The gas crisis exposed the vulnerability of the European Union to outside disturbances and lack of interconnection in the energy area. What is the EC Commission doing to tackle the problems? *** The Commission’s Legislative and Work Programme 2009, Acting now for a better Europe (Brussels, 5.11.2008 COM(2008) 712 final), deals with Climate Change and Sustainable Europe as the second priority...

As eurozone leaders prepare to meet in Brussels tomorrow (7 May) to back a bailout mechanism for debt-laden Greece, the European Commission is considering new policy measures to prevent public debt from exceeding acceptable limits. 

European Union countries should hand the European Commission powers to coordinate gas flows in the 27-member bloc in the event of a gas crisis, according to a draft Commission report.

European Union finance ministers made little progress in settling differences about how to deal with the growing sovereign debt crisis yesterday, amid continuing fears that Greece will default on its debt.

According to the second paragraph of Article 197 of the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC), Members of the Commission may attend all meetings and shall, at their request, be heard on behalf of the Commission. Under the consolidated Treaty of Lisbon, the first paragraph of Article 230 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) would shorten this to: The Commission m...

The warnings from around the world about the scale of the UK’s government debt crisis keep flowing in. Following last week’s warnings from the IMF and European Commission about the scale of the UK debt crisis, credit rating agency Fitch has described the UK as the AAA country most vulnerable to a downgrade. The table at the bottom of the page shows the European Commission’s forec...

The European Commission is to put forward proposals to launch pan-European supervision of credit rating agencies, which came under attack for their role in the Greek debt crisis

The Wall Street Journal writes of the gradual disintegration of Belgian national identity. But they suggest Belgium isn't about to split apart: it would upset the debt markets, most Belgians "say they don't want the headache", and no one can agree how to divide Brussels. Of more interest is the comment by the (unelected) European Commission. On Thursday, the European Commission felt obli...

Brussels: "History reminds us it is usually in times of crisis that we can make progress in the European project". So says the man who David Cameron had breakfast with this morning in Brussels. The President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, speaks for many here. His words have already fuelled the suspicions of many Eurosceptics that, once again, predictions that "the era of ...

29th January 2009. The European Ombudsman has censured the European Commission over its failure to register the vast majority of its documents.