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NEW DELHI, Jan 20 (Reuters) - The European Union has agreed to lift a seven-month-old import ban on mangoes from India, the world's biggest producer of the tropical fruit, after an audit by the 28-nation bloc showed significant quality improvements.

The EU blocked shipments of Alphonso mangoes, the premium, pulpy variety, from May 2014 until December 2015 after authorities found consignments infested with fruit flies.

But in its September audit, EU's Food and Veterinary Office found "significant improvements" in quality.

India assured the EU it would put in place measures to ensure cargoes are free from pests, the European Commission said in a statement.

Britain, which worked with India to help New Delhi meet the EU's import norms, welcomed the move.

"The EU ban was due to remain until December 2015 but today's vote shows that the hard work of the Indian authorities has paid off," Britain's Environment Minister Lord de Mauley said in a statement.

Although Europe is not a major market for Indian mangoes, any ban typically weighs on prices, hitting farmers' incomes.

The Middle East buys 80 percent of mango exports from India, which accounts for about half of global output.

Other major producers include China, Thailand, Mexico, Pakistan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Brazil, Nigeria and Egypt. (Reporting by Mayank Bhardwaj, editing by David Evans)

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European Union agrees to lift import ban on Indian mangoes

He added: "There has always been a minority of the population who emotionally regard themselves as being British but not European. But this feeling fades with each generation. Each successive generation regards itself as more European than its predecessor. Whereas my generation put on its knapsack and went to Brighton for the weekend, the modern generation puts on its knapsack and goes around the world.

"We also have a political party, UKIP, that is dedicated to taking us out of Europe. But make no mistake: UKIP does not represent the majority of the British population. Present the people with the broader arguments and they will be persuaded that staying within the EU is in our best interest. But we have to have some indication that Britain and Europe can find agreement on difficult issues and thats what the renegotiations are going to be all about."

He insisted that the European Union will be able to reform freedom of movement because Britain has "more [immigration] than we can cope with".

Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, has suggested she would rather see Britain leave the EU than change the principle of freedom of movement within the European Union.

But Sir John said that other founding freedoms of the European Union have not been fully honoured, including the single market and free movement of goods.

He said: "So are we to be told by our European friends that free movement of people is sacrosanct, it is a founding element of the European Union and it cannot even be constrained at a time of emergency, and yet all of the other things we signed up to in 1973 and enshrined in legislation in 1987 cannot be finished."

He said: "Geographically, we are a small nation. And we welcome people who comes and bring skills to our country we think it is flattering to our country that they come.

"But they are coming in such large numbers that we cannot cope with their housing, their welfare, their social security.

"Very few of the eastern Europeans who come to us are benefit tourists. They come to the UK to work."

He said that if Europe was commit to its founding principles it would "cut the British argument about Freedom of Movement at the knees".

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Sir John Major: Britain is becoming more European and will not heed Ukip

LONDON: After a gap of almost 20 months, India and European Union are likely to resume talks for the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) to boost commerce and investment.

"We are keen and hopeful that at the next meeting (of India-EU FTA) there will be a positive result," Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said here at the 10th UK India Joint Economic Trade committee (JETCO) meeting here yesterday.

However, she did not elaborate on the date for the next meeting.

Last time in May 2013, both sides failed to bridge substantial gaps on crucial issues, including data security status for IT sector.

Launched in June 2007, the negotiations for the proposed Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) between India and the 27-nation European bloc has witnessed many hurdles with both sides having major differences on crucial issues.

The two sides are yet to iron out issues related to tariffs and movement of professionals but the EU has shown an inclination to restart talks.

Further, Sitharaman said there will not be retrospective taxation.

"The government is committed....We want to provide simplified tax rule," she said, adding India is the place to do business as the country has been witnessing GDP growth of over 5 per cent.

Referring to the World Bank report on Ease of Doing Business, the Indian Minister said, "the assessment was based on period before May 2014. We have taken enough steps, made cutting edge decisions...the Modi government has removed the number of hurdles. More than 40 rules have been amended during the last eight months."

India has been ranked at 142nd in this regard by the report.

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India, European Union may resume FTA talks

European Union foreign ministers on Monday discussed setting up a new network of European security agents abroad, as they sought a united response to the threat from militant Islamists following the attacks in Paris on 7 January.

The meeting aimed to lay the groundwork for an EU leaders summit on 12-13 February in Brussels, which will cement the bloc's strategy to deal with young European Muslims heading to Middle East war zones or returning radicalised from the region.

New methods of intelligence sharing should be found within the 28-member bloc, ministers agreed.

One idea is to place European security officials in EU overseas missions to collect and share information on the terrorism threat.

"It is a matter of having people on the ground that can liaise at the same level with security agents in the countries where we have delegations," EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini told a news conference.

She said that the EU would also institute security attachs within its foreign delegations to help the exchange of information between member states. She denied that the move signaled the creation of an embryonic EU espionage agency.

>> Read: European spies want more powers, but face uphill battle

Priorities also include a crackdown on arms trafficking, support for police in the Middle East and North Africa, stopping EU citizens leaving to fight abroad, and curbing radical Islam on the Internet to prevent them bringing violence back home.

>> Read: Ministers look to strip online jihads glamour

In the next few days, interior ministers will consider a plan to withdraw the travel documents of EU citizens looking to go to Syria or Iraq, or of those seen as a threat in Europe.

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EU considers 'security agents' to counter terrorism

European governments pledged to exchange more intelligence with Arab states as they responded to the terrorism threat from Islamist extremists following this months attacks in France.

European Union foreign ministers agreed to embed security officials in EU delegations across the Arab world and work on counterterrorism projects with countries including Turkey, Egypt, Yemen, Algeria and the Gulf states.

The goal is to share information and intelligence information not only within the European Union but also with other countries around us, EU foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini told reporters after the ministers met in Brussels Monday. She said the security officials wouldnt be an embryonic spy service.

European governments sought to coordinate measures to stamp out radicalism at home and abroad in the wake of the rampage by Islamist extremists in France that left 17 dead, including cartoonists at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, shoppers at a kosher grocery store, and police.

Another meeting, in London on Jan. 22 and involving more than 20 countries including the U.S. and Arab states, will focus on defeating Islamic State, the radical group that dominates large areas of Syria and Iraq. EU interior ministers meet a week later in Riga, Latvia, to consider how to track suspects throughout the EU and clamp down on the use of social media as a recruiting tool.

What these terrorists represent is the perversion of a major religion, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said in an interview with CBS TV during a visit to Washington last week. Theyre not its true adherents, they are fanatics whove attached themselves to a death cult.

European terrorists have been inspired by Islamic State and there is increasing concern about the influence returning fighters are having on domestic extremists. Belgian prosecutors said some members of a terror cell broken up last week in the eastern town of Verviers had returned from fighting in Syria. Two people were killed by officers in that raid.

Belgium has the highest number of jihadis per capita among western European countries, data from the London-based International Center for the Study of Radicalization show. The government estimates that, as of October, 350 Belgian nationals had traveled to Syria and Iraq since violence escalated there almost four years ago and more than 70 of them have returned.

A group of about 30 British women based in northern Syria has been using social-media accounts to recruit extremists to carry out attacks in Britain, the Observer newspaper reported, citing research by the ICRS.

Belgium is deploying as many as 300 soldiers to protect potential targets such as Jewish neighborhoods, EU institutions and embassies. The European Commission, the EU executive in Brussels, raised its alert level one step to yellow -- the third-highest level -- while the government of Belgium has its alert at the second-highest level for police installations across the country.

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European Countries Prepare Response to Islamist Terror