Search Results for: Macedonia

The president of Italian food industry association Federalimentare has told of his concern about the medium- to long-term effects of the drop in demand for Made in Italy foods caused by Covid-19 epidemic affecting the country.

Ivano Vacondio said that the current spike in domestic food demand is “atypical and fleeting”, noting that hoarding by Italian consumers has, until now, camouflaged problems that will soon emerge, he said in statements sent to just-food.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission – the European Union (EU) executive – has claimed its Erasmus+ higher education exchange initiative is significantly boosting tertiary studies for African students and academics, with 8,500 Africans benefiting this year (2019).

In a report on the programme, which has been hailed as a flagship of the EU’s positive international impact, the Commission said that this figure was poised to keep growing, so that it will have helped more than 35,000 African students and academics by 2020.…

FAR from being the zone of volatility of the 1990s, eastern and central Europe’s economies and hence their paint and coatings markets, are enjoying stability and steady growth. In Croatia, for instance, according to market researcher Euromonitor International data, the paint and coating industry posted revenues of USD147 million, USD 2 million more than in 2017.…

Slovenia’s plastic industry has made a virtue out of the nation’s geographical position, located between the markets of central and western Europe and those of the Balkan states and the former Soviet Union. 

Drawing on these geographical – and historical political ties – the sector is geared towards exports, with these accounting for 62% of the value of the plastics industry, according to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (CCIS).…

MARCH’S approval by the European Parliament of new European Union (EU) electricity market rules, designed to increase consumer choice, boost renewables access and cap power subsidies, were hailed by the European Commission as a new dawn for the creation of the EU’s much vaunted Energy Union.…

GREECE and the newly renamed Republic of North Macedonia have struck a military agreement enabling Greece to help monitor its neighbour’s air space, including for civilian flights. During a visit to the North Macedonian capital Skopje, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras noted the deal between the two country’s defence ministers includes the Hellenic Air Force providing air traffic control services to Northern Macedonia, which it will monitor via radar.…

GREECE and the newly renamed Republic of North Macedonia have struck a military agreement enabling Greece to help monitor its neighbour’s air space, including for civilian flights. During a visit to the North Macedonian capital Skopje, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras noted the deal between the two country’s defence ministers includes the Hellenic Air Force providing air traffic control services to Northern Macedonia, which it will monitor via radar.…

BULK tobacco smuggling is on the rise in eastern and south-eastern Europe, and cigarette manufacturers are calling for a better coordinated approach by law enforcers, as well as the passing of clearer and stricter rules to combat the menace. While regulation is in place in some countries (Montenegro and Romania insist on licensing and growers’ record keeping, for instance), the licencing and registration of tobacco growers are still not required in others (for example Poland and Greece), causing weak links that can be exploited by smugglers, according to the legitimate tobacco industry.…

A CHANGE in the name of Macedonia’s Skopje Alexander the Great Airport could be afoot, as the Macedonian government seeks to heal an 18-year-old dispute with Greece over the country’s name and association with this historic king and conqueror. Macedonia Prime Minister Zoran Zaev declared at the World Economic Forum in Davis last month (January) that he would be prepared to stop naming Skopje airport after Alexander, along with maybe changing his country’s name.…

PRACTICAL discussions on integrating six western Balkans countries within the European Common Aviation Area (ECAA) are to take place, with an agreement allowing their entry into the bloc having come into force on December 1. The expansion includes Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo, who have formally joined the ECAA, alongside the European Union (EU), Norway and Iceland.…

GERMAN airport operator Fraport has announced a new EUR10 million development plan for Kavala International Airport, which serves eastern Macedonia and Thrace in northern Greece. Fraport Greece CEO Alexander Zinell said Fraport would upgrade the existing terminal, expanding it by 2,000 square metres, installing a new baggage handling system while remodelling and expanding its fire station.…

AFTER years of slow growth since 2008, eastern Europe’s now mature cosmetics and personal care market has continued to show marginal gains in products sales in the past year, according to experts.

The region’s cosmetics and personal care products sales edged to USD23.67 billion in 2017 from USD21.74 billion in 2016, counting sales in Poland, Croatia, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, Belarus, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Slovenia, Macedonia and Georgia.…

Croatia has reversed a decision to raise import fees on food imports charged at its borders with its non-European Union (EU) Balkan countries Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia & Herzegovina, as well as on trades from Macedonia, another ex-Yugoslav state. The Croatian ministry of agriculture today (Aug 10) announced that “from Friday [August 11] onwards the border controls would be fully normalised”.…

Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has released a new Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance (MCCG). This revised guidance encourages the development of corporate governance culture, not just within listed companies, but also state-owned enterprises, small-and-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and licensed intermediaries. This code includes 36 practices to support strong board leadership; effective audit, risk management, and internal controls; and solid corporate reporting.…

THE OILS and fats business has always been international, with its commodities and the products made from them, being traded worldwide. And as a result, the companies involved have always had to pay attention not just to the regulations of the country were they manufacture or source, but those of importing and transit countries.…

BUILDING a career in auditing in what is often regarded as the most corrupt country in the European Union (EU) is not for the faint-hearted, but that is what Nikolay Garnev, EY manging partner for Bulgaria, Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo, has done.…

allowing gas – including LNG – to be transported between the two countries, starting July 1 (2016). This deal was struck between the network operators for Bulgaria and Greece – Bulgartransgaz and DESFA. It will enable companies from both sides and other countries to make north- or southbound deliveries, boosting gas movements between Greece, Turkey, Macedonia and Ukraine.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has accused six European Union (EU) member states of failing to detect enough fraud in EU spending programmes where their governments have a significant management role. In its latest annual report on the ‘Protection of the European Union’s financial interests – Fight against fraud 2015’, the Commission said Austria, Britain and Finland had reported “a very low number of fraudulent irregularities, in particular in relation to the amount of frauds allocated to them” for  EU agricultural spending.…

EUROPEAN confectionery manufacturers and the Indonesian government have agreed that they need to work together to ensure that 100% of all palm oil is made sustainably in future. At an April debate hosted at the European Parliament by British conservative MEP Julie Girling, Indonesia’s ambassador to the European Union (EU) Yuri Thamrin said: “We are ready to consider good cooperation projects with our partners in Europe to attain 100% sustainable palm oil and overcome all impediments.”…

MULTI-COUNTRY regions such as eastern Europe do not always follow the same script when it comes to market performance. Sometimes, when major events happen, such as the global financial crisis, it is difficult for national coatings markets to buck the trend, but with the recovery now established, weakening economic headwinds, the latent differences between national markets can become clear.…

COUNTRIES in eastern Europe and the western Balkans are struggling to meet renewable energy targets set through their membership of the European Union (EU)-linked Energy Community, according to two new reports. They say just one of the community’s eight member countries – Montenegro – is likely to meet EU targets for renewables by 2020.…

TEXTILE exports from Serbia to Russia have been increasing, as European Union (EU) exports fall amidst the continuing diplomatic standoff between Brussels and Moscow over the Ukraine crisis. The Serbian government has also been working to prevent EU exporters using Serbia as a backdoor conduit for textile re-exports to Russian markets, taking advantage of the 2000 Serbo-Russian free trade agreement.…

THE ORGANISATION for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) has concluded that five jurisdictions need to improve their tax information exchange standards – Andorra, Anguilla (a UK dependent territory), Antigua & Barbuda, Indonesia and Saint Lucia. The OECD’s Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes said these jurisdictions were “partially compliant” with its standards.…

COUNTERFEIT medicines smuggled into Europe through the post and by couriers were among the more than 70,000 fake products intercepted during a joint customs operation code-named ERMIS. Coordinated by the Greek customs service and the European Union (EU) anti-fraud office OLAF, the operation involved customs officers from other EU member states, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey, said the European Commission.…

Pressure is growing on Hungary’s government to change the country’s tobacco excise laws, which can block sales of distributed products, with the European Commission and the Hungarian tobacco industry calling for the policy to be changed.

Zoltán Pankucsi, deputy state secretary for accounting and taxation at Hungary’s ministry for national economy, confirmed to Tobacco Journal International that Hungary levies excise duties on tobacco by means of tax markings on packaging.…

BUDGET airlines have a major impact on airport expansion or contraction across Europe, but their importance can be particularly pronounced in countries towards the east, whose economies are still catching up with the west of the continent.

Even in Poland, which avoided recession since the financial collapse of 2008, some airports have asked city and regional governments for help when they cannot attract enough trade – in one recent instance following a decision by Ryanair to cut routes.…

THE MACEDONIAN government has embarked on a new expansion strategy for its textile and clothing sector as it looks to grow its exports to the European Union (EU) and other global markets. Saso Despotoski, head of textiles and clothing at the Macedonian Chamber of Commerce, told just-style that Skopje is aiming to shift the emphasis of country’s industry towards manufacturing its own original products.…

More academic papers are now available for free than in paid-for peer reviewed journals, according to a study released yesterday (Wednesday) by the European Commission’s directorate general for research and innovation.

“This new research suggests that open access is reaching the tipping point, with around 50% of scientific papers published in 2011 now available for free,” Brussels said in a statement.…

THE ACRONYM ‘PIGS’ to mean Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain, was never very kind. It was abusive European Union (EU) jargon claiming that these countries were poor and their governments, profligate. Sadly, the international financial crisis showed that there was some truth in this and the four countries have since 2008 had to slash public spending to stave off national bankruptcy, and their collective road and public transport sectors have suffered.…

Croatia’s paint and coatings industry is aiming to capitalise on the benefits of the country’s recent July 1 accession to the European Union (EU), and is hoping that an economic recovery can also help the industry return to growth over the next year.…

SUMMER 2013 marks an important milestone in the evolution of the European Union (EU) regulatory framework and financial support for Trans-European Energy Networks (TEN-E) that will contribute towards the European Commission’s goal of a single-energy market for gas and electricity. Oil and carbon dioxide (CO2) transport from carbon capture and storage systems also figure in the picture.…

BY ZLATKO CONKAS

THE TURKS used to run the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as colonial overlords – now with the country enjoying its independence since 1991, its government has shown its confidence in welcoming a Turkish company TAV Airports Holding to run its two international airports.…

BY ZLATKO CONKAS, IN NOVI SAD, SERBIA

IT goes without saying that when a country falls apart through years of bloody civil war, the purchase of luxury clothing is not going to be a priority. But peace usually brings a strong desire to put aside painful memories and this can bring a yearning for luxury.…

BY MICHAEL KOSMIDES, IN ATHENS

It is maybe the clearest sign imaginable that Greece is in deep economic trouble: people are smoking a lot less. With disposable incomes falling steeply, Greek smokers are buying far fewer cigarettes. And the contraband sector is booming.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) is coming under pressure to act against child labour in the global cocoa sector, with proposals being debated at the European Parliament to track cocoa produced with the help of children. That could mean an EU law creating a monitoring system making it clear to consumers where cocoa products risked being tainted by child labour, maybe through the "possible introduction of ‘child-labour free’ product labelling," said a draft report from the EP’s international trade committee.…

BY MARK ROWE, IN LONDON; ZLATKO CONKAS, IN NOVI SAD, SERBIA; MIKE STEIN, IN PRAGUE; AND BLAKE BERRY, IN WARSAW

DURING the spring of 2011, the prevailing view throughout eastern Europe’s personal care and toiletries market was that while business was not exactly buoyant, the worst of the recession was over – then came the credit crises and the faltering Euro.…

BY ZLATKO CONKAS

Will Croatia’s ascension to the EU hamper the country’s tobacco industry?

Croatia’s strong tobacco sector stands to benefit from selling into the European Union once the country joins the EU. However it could lose trade in neighbouring states because of duty changes.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched a major political initiative to prevent European Union (EU) member states being played off against each other in energy negotiations with major suppliers, such as Russia. It has proposed legislation that would insist national EU governments give Brussels information on any current deals and negotiations regarding energy supplies, including, but not only, oil and gas.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

ENERGY ministers from the European Union (EU) and the Balkans will next month (October 6) vote on a new plan to create a ‘gas ring’ of pipeline links uniting the fragmented energy markets of south-eastern Europe. A meeting of the Energy Community, an organisation linking the EU’s supposedly united energy market with those in neighbouring countries to the south and east, will be asked to back an ‘Implementation Plan for Gas Infrastructure Development in the Energy Community’.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

TURKEY’S USD2 billion paint market may be forecast by manufacturers to grow between 12% and 13% this year on the back of a resurgent construction sector; however, paint exports are currently struggling. This is because of a combination of lacklustre market demand in Europe along with the troubles companies are facing in terms of implementing European Union (EU) regulations required as Turkey meshes with the EU’s REACH chemical control system.…

BY MARK ROWE

RENEWABLE energy investments may often be low in price, but when there are enough of them, they make a difference in a region’s energy profile. Such is the case for eastern Europe, where many millions of Euros are being invested in green energy projects.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A MEETING of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, staged by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) has accepted reports highlighting significant shortcomings in openness for some jurisdictions. The Pacific island state Vanuatu fared worse, being accused of "significant deficiencies in the availability of information" with its government lacking "any powers to access information" about taxing its residents and companies.…

BY ZLATKO CONKAS, and KEITH NUTHALL

WHEN imagining Europe’s greenest and most efficient energy systems, the countries of the former Yugoslavia do not readily spring to mind. The simple truth is Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, and even Slovenia have a reputation for having ageing energy dirty systems.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL and ALYSHAH HASHAM

CANADA – long a difficult jurisdiction for the tobacco sector – became tougher still on July 5, when a national ban on manufacturing and selling most flavoured cigarettes, cigarillos and blunt wraps came into force.…

BY MARK ROWE

WHEN it comes to the power sector, it certainly pays to be green in eastern Europe right now. The London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), whose mandate is to bring sustainable development to eastern Europe and central Asia, has been especially active in promoting green energy across the region.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) may be legally a single market, food prices range widely across its 27 member states. The most recent survey of 500 comparable products by Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency, shows last year (2009) the price of a comparable basket of food and non-alcoholic beverages was more than twice as high in the most expensive EU country than the cheapest.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

IN a month highlighting that many European Union (EU) countries are living beyond their financial means, it was timely perhaps for the European Commission to note that member states also have unsustainable water policies.

In short, many EU governments are failing to prevent the abstraction of fresh water at rates exceeding nature’s ability to replenish supplies.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

OFFICIALS from the European Union’s (EU) anti-fraud unit OLAF have revealed to just-drinks how an international EU customs operation seized counterfeit and smuggled coats and scarves. OLAF said the Matthew II operation was organised by the Czech Republic, working closely with Poland and OLAF: all EU countries were invited to participate.…

BY LEAH GERMAIN and KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched a new programme helping countries wanting to join the European Union (EU) adopt EU pharmaceutical regulations and work with the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Brussels’ Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) Programme will help the governments of Croatia, Macedonia and Turkey who are negotiating EU entry and those awaiting formal membership talks: Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AN IMPORTANT step has been made towards guaranteeing the safety of electric and hybrid cars, with the adoption by the UN’s World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations of a new technical standard on this subject – a global first.…

BY AHMAD PATHONI, ALYSHAH HASHAM, MARK ROWE and KEITH NUTHALL

GIVEN the constant flow of news about tougher tobacco industry regulations from all continents, tobacco executives could be forgiven for thinking there are no countries where they have a relative free hand to sell their products.…

BY MARK ROWE

THE NEXT few years are likely to see several countries accede to the European Union (EU), with significant implications for the personal care sector. Local producers of toiletries, detergents and cosmetics, as well as multinationals in a number of countries, are closely following the negotiations conducted by their governments.…

BY MAKKI MARSEILLES

TOBACCO manufacturing in Greece is alive and well and the industry is looking forward to a very fine future. A ban on smoking in public places introduced this April 1 has had very little effect so far and a reported 6% drop in sales alleged by some retailers has not been substantiated, stressed the Association of Greek Tobacco Industries.…

BY MARK ROWE and KEITH NUTHALL

RUSSIA’S belligerent approach to its neighbours in recent years has ranged from military conflict with Georgia to energy disputes with Ukraine and a string of commodity-based stand-offs, such as rows with Norway over fish products, Poland over meat supplies and Belarus over sugar.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE ABILITY of national and European Union (EU) authorities to take a tough line with confectionery companies stockpiling sugar and other products ahead of their country joining the EU has been strengthened by the European Court of Justice (ECJ).…

BY MARK ROWE

The expansion of the European Union (EU) continues eastwards – and the food and drink industry of the existing EU will inevitably be affected by the new competition, as will companies in the new member countries.

The next few years are likely to see several countries accede to the EU.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) has earmarked Euro 45 million for a planned loan financing a 20-year airport concession in Macedonia. This would include the development, finance, operation and maintenance of a new terminal building at Skopje’s Alexander the Great airport; renovating Ohrid’s St Paul the Apostle airport; and building a new cargo airport at Shtip.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A DETAILED report from the European Environment Agency (EEA), which highlights signals of environmental problems within Europe, says England and Wales can be labelled "water stressed", along with only eight other European countries. They are Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Germany, Italy, Macedonia, Malta and Spain.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

TURKEY’S tobacco market, the eighth largest in the world and valued this month at GBPounds 6 billion in consumer price turnover by British American Tobacco (BAT) has contracted by 5% over the past year following the imposition of a nationwide smoking ban.…

BY MAKKI MARSEILLES

GREECE is something of a paradox in the tobacco sector. Its citizens smoke more cigarettes per capita than anywhere else in the world, yet its government is increasing anti-smoking legislation and its long-established leaf growing sector is shrinking towards virtual extinction.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A EUROPEAN Union (EU) and Balkans ministerial council has approved the rules of a dispute settlement mechanism for countries participating within the southeast Europe Energy Community. This links Balkans’ gas (and electricity) regulation with that of EU member states and ensures EU energy legislation is adopted in participating countries.…

BY MARK ROWE

LAST month Modern Power Systems examined the workings of the pan-European ‘Energy Community’, which extends EU energy law eastwards to the membership hopefuls and encourages the region’s electricity transmission system operators and regulators to establish the cooperation and energy trading agreements and mechanisms by end of 2009.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE POLITICAL map of Europe these days looks very blue. Most of it (discounting Russia) is part of the European Union (EU) and those countries that have yet to join are increasingly the odd men out.

The European Commission and its fellow EU institutions are keen on some of these countries becoming members and less keen on others, but the countries that are almost destined to join the EU (if they want to) are those surrounded by EU territory.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A EUROPEAN Union (EU) and Balkans ministerial council has approved the rules of a dispute settlement mechanism for countries participating within the southeast Europe energy community. This links Balkans’ electricity and gas regulation with that of EU member states and ensures EU energy legislation is adopted in participating countries.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A EUROPEAN Union (EU) and Balkans ministerial council has approved the rules of a dispute settlement mechanism for countries participating within the southeast Europe energy community. This links Balkans’ electricity and gas regulation with that of EU member states and ensures EU energy legislation is adopted in participating countries.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE WORLD Bank has approved the lending of US$125 million from its International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) to Macedonia, to help build new roads in the country. Meanwhile the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) is to manage the selection of developers to build the planned Euro 2 billion Bar-Boljare motorway, crossing neighbouring Montenegro.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

WESTERN Balkans countries have agreed to implement European Union (EU) transport laws on tolling, safety standards, subsidies, pollution, professional training and other matters, easing the ability of EU fleet managers to operate services in the region. Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia have agreed to sign a ‘Transport Community Treaty with the EU.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

WITH the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) seven-year-old Doha Development Round maybe drawing towards a close, the pharmaceutical industry might start to consider that a final deal could lead to the elimination of most import duties on drugs and medicines, traded worldwide.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AS the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Doha Development Round moves towards completion, a big push is underway to see a wine and spirits geographical indication register established within final deal. A WTO special group for the issue met yesterday (Mon Dec 3) and supporters of the register pushed for full negotiations on the issue, ending technical discussions that have dragged on for years.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AS the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Doha Development Round moves towards completion, a big push is underway to see a wine and spirits geographical indication register established within final deal. A WTO special group for the issue met yesterday (Mon Dec 3) and supporters of the register pushed for full negotiations on the issue, ending technical discussions that have dragged on for years.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AS the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Doha Development Round moves towards completion, a big push is underway to see a wine and spirits geographical indication register established within final deal. A WTO special group for the issue met yesterday (Mon Dec 3) and supporters of the register pushed for full negotiations on the issue, ending technical discussions that have dragged on for years.…

BY MARK ROWE

ONE of the most perfidious environmental legacies of communism in eastern Europe was that of mining pollution. In particular, across a swathe of the Balkans, from Albania to Bosnia & Herzegovina, (the former Yugoslav Republic of) Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, and Kosovo, up to 150 mines have been identified by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as areas of concern.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

ENVIRONMENTAL health officers may think there are a lot of smokers in the UK – in 2005, 24% of adults aged 16 or over in Britain smoked cigarettes, but spare a thought for officials in Greece – home of Europe’s keenest smokers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE SECURITY of nuclear power installations may be a priority in terrorism-fearing rich countries, but not in poorer states, with many other problems. But it is equally important of course: nuclear accidents, sabotage and terror attacks are devastating wherever they occur.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
WITH the key May 18 European Union (EU)-Russia summit in Samara, Russia, looming, the European Commission is continuing efforts to find suitable alternative energy partners to Moscow. Russia and the EU want to start tough negotiations on forging a new energy agreement, with both sides firming up their positions.…

BY MARK ROWE
MEMBERSHIP of the European Union (EU) appears to represent something o a ‘promised land’ for the nations of the Balkans. A major sticking point for countries pushing for membership, though, is corruption, and in particular efforts to push through practical and applicable anti-fraud legislation.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

CONSIDERING everything against it – a turbulent political history since the break-up of Yugoslavia, a weak, cash-based and largely ‘grey’ economy, poor living standards and feeble inflows of foreign investment among other things – Macedonia has done very well to set up a relatively impressive slew of anti money laundering legislation in recent years.…

BY DEIRDRE MASON

A SIGNIFICANT boost in funding from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will speed the challenging switchover from ageing nuclear power stations in central and eastern Europe (CEE) to a cleaner, more efficient and more sustainable energy scene in these new and aspiring entrants to European Union (EU) membership.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Parliament has called for European Union (EU) electricity utilities to be protected against unfair competition from those based in neighbouring Balkan countries signing an Energy Community Treaty with Brussels. This effectively extends the EU single market in electricity to nine non-EU countries.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

OUT of 60 recommendations made in a report last December by the European Parliament on strategies to prevent human trafficking only one specifically mentioned money laundering and even there the message was essentially "carry on as before" and "keep your eyes open".…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE NEW owner of two steel rolling mills in Macedonia has borrowed Euro 25 million from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to improve their energy efficiency and expand local working capital. Mittal Steel bought two Skopje-area rolling mills last year from Balkan Steel, which had financial difficulties.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE NEW owner of two steel rolling mills in Macedonia has borrowed Euro 25 million from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to improve their energy efficiency and expand local working capital. Mittal Steel bought two Skopje-area rolling mills last year from Balkan Steel, which had financial difficulties.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FIRST-EVER multilateral treaty covering the Balkans has been signed in Athens, creating a European Energy Community, linking the gas (and electricity) policies of south-eastern Europe with those of the European Union (EU). Indeed, under the treaty, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, Romania, Bulgaria and Kosovo must apply EU energy legislation, including related environmental and competition laws.…

BY MARK ROWE
IN times of conflict, cultural property, such as archaeological sites, works of art, museums and monuments, can also suffer grievously at the hands of opposing military and guerrilla forces. In recognition of this, such objects are accorded protection by the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FIRST-EVER multilateral treaty covering the Balkans has been signed in Athens, creating a European Energy Community, linking the gas and electricity policies of south-eastern Europe with those of the European Union (EU). Indeed, under the treaty, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, Romania, Bulgaria and Kosovo must apply EU energy legislation in full, including related environmental and competition laws.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CRITICS of European political institutions have sometimes been unkind about the Council of Europe, which has been accused of being a powerless talking shop. And although the Council lacks the power to fine and cajole member governments enjoyed by the European Union (EU) – from which it is completely independent – it has some important roles.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission has negotiated open skies deals with Romania, Macedonia, Morocco, Albania and Bosnia & Herzegovina, which will enable their airlines to freely offer services to European Union (EU) airports, including cabotage. EU carriers would have similar rights in these four countries’ national territories.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union has granted Macedonia an annual duty-free sugar export quota of 7,000 tonnes, replacing a previous unlimited concession that was abused by fraudsters.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed continuing existing duty-free access to EU markets to food exports from Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia & Montenegro, and Kosovo for another five years except certain fisheries products, sugar, and ‘baby beef’, where some duties or restrictions would continue.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Agency for Reconstruction (EAR) is financing three new assessments of Kosovo’s energy industry, focusing mainly on the autonomous Balkans province’s coal-fired power stations. The EAR, the European Union (EU) body aiding economic recovery in Kosovo, Serbia & Montenegro and Macedonia, will stage three studies:

*Examining the feasibility of building a brand new power station, which may use coal;

*Limiting the environmental impact of the coal-fired Kosovo B plant, currently the province’s main producer of electricity; and

*Studying the economic and technical feasibility of rehabilitating four units of the coal-fired Kosovo A power station.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has helped broker a deal with seven Balkans countries involving them reducing the environmental damage caused by their mining industries, especially regarding non-ferrous metals. Welcoming the agreement, UNEP highlighted the potential problems caused by mining for zinc, cadmium, copper, bauxite, silver and gold in Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Macedonia, Serbia & Montenegro, and (effectively independent) Kosovo.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
ACCORDING to global consumption figures, Israel is the world capital of teenage soft drink demand, with hot weather combined with a competitive market to create something of a utopia for drinks companies. An international survey of soft drinks consumption published by the Economist by 15 year olds of both sexes suggests that Israel has the world’s biggest teenage consumers of carbonated and still drinks, colas, sodas, juices and the like on a per capita basis.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has helped broker a deal with seven Balkans countries involving them reducing the environmental damage caused by their mining industries. Welcoming the agreement, UNEP highlighted the potential problems caused by mining for zinc, cadmium, copper, bauxite, silver and gold in Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Macedonia, Serbia & Montenegro, and (effectively independent) Kosovo.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation (IFC), of the World Bank, is to help create 10 alternative dispute resolution tribunals in Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Macedonia, and Serbia & Montenegro over the next four years.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BIRD flu is still ravaging Indonesian poultry production, according the latest figures released by the Office International des Épizooties (OIE), the world animal health organisation. They show producers culling millions of chickens across Java and south Celebes farms and villages to prevent the disease spreading.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FINANCING has been secured for a new international programme creating 10 alternative dispute resolution tribunals in Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Macedonia, and Serbia & Montenegro over the next four years. The International Finance Corporation (IFC)-coordinated project will immediately make permanent a pilot tribunal in Bosnia, having been given US$600,000 by the Canadian government; the World Bank agency also intends to firmly establish a Serb arbitration tribunal in the next 12 months.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission will cap duty-free sugar exports into the EU from the western Balkans after duty-free exports rose from almost zero to 270,000 tonnes in 2003. Quotas will restrict imports from Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Albania and Serbia & Montenegro.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE RIGHT of European Union (EU) anti-fraud agency OLAF to investigate allegations of wrongdoing in EU programmes will be extended to five non-member countries in the Balkans under agreements signed with Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia & Montenegro.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
WHILE the voters of many European Union (EU) countries express misgivings about greater continental integration, Bulgaria has been making great efforts to join the Brussels club by 2007. But its reputation for commercial crime and the lack of strong governmental structures able to tackle the problem are hampering efforts to clean up the country’s reputation.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission will cap duty-free sugar exports into the EU from the western Balkans after duty-free exports rose from almost zero to 270,000 tonnes in 2003. Quotas will restrict imports from Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Albania and Serbia & Montenegro.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
AS recently as 1989 Yugoslavia was the richest and most westernised country in eastern and central Europe and arguably among the more politically stable of them. But then came the collapse. The ethnic fighting of the early 1990s led to breakaways by Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina as independent states in 1992, leaving Serbia and Montenegro as the “Federal Republic of Yugoslavia” under Slobodan Milosevic.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN ANTIMONY mine in Macedonia will be a focus of an international effort to prevent cross-border environmental threats in south-eastern Europe. The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) have agreed to cooperate on managing pollution risks from the Lojane Mine, which has also been a source of chromium.…

Keith Nuthall
GOVERNMENTS in south-eastern Europe have agreed it is “fundamentally important to increase and intensify interregional cooperation in air transport.” Such work, which would cover airport operations and air traffic control will be written into a detailed memorandum of understanding, with a detailed and timetabled work programme.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
MIGROS Turk AS, Turkey’s largest food retailer in Turkey, has received a US$8.3 million loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to create a food hypermarket and mall in Macedonia.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Agency for Reconstruction has released a plan to help Macedonia’s food industry seize western export markets by boosting quality, upgrading food industry “infrastructure” and toughening laws on “standardisation, food safety, and animal and plant inspection”.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) organisation tasked with reviving the war-damaged south-eastern Balkans has released a plan to move Macedonia’s wine industry from a bulk producer of cheap wine towards a higher-end standards, tapping western export markets. The country has a wine-making tradition, but since the rise (and fall) of communism, it has been characterised by a command economy inspired indifference to quality.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
WHEN the European Union (EU) signed up to an Agreement on Textiles and Clothing at the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) last Uruguay Round that foresaw the scrapping of import quotas at the start of 2005, it is hard to imagine it viewing the deal as a way to boost production in knitted products.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) organisation tasked with reviving the war-damaged south-eastern Balkans has released a plan to move Macedonia’s wine industry from a bulk producer of cheap wine towards a higher-end sector, tapping western export markets. The country has a wine-making tradition, still exhibits a (former) communist command economy inspired indifference to quality.…

BY MARK ROWE
MENTION Albania and money, and the image that comes to mind is of the extraordinary pyramid schemes that gripped the country in the mid-1990s as the country stepped out into a post-Stalinist dawn. Albanians poured their assets into the schemes, with an enthusiasm that was as remarkable as it was misguided.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development is lending Macedonian baked-goods producer Zitoluks AD Euro 8 million to help it expand, refurbish its existing outlets.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development is lending Macedonian baked-goods producer Zitoluks AD Euro 8 million to help it expand, refurbish its existing outlets.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Union is to pay for a new software system, computers and other information technology equipment to improve the functioning of the judiciary in the former Yugoslavian republic of Macedonia. The EU aid – worth in total Euro 1.9 million – follows a report detailing serious inadequacies in the legal system in Macedonia, including the fact that judges there had to deal with about 800 cases annually compared to a maximum of 300 in the EU itself.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has struck a food trade deal with Macedonia, halving import duties on a range of EU food products and ingredients by 2010, scrapping them by 2011. Affected products include chocolate, cocoa powder, sugar, poultry meat, bovine offal, sausages and many others.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THERE is a significant risk that Europe’s summer of blackouts could be repeated after 2008, unless effective investments are made in power generation and distribution plant, the Union for the Co-ordination of Transmission of Electricity (UCTE), has warned.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is helping to fund the construction of a 150 kilometre 400 kV transmission power line that will link the electricity grids of neighbouring Balkan countries Bulgaria and Macedonia. Although 80 kilometres of the electricity cables will be in Bulgaria, the bank’s Euro 40.5 million loan will be paid to Elektrostopanstvo na Makedonija (ESM), Macedonia’s state-owned power utility; Bulgarian electricity provider Natsionalna Elektricheska Kompanija would meet its share of the project’s costs by providing electricity to ESM during construction.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has struck a food trade deal with Macedonia, which would see Macedonian import duties on a range of EU confectionary products and ingredients fall by half by 2010, being scrapped by 2011. Affected products include chocolate, cocoa powder and sugar.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has struck a food trade deal with Macedonia, which – if confirmed – will see Macedonian import duties on a range of EU meat products annually fall to half their current level by 2010, before being scrapped altogether by 2011.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has struck a food trade deal with Macedonia, which would see Macedonian import duties on a range of EU confectionary products and ingredients fall by half by 2010, being scrapped by 2011. Affected products include chocolate, cocoa powder and sugar.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has struck a food trade deal with Macedonia, which – if confirmed – will see Macedonian import duties on a range of EU meat products annually fall to half their current level by 2010, before being scrapped altogether by 2011.…

BY MARK ROWE
A FORMER tobacco factory is embroiled in a dispute over the expansion of a university in Macedonia. A processing plant formerly owned by the country’s tobacco major Makedonica Tabak, had been brought by two businessmen who subsequently offered it for free to the Albanian language University of Tetovo, (of Tetovo city).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A COURT monitoring network has been set up in Macedonia by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to promote judicial reform. It has persuaded 18 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to join its “All for Fair Trials” group.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) is planning to lend Euro 15 million to Macedonia utility Electrostopanstvo na Makedonija for the construction of four 400 and 110 kV power substations in Macedonia, (Skopje 5, Skopje 4, Petrovec, and Dracevo), ancillary transmission lines and related infrastructure.…

BY MARK ROWE
IN the days of the Soviet Union, many millions of men and women had a choice of one state-manufactured brand of shampoo, toothpaste or soap. If anything, the authorities managed to limit even further access to such “indulgences” as perfume.…

KEITH NUTHALL
INNOVATION from European Union-funded research has continued to offer improvements to the way that EU water utilities work. For instance, the European Commission-funded MicroChem initiative has developed miniaturised laboratory-on-a-chip systems suitable for rapid field testing of water streams. They examine water in tiny pictolitre quantities, flowing through microbore channels produced by photolithographic etching.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A WORLD Bank report has called on the governments of the Balkans to pay more attention to the quality of their respective water sources and supplies, warning that neglect is leading to increases in pollution and damage from flooding.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
GRANTS totalling Euro 5 million from the European Commission, Eurocontrol and the Joint Aviation Authorities have been approved for the strengthening Balkans atc services. Funnelled through the EU Community Assistance for Reconstruction, Development and Stabilisation (CARDS) programme, the funds will support civil aviation authorities and air traffic services in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro, and Macedonia.…

KEITH NUTHALL
INNOVATION from European Union-funded research has continued to offer improvements to the way that EU water utilities work. For instance, the European Commission-funded MicroChem initiative has developed miniaturised laboratory-on-a-chip systems suitable for rapid field testing of water streams. They examine water in tiny pictolitre quantities, flowing through microbore channels produced by photolithographic etching.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Union-funded Euro 2.2 million database is being developed in Macedonia to identify and track beef, veal, lamb and goat livestock, monitoring their health status and preventing sick beasts being exported into the EU. The project is being managed by the European Agency for Reconstruction, which recently helped stage a seminar on the system involving EU experts.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Union-funded Euro 2.2 million database is being developed in Macedonia to identify and track beef, pork, veal, lamb and goat livestock, monitoring their health status and preventing sick beasts being exported into the European Union (EU).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Union (EU) funded project has been launched, which will support the restructuring of Macedonia’s steel sector. This Euro 500,000 technical assistance project is being managed by the EU’s European Agency for Reconstruction, which is helping to rebuild the war-damaged economy of the southern Balkans.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
WATER privatisation has certainly had its critics, but it has a new supporter in the shape of the European Commission. It has publicly backed the growing privatisation of Europe’s water utilities, with its internal market commissioner praising British government moves to inject competition into its national sector.…

KEITH NUTHALL
INNOVATION is important in the provision of water services, whether that be to prevent the contamination of supplies by a return of this summer’s floods, or to source drinking water for arid areas where ground reserves are running dry.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
OPPORTUNITIES for British and other European Union (EU) electricity power companies to participate in the reconstruction and development of war-damaged electricity systems in the Balkans have been opened up by the signing of an agreement to bring the systems into the EU’s regulatory orbit.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has taken an important step towards giving EU water legislation more teeth, by moving against Belgium’s system of “tacit approvals” of pollution. Belgian law allows companies to assume that they have a right to pollute if they make an application to regulators and then receive no reply.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers (general affairs) has approved an intensive double-checking system regarding the trade in steel products between Macedonia and the European Union. Its aim is to boost openness and transparency in the export of Macedonian steel, under the trade agreement Skopje has signed with Brussels, preventing the system being abused.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTENSIVE double-checking system focusing on the trade in steel products between Macedonia and the European Union has been proposed by the European Commission. Its aim is to boost openness and transparency in the export of Macedonian steel, under the trade agreement Skopje signed with Brussels.…

KEITH NUTHALL
INNOVATION is important in the provision of water services, whether that be to prevent the contamination of supplies by a return of this summer’s floods, or to source drinking water for arid areas where ground reserves are running dry.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
LOOKING ahead, the work programme of the European Civil Aviation Conference, (ECAC), for 2001 to 2003, seems to have been prepared with a degree of foresight.

Taking account of its general aim of promoting the safe and orderly development of civil aviation on routes to, from and within Europe, its director generals, (representing its member countries), have agreed a comprehensive set of projects focused on security.…

Keith Nuthall
EUROPEAN Union ministers have been asked to approve another Balkans wine trade deal struck between the European Commission and, this time, Macedonia. If it is accepted, it will – as with the recent deal with Croatia – lead to the mutual liberalisation of import and export quotas, the lowering of tariffs and the joint recognition of protected names, such as geographic indications.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A MEMORANDUM of Understanding has been signed between the European Commission, Greece, Macedonia, Yugoslavia, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria on speeding up work to create a reliable road and rail corridor, linking Thessalonika with Salzburg, linking the Balkans and the Aegean to western Europe.…