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Commission makes an important step towards a Digital Single Market Promotional image for the Digital Single MarketThe European Commission wants to boost e-commerce by tackling geoblocking and making cross-border parcel delivery more affordable. It also wants to create a fairer environment through updated EU audiovisual rules and tables a new approach to online platforms. Delivering on its Digital Single Marketand Single Market strategies, the European Commission this week presented a three-pronged plan to boost e-commerce by tackling geoblocking, making cross-border parcel delivery more affordable and efficient and promoting customer trust through better protection and enforcement. New e-commerce rules: Preventing geoblocking and other forms of discrimination based on nationality or place of residence When a consumer enters a shop in another EU country, the owner does not ask for the consumer’s ID card in order to accept a purchase or to adjust the price or conditions. But

The 2016 European Economic and Social Committee Civil Society prize will reward initiatives carried out by civil society organisations and/or individuals and aimed at improving migrants' lives and fostering their integration in society. The prize, which has a total value of €50,000 and will be awarded on 15 December 2016, is open to civil society organisations officially registered within the European Union and acting at European, national, regional or local level. It is furthermore open to individuals. The deadline for submitting applications is 9 September 2016.

The European Personnel Selection Office has launched a competition to recruit Irish speaking Linguistic Assistants for posts in the EU institutions in Brussels and Luxembourg. The closing date to apply is 31 May 2016 (11 am Irish time). Full details are available in Official Journal C 151 A of 28 April.

Public Consultation for the Mid-term Evaluation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund The aim of this consultation is to help assess the effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and other aspects of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund as well as to shape its future. Contributions are particularly sought from stakeholders and participants/beneficiaries directly involved in the EGF during the 2014-2020 period The consultation is open until 18 August 2016.

The European Commission has launched a public consultation on the evaluation of key EU consumer and marketing law directives. The Consumer Rights Directive deals with matters such as pre-contractual information and the right of withdrawal from contracts concluded online. The consultation is open until 6 September 2016.

5% of Irish and Danish people send or receive text messages on a daily basis, the highest in the EU. On average 45% of people in the EU communicate daily by text falling to a low of 6% in Spain. A new EU survey on E-Communications also shows that: 31% of Irish people post daily on social media, 2nd highest in the EU after Denmark at 43%. On average 19% of people in the EU post content daily with the share being lowest in Germany at 9%. 44% of Irish people send daily emails, 8th highest in the EU. The EU average was 35% ranging from 66% in the Netherlands to 12% in Greece. 97% of Irish households have at least one mobile phone, joint 5th highest in the EU. The EU average was 93% with Greece and Bulgaria lowest (both 83%). Ireland has seen the 2nd largest rise in the proportion of households with internet access - up 11 pp since 2014 to 78% in 2015. The Netherlands is highest at 96% while Italy is lowest at 41%. The EU average is 67%. The fieldwork for the sur

Move to France for a longer life... That's what Eurostat figures on premature deaths seem to tell us. While more than a third of deaths of Irish under-75s could be considered as premature i.e. could have been avoided, France had just 23.8%. The EU average is 33.7%. France's premature death rate for under-75s was followed by Denmark (27%) Belgium (28%) and the Netherlands (29 %). Worst placed were Romania and Latvia (both 49%). The main causes of avoidable deaths in the EU (2013 figs) were: heart attacks (32%), strokes (16%), colorectal cancers (12%), breast cancers (9%), hypertensive diseases (5%) and pneumonia (4%).

EU Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Phil Hogan met MEPs in Brussels today (26 May) to discuss the dairy crisis. With a Russian ban on EU imports, the end of milk quotas last year and a drop in global demand, dairy farmers are in crisis. A Commission aid package is in place to help stabilise their incomes but only 56% of the €280 million for the dairy sector has been drawn down. "Member States have only until the end of next month to spend all of the money," said Commissioner Hogan. On other measures, he added: "While this is not a crisis exclusively of our making in the EU, continuing to increase production in current market conditions is simply not sustainable." The Commissioner encouraged the sector to use the reformed CAP rules to get a voluntary agreement to plan milk production up to April 2017. If this happens, it will be the first time the new provisions have been activated.

14 new Primary Care Centres are to be built across Ireland following agreement of a new €70 million, 25 year loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB). Backing for the care centres comes from the new European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the heart of the Juncker Investment Plan. EFSI supports lending to crucial infrastructure projects by the European Investment Bank in strategic sectors as well as financing for SMEs by giving a Commission-backed guarantee on the loans to investors, which increases the amount they are willing to lend.

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Seven new generation EUROPE DIRECT centres started their work in Ireland earlier this month in: Ballinasloe, Blanchardstown, Clones, Letterkenny, Portlaoise, Sligo and Waterford. They are part of a community of 424 Europe Direct centres around Europe whose purpose is to reinforce the important connection between EU institutions and citizens, helping to explain how Europe is combatting the COVID-19 pandemic, boosting recovery through NextGenerationEU, and tackling the green and digital transitions.

The winners of the 'Aistritheoirí Óga 2021' (Young Translators) contest were announced at a virtual award ceremony on Friday, 30 April. Five secondary school students made the list - one from each of the four provinces in Ireland (translations from English to Irish) and one who was selected for her excellent translation from Spanish to Irish. This year's winners come from Dublin, Galway, Kerry, Tyrone and Wicklow. The winner of the Connacht prize, Maitilde Warsop from Galway, was also selected as the winner of the overall prize for the best translation in the country.

The European Commission Representation in Ireland has launched a new short film about the EU, created with young people, for young people. ‘Me, You and the EU’ is a fast-paced twenty five minute educational film which tells the story of Ireland and the European Union in a fun and accessible way. Over the course of five chapters, Irish teenagers from across the country ask key questions about the EU to find out what Ireland’s EU membership means for them.