Ten air carriers from the two countries failed to report their 2011 emissions to the EU by the end of March and could face punitive actions if they do not file their reports by mid-June, said Climate Action Commissioner Connie Hedegaard.

The eight Chinese and two Indian carriers that fly to and from EU airports could face sanctions from members states if they do not meet the new deadline, Hedegaard said, though she did not specify what actions could be taken nor which airlines were in violation of the rules.

"We should be moving towards outcome targets," Davey said on Monday (14 May). "Carbon emissions should be the key target."

He was asked whether Britain would support another target for renewable energy when the EU goal to increase the share of green energy in the mix to 20% expires at the end of the decade.

"While we think the renewables target for 2020 is a very good target and we believe we are on track to meet it, in terms of another renewables target, we have to think about what we are trying to achieve here," he replied.

Some users say they pirate all or most of the time. 22% say they do it "occasionally" and 26% say they do it, but only "rarely". The study also found that admitted software pirates in the EU predominantly are males aged between 25 and 44.

Meeting over lunch to discuss Ukraine, the Union’s foreign ministers failed to adopt common positions, but agreed that more should be done to work with civil society in Ukraine to defuse a loss of confidence in the country’s European perspective.

The Commission's Spring economic forecast, unveiled on 11 May (see background), brought substantial change to the previous estimate published in November 2011. 

The fastest GDP growth in the European Union had been expected in Lithuania (3.4%), followed by Estonia (3.2%), Latvia and Poland (2.5% each).

Unless the world addresses the problem, by 2030 even two planet Earths would not be enough to sustain human activity, WWF said, launching its "Living Planet Report 2012", a biennial audit of the world's environment and biodiversity - the number of plant and animal species.

Yet governments are not on track to reach an agreement at next month's sustainable development summit in Rio de Janeiro, said Jim Leape, WWF International's director general said.

"I don't envisage, not even for one second, Greece leaving the euro area. This is nonsense; this is propaganda," said Jean-Claude Juncker, the Luxembourg Prime Minister who chairs the Eurozone meetings of finance ministers.

"The exit of Greece out of the euro was not the subject of our debate today. Absolutely no one, absolutely no one, argued in that sense," he said after six hours of talks among the 17 ministers from the eurozone countries.