Midday Express of 2012-08-07

EXME 12 / 07.08

Midday Express of 2012-08-07

News from the European Commission's Midday Briefing

Nouvelles du rendez-vous de midi de la Commission européenne

Environment: a new medals table for waste management

A new report on how Member States manage their municipal waste shows startling differences across the EU. The report grades the 27 Member States against 18 criteria, using green, orange and red flags in areas such as total waste recycled, pricing of waste disposal, and infringements of European legislation. The resulting scoreboard forms part of an on-going study that will help Member States improve their waste management performance. Top of the table are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden, none of which have more than 2 red flags. But the pattern is reversed at the other end of the scale, where green flags are scarce.

The European Union announces further support for democratic transition in Yemen

The European Commission today confirmed that it would provide an additional funding package to help the Yemeni people and the Transitional Government respond to the country's multiple governance challenges and address some of the grievances which led to protests that swept the Arab world in 2011.

CAP: Commission launches call for tenders for a network facility for the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) 'Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability'

The European Commission has launched a call for tenders to set up a facility team and Info Point in Brussels to support the Agricultural European Innovation Partnership. European Innovation Partnerships are tools set up to pool forces and interlink different actions so as to achieve synergies and EU added value in existing policies. The European Innovation Partnership (EIP) 'Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability' aims to foster a competitive and sustainable agriculture and forestry sector that 'achieves more from less' and works in harmony with the environment. For this, it needs to build bridges between research and farming practice, involving all stakeholders. The tender concerns the setting up and the management of a network facility that will help make this link. The EIP network will act as a mediator enhancing communication and cooperation between agricultural innovation actors, facilitating the sharing of experience and knowledge and closing the gap between science and practice. The maximum budget attributed to this project is EUR 2 500 000 per year. The deadline for submitting offers is 15 October 2012.The Commission intends to award the contract by the end of 2012, following the evaluation of the offers received. Details are available at: http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/agriculture/tender_en.htm