European Heritage Label, Luxembourg-Kirchberg - Main contents
| date | March 9, 2010 16:00 |
|---|---|
| city | Luxembourg-Kirchberg, Belgium |
| location | Robert Schuman Building (SCH) i  |
| attending | R. (Robert) Schuman i et al. |
| organisation | European Commission (EC) i |
The news:
The European Commission will launch the 'European Heritage Label' as an EU-wide initiative. The aim of this initiative is to highlight sites that celebrate and symbolize European integration, ideals and history.
The background:
The Commission's proposal builds on a 2006 intergovernmental project involving 17 Member States. Expanding the European Heritage Label into an initiative of the European Union will give it greater credibility, visibility and prestige.
Sixty-four sites have received the label under the existing scheme. They include the house of Robert Schuman i, the French statesman who was one of the founding fathers of the EU, in Scy-Chazelles (Lorraine), and the Gdansk Shipyards, where Solidarnosc, the first independent trade union in a Warsaw Pact country, was founded and which helped trigger the events that would finally unite the continent after the end of the Cold War.
The event:
16h00: Press Conference by Commissioner Androula Vassiliou i after the College meeting in Strasbourg.
Contents
The European Commission is the executive body of the EU and runs its day-to-day business. It is made up of the College of Commissioners, 27 European Commissioners, one for each member state, who are each responsible for one or several policy areas. In addition, the 'Commission' also refers to the entire administrative body that supports the Commissioners, consisting of the Directorates-General and the Services.
The European Commission is the sole EU body capable of proposing new legislation. The Commission also performs an oversight function, monitoring whether European legislation is properly implemented in the member states. In the event of non-compliance, the Commission can coerce a member state to comply by starting a legal procedure at the European Court of Justice.