European Union News - 23 March 2011

The European Parliament has backed on 23 March a limited Treaty change to allow the establishment of the European Stability Mechanism in the euro area. MEPs welcomed the positive signals given by the Member States on bringing the intergovernmental mechanism closer to the EU framework.

Representatives of the European Union and Central America (Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama) initialled a comprehensive Association Agreement.

Although many Europeans are not aware of it, the right to ask assistance from any EU consulate or embassy when their Member State is not represented in one country, is part of their rights as EU citizens. Those citizens facing crisis or disaster situations such as those lived in Japan, Libya or Egypt can ask for consulate or embassy assistance, and can also do so in more usual situations such as passport theft or serious accidents.

The European Commission has adopted a a proposal extending the rules governing public access to documents issued by EU institutions, bodies, offices and agencies. This proposal aims to extend the scope of current rules about access to information in order to put them into line with the Lisbon Treaty and create a single legal framework for the right of access to documents of all the institutions.

The EU Clinical Trials Register was launched by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on 22 March. This online register will give for the first time public access to information on interventional clinical trials for medicines authorised in the 27 EU Member States and Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. The database also allows the public to search for information on clinical trials authorised to be carried outside the EU if these trials are part of a paediatric investigation plan.

The European Parliament Internal Market Committee agreed on 22 March that country of origin labels should be made mandatory for textiles imported from third countries and sold in the EU. This amendment to the new draft on textile labelling, which would provide for consumers not to be misled, would be compulsory for products from third countries and voluntary for EU products.