Brussels hopes these measures will serve as a wake-up call to the Bulgarian government to get its house in order. An earlier draft of the Commission report was even tougher, threatening the suspension of Bulgaria's progression to join both the Schengen area and the eurozone, but this was toned down at Sofia's request. The pressure is really on Bulgaria now to show it can clean up its act, otherwise future enlargement, to take in countries such as Croatia, could be put at risk. I'll be in Bulgaria next week, so I will be asking some tough questions.

On the whole, not many surprises: the rough tone that was expected, telling off the two countries for the very small (if existing) progress regarding judicial reform and fight against corruption. This time, Bulgaria is more severely punished, with part of its funds being suspended. Romania receives yet another warning but still no decisive measure such as the activation of the safeguard clause or retention of European funds.

What is the Commission’s assessment of Romania? In the usual diplomatic slang, the report notes that Romania presents a “mixed picture”. However, it does not take great further reading to realize which are the predominant shades in this “mixed picture”: although Romania seems to have re-established its commitment to judicial reform and the fight against corruption, the “legal and institutional framework is still fragile” and decisions on (especially high level) corruption are highly politicized. Some progress is acknowledged, but so is the lack of political consensus regarding justice reforms.

In conclusion, Romania still has a (rather long) way to go in fulfilling all the benchmarks set at the time of accession and will continue to be closely monitored by the Commission. A crucial element is the political will to fully implement all the commitments made by Romania when joining the EU; and looking at the Romanian political arena at the moment, this does not seem to be a safe bet.

One can almost hear the sigh of relief in the high governmental offices in Bucharest, at the confirmation of the fact that (1) no safeguard clause will be activated, (2) no funds will be suspended, (3) Bulgaria is considered to do worse and is more harshly sanctioned. 'Schadenfreude' and relief, that’s all.

Unfortunately. Now they can happily continue their holidays. They “escaped” this time again. This makes me doubt the effects of such a neutral report. Maybe next time the Commission can act more severely. It is sad, but only a “shock therapy” might make the Romanian political class aware of the importance of fulfilling its commitments and not just indulging in the mere satisfaction of doing slightly better than the neighboring country.

Written by Anda

The European Commission wants member states to pool together their money and brains to conduct joint research on major societal challenges such as ageing and energy security, saying purely individual efforts on such vast topics waste resources.

Positions:

Next steps:

• Soon: Ministers should nominate high-level representatives to identify specific areas for joint programming.
• By end 2008: The Council could endorse the concept and objectives of joint programming.
• By mid-2009: High-level representatives should identify specific areas for joint programming.
• By end 2009: The Commission will submit recommendations for adoption by the Council aimed at launching joint programming initiatives in the areas identified by the high-level representatives.

Vía: Euroactiv

BBC reports on how the EU is seeking a deal on the trade in tropical fruit.

Failure to agree on tropical fruit exports to the European Union would put a global trade deal at risk, the European Commission has warned.

These agreements on international trade can have an impact on how a business in the UK operates and their sales.

15 ΧΩΡΕΣ ΤΗΣ ΕΥΡΩΠΑΙΚΗΣ ΕΝΩΣΗΣ-ΟΧΙ ΟΤΙ ΚΑΙ ΟΙ ΑΛΛΕΣ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΠΑΡΘΕΝΕΣ- ΓΙΑ ΤΟ ΜΑΥΡΟ ΧΡΗΜΑ.

European Commission Warns 15 Members

On Money-Launder Rules

BRUSSELS (AFP)--The European Commission is warning 15 member states that they face legal action for failing to adopt E.U. anti-money laundering rules into national law as part of the fight against terrorism.

Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy raised the warning in a letter to Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, France, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden and Spain, a spokesman said.

Η ΣΥΝΕΧΕΙΑ ΕΔΩ

Not surprisingly, the sharp contrast between that statement and the comments made recently by Labour MEP Eluned Morgan on this subject has not gone unnoticed. I wonder if she will realise now that things are moving on - 'an historic development' in fact!

The agreement was formalised on Tuesday in Brussels when the UK Government reached agreement with the EU Council of Ministers. I worked with the One Wales Government for the move, and negotiations were then taken forward by the member state government.

At the moment the agreement applies only to the Council but is expected to be extended to other EU institutions so that people and organisations in Wales will be able to correspond and communicate with the EU institutions in either of our two official languages.

While some people misinterpret the agreement for their own reasons, I'm just pleased that this stage has been reached, and I've no doubt this view is shared by many, many people and organisations throughout Wales, judging by the correspondence I've had on the subject.

People in Wales have the right to choose Welsh to deal with the EU institutions if they so wish.

The European Commission today proposed a legal framework that will make it easier to set up European Research Infrastructures, such as observatories for environmental sciences, data banks in genomics or state of the art large super computers. The proposal was made in response to requests from Member States, who wish to jointly develop world-class research facilities in Europe.

Unveiling the proposal, European Science and Research Commissioner Janez Potočnik said: "Research infrastructures are becoming increasingly complex and expensive, often placing them beyond the reach of a single research group, region, nation or even continent. The sheer size of such projects, generally hundreds of millions of Euros for construction and several tens of millions of Euros for operation, requires a joint effort by several European countries."

Until now, the absence of an adequate legal framework allowing the creation of appropriate partnership with partners from different countries has been a major difficulty for Member States. Existing legal forms under national, EU or international law do not fully correspond to the specific characteristics and needs of such multinational infrastructures. This new tailor-made legal framework would provide a legal personality recognised in all Member States and could provide some of the advantages of international organisations, such as VAT exemptions.

It also offers the opportunity to cut down significantly the time necessary for setting up such European Research Infrastructures, allowing them to become operational as soon as possible, which is important in the quickly evolving world of science.

It is foreseen that the legal framework would be discussed by the EU Council of Ministers during autumn and possibly adopted in December 2008. Following the development of related implementation procedures, the legal framework could become effective in mid 2009.

Background
The Communication is one of five policy initiatives planned by the Commission to follow up the 2007 Green Paper "The European Research Area: New Perspectives". A number of key areas were identified where effective action in partnerships between Member States could have the potential to deliver significant gains for Europe's research system and help to create a "fifth freedom" in Europe - the free movement of knowledge. In this context, "Developing world class research infrastructures" is put forward as one of the pillars of an ambitious ERA vision.

Details of all of the above are available in MEMO/08/504

Link to the full text of the Regulation:

http://ec.europa.eu/research/press/2008/pdf/com_2008_467_en.pdf

See also IP's related to the European Research Area package:

IP/08/637 on the results of the Green Paper on ERA

IP/08/555 on Intellectual property management by Public Research Organisations

IP/08/802 on European Partnership for Researchers

IP/08/1140 on Joint Programming

Vía: RAPID Europa Press Relay

Enlaces relacionados:

• Commission proposes a legal framework for European Research Infrastructures – Q & A
• Research infrastructures offered EU legal umbrella

Pan-European research infrastructures such as CERN, the world's largest nuclear research organisation, are to be granted special legal status and exemption from VAT under a new proposal by the Commission.

Positions:

Next steps:

• Dec. 2008: The proposal could be adopted by the Council.
• Mid-2009: The legal framework could become effective.

Links

Vía: EuroActiv

One of the reasons for establishing the European Union was to create a single economic market, removing the obstacles companies faced to offer goods and services across borders. Industries from trucking to telecommunications have seen their inter-jurisdictional restraints fall to the wayside over the past
twenty years. The continent has nearly united behind a single currency, the Euro, at this point as well.

As I discussed in this article, even as most of the member states of the European Union have adopted the Euro, the music industry continues to license music on a country by country basis. Therefore, a service like Rhapsody would have to be licensed by the performing rights organization in each member country. The logistics and costs for offering such services have been so great that many companies have chosen not to launch in the European Union.

In the face of significant lobbying from songwriters and publishers who support the country by country licensing process for financial and, nominally, cultural reasons, Neelie Kroes, the Commissioner for Competition in the European Union, has held that performing rights organizations must have the ability to license music on a pan-European basis to support a strong and vibrant music marketplace. According to Commissioner Kroes:

This decision will benefit cultural diversity by encouraging collecting societies to offer composers and lyricists a better deal in terms of collecting the money to which they are entitled. It will also facilitate the development of satellite, cable and internet broadcasting, giving listeners more choice and giving authors more potential revenue. However, the Commission has been careful to ensure that the benefits of the collective rights management system are not put into question in terms of levels of royalties for authors and available music repertoire.

The decision to allow cross-border music licensing is a significant step in unifying the copyright policies across the European Union.

She is following the advise of the European Group of Regulators (ERG), which proposes an average price between 0,11 and 0,15 euro per SMS, and will make a proposal in October to submit SMS tariffs to European regulation.  The European Commission will also examine whether measures have to be taken concerning data roaming costs, which are still too high as well. 

The ERG itself hopes regulation won't be necessary and urges the sector to be 'attentive' towards data roaming prices.

EUOBSERVER / PARIS – France officially announced the launch of the Union for the Mediterranean on Sunday (13 July) – the brainchild of its president Nicolas Sarkozy, who did not hide his pride in seeing the project's official birth. The project – under its official name Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean – regroups 43 states, including all EU members, and will be co-presided over by one EU and one Mediterranean country – currently Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak, and Mr Sarkozy himself.

However, criticism has already been raised about some controversial issues – such as immigration – being left out of the Union's scope at this stage.

That is because while the media spotlight is on the 'Union', they would rather not talk about it. If it has anything in common with the same process started in 1995, then it revolves around increasing mass immigration from these Muslim countries to the democratic West, in the name of 'cultural exchange' while at the same time telling everyone else what we can and cannot think;

Cultural policies need to avoid schematic concepts such as the popular distinction between “Us” and “Them”. They even warn against further using the term of “The Other” which is standard in almost all intercultural education concepts, since it opens the gate for imposing collective identities on the individual. There is no viable alternative to their proposal of adopting a rights-based approach in dealing with cultural diversity - Dialogue To Hospitality, Traugott Schoefthaler, Anna Lindh Foundation.

As an aside, take note of the desired re-engineering of the population away from cultural identity in this document with the current actions of our own Government, recently;

It (the National Children’s Bureau) advises nursery teachers to be on the alert for childish abuse such as: “blackie”, “Pakis”, “those people” or “they smell”. - Toddlers who dislike spicy food ‘racist’

The leaders unanimously adopted a declaration deciding to work on six "concrete projects" as initial activities, Mr Sarkozy said.

The new grouping will address the cleaning up of Mediterranean pollution; development of maritime and land highways; or setting up a joint civil protection programme on prevention and response to disasters.

Conflicts in the region are seen as the main reason preventing the Barcelona Process – an initiative started in 1995 with similar ambitions to the new project – from achieving significant results.

Now they have softened up the West a bit with immigration, they believe they are now ready to open the floodgates while they expand their Union ever outwards in their quest for a World Government, the article End of Freedom goes some way to explaining the process.

As far as these 'concrete projects' go, who is (and has been) paying for it? Us of course, without our permission or even consultation.

But that is the nature of the European Union. It is run by a bunch of elitists who believe they know best and that we (the serfs) do not deserve a say on how we live our own lives. All we are good for is providing them with money and labour. At the present time, the People of Britain (and other member states of the EU) are essentially being forced to pay and provide for two governments, their own and Brussels, both expanding all the time, increasing their scope and authority over us. They are Cancers. We are funding our own demise. Wake up!

These points I make are obvious to anyone who takes the time to read the official documents. They are on their websites. The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership site contains enough information to give you an idea of their plans. You just have to learn to read between the lines. In their document on Migration for example (my comments in bold);

... promote faster issuance of visa and look at specific procedures for certain categories of people and promote legal migration opportunities within the Euro-Mediterranean region ... fast tracking immigrants?
... comprehensive and balanced approach to fully respect and protect the rights of migrants and human rights, in particular those of female migrants and children ... either of which enter the country first, can then lead to;
... the importance of family reunification as a way to protect the family and respect family life, according to principles of instruments of international law (a vital tool for the One World Government) fair treatment of migrants in the societies of Euro-Mediterranean partners in particular by combating discrimination, racism and xenophobia against migrants and their families...

Note how none of this talks about the rights and treatment of the host countries. In the case of Muslim communities establishing 'no-go' areas with their disdain for Western culture, what then? The definition of xenophobia under the EU now includes criticism of Islam.

The EU in 2007 made incitement to racism and xenophobia a crime across the 27-nation bloc. Under the new law, offenders will face up to three years in jail for "public incitement to violence or hatred, directed against a group of persons or a member of such a group defined by reference to race, colour, religion, descent or national or ethnic origin." The term "inciting hatred" against "religion" could be used to silence critics of Islam and Muslim immigration, especially since the Council of Europe has earlier decided to view Islamophobia as equal to anti-Semitism. At the same time as the EU is signing agreements enhancing the cooperation with, including immigration of, Arabs and Muslims, it is banning opposition to this and is co-opting the media into toeing the party line and promoting the official, Eurabian ideology. The European Union thus increasingly exhibits many of the hallmarks of a totalitarian state, a pan-European dictatorship. - Fjordman: Why the European Union Must Go, Dhimmi Watch.

I strongly suggest you read this page to have some idea what they have in store: Free Muslim Immigration to Europe

http://www.ec-gis.org/Workshops/inspire_2008/presentations.cfm

Legal Issues

Legal and organisational framework for the Spanish national SDI

Seeing the bigger picture: mapping out a vision of INSPIRE

One Scotland:One geography INSPIRE in the world of :Politick Verdadero/Politick Reale/ Reales politick/ Vrai politick/ Echte politick

INSPIRE directive in the Czech Legal System

Towards SDI Legislation in Poland

Data Sharing

Legal aspects about sharing geodata: a business model for licensing geographic information

Public Private Partnerships for building Spatial Data Infrastructures

Natura 2000: how to reconcile data sharing and sensitiveness of data?

Cooperation with spatial information obscured by clouds or the dark side of the moon?

The Donors' Conference has taken place in Brussels and representatives from United Nations, International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have met there. According to the European Commission, the target of this amount of money is to create the appropriate conditions that will facilitate the economic growth, the reduction of unemployment and the rise in foreign investment.

Kosovo's Prime Minister, Hashim Thaçi, has told the international representatives that his country wants to be a member of IMF and WB, even though Kosovo's economy needs a "great help" from international community.

Will they agree to the payment so easily if the majority of the citizens of this "self-proclaimed new state" wouldn't be Muslim?

(+) Sheik Yermami has more on the subject.

Technorati Tags: Kosovo, Serbia, Hashim+Thaçi, European+Commission, Conference+of+Donors+for+Kosovo

The Mirror, Vol. 12, No. 568

“In a regional workshop organized in Jakarta on 11 July 2008, the European Commission discussed its proposal for a new Directive (European legislation) on renewable sources of energy, including biofuels.

“Participants from all ASEAN countries attended this event. This workshop was chaired by Ambassador Alistair MacDonald, the Head of the European Commission Delegation to the Philippines, and important speakers in this workshop were senior experts from the Energy, and from the External Relations Directorates-General of the European Commission in Brussels. Also, officials of four ASEAN countries presented their countries’ policies about renewable energy and biofuel.

“The drafts Directive, which is expected to be adopted early next year, has set the policies for renewable energy for all states which are members of the European Union, so that the use of renewable energy among the use of other energy resources in the European Union will increase. This Directive is part of the climate change policies of the European Union, and it aims to define renewable energy goals on the national levels, setting joint obligations in order to achieve a use of 20% of renewable energy, and setting minimum goals to use at least 10% of energy in the form of renewable energy, such as biofuel, in transportation, by 2020, which has to be accomplished by all member states.

“Consequently, it is expected that bioenergy production in Europe will increase, and the import of plant oil used in biofuel in Europe will also increase.

“Therefore, this Directive also sets requirements for the environmental sustainable production of biofuel, to guarantee that biofuel, which is part of the renewable energy policy of the European Union, is produced by using sustainable methods which do not harm the environment. The European Commission will regularly check and report on the influence of bioenergy production on the prices of food, although recent analysts showed that there is only little impact.

“Southeast Asia is a region which produces a lot of plant oil, especially palm oil. This Directive will create many new opportunities for all of the Southeast Asian Countries, because it will likely lead to increasing imports from oil producing countries into the European Union.

“With the price of oil at current levels, more use of renewable energy is seen as a good choice for the economy. Moreover, these forms of energy also contribute to guarantee the security of energy supply, and they contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emission.

“However, some hazards for the environment were also pointed out regarding the use of biofuel. The sustainability requirement has to guarantee also that the biofuel policy is not against the goals of environmental protection. The same requirement will be implemented for biofuel produced in the European Union as well as in other countries outside of the European Union. Therefore the same requirements everywhere do not present an obstacle against trade. This requirement aims to achieve a minimum level of the emission of greenhouse gas, and it aims to follow some other required conditions related to the environment, especially to protect bio-diversity.” Kampuchea Thmey, Vol.7, #1691, 12.7.2008

Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Saturday, 12 July 2008

Kampuchea Thmey, Vol.7, #1691, 12.7.2008

• New Measures of the European Union for Biofuel Were Shown to ASEAN Countries
• [Minister of Foreign Affairs] Hor Namhong: Khmer Artifacts Stolen from the Preah Vihear Temple by Thailand Will Be Reclaimed Back [he stated during a press conference on 8 July 2008]
• Metered Taxis Started Their Business in Phnom Penh [by Global (Cambodia) Trade Development Co. Ltd., a Chinese company] [on 11 July 2008]
• Pailin Has Still 207.8 Square Kilometer of Land Infested with Landmines [according to Mr. Heng Ratana, deputy director of Cambodian Mine Action Center - CMAC]
• [Former Thai Prime Minister] Thaksin Ranks Sixteenth among the 40 Richest People in Thailand

Khmer Machas Srok, Vol.2, #197, 12.7.2008

• [President of Cambodian Independent Teachers’ Association] Rong Chhun Asks [Minister of Education] Kol Pheng to Intervene in the Case of Lost Salaries of Teachers in Remote Areas
• “The Line of Those Who Steal from the Nation” and Some Dishonest Businesspeople Are Cleaning Their Names through the Preah Vihear Temple [by distributing money to help citizens and soldiers there]

Khmer Sthapana, Vol.1, #47, 12.7.2008

• Only 200,000 [of 340,000] Workers Will Go to Vote [because of the rise of the price of goods and of transport – according the head of the Cambodian Free Trade Union of Workers Mr. Chea Mony; but the secretary-general of the National Election Committee Mr. Tep Nitha Rejected this number]
• Khmer Citizens Are Disappointed with the Flow of Thai Pigs into the Country
• Situation in the Middle East Is Tough after Iran Tested Its Missiles

Koh Santepheap, Vol.41, #6395, 12.7.2008

• [Mr. Khim Sambou] A Reporter of Moneaksekar Khmer [a Pro-Sam Rainsy Party newspaper] and His Son Were Shot by [two] Unidentified Men after Returning from Exercising at the Olympic Stadium [the father died after he was referred to hospital while his son is in a serious condition – 11 July 2008]
• Director of KCBN Travel [Oknha Heng Tola] Plans to Spend His Company’s Money to Gather Tourists and Bring Them to the Preah Vihear Temple [every week in order to help the people living at the mountain, after the border-crossing was closed by the Cambodian authorities]
• The United Nations Asks for US$300 More for Burma

Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.16, #4639, 12.7.2008

• President of the Puea Pandin party [which is part of the coalition government of Mr. Samak] of Thailand Escapes from an Arrest Warrant [over a corruption case] to Hide Himself in Poipet [according to Thai media on 11 July 2008 – he and another candidate were found guilty, after the Thai Election Commission had asked the Thai Supreme Court to revoke their electoral rights, after they had been found to have arranged transport for people to attend their campaign rally, and had handed out cash to voters]

Samleng Yuvachun Khmer, Vol.15, #3357, 12.7.2008

• Civil Society Wants to See Khmer Politicians to Be Brave like Siem [Thai] Minister of Foreign Affairs [Nappadon Pattama] Who Resigned from His Position

Have a look at the last editorial - Without freedom of information AND an active use of this freedom, emotions can easily lead to dangerous misunderstandings.


Back to top

Tim O'Reilly:

.... the internet as Web 2.0 is displacing Microsoft Windows as the dominant software development platform,

.... the competitive edge comes from aggregating the collective intelligence of everyone who uses the platform..... '

'Web 2.0 is a transformative force that's propelling companies across all industries
towards a new way of doing business characterized by harnessing collective intelligence, ....

from: http://radar.oreilly.com/web2/

Wikipedia's definition of Web 2.0

The two other sites that I like best to keep me current on Web 2.0 developments are:

• ReadWriteWeb

• Programmableweb

Some of the Web 2.0 platforms that I am using:

Social Software:

• LinkedIn.com
• Facebook.com
• FriendFeed.com

Blog related:

• Wordpress.com
• twitter.com
• bloglines.com
• feedburner.com
• technorati.com
• digg.com
• pingomatic

Content oriented sites:

• Flickr.com

Bookmarking:

• del.icio.us

My posts on Web 2.0:

Definition:

• What is Web 2.0
• Groundswell - by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff (Forrester)

IT market and trends:

• Gartner on Web 2.0
• Forrester Research on Web 2.0
• What is Wikinomics? ‘How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything’
• Enterprise 2.0 and Web 2.0

Platforms:

• On Facebook
• On LinkedIn
• On Mashup's
• Comprehensive list of Web 2.0 applications

Vertical platforms:

• What is Twitter
• Customer Services
• Web 2.0 and projectmanagement

Social networking and Blogging; privacy:

• Social networking and privacy

• Video explaining Social networking

Technology:

• Identity management and Web 2.0
• Bookmark sharing

Blogging:

• Blog hitrate increases
• Tips for writing the best blog post
• Desktop tool for blogging

Great sites where you can learn more about Web 2.0:

• http://radar.oreilly.com/web2
• http://www.programmableweb.com/
• http://www.readwriteweb.com/

Forrester research on Social Networking in the Enterprise:

Video

On Web 2.0:

• managers: try it yourself; play with RSS, feeds, make your own blog, participate in a wiki, ....
• it is still very early stage
• some things work; some things do not work

' The Impact of Web 2.0 and Emerging Social Network Models':

Video

Great video on Web 2.0 (Davos Annual Meeting 2007)

'The rapid rise of online social networks is both a social and business phenomenon, the impact of which is only beginning to be understood. The consumer-powered Web 2.0 creates innovative ways for businesses to operate and people to communicate.

1. What is driving the emergence of virtual communities? Is the rapid rise in their valuations justified?
2. How are companies beginning to use social networking strategies for product and market development, as well as for communication?

• Caterina Fake, Founder, Flickr, USA
• William H. Gates III, Chairman, Microsoft Corporation, USA
• Chad Hurley, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, YouTube, USA
• Mark G. Parker, President and Chief Executive Officer, Nike, USA
• Viviane Reding, Commissioner, Information Society and Media, European Commission, Brussels'

Related information:

Web 2.0 summit 2007

Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us: great short video explaining the technological essence of Web 2.0

Web 2.0 Expo

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• The housing sector - supply and construction of all housing (including renovation, maintenance and cleaning);
• Minor repair of tangible movable goods, including bikes but excluding other means of transport. Examples include shoes, clothes, computers, watches;
• Cleaning and maintenance services of all these goods and, in this case, other means of transports are included;
• Domestic care services (e.g. home help and care of the young, elderly, sick or disabled);
• All personal care services (including hairdressing, beauty services);
• Gardening services;
• Restaurants.

The FSB has called for the British government to seek a less rigid application of VAT rules to enable more flexibility in reducing sales tax. It has also insisted that the UK's historic exemptions - in place since EU accession - remain.

Sue Cave, FSB Cornwall's Vice Chairman and Financial Affairs Spokesperson said:

"With the building industry languishing and the tourism sector reporting a downturn, help for both sectors here in Cornwall is sorely needed, and any help would have a knock on effect to many other businesses. However whether the UK will take the opportunity to reconsider its VAT regime to encourage business across the board is open to question."

Tina Sommer, EU and international affairs chairman, said:

"As the credit crunch bites, some of the first luxuries to go will be home improvements, eating out and a trip to the hairdressers, so local businesses in these areas will welcome this move. The British government must take advantage of these proposals to ensure our high street can survive the economic downturn.

"National governments should be given more control over how they use VAT to stimulate demand, so long as there are not drastic consequences for the Single Market.

"The UK has been allowed to exclude certain items, such as newspapers and children's clothing, from VAT altogether, and this historic exemption must continue."

Notes to editors

In 1999, the Commission began a three year experiment to see whether reduced rates of VAT in certain sectors would have a positive impact on job creation and combating the black economy. National governments could submit to reduce VAT to not less than five percent in two labour-intensive areas. This experiment has been extended several times, but now the Commission has suggested formalising the arrangement to allow national governments more flexibility in applying reduced rates to stimulate the economy. More information can be found here:

The FSB is Britain's biggest business organisation with over 215,000 members. It exists to protect and promote the interests of the self-employed, and all those who run their own business. More information is available at www.fsb.org.uk.

If you found this story interesting please press the button below to bookmark using one of the many social bookmarking sites. If you would like to keep up to date with news as it happens, why not subscribe to our RSS feed at the top of the right hand column?

Pere-Joan Cardona, a Catalonian biomedical researcher of my own age, leads the Tuberculosis Experimental Unit at a small research foundation in Spain. They are about to start the clinical trials of a vaccine that may prove revolutionary. The interview that El País publishes is full of interesting and fun details, but one of Cardona's remarks about the state of research in Spain and Europe is especially delightful:

In order to really innovate, public funding is necessary [...] Only the public system is able to generate knowledge without the need of guaranteeing commercial profitability.

This reminds me of something that a Dutch academic said a few weeks ago in a meeting to which I was also attending:

Let's leave industry to solve their own problems, without the governments having to take care of them.

Are you listening, EC?

I've been reading a nice amount of white papers, green papers and papers of all colours regarding Europe's plans and strategies for R&D, including the forecoming 7th Framework Programme. I have also been a bit involved with technology platforms such as NESSI. To round this up, yesterday I spent most of the day attending a seminar on writing R&D proposals for the (current) 6th Framework Programme of the European Commission (EC). And through all these channels, I can see how the EC is making more and more emphasis on having industry drive research.

The idea is the following: a few large European companies from any given sector get together and form a "technology platform", such as NESSI. One of the first things they do is create a strategic research agenda (SRA), a document that specifies what areas have high research priority, and, in general, what are the research needs in Europe. The EC's intention, as far as I am told, is to then take these SRAs and design European research policy according to them. Following this scheme, large companies will determine research policy rather than accept it.

In this scenario, something that concerns me is what mechanisms is the EC going to use to make sure that companies do not use this opportunity to promote their commercial interests only. I have some business experience and I don't think that a company, large or small, would get involved in a technology platform and spend their resources working there if they didn't think that they are going to recoup the investment, with a gain if possible. Do you think that Philips or IBM or HP are going to defend a SRA that they believe could hinder their revenue?

The underlying rationale of industry-driven research, I gather, seems to be that companies have been falling off research efforts in Europe for a while, and the EC is trying to regain their attention. However, the ultimate objective of companies is to make money, not to improve the wellbeing of the citizens. As far as I understand, improving the wellbeing of the citizens is (or should be) the ultimate objective of governments, not private corporations. That's why, usually, governments make policy and companies are not allowed to play a part that is too large in a country's politics. At least, in Europe. I do believe that companies, as manufacturers and distributors of goods and services to the people, have a crucial role in the R&D process. I like having companies in every research consortium I am part of, and their constribution is usually very valuable. This does not mean, however, that they should determine how European money should be spent and which research topics are "in" and which are "out".

I have asked my question ("what mechanisms is the EC using to make sure that companies don't take commercial advantage of this opportunity") in a few forums, and I have never obtained a clear answer as of today. What do you think?