On 28 April 2016, the Council gave its green light for new rules that aim to improve domestic rail passenger services in the EU. It endorsed the deal concluded by the presidency with the European Parliament on 19 April.
"During the negotiations the interest of travellers always came first. Together we have been able to reach an ambitious agreement. The quality and efficiency of railway services will improve because of this package".
Sharon Dijksma, Dutch Minister for Infrastructure and the Environment
The revised rules - known as the 4th railway package market pillar - will open up domestic rail passenger markets in the member states. Railway companies will have non-discriminatory access to the network across the EU provided that public service contracts are not compromised. This means that it will be easier for new operators to enter the market and offer their services. For the award of public service contracts competitive bidding will become the rule, although exceptions to this rule are still possible.
Quality of service, for instance the punctuality and frequency of trains, will have more of an influence on the award of contracts to operators. For public service contracts - which currently account for over 90% of EU rail journeys - direct award will continue to be allowed provided it leads to better quality of service or cost-efficiency.
Die NSA-Affäre mit ihren Deutschland-Bezügen wirft schwierige rechtliche Fragen auf. Problematisch ist vor allem die anlasslose, globale und massenhafte Überwachung elektronischer Kommunikation. Solche Aktivitäten sind mit den internationalen Normen zum Schutz der Menschenrechte kaum zu vereinbaren; und sie sind geeignet, außenpolitische Beziehungen zwischen Partnerstaaten empfindlich zu stören. Ernsthafte Kritik an den Aktivitäten ausländischer Nachrichtendienste lässt sich jedoch nur dann glaubhaft formulieren, wenn die eigene Praxis bestimmten Standards entspricht. Die vorliegende Studie untersucht, welche rechtlichen Anforderungen das Grundgesetz an die Kommunikationsüberwachung durch den Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) stellt und wie diese Anforderungen legislativ umgesetzt worden sind. Von zentraler Bedeutung ist unter anderem, ob und in welchem Umfang auch ausländische Personen im Ausland durch die Grundrechte gegenüber der deutschen öffentlichen Gewalt geschützt sind. Davon hängt maßgeblich ab, welchen Bindungen der BND bei der Überwachung rein ausländischer Kommunikation unterliegt. Darüber hinaus geht es in der Studie auch darum, die rechtlichen Grenzen für einen Austausch personenbezogener Daten mit ausländischen Nachrichtendiensten auszuloten.
Work underway in the European Defence Agency (EDA) and the European Commission to explore dual-use synergies on R&T with the support of existing EU funding instruments has led to a tangible result with the recent announcement that a €2.2 million dual-use research project led by a Polish SME will be co-funded by the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF).
The Polish project called “Intruder Detection and Avoid System” (IDAAS) aims at developing a sensor-based system helping to avoid collisions between general aviation and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV, or drones). It is the second dual-use research project co-funded under ESIF after a first successful pilot project in Portugal related to technologies for unmanned maritime systems (project TURTLE).
Of the total required investment (€2.2 million), ESIF will fund €1.75 million (78,7%). Project holder is EUROTECH, an SME based in Mielec, a town in south-eastern Poland.
IDAAS will integrate different types of independent measurement sensors (optoelectronic cameras working in visual range and infrared, acoustic microphones with a big sensitivity, laser scanner, radar) and a complex measurement and calculation module which will communicate directly with on-board or control systems. The fundamental advantage of IDAAS system will be its complete autonomy and independence from other devices and systems. Therefore it will be possible to use it as an independent or a supplementary anti-collision system.
The IDAAS project was first selected within EDA’s “1st ESIF process”, issued in December 2012 to obtain EDA technical assistance in finalizing the application dossier under the EU multiannual financial framework (MFF) 2007-2013. Due to a lack of residual ESIF budget at the end of the previous MFF, EDA has kept supporting it for submission within the new multiannual financial framework (MFF) 2014-2020.
EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq welcomed the ESIF co-funding and stressed the importance of seeing an SME taking the lead in such an innovative project. “It’s a great success which confirms that there are funding opportunities for defence-related stakeholders available in the EU’s multiannual financial framework running till 2020, especially for SMEs with dual-use projects”, Mr Domecq stated. “The challenge is to ensure that all current and future EU funding schemes or tools are complimentary to Member States’ existing R&T programmes and not seen as a replacement for them”, he added.