08.05.2008 - 17:34 CET
The European Commission on Thursday said EU consumers are still getting ripped off when they buy airplane tickets online and threatened the industry with "further measures" if the situation does not change within one year.
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30.04.2008 - 17:24 CET
The European Commission is keen to be seen as brushing up its social policy credentials ahead of the European elections next year. The move comes after delays in key social policy legislation as well as a number of EU court judgements that have led to the perception that workers' rights are being undermined in Europe.
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23.04.2008 - 07:55 CET
The European Commission on Tuesday said all EU countries should use the same age-rating system when it comes to video games and make that system known to citizens. It also called for an EU-wide code of conduct on the sale of video games to minors to be introduced within two years.
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22.04.2008 - 09:26 CET
The European Commission has abandoned its plans to protect gays and lesbians against discrimination under pressure from Germany, where business groups feel such moves would be costly for employers and service providers.
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17.04.2008 - 09:30 CET
The number of products presenting health or safety risks that were detected and withdrawn from the EU markets in 2007 was 53 percent higher than in 2006, with China being the source of most of the dangerous goods, according to a report to be revealed on Thursday.
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14.04.2008 - 09:25 CET
As part of the 'EU Back to School' scheme, European civil servants, MEPs and diplomatic staff from the Netherlands are returning to their secondary schools for a day, hoping to bring 'Europe' closer to home.
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10.04.2008 - 17:39 CET
In defiance of the major music companies and film industry, the European Parliament has voted against punishing alleged file-sharers by shutting off their internet connection, an idea that has been pushed by both the record labels and French President Nicolas Sarkozy over the last year.
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04.04.2008 - 09:03 CET
EU trade unions have strongly criticised the latest EU court judgement on the right of member states to set minimum wages for foreign workers, saying it is an invitation to social dumping. Britain's largest trade union said the ruling could affect construction for the 2012 Olympics in London.
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02.04.2008 - 08:57 CET
The EU's top court has boosted the rights of same-sex couples, after ruling that a person is entitled to their dead partner's pension in all EU states that treat homosexual partnerships similarly to marriages.
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15.11.2007 - 17:41 CET
A group of eight non-governmental organizations, including Amnesty International, is pushing for an EU-wide strategy on Roma, who continue to face strong discrimination in parts of Europe, particularly Slovakia.
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27.09.2007 - 17:30 CET
The European Commission has approved German and Finnish applications for money from the EU's globalisation fund, granting almost €15 million to a total of 4,300 workers from the two countries. Three member states have benefited from the fund since its creation in December 2006.
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14.01.2008 - 09:36 CET
EU top officials along with employment and social affairs commissioner Vladimir Spidla on Friday went to Beijing to advocate improvement of social welfare and worker protection.
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17.09.2007 - 09:26 CET
A comprehensive combination of both the European principles and legally binding measures has to be found when it comes to patient safety across Europe. But this is not always the case, says German former health minister Andrea Fischer.
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20.06.2007 - 17:45 CET
MEPs have voted for EU-wide minimum standards for supplementary pension rights to make it easier for EU citizens to move jobs both within their own country and within the EU. But the draft law has been watered down significantly meaning pension rights are not fully portable between member states, which critics say will discourage true worker mobility.
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19.06.2007 - 17:30 CET
Support for the EU among the bloc's citizens has risen to the highest level since early 1990s with two thirds favouring the concept of a European constitution, but a state-like EU charter has the least support in Britain, Denmark and Sweden.
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18.06.2007 - 09:25 CET
A massive investment in education is the only way that the huge Roma minority in Romania can emerge from grinding poverty and marginalisation, says Rupert-Wolfe Murray.
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21.12.2006 - 09:25 CET
Hungary is the first and possibly the only EU newcomer to introduce temporary restrictions on workers from Bulgaria and Romania despite its previous criticism of "old" member states for limiting free access to labour markets to countries that joined the bloc in 2004.
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28.11.2006 - 17:32 CET
Although there is a lack of objective data on discrimination and racist violence in several EU member states, a new study suggests that racism has increased in Europe, particularly towards the Roma community, Muslims, Jews and immigrants.
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28.09.2006 - 09:52 CET
Decisions formerly made on behalf of citizens by officials can now increasingly be made by citizens for themselves, writes Richard Laming taking the sale of vodka in the EU as a case in point.
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19.07.2006 - 17:43 CET
The European Commission is planning to come up with a law harmonising penalties for businesses exploiting illegal workers - in a bid to prevent situations similar to the recently discovered slave camp with Polish workers in southern Italy.
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26.06.2006 - 18:20 CET
Figures published by the European Commission on the occasion of the World No Drugs Day show that within the EU member states, over 8,000 people die of drugs overdose each year.
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23.06.2006 - 10:00 CET
A new EU transport policy plan adopted by the European Commission on Thursdayhas been described by environmentalists as unsustainable and illegitimate.
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06.06.2006 - 10:02 CET
Europeans are the heaviest drinkers in the world, consuming two-and-a-half times the average seen on the rest of the globe, according to a landmark report sponsored by the European Commission.
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14.06.2006 - 09:58 CET
EU ministers agreed on a pan-European initiative to promote information and communication technologies as a tool to help people to overcome economic and social disadvantages.
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