The agreement, which is subject to approval by the European Parliament’s (EP) Plenary and the Council, is the result of lengthy negotiations within the Council itself and its informal trialogues with the EP’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) and the European Commission. The two regulations will improve the safety and environmental requirements of these vehicles. The Coreper also approved two amended proposals concerning seeds and forest reproductive material, thus paving the way for a timely agreement and enforcement of the relevant decisions. “Today I am happy to say that thanks to the intensive work that has gone into this file in the last two and half years, I can report that the texts are now ripe for a final agreement,” said the Deputy Permanent Representative of the Republic of Cyprus to the EU, Ambassador George Zodiates in the Coreper meeting this morning. The European Commission thanked the Cyprus Presidency for its commitment and good cooperation, while it noted a considerable improvement achieved and welcomed the first reading agreement. The two proposals were submitted, to the Council and the Parliament, in July and October 2010 respectively and had been under discussion since.  The examination resulted into a text with extensive amendments. Negotiations with the European Parliament’s IMCO started in June 2012 and their results were approved today by the Coreper I. The text is now to be voted by the EP in its Plenary Session in November and is expected to be subsequently signed by the Council in January 2013. The agreement is the result of a concerted effort by the Cyprus Presidency, the Council Secretariat, and the Danish, Polish, Belgian and Hungarian Presidencies. The Coreper I also approved today the European Commission’s two amended proposals on decisions concerning seeds and forest reproductive material. The Council is now ready to conclude a first reading agreement, after an adoption by the EP’s Plenary. The Cyprus Presidency managed to facilitate an agreement through intensive consultations with the EP and the Commission. The two proposals had been submitted to the Council and the EP on July 2, 2012. The two decisions need to enter into force on January 1, 2013, so that the import of seeds and forest reproductive material from Third Countries is not jeopardised. The adoption by the EP’s Plenary is expected by the end of October and the Council will adopt the final text in one of its meetings in November, ensuring therefore the publication of the decisions by the end of the year.