Albania and Bosnia: the EU Council’s visa-free proposalDuring the last plenary session the European Parliament backed the European Commission’s proposal “to exempt nationals of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Albania from visas by the end of 2010”, believing that these two countries “meet the required conditions on document security and combating illegal immigration and crime”. A year ago the EU decided to waive visa requirements for citizens of Serbia, Montenegro and the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, a decision which took effect on 19 December 2009. Last May, however, the Commission decided that the two countries had made good progress and recommended that Parliament and the Council give the go-ahead to abolish the visa requirements by the end of the year, for visits of less than three months. Only holders of biometric passports will be exempt from the visa rules. Slovenian MEP Tanja Fajon, whose report was adopted with large majority vote, during the Assembly debate said that the decision “will strengthen trust among people and speed up reforms” in Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina, which “have fulfilled all the conditions and are ready for the abolition of visas”. “It is time to send a positive message to those countries”, said the rapporteur. The proposal to waive visa requirements still needs to be approved by the Council of Ministers by a qualified majority in November. The rapporteur regrets, however, that Kosovo remains “the only part of the Western Balkans still totally outside the process of visa liberalisation” because of “the split between Member States over recognition of its independence”.Commission: biodiversity, “a missed target”The EU has missed the target of halting the loss of biodiversity, according to a report released by the Commission. The assessment of progress of the Commission’s Biodiversity Action Plan “confirms that the EU has missed its target of halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010”, the plan was launched five year ago, and will have to be postponed by a decade. “Europe’s biodiversity remains under severe threat from the excessive demands we are making on our environment, such as changes in land use, pollution, invasive species and climate change”. Nevertheless, the assessment reveals that significant progress has been made over the last two years”. Environment Commissioner Janez Potoènik said the “important lessons learned from implementing” the EU action plan “will underpin the EU’s post-2010 strategy. The report will be discussed at the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya, Japan, from 18-29 October. The Commission highlights the urgent need for implementing environmental protection measures that would positively impact human life, specific geographic areas as well as the economy. Potocnik pointed out that the situation of biodiversity (especially as relates to animal species and plant groups threatened with extinction at global level) is a “threat around the world”, even greater than in the EU”.Eurostat: many young adults live with their parents In the EU27 in 2008, 20% of women and 32% of men aged 25 to 34 live with their parents, according to a Eurostat survey released last week based on 2008 findings. Among these young women and men still living at home, 13% were in education. For the age group 18 to 24, as would be expected, the share living with their parents was much higher at 71% for women and 82% for men; the proportion of those in education was 55%. For the age group 18 to 24 over a third (48% of women and 36% of men) are married or live in a consensual union. According to the EU Commission statistics bureau “the highest shares of young adults aged 18 to 24 living with their parents were recorded for both women and men in Slovenia, Malta and Slovakia, (with shares higher than 90%). The lowest shares were recorded in Denmark, Finland and Sweden (27% to 47%). Similar figures were recorded for men and women aged 25 to 34. In Nordic countries the youth tend to decide to live on their own at an earlier stage, or decide to establish a consensual union (marriage or consensual unions with legal basis).
