The office will be unstaffed from 28 July to 7 August inclusive.

Please note: Due to technical issues beyond our control, the IRO's monthly EU Bulletins for May, June and July are not available online.

Please contact the robert.collins@iro.ie to receive them. We reopen on 9 August.

The project approvals for the 2009 Life+ programme calls for proposals were announced by DG Environment on 23 July. Among the 210 approved projects are two Irish initiatives on Nature & Biodiversity project.

The Blackwater Samok project aims to bring about a sustained enhancement of the Upper (Munster) Blackwater Special Area of Conservation (SAC) by targeting the species of Freshwater pearl mussel, Atlantic salmon, European otter and kingfisher. This will involve carrying out actions aimed at restoring the quality of the river bed and riparian zone. The IRD Duhallow community-based Integrated Rural Development company has been provided with EU funding of EUR935,000 to work on this issue until 2014.

Meanwhile Coillte is to benefit from EUR1.29 million over the next 5 years to help restore wetland, peat-forming conditions on raised bogs by continuing the process of removing plantation forests. This builds upon the work carried out under a previous LIFE-funded project which was completed in December 2008.

Further details

The Joining Forces project on city-region governance has now concluded having brought together eight partner cities to explore effective strategy development and governance arrangements at the city-region level. This URBACT II initiative examined how successful cooperation between cities and their surrounding areas can be achieved while helping to effectively address key competitiveness, equality and sustainability challenges. It dealt with issues including appropriate scales of governance and policy-making, resource pooling, and support at national, regional and EU level.

After two years of exchange and learning activities, Joining Forces has proposed recommendations applicable at various levels in response to each partner city’s situation. These are based on consideration of aspects of metropolitan governance including strategic and spatial planning; mobility management and transport; environmental issues (air and noise pollution, waste disposal, water supply); knowledge economy (creativity, research & education); private sector involvement; social inclusion, participation and empowerment; and attractiveness & competitiveness. In response, partner cities have set up Local Support Groups to work on plans ensuring the process has an impact on local practices and policies.

Final Report - Conclusions & Recommendations

Compendium of information on Local Support Groups and Local Action Plans

The European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for a greener, more equitable and more competitive CAP post-2013 on 8 July

While stressing that the amounts allocated to the policy as a whole should be maintained at current levels, MEPs have come out in favour of reform measures being guided by the fairer distribution of payments using more objective criteria with less emphasis on acreage alone and more on other factors including regional circumstances.

The resolution also calls for an EU-funded top-up payment to reward high standards in areas, such as food safety and reduced greenhouse gas emissions associated with production.

The adopted text further calls for the continuation of the two-pillar structure of CAP, highlighting that rural development must remain a central aim of the future policy in order to play a role in ensuring the long-term survival of competitive and environmentally-sound farming in Europe.

EP Resolution

Meanwhile, at a major conference on the same issue on 20 July, Committee of the Regions (CoR) President Mercedes Bresso set out the opinion that CAP reform - as with all EU policies - should be based on a thorough assessment of its impact on local communities. This would not be restricted to rural development but also to agricultural production measures. Bresso also advocated a more joined-up treatment of EU agricultural policies.

The CoR recently presented a report on the future of CAP which emphasised equal treatment of the different types of production and regions by offering a more flexible range of support mechanisms which would be conditional upon social and environmental factors.

Further details

CoR own-initiative opinion on the future of the CAP

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