Investing in your Regions and Cities The European Union #39;s Cohesion Policy
Investing in your Regions and Cities.
By: Ali Dahmani
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Investing in your Regions and Cities The European Union's Cohesion Policy - Video
September 1 7, 2014 Brussels
Brussels - capital of the European Union (EU). It is good to know French for easy communication. City has big French and Flemish Communities.
By: Jurij Ivanov
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September 1 7, 2014 Brussels - Video
The European Union is finally moving to replace its data protection supervisor, after Members of the European Parliament interviewed the five candidates shortlisted for the roles of EU data protection supervisor and assistant supervisor on Monday.
A parliamentary committee is set to name its favorites for the posts on Tuesday evening, with one MEP on the committee tipping a Frenchman and a Pole for the roles based on their interview performances.
Replacing the supervisor is particularly important because the EU is in the middle of a data protection reform and the next European Commission, which is set to take its seat on Nov. 1, is planning to finalize negotiations on the EU's new data protection package within six months.
The EU is taking its time to find a replacement for Peter Hustinx, the current European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS). Hustinx was set to end his five year tenure on Jan. 16. and retire, but had to stay on when the European Commission was unable to find a candidate with the right qualities for the job.
On Monday night, the Parliamentary Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) spent three hours interviewing the five shortlisted candidates: Yann Padova and Nolle Lenoir standing for the post of data protection supervisor; Giovanni Buttarelli, standing for the posts of supervisor and assistant supervisor, and Cinzia Bondi and Wojciech RafaB Wiewirowski, standing for assistant supervisor.
The candidates answered questions about topics including the new data protection package, while also being asked how they would deal with external data protection deals such as the Safe Harbor data-sharing agreement with the U.S., said MEP Sophie in 't Veld, who attended the meeting. Candidates were also asked about the court ruling that gave European citizens the "right to be forgotten" by search engines, and about how they would deal with online surveillance issues, she said.
All were pretty strong candidates, but two stood out, In 't Veld said. While she wouldn't say who she favored, one of her fellow committee members, Jan Philipp Albrecht, an MEP for the Greens, wasn't so hesitant.
"The candidates who performed best were the Polish data protection officer Wiewirowski and the candidate from France, Padova," Albrecht said, adding that he thought most of the LIBE committee agreed with him.
Padova was secretary-general of the French data protection authority, CNIL, between 2006 and 2012 and has worked as a data protection lawyer at an international law firm since then.
In his letter of application, Padova stressed the importance of an independent data protection supervisor. "The economic dimension of data protection is now more relevant than ever," he said, adding that personal data is the economy's new "black gold." He promised to be a fair and pragmatic yet firm supervisor if he got the job.
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Candidates for EU's data protection job heard by the European Parliament
European Union foreign ministers agreed Monday to appoint an Ebola coordinator to bring together resources and funding to tackle the deadly disease before it becomes a global disaster.
"My colleagues all agree that the idea of an Ebola coordinator is a good one," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters after a meeting with EU counterparts in Luxembourg.
"The person will be named in the coming days," added Fabius.
The coordinator will be based at the EU's Emergency Response Coordination Centre in Brussels.
The leaders of the 28 EU nations will meet on Thursday and Friday at a summit in Brussels where Ebola will be a major concern, having taken more than 4,500 lives in the worst affected west African countries, while also showing up in the United States and Europe.
The EU move comes three days after US President Barack Obama named attorney Ron Klain as the new White House "Ebola czar" to coordinate the US response to the outbreak.
With a fatality rate running at 70 percent and no known cure or vaccine, world leaders are rushing to get ahead of Ebola before it can establish a foothold outside Africa.
Appointing an EU coordinator is an important step "because everybody has to be on board to fight this epidemic," Fabius said.
The mounting death toll in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea is cause for grave concern, with the "figures rising... exponentially", he added.
Earlier Monday, the World Health Organization declared Nigeria - Africa's most populous country - Ebola-free, showing what can be done if action is taken promptly.
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Nigeria: European Union Names Ebola Coordinator
PARIS
European Union foreign ministers have called for more money, more coordination and more health workers on the ground to respond to the Ebola crisis in West Africa. EU leaders will consider a pledging goal of $1.27 billion for Ebola when they meet later this week.
In a statement following their meeting Monday in Brussels, European Union foreign ministers called for a "united, coordinated and increased effort" to contain the Ebola outbreak, which has killed more than 4,500 people to date - most of them in West Africa.
European foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton spoke to reporters after the meeting.
"[We] recognize that Ebola represents an unprecedented crisis that requires an unprecedented response," she said. "We've already seen the pledging of the EU and its member states of over 500 million euros in assistance to the fight against Ebola and recognize the need to make an increased effort in close cooperation with the United Nations."
The goal today: doubling that assistance to about $1.27 billion. European Union leaders will discuss reaching that target when they meet later this week.
The foreign ministers also agreed on the need to boost the numbers of European health workers sent to the most affected African countries. One option is to set up a pool of volunteer experts, with guarantees they will be provided appropriate care if needed.
And Ashton said the EU was considering appointing an 'Ebola czar' of sorts, to coordinate the bloc's response.
"What I'm very keen is that we've worked out precisely what they're going to do, what their terms of reference will be," she said. "And as I said at the meeting is that we need to do that swiftly, because this is a situation that requires now a fast response."
With several Ebola cases so far in Europe, the 28-member bloc also wants to boost its own defenses against the virus. But the ministers rejected barring flights from West Africa as a way to stop Ebola's spread. However, France, Belgium and Britain have established airport screening procedures for incoming flights from the region.
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Europe Vows to Step Up Aid for Ebola Crisis