The European Union gave the
thumbs up today to forming a new .eu Internet address, aimed at giving a pan-European brand to e-mails and web sites.
The creation of the .eu Top Level Domain - the last tag of an Internet address - will help relieve pressure for more Web address space as the Internet continues to grow.
The new .eu domain will be added to national identifiers such as .ie for Ireland, .uk for Britain, .fr for France and .de for Germany in Internet website addresses and can be used by companies which operate throughout Europe.
"The introduction of a new .eu Internet domain will create a truly European indentity in cyberspace for EU Internet users," European Commissioner Erkki Liikanen, Europe's top official for Internet matters, said in a statement.
EU telecommunications ministers meeting in Brussels gave the final blessing to the new domain, which had already been endorsed by the European Parliament.