This WEEK in the European Union

This week justice ministers will gather in Luxembourg with the extension of the EU's borderless "Schengen" zone set to be a hot topic.

The issue has become politically charged with member states from the east, where the Schengen area does not yet apply, believing the reasons for delay are political rather than technical.

They have pledged to raise the issue at the meeting although the commission, which has said that the data systems are simply not ready for the expansion, has dismissed their views as childish.

The meeting is also expected to touch on the vexed visa issue. The US still requires visas from all the new eastern member states, except Slovenia, with national governments from those countries pushing the commission to take a political stand on the issue.

The commission indicated it would do some tough talking with US president George W. Bush at a bilateral summit earlier this year, but did not produce the results, with new member states feeling hard done by at what they see as a lack of solidarity.

Meanwhile, at the beginning of the week, defence ministers will meet informally in Finland to debate the European Defence Agency, the EU's fledgling battle groups and the bloc's peace-keeping mission in Congo.

Chinese shoes

The EU's trade relations with China will once again feature this week when member states on Wednesday try and overcome fundamental divisions and decide whether to impose anti-dumping measure on Chinese shoes.

Having failed to agree last week, the 6 October deadline for when the current tariff regime runs out is fast approaching. Governments are split between the more liberal Nordic approach and the more protectionist approach preferred by traditional shoe-making counties such as Italy and France.

However, the protectionist states are expected to win out resulting in 16.5 percent duty on Chinese leather shoe imports and a 10 percent duty on Vietnamese imports from Friday as proposed by the European Commission.

Croatian and Kazakhstan foreign ministers

Meanwhile Croatian foreign minister Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic will appear before the foreign affairs committee in the European Parliament.

One issue of interest will be Zagreb's reaction to recent comments by European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso that there will have to be a new EU treaty before the EU can further expand will be of interest. So far, it has played down the comments.

The same committee will hear EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Thursday amid rumours that he will not complete his term of office but retire earlier than 2009.

The committee will also listen to Kassymzhomart Tokaev, Kazakhstan's foreign affairs minister in the light of ongoing EU talks to build a new gas pipeline under the Caspian Sea.

Deputy UN secretary general Mark Malloch-Brown will also be in Brussels corridors with two appearances in the parliament - in the foreign affairs and development committees -as will former French foreign minister Michel Barnier to promote his plans for a European Civil Protection Force in the defence committee.

Two controversial pieces of EU legislation - the REACH chemicals law and the services directive will also feature. MEPs in the environment committee will debate the 350 amendments tabled at second reading ahead of the committee's vote on 10 October, while the internal market committee will also be looking at amendments for the second reading of its report on the services directive.

Their fellow MEPs in the budget committee win out on the amendment front however, having to contend with 1,250 changes to the draft 2007 budget over three days this week.

Elsewhere, Gijs de Vries the anti-terrorism co-ordinator and Ilkka Laitinen, the head of the new but struggling border agency Frontex will discuss security and immigration issues with MEPs and MPs in the justice and home affairs committee on Monday.

Meanwhile, the European courts in Luxembourg will on Wednesday rule in a case involving German journalist Hans-Martin Tillack and the European Commission, with Mr Tillack arguing that the commission used Belgian police to punish him for exposing EU fraud.