A lot of newspaper reports seem to be misleading, inaccurate or sensationalism, but I would also say that the last people I would trust to tell the truth is MP's and MEP's.

As far as forcing EU transport policies on the UK, I would say wait and see what the Government in the UK tries to bring in, then look back at what was said in the newspaper reports.
As a motorcyclist we already have seem the change in the Motorcycle Test and the closesure of many test centres because of the EU "cover all" regulations.
parts of the test has to be done at a certain minimum speed set in kph which equates to 31mph. (swerve test)
This means that special test centres had to be built to ensure this can happen as continuing to carry tests out on the road would mean breaking the 30mph speed limit.
Unfortunately this means, that in some parts of the country, a motorcycle learner has to travel up to 100 miles to their nearest test centre ( I am not kidding) to take their test (accompanied by their instructor in the case of a DAS test).
This will change again in 2013 as new proposals are to be brought in to further restrict age limits and engine sizes.

As with many riders, I agree that as getting as much training as possible helps safety but how does it stop one of the most common two vehicle accidents to a motorcyclist of a car/van/lorry pulling out of a side road in front of them.

I hope, but do not expect, that the laws are changed for driving offenses so that drivers "causing" the death of another person, ie being the one "at fault" being charged and sentenced in the same way as they would have done if they had not been driving ( ie in most cases, manslaughter of murder).