As mentioned above, the specificity of water and sanitation services and their importance to satisfy the basic needs of the population has been consistently recognised in EU internal market legislation.

The specificity of water and sanitation services and their importance in satisfying the basic needs of the population have been consistently acknowledged in EU legislation.

Notwithstanding the requirements set out in the Restructuring Communication, point 14 of the Communication from the Commission on the application, from 1 January 2012, of State aid rules to support measures in favour of banks in the context of the financial crisis (‘the 2011 Prolongation Communication’) (15) specifies that the Commission will ‘undertake a proportionate assessment of the long term viability of banks, taking full account of elements indicating that banks can be viable in the long term without the need for significant restructuring, in particular where the capital shortage is essentially linked to a confidence crisis on ...[+++]sovereign debt, the public capital injection is limited to the amount necessary to offset losses stemming from marking [European] sovereign bonds to market in banks which are otherwise viable, and the analysis shows that the banks in question did not take excessive risk in acquiring sovereign debt’.

It is proposed to focus on three priorities reflecting interlinking key needs of the Pacific and European comparative advantages: Governance, regionalism and sustainable management of natural resources.

Unforeseen policy needs: to respond in a flexible way to new policy needs that arise during the course of the Framework Programme, such as unforeseen developments or events requiring a quick reaction, for example, the new epidemics, emerging concerns in food safety or natural disaster response.

On 16 October 2001 the European Commission approved a proposal for an action programme to provide much-needed improvements in administrative cooperation between the Member States. [15] The need for such action was also pointed out in both Commission Communications on asylum and immigration.