Employment issues are currently dealt with by four EU agencies that ensure the free movement of workers across the Union.

BBC: European employment statement

According to the paper, which was first obtained by the Daily Telegraph, these issues included transferring further supervisory powers from national to EU agencies, any actions that affect tax revenues or substantial levies on the financial sector.

WSJ: Fiction of the EU Summit's Accepted 'Facts'

The report is published as part of a lobbying campaign by aid agencies as EU leaders begin negotiating the next seven year European budget.

BBC: Eurozone crisis causes aid cuts to poor, report says

But now the Home Secretary, Jack Straw, agrees with EU ministers that law agencies must have access to encryption keys that are used to scramble information.

BBC: Security and law enforcement: the government view

The EU and Gulf aid agencies and corporations are providing a degree of assistance, but they have been constrained by Syria's poor political relations with key Arab states and Western powers.

ECONOMIST: Why President Bashar Assad is feeling cock-a-hoop

The EU proposed to allow government agencies in the bloc to discriminate against firms based in countries where European companies are restricted from winning government contracts.

WSJ: What's News

The package also included a common definition of terrorist crimes accepted by all 15 EU nations, agreement to deny safe haven to terrorists, their supporters or financial backers and increased co-operation and information exchange among law enforcement agencies within the EU and other nations.

CNN: EU names terror groups

The EU is more worried about ratings agencies and is also tougher on bankers' bonuses.

ECONOMIST: Lots of rules, but not all good ones

These include closer co-operation between national intelligence agencies, the creation of an EU counter-terrorism chief, and measures that make it easier to trace terrorists who use mobile phones and e-mail.

ECONOMIST: An explosive relationship | The

But in January, the Home Secretary, Jack Straw, agreed with other EU justice ministers to consider a key-escrow policy, which would allow law enforcement agencies access to the computer codes used to scramble information.

BBC: UK Government dithers on encryption regulation

Then there is a debate on a European Union Committee report on Sovereign Credit Ratings - peers will ponder the findings of their the their Economic and Financial Affairs and International Trade EU Sub-Committee recently published report on those mysterious but all-powerful bodies, the credit ratings agencies.

BBC: Viewing guide: The pick of the week ahead in Parliament