Brussels, 14/07/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 12 July, the Council of the EU adopted a decision approving Community participation in a research project in the Baltic Sea (BONUS-169). The EU will be co-funding the programme, which was launched by 8 member states of the EU which neighbour the Baltic Sea (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden), to the tune of €50 million for the strategic and implementation phase. BONUS will bring together the research activities of the Baltic region to fight the negative impact of pollution, climate change, acidification, over-fishing and the loss of biodiversity in the Baltic Sea. In June, the European Parliament returned its first-reading opinion on this programme (EUROPE 10161). (B.C./transl.fl)