8:12pm UK, Friday June 27, 2003

Topless page-three girls will continue to feature in tabloid newspapers under new EU laws.

There had been fears that the European Union's proposed sex discrimination laws would prevent the publication of scantily-clad women.

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Jordan: Page-three favourite

Such a ban would have hit mass-circulation tabloids such as London's The Sun and Bild in Germany.

But there was a sigh of relief in Fleet Street as the EU acknowledged it could not stop papers publishing saucy pictures of women.

"To talk about banning certain aspects of certain publications is not possible," explained EU spokeswoman Antonia Mochan.

"The European Union does not have the legal tools to intervene."

There was a media uproar after reports of a clampdown on gender stereotyping filtered out of Brussels.

"I'm supposed to be gotten rid of," proclaimed Bild, pointing to a topless blonde, wearing a tiara and a rhinestone G-string, who appeared on the newspaper's front page on Thursday.

"The EU wants to outlaw the beautiful girls from the front page."

Across the English channel, The Sun warned "Saucy bra adverts face ban under the latest nonsense from Brussels."

The tabloid tantrums were provoked by leaks of an internal document from within the EU's employment and social affairs department.

It was looking at how Europe's already strict laws on sexual discrimination in the workplace could be extended to other areas.