When: Thursday 10 December – 14.30

Where: EP Press room and via Interactio

President Sassoli is set to convey Parliament’s position and answer journalists’ questions regarding Brexit, the EU’s long-term budget, the coordination of COVID-19 measures, the fight against terrorism and violent extremism, relations with Turkey and climate change.

Interpretation will be available at the press conference in Italian, English, French and German.

Journalists wishing to actively participate and ask questions, please connect via Interactio by using the link https://broadcaster.interactio.io/join?code=HIAGWR22EJPB.

You can also follow it live from 14.30 via Parliament’s webstreaming and EbS.

Information for the media – Use Interactio to ask questions

Interactio is only supported on iPad (with the Safari browser) and Mac/Windows (with the Google Chrome browser).

When connecting, enter your name and the media you are representing in the first name / last name fields.

For better sound quality, use headphones and a microphone. Interpretation is only possible for interventions with video.

Journalists who have never used Interactio before are asked to connect 30 minutes before the start of the press conference to perform a connection test. IT assistance can be provided if necessary.

For more details, check the connection guidelines and recommendations for remote speakers.

The renewed Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF), part of the Multiannual Financial Framework for 2021-2027, will amount to €9.882 billion in current prices.

The co-legislators agreed that the new AMIF should contribute to strengthening the common asylum policy, develop legal migration in line with the member states’ economic and social needs, support third-country nationals to effectively integrate and be socially included, and contribute to the fight against irregular migration. Other objectives include ensuring that those without a right to stay in the EU are returned and readmitted in an effective, safe and dignified way. The fund will also support those people to begin reintegrating in non-EU countries to which they have been returned.

Solidarity and responsibility-sharing within the EU

At Parliament’s request, the funds should also aim at enhancing “solidarity and responsibility sharing between the member states, in particular towards those most affected by migration and asylum challenges, including through practical cooperation”.

Most of the funds (63.5%) should be allocated to programmes that are jointly managed by the EU and the member states, whose entitlements will vary depending, among other factors, on the number of third-country nationals residing in the country, the asylum claims received, the return decisions taken and the effective returns carried out.

The other 36.5% will be directly managed by the EU and dedicated, among other actions, to emergency assistance, resettlement and humanitarian admission from non-EU countries and to relocate asylum-seekers and refugees to other EU member states, “as part of solidarity efforts”.

Negotiators also ensured that funds could be allocated to local and regional authorities that implement measures to support people to integrate into their community.

MEPs managed to increase the sum that EU countries will receive for every resettled person (€10.000, up from the €7.000 intended by the Council), the same amount they will get for every person relocated from another member state. While in 2014-2020 countries did not receive funds for humanitarian admission, they will now obtain €6.000 for every person they welcome under this mechanism (€8.000 if it is a vulnerable person).

Quote

“Beefed up, the new fund is going to be a key EU instrument for managing migration, asylum and integration in an effective and humane way. Solidarity will not be just an empty phrase, because EU countries will receive generous financial support, including through resettlement and relocation. Local and regional authorities will also have easier access to EU funds to spend on integration, and increased guarantees will limit the spending outside the EU, which was key for the Parliament”, said rapporteur Tanja Fajon (S&D, SI), after the vote.

Next steps

The deal will now be finalised at technical level. Both Parliament and Council will then have to adopt if formally.

• Financing for 37 new electric trainsets
• Current comfort, accessibility and environmental standards applied
• Improving major suburban and regional connections

The European Investment Bank signed a CZK 2.57 billion loan (equivalent to EUR 97 million) with Jihomoravsky kraj, the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic, to support the replacement of obsolete rolling stock and improve the availability and reliability of the fleet, in order to increase the attractiveness of the railway services in the region.

The project consists of the acquisition of 37 electric trainsets to be used in the South Moravia region mainly on lines S2 Letovice – Brno – Kfenovice and S3 Khzanov – Tisnov – Brno – Vranovice – Bfeclav. The rolling stock will be used for suburban and regional passenger connections.

EIB Vice-President Lilyana Pavlova said: “Our partnership with Jihomoravsky kraj will strengthen the connection of the two major train lines in the region and make daily trips more efficient for many Czech citizens. By applying current environmental standards and promoting sustainable public transport, this project will contribute to supporting the transition of the Czech Republic to a low-carbon economy, in line with the objectives of our recently approved EIB Climate Bank Roadmap and the Transport Policy of the Czech Republic.”

„I am glad that this project dedicated to the purchase of new trains has been completed thanks to the cooperation between our region and the European Investment Bank. After all, train sets, which are almost half a century old, still run on rails in our region. Rejuvenation of this fleet is therefore a necessity. Although this is the largest-ever investment for the region, it has its own logic. Already when establishing its integrated transport system, the South Moravian Region chose railway transport as the backbone of the entire system.” emphasized Jan Grolich, Governor of the South-Moravia region.

The new passenger trainsets will meet current standards in terms of comfort, accessibility and environmental standards, and enable the operator to deliver a high quality service in line with growing expectations of passengers.

The project is linked to the “Transport Policy of the Czech Republic for the period 2014-2020 with a view until 2050” which aims at developing alternative to individual transport, among others by supporting the competitiveness of railway passenger transport. The project is also implemented within the framework of the “Operating Programme Transport” and the departmental programme “Purchase and Modernisation of Railway Vehicles”.

It complements other EIB financed projects in Czech Republic, related to the modernisation of infrastructure, and in particular the Czech Railway Infrastructure Rehabilitation project, aimed at modernising several sections of the rail infrastructure in the country, including the two sections Blansko – Adamov and Adamov – Brno, line S2. The project is to be co-financed by EU grants from the Operational Programme Transport.

Background information:

The EIB has worked with the Czech Republic since 1992 and invested in infrastructure, small businesses, environment and innovation. Since start of operations in Czech Republic, the EIB provided € 22.51 billion of financing to 185 projects.

EIB’s sustainable transport overview

About the South-Moravia region

The South Moravian Region is located in the south-eastern part of the Czech Republic near the boarders with Austria and Slovakia. The advantage of the region is an excellent transport accessibility and strategic location at the crossroads of the trans-European road and rail long-distance routes which are important arteries connecting Western Europe with Eastern and Northern Europe with Southern.

The South Moravian Region belongs to the regions with significant economic potential. Especially in recent years the number of business entities in the field of computing technologies, telecommunications, software development and others hi-tech fields has been growing. The South Moravian Region significantly supports the development of technological and biotechnological incubators intended for start-up companies. The above-average educations level of the region’s population is due to the high quality system of universities and higher education in general.

December 09, 2020 General

European Cooperation: visual search for TMview extended to Germany

TMview’s visual search facility, which allows users to search for trade mark images in the world’s largest online trade mark database, continues to be extended with the addition of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA).

As of 30 November 2020, the DPMA has made its trade mark images available via the TMview visual search tool. Since 2017, when the first image search facility was implemented in TMview, different intellectual property offices have incorporated this capability into their search facilities.

With this successful implementation the DPMA joins the intellectual property offices of Austria, the Benelux, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK, as well as the EUIPO. This brings the total number of participating offices to 25.

The image search function can be used on trade marks from the above countries that have an image, further enriching TMview as a whole.

The extended visual search in TMview is a result of the work undertaken as part of the EUIPO’s European Cooperation Projects.

Visual search in TMview:

There are just three steps to follow when searching for images in TMview.

Step 1:

Click on the camera icon  to display the ‘Drag and drop or upload image’ box.

Step 2:

You can drag and drop an image into the search field in any of the four formats accepted: JPG, PNG, GIF and TIFF. Or you can click on the cloud icon to the right of the box to upload a saved image from your computer.

Step 3:

Once your image is uploaded, you can use the red box which appears around the image to select the area for which you want to search.

You can use the two icons at the bottom of the search field to display your results in gallery mode or in list mode.

You can also search for colour per se trade marks.

December 09, 2020 General

EUIPO-KIPO Exchange on new technologies and AI

Following the exchanges in the TM5&ID5 forums, a virtual meeting took place between EUIPO and the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) on 7-8 December on new technologies and Artificial Intelligence-related matters.

This meeting falls under the bilateral framework of technical cooperation between the EUIPO and KIPO, as part of the activities envisaged in the Working Plan 2020-2021.

The meeting allowed for the sharing of information and knowledge on the latest advances of both Offices regarding new technologies and the application of Artificial Intelligence both externally for enhanced user services, and internally, to improve internal efficiency, security and ease the examination process.

Particular attention was dedicated to EUIPO’s AI roadmap and latest developments, the EUIPO Blockchain IP register project, the KIPOnet system, KIPO’s latest advances on Image Search and their mobile app for e-filing.