Humanitarian aid for the Horn of AfricaThe European Commission has allocated 54 million euros as emergency aid for five African countries: Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya and Uganda. “The Horn of Africa – explains Commissioner Louis Michel – is beset by manifold humanitarian dangers. In this region, a prey to extreme climatic conditions, perennial conflicts and great poverty, millions of people are currently on the edge of the abyss. Our aid is crucial for saving human lives and fighting poverty”. The 13 million euros allocated to Somalia are intended to counter the risks of drought on the one hand and sudden flooding on the other. The 3 million for Eritrea are justified by the desertification of huge areas, compounded by “the insecurity of the frontiers with Ethiopia”: water, food and medicines need to be provided for at least 500,000 people at risk, according to the Belgian Commissioner. In the case of Ethiopia, additional EU funding of 6 million euros is being aimed mainly at the agricultural sector and providing emergency housing for the population. Other EU aid for an overall sum of 32 million euros will be allocated to the five States in the form of foodstuffs and irrigation projects.Few women in the world of researchWomen abandon their professional jobs, and in particular their scientific careers, “especially because, once they have become mothers, they no longer succeed in reconciling professional with private life”. So, to permit women “to remain professionally active in the field of science and technology, a better balance needs to be struck between work and family”. This particular aspect of the female labour market was underlined during a conference sponsored in Prague by the current Czech Presidency of the EU on 14-15 May, on the theme “Women and Science”. The Commissioner for Research, Janez Potocnik, said that over the last ten years “Europe has succeeded in part in curbing this phenomenon, but too many holes still need to be plugged”. The Commissioner explained that in the European Union women “fill only 19% of university chairs and represent only 18% of researchers in the private and 29% in the public sector”. Some proposals to address this situation are based on a recognition of these shortcomings; they have long been discussed in EU institutions, inserted in the wider context of the reconciliation between professional and family life.Commission President appeals to electors to vote José Manuel Barroso, President of the Commission, has, on the Commission’s website, appealed to the citizens of the old continent to turn out and vote in the European elections from 4 to 7 June, thus reinforcing European democracy and the process of integration. “Your vote matters, because your choice will help shape the European Union’s course of action for the next five years”, explains Barroso. “If you think a solution to the current economic crisis is necessary, if the defence of jobs is important for you, if you think it is important to offer opportunities and safeguards to everyone”, the EU can provide solutions. At the same time Barroso cites “the vital role played” by the Community in the defence of the environment, energy supplies, the “efficient management of influxes of immigrants” and the provision of “aid for the poor countries”. The message is available in 6 languages (English, French, German, Spanish, German, Portuguese and Italian) on the Commission’s website (www.ec.europa.eu); the written version of the statement is also accessible in a further 17 languages of the EU. In his videomessage addressed to the 375 million citizens of the EU called to elect the new European Parliament in early June, Barroso explains the “central” tasks of the EP: “The Commission will continue to take the political initiative and make the necessary proposals to deliver concrete results for citizens”, but “it is the European Parliament that makes the laws, together with your national governments, and it is the European Parliament that holds the other European institutions to account”. Youth: Charlemagne Prize goes to PolandA Polish student project has won the 2009 Charlemagne Prize: it is called “YOUrope needs YOU”. The Prize is awarded by the European Parliament to the “best and most creative proposals for involving the young in European issues”, as formulated and realized by the students of the universities of the 27 member states. The Prize was awarded at a recent ceremony in Aachen (Germany) by the President of the European Parliament Hans-Gert Poettering and the President of the Charlemagne Prize Foundation Michael Jansen. In their view, “the vision of a Europe that is really close to the young” emerged from the large number of projects submitted for the prize. The second and third prize went to France (project for a European Festival of university theatre) and to Germany (Gumboot Diplomacy, an ecological project). “YOUrope needs YOU”, the project that took first prize, was realized by the AEGEE student Forum and, according to the winning students, “is aimed at fostering the civic sense of university students”. Poettering said it “represents in a convincing way the diversities of the various European cultures, by promoting a strong exchange between them”.
