Control of frontiers and free circulationAn integrated system for the control of the external frontiers of the European Union, so as to increase internal security and at the same time make possible freedom of movement in the Schengen area, both of EU citizens and ‘regular’ citizens of third countries: these are the objectives of a series of provisions proposed by the Commission which regard to the activities of the Frontex Agency and the control of the seas. The proposed measures include a commitment to “facilitate the surveillance of the frontiers by having recourse to the new technologies”; and efforts aimed at “reinforcing operational coordination” through the agency for frontiers, intensifying in particular “joint operations between states, including the patrolling of maritime frontiers”. The current Slovene Presidency of the EU Council has announced that these provisions “will be discussed at the ministerial conference in March on the challenges of the control of the external frontiers”.European motorways: over three thousand deaths per yearThere are 3200 fatalities on motorways in EU member countries each year. Inadequate infrastructures, lack of security systems, high speed and imprudence, old cars: these are all factors that increase the “massacre”. Yet, these fatalities “represent only 8% of the total number of deaths from road accidents in the EU”, though their number “is continuously declining”. The balance sheet of the continent’s road accidents has been drawn up by the European Transport Security Council (ETSC), an independent organ based in Brussels, which has analysed the situation in the 17 member countries, plus Norway and Switzerland. It transpires that the safest motorways in Europe are just those of the Swiss Confederation, with less than two deaths for every billion kilometres travelled. By this same criterion, the motorways of Denmark, Holland and Great Britain are considered relatively safe. France, Germany, Austria and Belgium are classified as middling. The situation deteriorates in the Czech Republic and Italy, while the most catastrophic situations are registered in Spain, Portugal, Slovenia and Hungary (8 deaths for every billion km). According to the ETSC, the real anomaly is represented by the “considerable disparities in motorway safety between the various countries”. The study, presented earlier this week, indicates the need to adopt measures for the improvement of road safety, also by accelerating the adoption of the EU Directive on the security of road infrastructures proposed by the Commission in 2006.Work: more training for a dynamic economy”The demand for professional skills and qualifications will grow in all productive sectors”: according to CEDEFOP (European Centre for the Development of Professional Training, an EU agency based in Thessalonica) the transformations of the economy, technological innovations and organizational changes in businesses “will lead by 2015 to the creations of jobs mainly linked to know-how”, i.e. skilled jobs. The agency published on 8 February the results of an investigation with the title “Future skill needs in Europe: medium-term forecast”, which lists the most dynamic sectors of the European economy. Over the next seven years agriculture and industry will lose jobs and “the real factor of growth will be services”, with an increase that could come close to 10 million new jobs. The most reactive sectors are likely to be transport and distribution, tourism and various services. Education, health services and social services “ought alone to generate 3 million new jobs”. “The services sector will therefore have a need for greater skills and qualifications”. EU Commissioner Jan Figel commented: “Thanks to the information provided by this research the young and not so young can better evaluate their objectives and determine their needs for education and training”. Exports, supporting small and medium businessesRemoving tariff barriers and bureaucratic obstacles, ensuring respect for international norms on intellectual property, promoting a multilateral accord that may favour access to the markets, and improving assistance to exporting firms: these are the main guidelines indicated by the European Parliament to the Commission in recent days. The aim is to support the activities on world markets of EU enterprises, especially those of small and medium size. The EP approved a document that responds to the communication of the Executive entitled “Global Europe”. The reinforced presence on traditional commercial markets and the conquest of new ones with products and services of the 27 are aimed, says the document, at “reinforcing the role of the Union in the world”, “safeguarding existing jobs and creating new ones”. The report supports “the formulation of specific initiatives to tackle commercial obstacles in the services sector, public contracts, intellectual property rights, and customs procedures”.
