The leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Italy plus the European Commission will meet in London on Tuesday to discuss how to respond to recent turmoil on global financial markets.

Sustainable energy is a keystone for local development. That is the central message Danuta Hübner, Commissioner for Regional Policy, will deliver at a conference on energy in Bari, Southern Italy, today. The conference, organised to develop Italy's regional development policy for 2007-2013, is entitled 'Sustainable, Competitive and Safe Energy'.

Country profile:

Size: 43 098 km².
5.4 million inhabitants; 53% live in rural areas.
Unemployment rate of 3.5% is among the lowest by EU standards.

Region profile:

Includes the convergence programme for the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and the Competitiveness programme for lowland and upland Scotland.

It is been another testing night on global share markets, as investors worry about an economic slowdown.

Today the European Commission examined the updated stability programmes of Finland, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. All four have reached, maintained or exceeded the objective they have set themselves to have sound public finances. Luxembourg and the Netherlands have presented budgetary strategies that are in line with the sound principles established in the Stability and Growth Pact. In both countries, the trajectory seems sufficient to maintain, by a large margin, their medium-term objective (MTO).

Having examined its updated convergence programme[1], the European Commission finds that Sweden’s budgetary stance is a sound one as it has surpassed its medium-term objective, a surplus of 1% of GDP, by a large margin and plans for equally safe positions in the years ahead. The pace of fiscal consolidation in the United Kingdom appears insufficient and should be strengthened significantly.

SA of Belgium by Norddeutsche Affinerie AG (NA) of Germany. Both companies are active at several stages of the copper processing chain, in particular producing copper cathodes, copper rod and copper shapes. In September 2007 the Commission opened an in-depth investigation to check whether the proposed acquisition might significantly impede competition, in particular with regard to the European market for copper shapes.

The European Union's top economic official has blamed the current turmoil in global stock markets on major imbalances in the U.S. economy.

Supplementary pension schemes continue to pose obstacles to mobility for workers across Europe according to two new independent studies, presented by the European Commission today. The studies support the case for a Europe-wide initiative to improve people's access to supplementary pension rights when changing jobs or working in another EU country. The Commission's proposal for a directive on the issue – revised in October 2007 – forms part of the work programme for the Slovenian EU Presidency.

Danuta Hübner, Commissioner for Regional Policy, today attended a special session with Poland's Union of Voivodeships in Brussels. The union brings together representatives of regional authorities in Poland, and the discussion focussed on the future of cohesion policy in Poland, the role of regions, and how best to benefit from European investment worth €67.3 billion for 2007-2013.

Commission signs Contract of Confidence with Portugal to reinforce joint responsibility for control of Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund
Danuta Hübner, Commissioner for Regional Policy, and, Mr Fernando Teixeira dos Santos, Portuguese Minister of Finance, today sign a Contract of Confidence which guarantees the quality of the Portuguese authorities' audit work on Structural Fund programmes for 2000-2006. The signing will take place in the margins of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council in Brussels.