To reduce the CO2 emissions of new light commercial vehicles sold in the EU to 147g/km by 2020, from 203g today, innovation should be encouraged by giving "super-credit" weightings to each maker's cleaner vehicles. Longer-term CO2 reduction targets should also be set, and environmental performance testing methods should be made more realistic, said the Environment Committee on Tuesday. The top speed of vans should be electronically limited to 120km/h, it added.

To reduce the CO2 emissions of new cars sold in the EU to 95g/km by 2020, from 130g today, clean-car innovation should be encouraged by giving "super-credit" weightings to each maker's cleaner cars and setting more ambitious longer-term reduction targets, said the Environment Committee on Wednesday. Environmental performance testing methods should also be made more realistic, as a matter of urgency, it added.

Plans to clean up the scrapping of old ships and ensure the materials are recycled in EU-approved facilities worldwide were backed by Parliament on Thursday. The plenary did not endorse an Environment Committee proposal for a recycling fund financed by a levy, but it did call on the European Commission to propose plans for an incentive-based system before the end of 2015.

Het EP stemde dinsdag tegen een voorstel om de handel in CO2-emissierechten te bevriezen. Het voorstel was bedoeld om een eind maken aan de huidige extreem lage prijs van deze 'vervuilingsvergunningen'. Een meerderheid van het EP was echter bang dat inmenging in het aanbod van emissierechten het vertrouwen in het veilingsysteem zou schaden. EP-leden stemden in een aparte stemming wel in met een overeenkomst met de Raad om intercontinentale vluchten tijdelijk buiten het systeem te laten.

Plans to clean up the scrapping of old ships and ensure the materials are recycled in EU-approved facilities worldwide were revised by the Environment Committee on Tuesday. MEPs propose that the scheme be funded by a recycling levy, in line with the "polluter pays" principle. Owners of EU ships would also face penalties if they sold them for scrapping on a beach in developing countries.

The EU should act to reduce exposure to suspected hormone-affecting "endocrine disruptors", which have been linked to recent increase in cases of impaired sperm quality, early onset of puberty, certain cancers and other disorders. Current rules should be closely examined with a view to updating or proposing new legislation by June 2015 at the latest, says a resolution approved on Thursday.

Traditional methods of production of the "green fairy" spirit drink are not respected by an EU definition drafted by the European Commission, MEPs say, as Parliament vetoed the text on Wednesday. It would have required minimum levels of two substances, anethole and thujone, which are not always met by some producers in Europe, for using the name "Absinthe".

Consumenten in de EU krijgen gemakkelijker toegang tot een snelle, goedkope en onpartijdige bemiddeling bij conflicten met handelaren over geleverde goederen of diensten. Dit is te danken aan twee nieuwe wetten waarover dinsdag is gestemd in het Europees Parlement. Het EP wil consumenten helpen om lange en dure rechtszaken te vermijden, vooral over online of grensoverschrijdende aankopen.

The "horse burger" consumer confidence crisis highlights the EU member states' failure to enforce EU laws on food chain checks and also a lack of dissuasive sanctions against food fraud, said MEPs in a Public Health Committee debate with Health and Consumer Policy Commissioner Tonio Borg on Thursday.

A proposal temporarily to suspend the EU CO2 Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) for intercontinental flights, so as to enable International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to agree worldwide measures, was backed by the Environment Committee on Tuesday. MEPs stressed that this exception to the ETS is conditional upon progress at the ICAO and earmarked ETS revenues for efforts to tackle climate change. The ETS will continue to apply to flights between EU airports.