Justice/1 EU law at a click"Today is an important day for the European area of freedom, security and justice. With this portal we are creating the basis for a more efficient system of European justice and one that is more accessible to citizens", said Stefaan De Clerck, Belgian Minister of Justice and rotating President of the Council of EU Ministers, in presenting the "European portal of electronic justice" in recent days. Available in 22 languages, with 12,000 pages, the aim of the portal https://e-justice.europa.eu is to be "a single online portal to access justice throughout the EU". The aim is through the internet to help citizens, lawyers, magistrates, solicitors, and businesses "find answers to transnational legal questions, while at the same time fostering "mutual understanding of the various legal systems and supporting the creation of a single area of justice". By way of example, the Commission indicates some typical questions to which the portal could give an answer. "I’m a Greek citizens travelling to Germany: how can I find a lawyer? I’m a French businessman: how can I consult the Hungarian land register? I’m an Estonian judge: where can I find information on the Spanish legal system?". "The answers to such questions, which hitherto required weeks to obtain, can now be obtained with the click of a mouse". Justice/2 Reding: "Protecting victims of crimes""Each of us could be the victim of a crime or violence. Unfortunately it happens to millions of people each year. The injury caused cannot be cancelled, but the consequences of the offence can be mitigated, people can be helped to recover and steps taken to ensure they receive proper treatment", said Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Justice, in launching a public consultation by which the Executive intends to seek more effective ways of protecting those who have suffered any form of violence or serious offence. According to the data furnished by the Union, there are some 30 million such victims each year. Such an experience may be "devastating for the victims" and may be aggravated by an inadequate investigation or trial, by an intrusion into their private life or by a disrespectful treatment of their case". "Wherever they live, victims have a right to be treated with respect, to receive support and compensation, and to have access to justice". The consultation begun by the Commission will end on 30 September 2010: then the Executive "will use the results to prepare a complete package of rules and practical measures to be proposed in the first half of 2011". The consultation (http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home) more particularly regards five spheres: treatment (the necessary dignity, aid, and information); protection; support (assistance); access to justice; compensation.Erasmus: Commission calls for more resourcesThe youth who most use the Erasmus project to enable them to study abroad are of French, German and Spanish nationality. Established in 1987, the Erasmus scheme enables university students and teachers to study abroad for an average period of six months. Since its foundation 23 years ago, a total of some 2 million students have benefited from the programme, of whom 198,600 during the 2008/09 academic year. The countries that participate in Erasmus have risen to 31: to the 27 member states of the Union have now been added Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Turkey. The university students that took part in Erasmus last year mainly came from France (28,300), Germany (27,900) and Spain (27,400). In terms of percentage of the student population, the best results were obtained by Luxembourg (15.5%), Liechtenstein (3%), Austria (1.9%) and the Czech Republic (1.7%). The preferred destination of Erasmus bursaries was Spain (33,200 students), followed by France (24,600) and Germany (22,000). But the monthly cheque allocated to students, though it has risen from 255 to 272 euro per month, remains too low. And that’s why the Commission is warning of the need for higher funding in the years to come: "Since less significant increases in budget are forecast in the next few years, it will be difficult to maintain a similar growth without supplementary resources".ECB Report on counterfeit euros in circulation "In the first half of 2010, 387,000 counterfeit euro banknotes have been withdrawn from circulation", the majority of them in 20 or 50 euro denominations. Most counterfeit notes (over 98%) were discovered in the states that belong to the eurozone. This is testified by the European Central Bank in its periodical Report on the situation of the forging of the single currency. "In comparison with the quantity of counterfeit notes seized in the six previous notes, a downturn of approximately 13% has been registered", reports the ECB. The trend however is rather irregular: in the first half of 2006 some 300,000 irregular banknotes were identified; their quantity rose to 447,000 in the second half of last year, only to fall to below 400,000 in the first half of this year. According to ECB experts in Frankfurt, "the percentage of counterfeit notes in circulation remains tiny in comparison with the growing number of genuine euro banknotes in circulation", of the order of 13.2 billion.
