” “The EU Parliament in loose rank at today’s voting on the Seventh Framework Program for research, for which many amendments have been submitted. The allocation of 52 million euros to develop science and research for the next seven years has been regarded as a minimum. After all, the debate at Parliament showed that there’s the need to promote research into applied technology, especially in productive areas, consumer protection and environmental protection. But there is still deep disagreement within the EU Assembly about the EU funding of tests on embryo stem cells; in Strasbourg these days, the ethical grounds that are against such a prospect have had a hard time standing out. Such disagreement cuts across the political groups of the EU Parliament. During the session due to end today, the Assembly also addressed the problem of the accession of Romania and Bulgaria, asking the Council of the Heads of state and government, that from this afternoon to tomorrow is going to meet in Brussels, to “assert its commitment” to make sure the two Balkan countries will join the EU, provided they are “ready”. Still in the run-up to the EU summit, the EU Parliament reasserted its “support of the Constitutional Treaty” and asked that “a solution be found before the next European elections of 2009”. The Council will mostly tackle the future of the Constitution, the “ability of the EU to take up” any new EU member state, energy, migration and Slovenia’s entry in the euro-zone.
