Enlargement of the Schengen area to be completed: border controls to be lifted at airports on 30 March.

On 21 December 2007, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Hungary, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia became part of the Schengen area. On Sunday 30 March 2008 at 0:00, the enlargement process will be completed by lifting air border controls between these countries and with the 15 states that were already part of the Schengen system.
Vice-President of the European Commission, Jacques Barrot declared: "The dismantling of air border controls is the final step toward completion of a unique and historical achievement: 24 countries of the EU have no internal borders. The Commission pays tribute to those Member States that have put in place state of the art security systems and special "Schengen terminals" at their airports. The enlargement of the Schengen area demonstrates the EU's commitment to facilitating legitimate travelling within and into the EU whilst at the same time improving the security of Europe's external borders ".
After the lifting of land and sea border controls, which took place on 21 December 2007 (MEMO/07/619), also border controls at airports will be lifted on Sunday 30 March 2008 among Estonia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Hungary, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia and between these countries and the former Schengen members.

Do you want to play EU games?

If you are interested in playing EU games and try EU quizzes you could visit http://www.europa.eu/europago/welcome.jsp. You need a PC of your own so that you could spend plenty of time, because believe me...once you get started you want to play more!

Interact with the EU!

Call the free phone number 00800 6 7 8 9 10 11 from anywhere in the EU. Find out more…
Visit the nearest information centre of the EUROPE DIRECT network to obtain advice and information material. Find out more…
Send an e-mail or contact an operator on-line. Find out more…

• General information about EU matters in any of the official EU languages
• An answer to your questions on any European Union policy
• Practical information on dozens of subjects: for example, how to get your qualifications recognised or how to complain about unsafe products
• Contact details of relevant organisations you may need to deal with
• Advice to help you overcome practical problems with exercising your rights in Europe

Interesting EU videos!

Why not take a look at EU YouTube, where you could watch interesting videos? You could also visit http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=UvRznNKYl08, a video presenting the history of the European Union in a successful and pleasant way. I think it is worth viewing.

Commission provides €300 million to PEGASE and UNRWA in fulfilment of its Paris Pledge to support the Palestinian people

Commission provides €300 million to PEGASE and UNRWA in fulfilment of its Paris Pledge to support the Palestinian people
As of today, the European Commission makes available €300 million to finance activities under both the PEGASE [1] mechanism (€229 million) and to UNRWA[2] (€71 million) to support Palestine refugees. PEGASE activities support the Palestinian Authority's Reform and Development Plan in the areas of Governance, Social Development, Economic and Private Sector Development, and Public Infrastructure. Support to UNRWA includes the EC's regular contribution to the general budget (€66 million), as well as support to UNRWA's Special Hardship Cases scheme for the most vulnerable refugees. For more information visit the relative link (by clicking on the title).
Well, let's hope that this money will eventua;y help these people who suffer because of the mistakes of this world's greedy leaders...

Congratulations!!! The greek coin has won!!

The winning design of the new euro coin! EU citizens and residents have now selected the winning design of the new commemorative euro coin celebrating 10 years of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and the creation of the euro.
Commemorative coins bearing this design will be issued by all euro-area Member States, starting in January 2009.
The design symbolises that the euro is the latest step in the long history of trade, from pre-historic barter – evoked by the deliberately primitive design – to Economic and Monetary Union.
The vote on the coin design
Voting was open to all citizens or residents of the European Union and took place between 31 January and 22 February 2008. Voters could choose between 5 designs pre-selected by European Mint Directors. 141 675 participated in the vote. The winning design received 41.48% of the votes.
>> See the results
The winning design was created by Mr George Stamatopoulos who is a sculptor at the Bank of Greece. Commemorative coins bearing this design will be issued by all euro-area Member States, starting in January 2009.

Welcome note!

Dear spring semester students,
first of all I would like to welcome you to my course, hoping that by the end of the term you will have learned some interesting things about the European Union, which whether we like it or not is part of our lives, or let me put it better...we are part of its life!
Also allow me to apologise for not having updated my blog for a long time, due to two extremely demanding previous weeks!
Let me remind you that in this blog you can view fresh news coming from the EU and interesting announcements about our course. You can always express an opinion by clicking the comment button and of course suggest further links or make other suggestions about the course.
Since we have already missed two sessions, and probably there will also be others, I think that there is no sense holdind a mid-term exam, as the total of sessions to be completed will not be more than 7 (practice and theory sessions).
Should you have any queries, you can always send me an email.