The conference, organised at the initiative of Michał Boni, Poland’s minister for administration and digitisation, was held on 13 May and featured Viviane Reding, European Commission vice-president in charge of justice, citizenship and fundamental rights as a special guest.

“The European Union is one of the few places in the world where protecting personal data is a legal obligation,” said Reding, whose visit to Warsaw related to ongoing work on the EU personal data protection package.

Binding bids are due to be submitted on 29 May for DEPA, which posted a net profit of €106 million last year. Gazprom last year made a preliminary bid of €900 million.

Gazprom is already DEPA's main supplier, providing about 60% of its gas last year. It cut its supply prices by about 7% in 2011, but Greek energy players say prices are still high compared with what Gazprom charges in other parts of Europe with more competition.

Romania’s highest court on Monday (20 May) handed down the sentence to Becali, the owner of Steaua Bucharest, Romania’s most popular football club. Becali last year won a seat in the national parliament for the ruling Social-Liberal alliance.

The first round of trade talks between the EU and Japan was held in Brussels last month and was branded a success by the European Commission, although no concrete deal was reached in the numerous sectors which are subject to negotiations, ranging from cars to dairy products.

The next round of talks will be held in Tokyo between 24 and 28 June with a further round envisaged later in the year. Negotiations could last up to three years.

Speaking at the European Business Summit, Kurt Vandenberghe, the head of cabinet for Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik, said it was the job of the Commission to make clear the links between waste management and macroeconomics, calling for a phasing out of environmental subsidies.

The call from Vandenberghe is part of a number from European Commission chiefs who claimed that carrying out existing  environmental legislation will help Europe exit its economic doldrums by cutting down on energy or natural resource use.

The European Union announced earlier this month it would ban the class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids, or "neonics," used for corn and other crops as well as on home lawns and gardens. The ban is in place for two years.

Similar constraints in the United States could cost manufacturers millions of dollars in sales.

As a result, Monsanto is hosting a "Bee Summit." Bayer AG is breaking ground on a "Bee Care Centre." And Sygenta AG is funding grants for research into the accelerating demise of honeybees in the United States.

Denmark's Emmelie de Forest won the event, watched by around 125 million people across Europe, with 281 points while German act Cascada was 21st out of 26 countries, getting just 18 points from Austria, Israel, Spain, Albania and Switzerland.

"There's obviously a political situation to keep in mind - I don't want to say 'this was 18 points for Angela Merkel'," said Germany's ARD TV network coordinator Thomas Schreiber. "But we all have to be aware that it wasn't just Cascada up there on stage [being judged] but all of Germany."