2006 in the European Union

Events from the year 2006 in the European Union.

Incumbents

• Commission President - José Manuel Barroso, People's Party
• Council Presidency - Austria (Jan-Jun) and Finland (July-Dec)
• Parliament President - Josep Borrell, Socialists
• High Representative - Javier Solana, Socialists

Events

• 1 January: Austria takes the Presidency.
• 2 February: The Commission launches a white paper on communication policy.
• 16 February: The Commission's 'Bolkestein Directive' is approved at its first reading by the MEPs admit large protests outside the Parliament.
• 7 April: .eu domain opens to the public.
• 4 May: The Commission adopts a green paper on the European Transparency Initiative.
• 3 June: Montenegro declares independence, leads to separate relations and accession negotiations.
• 21 June: Barroso attends EU-US summit in Vienna.
• 1 July: Finland takes the Presidency.
• 12 July: Kroes gives Microsoft a 280.5 million euro fine for its anti-competitive behaviour.
• 24 July: The Council adopts a common position on the Bolkestein Directive
• 15 November: European Parliament adopts the Bolkestein Directive at its second reading.
• 12 December: Parliament approves the Bulgarian and Romanian Commissioners despite concerns over the weakness of the Multilingualism portfolio.

References

Video: What has Europe done for you in 2006?