The EPP Heads of State and Government along with the President of the European Commission, José Manuel BARROSO, and the President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert POETTERING, will meet on 11 December 2008 in Brussels.

Geneva/Hanoi/New York - More than 2000 children die every day as a result of an unintentional, or accidental, injury and every year tens of millions more worldwide are taken to hospitals with injuries that often leave them with lifelong disabilities, according to a new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF.

Graham Watson, Leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe was in Paris today for a final meeting of Parliament's Group Leaders with President Sarkozy ahead of this week's EU Summit.

"We have reached the 11th hour on the climate change deal" said Watson after the meeting." The EU has positioned itself as the global leader on carbon emission reduction. Now Member States need to show they mean what they say when it comes to the environment. They need to recognise that investment now is money and lives saved in the future."

BirdLife welcomes new report of Court of Auditors criticising the effectiveness of cross compliance

Brussels, 9 December 2008 –BirdLife International [1] welcomed the report [2] by the EU Court of Auditors which was published today on the effectiveness of cross compliance. The NGO regrets however that the report, which had been made available to Commission and Member States in early 2008 and finalised last October, was only made public nearly a month after the decision on the CAP Health check was taken.