Treaty and Charter texts

The text of the Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community and of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union have been published in the Official Journal. The Treaty runs to 269 pages, including the various protocols and declarations, while the Charter text comprises 35 pages, including a 19 pages of ‘Explanations’.

Communication policy

The Council register for December 4th included a Council statement about the Commission's communication "Communicating Europe in Partnership" concerning a European Union's information and communication strategy. The statement includes a questionnaire to be discussed on Dec. 18th which is of great relevance to all our work.
Perhaps we will be consulted too eventually....

Thresholds

Anyone interested in public procurement or tendering will need to check the OJ C for 13 December which gives the values in currencies not involved in the Euro for the various thresholds in the procurement Directives.

December's Focus now online

EIA Members can now see the pdf version of Focus on our website. Contents include a look at the EU in 2008 and 'Finding out about ... Equal opportunities'.

Focus for Christmas

The December issue of Focus has just gone to print. All being well, it should be posted out to EIA Members before Christmas. Deadline for January's issue is 17 December.

Northern Rock deal approved

The European Commission has authorised the UK's package of measures to support the Northern Rock bank. Details in this press release.

Sakharov Prize

The 2007 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought will be formally awarded on 11 December. The winner is the Sudanese human rights lawyer, Salih Mahmoud Osman. More details in this EP press release.

Access to documents

The European Ombudsman has told Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee that the current system of access to documents "suffers from a lack of clarity and a shortage of resources, and needs to provide better access." Read the EP press release.

Year of Intercultural Dialogue

The Year of Intercultural Dialogue now has a dedicated website.

Sex, lies and ... Eurostat denials

Eurostat has issued a press release Inaccurate articles on EU census regulation explaining its intentions over the proposed census questions.