugees.' The WFP and European Commission work closely on these issues. The EC’s contributions to WFP's humanitarian efforts worldwide reached €145 million this year.

http://www.europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/07/1593&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

The EC allocates € 97.4 million for its neighbours from the Mediterranean area

€ 97.4 million have been allocated to the Mediterranean region under the 2007 ENPI Regional Action Programme for the South adopted by the European Commission (EC) on 24 October. Eight regional projects and programmes will be financed in a wide range of domains such as peace, disaster prevention, investment promotion, support to the private sector, intercultural dialogue, gender equality and information and communication. This Regional Action Programme for the Southern partners is a key document which describes the regional programmes and projects financed by the EU under the 2007 budget. It covers the Southern countries of the European Neighbourhood Policy namely Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Territories, Syria and Tunisia.

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/where/neighbourhood/regional-cooperation/enpi-south/index_en.htm

23rd Malta Seminar for Euro-Mediterranean diplomats

The 23rd Information and Training Seminar for Euro-Med Diplomats takes place in Malta from 26-29 October. Among the topics to be discussed during the seminar are: the Euro-Mediterranean cultural partnership: an Arab perspective; energy security in the Euromed Region; the Euromed Partnership and the media; protecting the global climate; the EU’s Global Approach to migration and prospects for a Council of the Mediterranean.

The Euro-Mediterranean Information and Training Seminars for Diplomats (Malta Seminars) are part of an EU-funded regional programme which began in 1997. The aim is to improve information flows, to allow for exchanges of ideas and to promote dialogue between EU and Mediterranean diplomats.

http://www.euromed-seminars.org.mt/seminar23/EMS-XXIII-October2007-Programme-Final-w.pdf

Euromed Health Workshop and Brokerage Event in Cairo

A Euromed Workshop on Health takes place in Cairo on 29-20 October 2007. This event aims to showcase the scientific potential of Mediterranean partner country researchers in the health sector to interested European counterparts. A number of competitive and innovative ideas will be presented with a view to finding collaboration partners from European countries. Topics include research into stem cells, cancer, diabetes, kidney diseases, liver diseases and health care systems.
http://www.eu-delegation.org.eg/en/EU_EGYPT_Cooperation/Key_Developments_events_2007.asp#October

You’ve seen it online – now see the real thing!

The Museum With No Frontiers (MWNF), which runs the online Virtual Museum, has just launched MWNF Travels, enabling its visitors to go to see the actual monuments and sites in the countries concerned. Fifteen tours have been designed and organised by specialised local travel agents and will be accompanied by specially trained local tour guides, enabling visitors to discover each country from an authentically local perspective. 10 countries of the Mediterranean are concerned. MWNF is supported by the EU under the Euromed Heritage programme. 

www.discoverislamicart.org/travel/

Mediterranean Film Heritage Seminar

The Bologna Cinematheque hosted a workshop on The Restoration and Conservation of Film Heritage in the Mediterranean in Bologna, Italy on 21-23 October in the framework of the EU-funded regional programme Euromed Audiovisual II. The objective was to discuss the current state of film archives in Europe and in the Mediterranean. Participants discussed the importance of protecting cinema heritage from a historical, artistic and methodological perspective, archiving policies, film library management programmes and the possibility of establishing a Mediterranean Film Archive network.
http://www.euromedaudiovisuel.net/newsdetail.aspx?lang=en&treeID=74&documentID=8944

Ukrainian-European Policy and Legal Advice Centre (UEPLAC) held a round table “JSC law and corporate governance within the overall framework of company law in Ukraine” on 15 October 2007. The round table aimed to formulate concrete proposals for improvement of the current draft law on Joint Stock Company (JSC). In this context, discussion focused on: national rules on company law and further alignment with the EU legislation on company law; perspectives of the introduction of voluntary Codes of Corporate Governance; adoption of a new legal framework on JSC as an indispensable prerequisite to attract foreign investments and to allow Ukrainian enterprises to be competitive within the EU market. UEPLAC is funded by the EU.

www.ueplac.kiev.ua

Ukraine: Interactive Technologies in vocational training

The first training in interactive methods for teachers and trainers of Agricultural Vocational Schools took place in the Cherkasy region (Ukraine) on 15-19 October 2007 in the framework of the EU-funded project “Strengthening Regional Vocational education training (VET) Management in Ukraine”. Introducing interactive methods of teaching into educational process is increasingly important in the framework of new educational technologies. This contributes to development of students’ commitment to implement pedagogical technologies, as well as to development of researches and creative efforts.

http://www.delukr.ec.europa.eu/press_releases.html#44787

INOGATE Information sessions

National INOGATE information sessions are to be held in all partner countries in the next couple of months: Georgia (16 October 2007), Armenia (19 October 2007), Azerbaijan (23 October 2007) Moldova (30 October 2007). The specific objectives of the sessions are to brief all the relevant bodies on the agreements reached during the Astana Ministerial Conference of November 2006 (Energy Road Map); set out clearly the expanded scope of the INOGATE Programme; provide information on what activities are planned to take place until the next Ministerial Conference scheduled for end of 2008. The sessions will also provide information on all ongoing and upcoming INOGATE technical assistance projects relevant to the partner countries and discuss what the priorities for the partner countries will be in achieving progress.

Russia third trade partner of the EU27

On the occasion of the European Union - Russia summit, Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities, publishes data on the EU27 and Russia. Russia is the EU27's third most important trading partner, after the USA and China, accounting for 6.2% of EU27 exports and 10.4% of EU27 imports in 2006, compared to 2.7% and 6.4% respectively in 2000.

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-77-07-231/EN/KS-77-07-231-EN.PDF

Trait d'union, Newsletter online

The new edition of Trait d'union, the newsletter published by the Moroccan EC Delegation is now online. It features the main activities of the summer such as a round table on governance and civil society organizations' meeting.

http://www.delmar.ec.europa.eu/fr/185/sommaire.htm

Forthcoming events    

• 5-6 November 2007- Lisbon: Euro-Mediterranean Foreign Affairs Conference
• 7 November 2007 – Lisbon: European Development Days
• 19 November 2007 – Algarve: Euromed Ministerial meeting on Migration
• 20 November 2007: Egypt: Conference of the Water Directors of the Euro-Mediterranean and South Eastern European Countries (EMWDF)
• 7 December 2007 - Lisbon: EU Africa summit

Funding opportunities