Environment: 35 cities across Europe apply to become the first European Green Capital for 2010 and 2011

"This annual award is a new initiative to be presented to a city in the vanguard of environmentally friendly urban living. Some 35 cities from 17 European countries have applied for the 2010 and 2011 awards. Applications for the European Commission's new European Green Capital award are now closed. The applicants are: Amsterdam, Bordeaux, Bremen, Bristol Cluj-Napoca, Copenhagen, Dublin, Espoo, Freiburg, Hamburg, Hannover, Helsinki, Kaunas, Lisbon, Łódź, Magdeburg, Malmø, Montpellier, Mûnchen, Münster, Murcia, Oslo, Pamplona, Prague, Riga, Rotterdam, Sabadell, Stockholm, Tampere, Toruń, Valencia, Vienna, Vilnius, Vitoria-Gazteiz and Zaragoza. The applications will now be considered by an evaluation panel. Six cities (three for 2010 and three for 2011) will then be shortlisted and asked to submit a more detailed presentation. Towards the end of the year the evaluation panel will present their recommendations to a Jury which will then make a final decision. The announcement of the first two European Green Capitals, for 2010 and 2011, will take place at a ceremony planned for early 2009. For more information about the evaluation phase, see www.europeangreencapital.eu "

From: EU Commission midday express, 02/10/2008

Who gets EU cash? New website gives details of beneficiaries

"Today's launch of the "Financial Transparency system" website and search engine will allow, for the first time ever, free access to details of who receives EU funds managed directly by the Commission and its executive agencies. Based on accounting data, it provides a consolidated view of the previous financial year and contains approximately 28.000 entries on Commission-run programmes in policy areas like research, education and culture, energy and transport and certain aspects of aid to third countries. This new search engine will allow users to analyse and compare information on beneficiaries and policy areas more easily. It is one of the building blocks in the Commission's wider European Transparency Initiative (ETI)."

Link to the "Financial Transparency System website: http://ec.europa.eu/grants/search/index_en.htm

From: http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/1444&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en