Churches-EU, a debate on democracy and rightsOn May 30, the representatives of EU institutions will convene with religious and Church leaders in Palace Berlaymont, the seat of the European Commission in Brussels, for the traditional annual meeting. Based on article 17 of the Lisbon Treaty, the European institutions hold a regular dialogue with churches and communities of conviction. Around twenty senior figures from the Christian, Jewish, Muslim religions as well as from the Buddhist communities from thirteen EU Members States and from Russia and Bosnia-Herzegovina will meet in the Commission headquarters in Brussels “to discuss the importance of promoting democratic rights and liberties”, states a release by the EU Commission, “with a view to build a Partnership for democracy and shared prosperity in Europe and in our neighbourhood”. The statement explicitly refers to the ongoing situation in North Africa and in the Middle East. The Catholic delegation is led by CCEE president Cardinal. Péter Erdö and by Msgr. Adrianus van Luyn, COMECE president. The meeting will be hosted by Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission and co-chaired by Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament and Herman van Rompuy, President of the European Council.Presidency: “Developing negotiations with Croatia”Hungary’s six-month EU presidency said there is a chance “to close Croatia’s accession talks in June”. The Minister of State for EU Affairs, Eniko Gyori, attended the 13th meeting of the EU-Croatia Joint Parliamentary Committee. The Minister of State confirmed that “Croatia’s performance is worthy of recognition”. “A number of difficult chapters still remain to be closed, including Competition, Fisheries, Judiciary and Fundamental Rights. However, the EU candidate country is required “to further improve track records, in the field of judiciary reform and the fight against corruption, and to address impunity for war crimes committed during the 1990s armed conflict”. “Full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY)”, is considered essential. The Hungarian minister underlined the need not to lose momentum, so as to prevent frictions in the Croatian people’s support for EU accession.Ombudsman: “Over 2.600 complaints in a year”In 2010, the European Ombudsman, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, received the greatest number of complaints about the EU administration from German (375) and Spanish (349) citizens, companies, NGOs, and associations. The European Ombudsman investigates complaints about maladministration in the EU institutions and bodies. At the presentation of his Annual Report 2010, due to undergo debate at the European Parliament Mr Diamandouros said he received 2 667 complaints in 2010, compared to 3 098 in 2009. “This reduction was achieved thanks to the Interactive Guide on the Ombudsman’s website, which advises users of where to turn to seek redress”, be it at the European, national, or regional level. The most common subject matter of inquiries closed by the Ombudsman in 2010 was lack of transparency in the EU administration (33%), including refusal to release documents or information. Other cases concerned problems with the execution of EU contracts or calls for tender, unfairness, abuse of power, or discrimination. “Most of the inquiries opened in 2010 concerned the European Commission (65%), followed by the European Personnel Selection Office (10%), the European Parliament (7%), and the Council (2%)”.Tsunami and earthquake research”EU research on earthquakes and tsunamis has already scored major successes” in finding innovative ways to improve early warning systems. The tragic events in Japan, and recently in Spain, highlight the need to see how we can do even more to improve our capacity to anticipate and cope with these natural killers to minimise loss of human life and property”, said Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science anticipated the theme of the meeting scheduled to take place in Brussels next May 20 to exchange views on the main research findings and identify areas where more research is needed. The workshop on “Tsunami risk in Europe – Research Achievements and Future Perspectives”, is promoted by the Commission’s Joint Research Centre “given its work coordinating the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS)”. Geoghegan-Quinn underlined: “The short distances to the coasts require a rapid early-warning system to alert and evacuate the population”.
