I am here as a researcher who has been conducting empirical research for many years, as an observer of the media for 30 years and as a former journalist with 20 years of experience, 14 of them at the Journal de Québec with Quebecor Media.

In 1996 the criterion for eligibility was changed from so many weeks of employment in the last year to so many hours of employment in the last year.

2006 was a remarkable year, with growth driven by domestic demand thanks to an improved labour market situation (3 million jobs created of which 2 million in the euro area). This allowed the EU economy to weather energy prices that reached record levels in the summer, tighter monetary conditions and a slowdown in the United States. Such developments bode well for 2007. On the inflation front, while higher energy costs pushed up consumer prices to 2.2% last year in both the EU and the euro area, inflation is expected to decline to 1.8% in 2007 in the euro area (2.0% in the EU) on the back of lower oil prices and a relatively limited impac ...[+++]t of the German VAT hike.

First, the lower expenditure, which will result from an enlargement in 2004 rather than in 2002 (as incorporated in the financial planning), benefits the current EU and the new Member States equally (in the form of higher payments for their first three years of membership to those planned in the initial financial framework).

The programmes shall be updated annually, as necessary.

For any further information, please contact: - The national liaison committees (See Annex II) - The Commission of the European Communities (Jean Monnet Building, L-2920 Luxembourg) - Mr Y. Morettini, Head of Unit V/E/5 - Tel. int. ++352-4301 ext.2737 ANNEX I PROGRAMME 1) Community-level programme: - European Year inaugural and closing events at European and national levels - symposia and seminars bringing together representatives of workers, employers and safety and health professionals - a competition for the best films on the health and safety theme - audio-visual programmes on Community action in the worker protection sphere - publici ...[+++]ty campaign - information packs on the Community's policy on safety and health at work; promotional material - European Year logo.