London-based conservative newspaper the Daily Telegraph and its free rival, City AM, launched campaigns against the EU's proposed regulation of alternative invetsment funds.

The Telegraph has coined its campaign 'Ditch the Directive'.

Sustainable living by 2050 will require "fundamental changes in governance structures, economic frameworks, business and human behaviour," notes a report presented last week at the World CEO Forum in New Delhi.

Spain, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, will table a document assessing challenges facing the electric vehicles industry at an informal meeting of EU competitiveness ministers tomorrow (9 February).

It aims to adopt a common EU action plan in May to give Europe's car-manufacturing industry a competitive edge in the race against the US, China and Japan.

SMEs face particular challenges in emerging markets like China, where protectionism and intellectual property rights pose major problems, says Adrian van den Hoven, director of international relations at BusinessEurope.

BusinessEurope has highlighted growing trade tensions between Europe and China in a series of letters to the EU executive, but van den Hoven believes the Lisbon Treaty provides scope for Brussels to provide advice and direct protection for companies operating overseas.

"We have now had the longest interregnum in the Union's history," Sir Julian Priestley, a veteran EU insider, told this website.

Indeed, after an EU institutional reform process that began at the 2001 Laeken summit and ended with the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty last December, as well as a European Commission that experienced several months of uncertainty in a caretaker capacity, a backlog of duties awaits the Barroso II team.

Science and information are at the centre of the EU's crusade to bring down cancer rates.

Parliament wraps up hearings for next commission.