EU Provides 300 Million Euros to the Palestinian People

The European Commission announced this week that it has made 300 million euros available to support the Palestinian Authority's Reform and Development Plan in the areas of governance, social development, economic and private sector development, and public infrastructure. Part of the funding will also support Palestinian refugees.

"I am very pleased that the European Commission is largely fulfilling its pledge for the Palestinians only three months after the Paris donor conference," said EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner. "With the amount provided we are not only reacting quickly but also meeting the requests of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad: to ensure the continuity of our assistance and to make our funds available early in the year to meet the most urgent needs. Once again this shows our strong commitment to support the Palestinian Authority in its quest for improving the lives of Palestinian people towards a peace agreement with Israel."

EU Countries Ahead of U.S. in Broadband Deployment

Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, and Sweden are world leaders in broadband deployment with penetration rates over 30 percent at the end of 2007. The European Commission's 13th Progress Report on the Single Telecoms Market also said that the United Kingdom, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France now all have higher broadband penetration than the United States.

In 2007, 19 million broadband lines were added in the EU, the equivalent of more than 50,000 households every day. The broadband sector generated estimated revenues of 62 billion euros and Europe's overall broadband penetration stood at 20 percent.

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Healthcare in the 21st Century

The latest EU Focus, published by the Washington Delegation of the European Commission, explores the EU's approach to healthcare and highlights common EU-U.S. challenges.

Although the Member States of the European Union represent 27 distinct healthcare systems, and it remains the purview of the individual Member States to deliver healthcare to their citizens, the EU is actively engaged in defining an EU-wide public health strategy. Health is also an important element of the EU's external relations policies, particularly in the fight against poverty.

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First Meeting of EU, Latin America, and Caribbean Environment Ministers

Climate change adaptation, renewable energy, biodiversity loss, and deforestation were key issues on the agenda of the first meeting of EU, Latin American, and Caribbean environment ministers in Brussels.

"While Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean are geographically separate, we share a common environment, a common future and common challenges," said EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas. "Many of these challenges require global action for them to be overcome. The European Union is actively working to combat climate change, for example, but this battle cannot be won without the support of our partners in Latin America and the Caribbean. Given that these countries are a reservoir of biodiversity and forests it is absolutely essential that we work with them to stop the loss of species and their habitats."

The European Union provides financial support to a number of environmental initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean.

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Establishing a European Migration Policy Center

The European Commission has expressed its support for the establishment of a European Migration Policy Center with an aim to pool scholars and influential thinkers who can advance thinking on migration issues. The center, to be opened as early as fall 2008, is to be set up by the European University Institute in Florence, which specializes in European and international migration policies research.

“Although well-managed migration can be beneficial to the EU, it also poses major challenges," said European Commission Vice President Franco Frattini. "It is urgent and vital that research on migration issues should focus more on the ever-changing challenges posed by globalization. The main goal of the new European Migration Policy Centre will be to translate research findings into realistic policy recommendations and thus help guide Europe's policy options in the future. Europe needs to have research on its side.”

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