The European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee today approved Turkey's 2010 progress report sending a strong message of support for further reforms ahead of Turkey's general elections this June.

LAMBSDORFF_90.pngAlexander Graf Lambsdorff MEP (FDP, Germany), ALDE shadow rapporteur for accession negotiations with Turkey, said:

"We continue to support the long-lasting and open-ended process of accession negotiations - but we also point to many shortcomings that neither Turkey, nor the EU can be satisfied with.

Brussels – How to ensure that ICT policies reflect the increasingly global environment is the main theme of a Digital Economy Workshop hosted on 9-10 February jointly by ETNO and the European-American Business Council (EABC) in the confines of the EU-US Information Society Dialogue, with the participation among others of Robert Madelin, Director General DG Information Society, William Kennard, US Ambassador to the US, Lawrence Strickling, NTIA and Media.

Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the Liberal and Democrat group in the European Parliament today has written to President Barroso, exactly one year since the new Commission mandate began, to urge him to seize back the initiative from the Member States on such important policy areas as economic governance and competitiveness that are vital to restoring Europe's future growth prospects.

Last week, ahead of the European Council meeting in Brussels, a Franco-German initiative launched proposals for strengthening economic policy coordination and strengthening competitiveness in the EU.

Although rural areas represent 90% of EU territory, they are often overlooked when planning EU policy. Particularly policy related to energy. People living in rural areas tend to rely on highly-polluting energy such as oil and coal. Today the Future of Rural Energy in Europe (FREE) initiative, in cooperation with Danuta Hübner MEP, Chairwoman of the Regional Development Committee in the European Parliament, launched a debate on how to ensure support for rural communities and access to clean energy.

NEC welcomes the delivery of the first smartphone chargers in accordance with the voluntary agreement signed by fourteen mobile phone producers in June 2009. But we regret that there is still no universally-compatible charger for mobile phones, other than smartphones, nor for other small electronic devices. Moreover, the producers have not committed to sell the chargers separately from the mobile phones themselves.