European Union-Settlement with United States seems on the cards.

The dispute between the European Union and the USA has been going on for th last 13 years, despite efforts to compronise neither side has been prepared to concede ground.

Using chlorine in water to clean poultry is common sense, after all we use it in our drinking water. The use of hormones in cattle for growth by the Americans, is the empotomy of double standards, when they send their own Olympic athletes to prison for the self same thing.

In a bid to break a decades-long dispute with the US, the European Commission is reported to be offering to double the quota of beef allowed into the community from the US under a preferential tariff.

The payoff being sought is an end to around £82m worth of US sanctions against EU products.

The deal, however, would not apparently affect the EU’s ban on beef from the US treated with growth hormones.

European trade commissioner Catherine Ashton was scheduled to discuss the proposal with counterparts in Washington this week, according to Reuters.

Late last week, Washington decided to delay by 30 days the imposition of additional duties on EU products as negotiations continud.

The EU bought a total of 20,660 metric tons of U.S. beef in 2008 valued at £71 million.

Currently, the EU imposes a reduced tariff of 20% on the value of the first 11,500 metric tons of beef that the United States and Canada ship into Europe.