EU institutions: some come and some go The race is on at the European Parliament. While the working agenda and July 14-16 plenary session in Strasbourg is being defined, new political groups emerge – including the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats and the Eurosceptic group led by the British Tories that pulled out from the People’s Party – that are busy electing their respective leaders. While the possibility that European People’s Party member Jerzy Buzek from Poland, representative of Civic Platform, and German Social-Democrat Martin Schulzis share the post of EP President is gradually gaining grounds. The path towards the agreement was paved when Mario Mauro, Italy’s People’s Party representative, quit the Presidential race. PPE party group leader Joseph Daul thanked Mauro for having acted with “European spirit of compromise and solidarity”. In the past days, MEPs decided to postpone voting for the candidature of José Manuel Barroso as Commission President, thus being reconfirmed for the coming five years. Swedish EU Council rotating President Fredrik Reinfeldt, after having acknowledged that Barroso is still lacking majority support in the European Parliament gave the news. On his part Barroso declared: “I have the unanimous consensus of the heads of Government and State and I confide on a strong majority vote also at the European Parliament”. Voting will thus be postponed to the fall. As relates to EU seats, the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana from Spain, said he will renounce the possibility of a new mandate, due to expire next October 18.Erasmus Mundus for 10 thousand students and teachers The numbers of the Erasmus Mundus project increase. Ten thousand grants are to be funded for the academic year 2009/2010. 8,385 students and academics will come to study or teach in Europe, and 1,561 Europeans will spend periods at partner institutions in countries outside Europe. Erasmus Mundus, is a cooperation and mobility program in the field of higher education, that aims also “to promote dialogue and understanding between people and cultures through co-operation with countries outside the European Union”. To this regard, education Commissioner Jan Figel declared: “Erasmus Mundus is going from strength to strength. In the years since 2004, when it began, the programme has been able to establish itself as one of the world’s foremost international mobility programmes. With its emphasis on quality and excellence, it is doing an outstanding job of promoting European higher education on the world stage”. Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Commissioner for external relations added: “Education plays a crucial role in the development of countries and for providing younger generations with perspectives. By promoting academic exchanges between Europe and the rest of the world we are giving university students the means to better shape their own futures and to understand and respect each other”.Health and Education, two initiative of the European CommissionEuropean Commission launched two initiatives, which this week gave primary attention to the youth for three days. On July 8 the Green Paper titled, “Promoting the learning mobility of young people” was presented in Brussels. The proposal of the Commission is due to the proposal of the EU Council that invited the development of strategies to boost learning opportunities for youth at all education levels (high-schools, universities, vocational training, stages…). “The Green Paper – is stated in a note of presentation drawn up by the Commission – adopts a wide perspective”, focusing “on all areas of education”. The European debate, inaugurated with the Green Paper, is expected to be continued at institutional level with the development of regulations and programs to promote student mobility that would add up to those already in force. On July 9-10, a European conference was held in Brussels on the health of the youth, to address “key-issues linked to health like alcohol consumption, tobacco and drugs, physical exercise and sexual behaviours”.
