Rights of the child, EU agenda An agenda “for reinforcing children’s rights in the EU by putting the principles included in the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights into action”. The EU Commission is finalizing a set of initiatives to be presented February 15. “The purpose is to reaffirm the strong commitment of all EU institutions and of all Member States to promote and protect the rights of the child in all relevant EU policies and to turn them into concrete results”, state EU sources in view of the strategy’s presentation. EU policies that affect directly or indirectly children – from education to security, from consumer policy to research should be designed, implemented, and monitored taking into account “the best interests of children”, along with initiatives for the legal protection of minors, health, sports, or migration-related questions. Children’s rights form part of the fundamental rights that the EU is committed to respect under the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the Treaty of Lisbon. In addition, all 27 EU countries have ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Europe 2020 Strategy sets out a vision for the 21st century of a Europe where the children of today will have a better education, access to the services and to the resources they need to grow up.Enlargement: two problems for Croatia The closing of Croatia’s EU membership negotiations could take place by mid 2011, under Hungarian rotating presidency. The news was disclosed by the Hungarian minister of State for EU Affairs Eniko Gyori and by Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle at the end of their meeting on February 3rd. The president-in-office reiterated on several occasions that EU border enlargement is a positive, possible option for the EU. According to Gyori and Füle such possibility depends full compliance with the Copenhagen criteria which in the case of Croatia means solving two problems: reforming the judiciary and the question of State funding in the framework of the competition policy”. Presidency and Commission will continue along the lines of their joint commitment “so that the adhesion process of EU candidate countries”, that includes West Balkan States, Iceland and Turkey, will progress according to “rules and regulations established in EU seats”.Regional policy and territorial development Creating employment, promoting sustainable growth along with local and regional development are some of the themes addressed during the Cohesion Forum held in Brussels last week. The EU seeks to develop guidelines for regional policy measures to be implemented in the period 2014-2020. Following a publication and a public consultation, the Forum, which brought together over 800 stakeholders, was held in Brussels from January 31 to February 1. “Although it represents one of the world’s richest economies regional disparities among the EU-27 regions remain high”, is stated in the meeting’s conclusions. “One in four regions’ GDP is below 75% of EU average. Reducing these differences in critical to the safeguard of prosperity, notably given the ongoing economic crisis”. For this reason EU regional funds, (the Cohesion Fund, the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, amounting to 350 billion euro for 7 years) “provides support for the modernization of less developed regions in order to meet the challenges of globalized economy”. The investment priorities of 455 major projects developed to this regard include vocational training, “with a focus on vulnerable groups”, infrastructures – motorway, high-speed rail, and waste water treatment projects. The Forum marked by plenary sessions and four workshops focusing on the main aspects of the Europe 2020 strategy: intelligent growth, green growth, inclusive growth, along with the territorial dimension of Europe 2020. The EU Commission acknowledged the positions conveyed by EU regions and Member States in view of legislative and financial proposals regarding future cohesion policy (that takes up over a third of EU budget), expected for summer 2011. At the end of the two-day meeting, the RegioStars awards were presented to regions of excellence that implemented the most successful policies. This year’s recipients were Lithuania, Wales(UK) and Brandenburg (Germany).
