Events from the year 2006 in the European Union.
Incumbents President of the European Council Wolfgang Schüssel (Jan – Jun 2006) Matti Vanhanen (July – Dec 2006) Commission President José Manuel Barroso Council Presidency: Austria (January – June) Finland (July - December) Parliament President Josep Borrell High Representative Javier Solana
Events 1 January: Austria takes the Presidency. 20 January: Aho report on innovation published.European Commission, 2006 – Aho Group Report "Creating an Innovative Europe", accessed on 23 November 2025 2 February: The Commission launches a white paper on communication policy. European Commission Vice-President Franco Frattini backs the freedom of speech of Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten during the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy. 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 28 July: Polish President Lech Kaczyński calls for EU member states to reintroduce the death penalty. This angers the EU. 12 October: The Slovakian Smer-SD was temporarily suspended from membership in The Party of European Socialists (PES) for their plans to enter into coalition with the ultranationalist Slovak National Party (SNS).SMER suspended from PES political family , Party of European Socialists, 12 October 2006 This would happen again in 2023. 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
External links Video: What has Europe done for you in 2006?