European Union News - 15 March 2012

The European Parliament says it wants Iceland to join the EU in a resolution adopted in plenary session. Also, it has approved two more resolutions, one for each country, that call for a date for the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to start accession talks, and show MEPs concerns at the limited progress of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a potential candidate.

On the occasion of the 6th World Water Forum, the Joint Research Centre published a report which shows variations in yearly freshwater generation from 10 mm to over 500 mm for Europe and from less than 0.1 mm to over 500 mm for Africa. In addition to these results, the European Environment Agency highlighted in a report that Europe needs to redouble efforts in using water more efficiently to avoid undermining its economy, as well as a resolution adopted by the European Parliament.

The European Parliament approved a resolution in plenary session which calls on a dedicated strategy to tackle the growing diabetes problem. According to MEPs, the strategy is essential to improve research cooperation and focus on prevention and early diagnosis. In addition, the resolution highlights that many EU countries do not have a national diabetes programme. In most Member States, diabetes accounts for over 10% of healthcare expenditure.

Compared with the previous quarter, Eurostat estimations foresee that the number of persons employed decreased by 0.2% in the euro area and by 0.1% in the EU27 in the fourth quarter of 2011. In the third quarter of 2011, employment decreased by 0.2% in both zones. In addition, hourly labour costs in the euro area rose by 2.8% in the year up to the fourth quarter of 2011, compared with 2.6% for the previous quarter.

MEPs approved the deal with USA and Canada that puts an end to the 20-year hormone beef trade war. With the new deal, the EU to keep its ban on imports of hormone-treated beef, in return for increasing its quota for imports of high-quality beef from the US and Canada. The increase in EU import quotas will take effect from August 2012.

The European Parliament adopted the report on budgetary guidelines that highlights that EU Member States must not capped "artificially" the budget payments for 2013. In addition, the report underlines that next year's EU budget should focus on youth employment and small and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs).