NEWS,27.04.2012.

EU rebukes UK over freedom of movement laws

 

 

The European Commission gave Britain an ultimatum on Thursday to respect the freedom of movement of EU citizens, threatening court action should it fail to abide by EU laws within two months."As one of the EU's larger member states, the UK is home to around two million citizens from other EU countries. It is therefore important that UK laws respect their rights," the European Union's executive arm said in a statement.Under the rules, foreign family members of an EU citizen can travel to any country in the 27-nation bloc without an entry visa when they are accompanied by the citizen and hold a residence card issued by an EU state."The UK laws do not grant this important right which lies at the heart of free movement," the commission said.Another issue raised by the commission was the treatment of Bulgarian and Romanian workers.Britain is not issuing workers from Romania and Bulgaria the same residence documents given to those from the 25 other EU states during the first 12 months of living there, the EU executive said.London has yet to apply EU rules in two other areas, including on health insurance for EU citizens and residency applications for extended family members of EU nationals.EU states can face big fines if they lose cases before the European Court of Justice.

 

 

UN chief troubled by Syria's failing ceasefire

 UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the Syrian government has not complied with its commitment to a UN-backed peace plan because it has not withdrawn heavy weapons and troops from Syrian cities and towns."The Secretary-General remains deeply troubled by the continued presence of heavy weapons, military equipment and army personnel in population centers, as reported by United Nations Military Observers," Ban's press office said in a statement.It said Ban considered this a "contravention of the Syrian Government's commitments to withdraw its troops and heavy weapons from these areas" and demanded that Damascus comply with its pledge without delay.The Syrian government and rebels traded blame for a huge explosion which killed 16 people in the city of Hama, as the two-week-old UNceasefire looks increasingly fragile.Syria blamed "terrorist" bomb-makers for Wednesday's blast.Information Minister Adnan Mahmoud also accused rebel militiamen of repeated violations of the ceasefire and said Damascus was "reserving the right to respond to any violation or attack", state news agency SANA reported.The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the cause of the explosion was unclear, but also gave a death toll of 16.The Local Coordination Committees, a grassroots opposition group, said more than 50 people had been killed by what it said was a military rocket.The blast in Hama, a centre of unrest against President Bashar-al-Assad, has added to doubts about a ceasefire brokered by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, who has said Assad failed to order his troops and tanks back to barracks as promised.But outside powers are deeply divided on how to shore up the ceasefire, which has led to only a small reduction in violence in the 13-month uprising, during which the United Nations estimates Syrian forces have killed 9000 people.