European Commission

5 July 2007 - The European Commission is seeking the views of the public on how to combat discrimination at national and EU level. An opinion poll from January of this year showed that 64% of Europeans believe discrimination is widespread in their country and 51% think that not enough is being done to combat the problem. The online public consultation will help the Commission to plan new measures to tackle discrimination outside the employment sector on the basis of gender, religion, belief, disability, age or sexual orientation. It comes as the European Year of Equal Opportunities for All – which aims to raise people's awareness of their rights to equal treatment – enters full swing.

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4 July 2007 - The European Commission today proposed a radical overhaul of the EU's wine sector. For consumers, the reform will mean that labels on bottles will be easier to understand.

Current European labelling rules mean that the harvest year and the grape variety can only be shown for wines which have a "geographical indication" – for example, Bordeaux, Chianti, etc. However, New World wines, Europe's main competitor, always show this basic information and consumers now expect to find it.

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28 June 2007 - The European Commission is planning to impose an EU-wide ban on more than 50 unsafe airlines. The ban will include:

• All 51 airlines certified in Indonesia.
• The Angolan passenger carrier, TAAG Angola Airlines.
• The Ukrainian cargo operator, Volare Aviation Enterprise.
• An amendment to restrictions imposed on Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) in March 2007 to allow flights in the European Union with certain Boeing 747 and Airbus 310 aircraft (in addition to its Boeing 777 fleet which is already permitted).
• A revision of the number of Kyrgyz airlines included in the Commission's black list.

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27 June 2007 - The European Commission has decided to send to Ireland an official request for information on certain county development plans that require specific criteria to be fulfilled before a dwelling authorisation can be granted. The Commission wishes to verify whether the measures in question are compatible with Article 43 and 56 of the EC Treaty which guarantee respectively the freedom of establishment and the free movement of capital. This official request takes the form of a 'letter of formal notice', the first step in the infringement procedure under Article 226 of the EC Treaty. Ireland has two months in which to respond.

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27 June 2007 - The European Commission has today made a proposal to establish common principles of "flexicurity" to promote more and better jobs in the EU. The term "flexicurity" refers to the combination of flexibility and security for workers and companies. Flexicurity helps make labour markets more dynamic and helps workers move between jobs more frequently and successfully. In today's labour markets, people change jobs more often, sometimes because they want to and sometimes because they have to. In this context, new kinds of security are needed, so that workers can change from one job to another and acquire new skills. Similarly, companies must be allowed to adapt to changing market circumstances, and should not be prevented from offering permanent employment because of the difficulties they might face should circumstances change and a workforce reduction considered.

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