21. Notes with approval the progress made during the March 2009 technical negotiations in Swakopmund, Namibia, and welcomes the Commission's acceptance that contentious issues should be addressed prior to the signing of the Interim EPA; calls for outstanding questions, such as the MFN clause, the legal definition of the parties and residual agricultural market access issues, to be resolved in a way which enables all members of the SADC EPA group to sign the Interim EPA;

21. Notes with approval the progress made during the March 2009 technical negotiations in Swakopmund, Namibia, and welcomes the Commission's acceptance that contentious issues should be addressed prior to the signing of the Interim EPA; calls for outstanding questions, such as the MFN clause, the legal definition of the parties and residual agricultural market access issues, to be resolved in a way which enables all members of the SADC EPA group to sign the Interim EPA;

Calls on those Member States which have not already done so to print Article 20 of the EC Treaty inside their national passports alongside national information, as called for by the Barnier report and the Council Conclusions of 15 June 2006; calls on the Commission to provide passport-issuing offices in each of the Member States with a brochure setting out these rights and a general outline of the measures which support Article 20 of the EC Treaty; requests that the brochure be distributed to individuals who collect their new passports; calls on the Commission to set up a web page on the ‘Europa’ site to publish practical information on consular protection and facilitate acce ...[+++]ss to Member States’ travel advice notices, as called for by the Commission's 2007 Action Plan;

14. Considers that the EU obsession with launching a comprehensive new round of multilateral trade negotiations at the fourth WTO ministerial conference in Doha, Qatar in November 2001, when there is so much unsatisfactory and unfinished business remaining from the last Uruguay Round, is misguided; in view of the well-founded doubts and criticisms expressed by a large number of developing countries towards the EU position, and the evident lack of enthusiasm for such an initiative on the part of the new US administration, calls on the ...[+++] Member States to instruct the Commission not to persist with its demand for the launch of a comprehensive new trade round;

13. Considers that the EU's obsession with launching a comprehensive new round of multilateral trade negotiations at the 4th WTO Ministerial in Doha, Qatar, in November 2001, when there is so much unsatisfactory and unfinished business remaining from the last Uruguay Round, is misguided; calls on the EU Member States, in view of the well-founded doubts and criticisms expressed by a large number of developing countries towards the EU position, and of the evident lack of enthusiasm for such an initiative on the part of the new US admin ...[+++]istration, to instruct the Commission not to persist with its demand for the launch of a comprehensive new trade round;

The Commission has asked the Member States to improve the dissemination of national instructions or information from the Commission to local services, to monitor closely cases pending and to make available the corresponding entitlements as soon as possible, with interest for late payment where appropriate.