European Union News - 13 November 2009

Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina must catch up on the reforms needed to qualify for a short-stay visa waiver like those of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, said MEPs on Thursday. The European Commission should report on the two countries' progress early in 2010, and also start a dialogue on visas with Kosovo, they added.

The European Union has presented to the World Trade Organization the trade facilitation projects it has financed between 2006 and 2008. The review shows that the EU has spent EUR 1.01 billion on 95 projects related to capacity building and technical assistance. The projects have helped simplify import and export procedures, boosting the ability of developing countries to benefit from trade and open global markets. The projects are part of an overall commitment to Aid for Trade by the European Union worth more than EUR 7 billion every year.

Parliament has given its annual verdict on the work done by the European Ombudsman over the previous year. In a report adopted on Thursday, MEPs call for more visibility for the Ombudsman's activities and point to the high number of complaints about a lack of transparency within the EU institutions.

Plans to coordinate research across Europe on neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s received strong backing from the European Parliament in a resolution adopted on Thursday. The aim is to pool skills, knowledge and funding and thus maximise the benefits of work being done in the 27 EU countries.

The EU is on track to deliver on its Kyoto Protocol commitments for reducing or limiting emissions of greenhouse gases, the Commission's annual progress report on emissions shows. The latest projections indicate that the EU-15 will meet its 8% reduction target under Kyoto; 10 of the 12 remaining Member States of the EU have also individual commitments under the protocol. It is projected that they will reduce their emissions to 6 or 8% below base year levels.