Friends of Europe
Trade: An India-EU Free Trade Agreement, under negotiations for the past three years, is expected to be finalised by the end of this year, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said on Thursday. The two sides are keen to remove trade barriers in goods and services and investments across all sectors of the economy and have set an ambitious target of more than doubling their bilateral trade to $US200 billion in the next four years. A fresh series of talks will take place in Brussels during August aimed at concluding the deal.
30/07/2010 Read more
Eurozone: The Economic Sentiment Indicator produced by the European Commission has demonstrated that confidence in the euro area is at its highest point in over two years. This boost in economic outlook comes on the back of rising demand for industry products, a surge in the German labour market and a dollar hampered by doubts about economic recovery in the USA.
30/07/2010 Read more
Friends of Europe, its President, Praesidium and its Board of Trustees, respect the privacy of every individual who visits the Friends of Europe website. Friends of Europe reserves the right to alter this policy at any time and will post future amended documents at this location. 

Definitions 
The Friends of Europe web site is defined as publicly accessible pages hosted under the domain "www.friendsofeurope.org" or any website, within the Friends of Europe IP address range, that is maintained by Friends of Europe employees or departments or units, acting within their respective scopes of employment.

Collection and sharing of supplied personal user information and data
Friends of Europe uses its website for business purposes and is committed to fostering and protecting the privacy of personal information. The Friends of Europe website will not collect personally identifiable information (personal data) about visitors, such as name, address, telephone number, or email address unless the information was provided voluntarily. Visitors should not voluntarily provide personal data if they do not want it to be collected. When collected, personal data may be used in the following ways: 
1.  To fulfill a request, registration or subscription;
2.  To assist with better understanding the needs of visitors, thereby allowing Friends of Europe to improve services;
3.  To reply to, or contact users.

Friends of Europe will not sell, rent, or market personal data to third parties.
In some cases, information that is not personally identifiable may be automatically collected and/or logged. For example, information about the visitor's browser, operating system, IP address, and the domain name of sites that are linked to the Friends of Europe site allows Friends of Europe to accommodate the needs of the majority of visitors. It also assists with troubleshooting and diagnoses if there are problems with servers, and the information helps produce important statistics on how often pages are visited. Finally, this information can be used in the detection of security breaches and the safeguarding of Friends of Europe computing resources.

Use of the website is subject to all applicable Belgian and European laws, as well as all relevant Friends of Europe policies. It is Friends of Europe’s usual practice not to share any personal information with those outside of the organisation. However, when circumstances arise for the need to share information gathered from its computing resources within the Friends of Europe IP Address space, the organisation may share as:
1.  Authorised and/or mandated by law,
2.  Permitted under Friends of Europe’s policies,
3.  Authorised by a signed and approved Friends of Europe contract,
4.  Clearly stated on site that such information will be shared and the user clearly informed and has granted his/her consent by providing the information, or;
5.  When consent is otherwise given.

Information placed automatically on visitors' computers (Cookies)
When visitors view the Friends of Europe web site, some information may be stored on their computer. This information will be in the form of a "cookie" or similar file. Cookies help web authors tailor web sites to better match user interests and preferences. With most Internet browsers, users can alter user preferences to erase cookies from their hard drive, block cookies, or have it prompt the user to either accept or refuse to store the cookie. Most browser help files have detailed instructions on how to set user preferences for cookies.
 

Robert Cox: Why, many ask, is Turkey asserting itself? Is it bloody mindedness towards Europe? A “neo-Ottoman” vocation?
29/06/2010 Read more