Thirty million “foreign citizens” in EU countries According to a Eurostat survey 30 million foreign citizens live in the EU27 Member States. Accordingly, foreign citizens account for 6.2% of the total EU27 population, “of which 11.3 million were citizens of another EU27 Member state” who live outside their home country for work, study or family reasons. “19.5 million were citizens of countries outside the EU, of which 6.0 million were citizens of other European countries, 4.7 million of Africa, 3.7 million of Asia and 3.2 million of the American continent”. The report issued on the occasion of the International Migrants Day (on 18 December 2009) shows that the origin of the population of foreign citizens varied greatly between Member States: “the largest numbers of foreign citizens were recorded in Germany (7.3 million persons), Spain (5.3 million), the United Kingdom (4.0 million), France (3.7 million) and Italy (3.4 million)”. The highest percentage of foreigners compared to the overall population is registered in Luxembourg (43% of the overall population). The percentage of foreign citizens was less than 1% in Romania, Poland, Bulgaria and Slovakia. 37% of foreign citizens are citizens of another EU27 Member state. According to Eurostat, “The largest groups were from Romania (1.7 million), followed by Italy (1.3 million) and Poland (1.2 million)”. Among the citizens of countries outside the EU27, the largest groups were from Turkey (2.4 million) followed by citizens from Morocco and Albania. Luxembourg inhabitants are the richest in Europe Luxemburg’s citizens are the richest in Europe while Romanians and Bulgarians rank last. Eurostat examined GDP per inhabitant expressed in “purchasing power standards” (PPS). Accordingly, given that GDP per inhabitant in EU27 is 100, Luxembourg is 276, followed by Ireland (135), The Netherlands (134), Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Germany and the United Kingdom. 13 Countries are above the EU27 average, while Cyprus, Greece, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Malta are slightly below 100 followed by the other States. Poland’s PPS is 56, Romania’s 47 and Bulgaria’s 41. Compared to 2007 and 2008, Luxembourg gained 2 points (despite the crisis) Ireland dropped by 10 points, Italy and Spain by less than 2, while Poland, Romania and Bulgaria gained from 4 to 6 points. The data released by the Commission’s statistics bureau include also three candidate countries: Croatia (63), Turkey (46) and Macedonia (33). The PPS of Balkan states, potential EU membership candidate countries, amounts to less than 43.The Institute for Gender Equality in Vilnius “The European Institute for Gender Equality is a European agency created to support the Member States and the EU in their efforts to promote gender equality, to fight gender discrimination and to raise awareness about gender issues” said Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities Commissioner Vladimir pidla: These are the objectives of the institute inaugurated last week in Vilnius, capital of Lithuania, to the presence of the Presidents of Lithuania and Latvia, Dalia Grybauskaite and Valdis Zatlers Commissioner Vladimír Spidla, the Institute’s Chair of the Management Board, Eva Welskop-Deffaa and the Director of the Institute, Virginija Langbakk. Commissioner Vladimir pidla said: “Achieving more equality between women and men in Europe has been a key priority for the European Commission over the past five years.” “I am certain that it will further strengthen our efforts to promote gender equality and fight discrimination across Europe over the coming years”. Its tasks are to collect and analyse comparable data on gender issues to facilitate the exchange of best practice and dialogue among stakeholders. The Institute’s budget for the period 2007-2013 is 52.5 million . The Institute will employ approximately 30 staff during 2010.Making Christmas and New Year’s travel plans safe “If you travel by air and you are denied boarding, or if your flight is cancelled without notice or is subject to a more than five hour delay, ask for reimbursement or rerouting”. This is the first of top twelve recommendations issued by the EU Commission “to guarantee travellers a safe and problem-free journey this Christmas”. A few days ago the Commission launched a public consultation on the future of air passenger rights and released a top 12 list of recommendations. These include: “If your luggage gets lost or damaged, you have the right to a reimbursement of up to 1223 when you take the plane”; “When you book your flight ticket online, remember that the final price must be clearly indicated on the first page”; “if you are a passenger with disabilities or reduced mobility, you will be granted non discriminatory access conditions if you decide to travel by air or by cross-border train within the European Union”. And “Keep in mind that one out of four road accidents can be attributed to excessive alcohol or drug consumption”.
