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A United Nations initiative is making massive calculations in an attempt to put a price on nature services such as soil, forest or fresh water in a drive to convince policymakers to implement the 'polluter pays' principle to protect nature, said Pavan Sukhdev, who leads the initiative.

Many people, especially those above 35 living in Eastern Europe, still associate 8 March with the old official Communist celebrations, with faded red cloves and drunken men 'celebrating' Women's Day. But gradually the day, which symbolises female emancipation, has gained new legitimacy, a tour of the EurActiv network reveals.

The spectacular rejection by Icelandic voters of an 'Icesave' accord gives Iceland a resounding mandate to push for better terms in settling €3.9 billion in losses to Britain and the Netherlands.

Support protection of our elephants and we'll help you protect your bluefin tuna, 23 African countries told the European Union on 5 March.

Catalan, Basque, Galician, Welsh and Scots Gaelic should be made official languages of the European Union, MEPs said last week, accusing Brussels of failing to protect "the rights of millions of speakers of non-official EU languages" and calling on the EU institutions to do "much more" to promote multilingualism.  

At an EU summit in late March, the EU will talk about how the bloc can reallocate radio spectrum to catch up with US broadband coverage. But the issue is hotly contested, a situation which an EU consultation launched yesterday (4 March) will seek to resolve.

Dutch authorities were initially sceptical about funding the Minewater project, but with strong local support this unusual renewable energy initiative succeeded in securing  EU regional money and went on to become a blueprint for similar models elsewhere in Europe.

The EU's competition policy is preventing the creation of strong European companies and needs to be more flexible, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Thursday.

The ten companies holding the largest number of surplus emission allowances under the EU's cap-and-trade system stand to make a profit of 3.2 billion euros in the 2008-2012 trading period, according to a new analysis of EU data.

The Socialists and Democrats group in the European Parliament yesterday (4 March) tabled its vision for a fair, large-scale reform of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

A majority of EU countries are ready to sign off on a precedent-setting law to regulate hedge funds, diplomatic sources told EurActiv. The law, which had triggered a wave of resentment in the bloc's financial districts, will win EU finance ministers' approval at their next meeting on 16 March.

Beyond the headlines declaring a growing transatlantic divide, Europe and the United Sates still share the deepest and broadest economic partnership in the world and need to forge an innovation action plan rather than dwell on inconclusive debates, said US Ambassador to the EU William Kennard yesterday (4 March) in Brussels.

The European Commission yesterday (4 March) cleared €2.3 billion from the EU's five-billion euro economic stimulus package to help finance 43 pipeline and electricity projects.

Slovakia adopted a law on 4 March to crack down on income from crime and corruption, with the government and opposition parties in rare agreement ahead of a June election.

The birth of the European External Action Service, one of the most anticipated innovations of the Lisbon Treaty, will be a difficult one, admitted a top European Commission official yesterday (4 March).

The European Commission is considering auctioning emissions permits over centralised platforms from 2011 and might cancel auctions if carbon prices are "abnormally low," according to two leaked documents.

If the medals won by all 27 EU member states at the Vancouver Winter Olympics were to be added up, the EU would be the big winner of the Games, stress the Young European Federalists (JEF-Europe).

The European Commission has come under fire from the EU Ombudsman for failing to produce letters it received from carmaker Porsche AG four years ago when it consulted interested parties on EU legislation to cut CO2 emissions from cars.

Some publicly-funded support schemes for European exporters only help companies expand into markets they would have moved into anyway, according to an unpublished report seen by EurActiv.

The Dutch extreme-right Freedom Party, led by controversial anti-Islamist Geert Wilders, looks set to make large electoral gains at the upcoming general election with an outside chance of becoming the Netherlands' largest party, according to the latest polls.