Search Results for: Romanian
198 results out of 198 results found for 'Romanian'.
ROMANIAN CLOTHING SECTOR GRAPPLES WITH HEAVY COVID-19 UNCERTAINTY
The Romanian clothing industry has been badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, with supplies of raw materials from China and exports to Italy disrupted, with the pandemic also choking off labour supplies, which were already a problem for this near-sourcing hub.…
WHEN IS A LOBBYING SCANDAL REALLY CORRUPTION?
The question of when and whether lobbying is ethically questionable or even a criminal bribe is a complex issue, with rules varying according to jurisdictions. Often, actions that are politically embarrassing, are definitely not bribes, or indeed unlawful in anyway. For example, on September 15, Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney survived a no-confidence vote in the Dáil Éireann over his handling of the appointment of former minister for children Katherine Zappone as his country’s ‘Special Envoy to the UN on Freedom of Opinion and Expression’.…
WHEN IS A LOBBYING SCANDAL REALLY CORRUPTION?
The question of when and whether lobbying is ethically questionable or even a criminal bribe is a complex issue, with rules varying according to jurisdictions. Often, actions that are politically embarrassing, are definitely not bribes, or indeed unlawful in anyway. For example, on September 15, Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney survived a no-confidence vote in the Dáil Éireann over his handling of the appointment of former minister for children Katherine Zappone as his country’s ‘Special Envoy to the UN on Freedom of Opinion and Expression’.…
MICROFACTORY GROWTH OFFERS MAJOR OPPORTUNITY FOR BOOM IN DIGITAL TEXTILE PRINTING
INTRODUCTION
The textile industry is one of the world’s oldest manufacturing sector, yet it is also one of the most dynamic, constantly reinventing itself. Today, the development of micro-factories might herald root-and-branch change in how the textile and clothing industry operates, a transformation driven by advances in digital textile printing.…
ROMANIA’S TEXTILE INDUSTRY FACES LONG WAY TO RECOVERY
Hit heavily by Covid-19 and short of governmental help, Romania’s clothing manufacturers are pessimistic about their prospects. Romania’s textile and clothing brands fear it might take a long time to recover from the pandemic, after eight months of restricted business, and falling incomes.…
NEW EU PUBLIC PROSECUTOR CALLS FOR GOVERNMENTS TO STEP UP TO THE PLATE ON EPPO
The European Chief Prosecutor (ECP) of the embryonic European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has challenged the 22 European Union (EU) states (1) that have signed up to an enhanced cooperation pact underpinning its existence to properly fund the new institution. Without enough money, the EPPO will not be effective, ECP Laura Codruţa Kövesi told Fraud Intelligence.…
ANNUAL EU CRIME REPORTS SHOW EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS STILL FAILING TO CRUSH ENDEMIC FRAUD
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) continues to struggle to clamp down on fraud within its revenue collection and spending programmes – making progress, but with major scams still emerging within the EU’s complex international decision-making systems.
In its latest annual ‘fight against fraud’ report (1) (2), covering 2019, the European Commission reports that 939 discovered irregularities were reported as fraudulent (8% of the number), involving EUR461.4 million in lost money (28% of that affected by irregularities).…
HUNGARY REMAINS STRONG MARKET FOR TOBACCO WITHIN EUROPE, AS GOVERNMENT TARGETS SMUGGLERS WITH ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS
HUNGARY continues to be an attractive market for tobacco majors, with its populist government seemingly determined to fight the European Union (EU) for the right to keep excise duties below EU mandated minimums, and the fact that, according to the OECD Country Health Profile 2019 official data (https://read.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/hungary-country-health-profile-2019_4b7ba48c-en#page1…
ROMANIA’S CLOTHING MANUFACTURING SECTOR FACES TOUGH RECRUITING CHALLENGES TO FORGE A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
ROMANIA’S clothing and textile industry is facing a recruitment crunch and experts worry that it will struggle to find a strategy to ensure it can hire sustainably to ensure long-term growth. A survey from PwC’s HR benchmarking project Saratoga released last October (2019) concluded that Romania faces an “acute shortage of workforce”, needing about one million extra workers to sustain a 3.5% economic growth by 2023.…
ROMANIA PLAYS CATCH UP ON AML LEGISLATION – IMPELMENTIONG 4AMLD TWO YEARS LATE
ROMANIAN politics are rarely a placid affair, although February 5’s no confidence vote downing the National Liberal Party government of Prime Minister Ludovic Orban after just three months in office marks a period of particularly intense instability. This collapse comes as the government had hoped to debate implementing the European Union’s (EU) fifth anti-money laundering directive – a task that will not now be undertaken until parliamentarians replace the government, or – as is more likely – snap elections are held.…
GERMAN STATE GOVERNMENT REGULATORS UNDER FIRE IN MEAT HEALTH SCANDAL
Germany’s Federal Ministry for Food and Agriculture (BMEL – Bundesministerium für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft) has summoned its state-level (länder) counterparts for crisis talks following revelations that listeria-infested meat products have killed three people and made another 37 sick. These were made by from Twistetal, Hesse-based Wilke Waldecker Fleisch- und Wurstwaren.…
EU/WTO INTERNATIONAL REGULATORY ROUND UP – NEW EU COMMISSION PLOTS LABELLING REFORMS
THE NEW European Commission, which is now expected to assume office on December 1, is expected to push the further harmonisation of European Union (EU) food labelling rules regarding nutrition. Incoming EU health commissioner, Stella Kyriakides, of Cyprus, said she wanted to see the Commission act against pack claims declaring that products were healthy when they contained “a high level of sugar, fat or salt”.…
HIGH FASHION FOR PENNIES? ROMANIA’S CLOTHING AND TEXTILE WORKERS STILL STRUGGLE TO MAKE ENDS MEET
ECONOMIC data show how Romanian clothing and textile workers are suffering from comparatively low wages, with increases lagging behind employees in other sectors.
Average monthly net wages for workers in Romania’s textile, garment and footwear industry reached Romanian Leu RON 2,280 (USD543) in December 2018, almost a third less than the national average of RON3,770 (USD897), according to statistics from Romania’s National Institute for Statistics (Institutul Național de Statistică – INSSE) and Romania’s National Bank (Banca Națională a României – BNR).…
HIGH FASHION FOR PENNIES? ROMANIA’S CLOTHING AND TEXTILE WORKERS STILL STRUGGLE TO MAKE ENDS MEET
ECONOMIC data show how Romanian clothing and textile workers are suffering from comparatively low wages, with increases lagging behind employees in other sectors.
Average monthly net wages for workers in Romania’s textile, garment and footwear industry reached Romanian Leu RON 2,280 (USD543) in December 2018, almost a third less than the national average of RON3,770 (USD897), according to statistics from Romania’s National Institute for Statistics (Institutul Național de Statistică – INSSE) and Romania’s National Bank (Banca Națională a României – BNR).…
EUROPE IN TWO-SPEED SHIFT TO ELECTRIC CARS
Europe’s transition to electric vehicle ownership is developing at two clear speeds, with richer countries headed for mass market penetration in the early to mid 2020s but poorer countries lagging.
This is posing a regulatory challenge for manufacturers – EV sales have to increase Europe-wide for carmakers to meet tough European Union (EU) CO2 emissions limits.…
EU ROUND UP – EU TO ESTABLISH NEW ANTI-CYBERCRIME ORGANISATIONS
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) is expanding its network of cyber-crime expertise, with a view to beefing up intelligence, protections and responses to online criminal attacks, including frauds such as identity theft, as well as hacking.
EU member states and the European Parliament are to start talks establishing from January 2021 a European Cybersecurity Industrial, Technology and Research Centre, pooling European investment in cybersecurity research, technology and industrial development.…
EU LAUNCHES NEW PROPOSED LAWS TO FIGHT BURGEONING VAT FRAUD
THE EUROPEAN Commission has continued to push reforms to European Union (EU) VAT legislation to boost the fight against VAT fraud. It has tabled a directive and a regulation whose goal is to establish an electronic business portal for VAT declarations allowing companies selling goods online to EU customers to administer their VAT obligations in one e-government system.…
EIB FUNDS GAS PIPELINE IN ROMANIA
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) is lending EUR50 million – the first tranche of an approved loan of EUR150 million – to Romanian gas utility TRANSGAZ, to finance building a new pipeline linking Romania’s Black Sea shore natural gas resources with its national gas transmission network and the BRUA gas transmission corridor (linking Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria).…
DRAFT EU/UK BREXIT DEAL INDICATES HOW LONDON AND BRUSSELS WANT TO CONTINUE ANTI-FRAUD COOPERATION
THE DRAFT Brexit agreement that has caused political controversy in the UK, but which the European Union (EU) insists is its final offer, would – if approved – see the immediate retention of much existing cooperation between Britain and the remaining EU.…
SUITS OFFER PROMISE AS BANGLADESH APPAREL EXPORTERS CHASE BIG TARGET
With China losing its sheen as a low-cost manufacturing heartland, Bangladesh’s clothing exporters are tapping into this opportunity by diversifying into another new higher margin segment — suits.
Senior executives and analysts told just-style how potential larger profits are drawing in major manufacturers, who are now confronting the challenges of building technical knowhow, recruiting skilled labour and attracting global buyers available. …
EASTERN EUROPE’S INCREASINGLY MATURE MARKET POSTS MODEST GROWTH
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.…
EU ROUND UP - EUROPEAN PUBLIC PROSECUTOR TO BE ESTABLISHED
COMPANIES and citizens defrauding European Union (EU) revenue collection (including
customs duties and cross-border VAT fraud) and spending programmes, may from 2020 face
direct criminal proceedings brought by a European Public Prosecutor (EPPO). The EU
Council of Ministers has approved establishing this new institution in 20 of the 28 EU
member states – Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia,
Germany, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Portugal,
Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia.…
EBRD PLANS TO HELP RUSSIANS EXTRACT CASPIAN GAS, WHILE FINANCING AZERI PIPELINE ACROSS TURKEY
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) is planning to lend up to USD100 million to LUKOIL Overseas Shah Deniz Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Russia’s PJSC LUKOIL, helping it take part in developing Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz gas field. This investment is a rare EBRD financing of a Russian company.…
ROMANIA CONSIDERING NATIONAL SUGAR TAX
Romania’s ministry of public finance has announced that it is drafting proposed regulations that would introduce special taxation on foods and beverages with high sugar content, with the goal of boosting health standards. Targeted products could include chocolate, confectionery, ice cream, as well as soft drinks, sports and energy drinks, but so far, no detailed list has been published.…
EU TO REQUIRE DUE DILIGENCE CHECKS FOR CONFLICT MINERALS
The European Union (EU) is to require companies importing certain minerals to carry out ‘due diligence’ checks on their suppliers to ensure they are not funding conflict or human rights violations, under a draft regulation approved in the European Parliament in Strasbourg today (March 16). …
LIBYA’S SHEEP INDUSTRY HIT HARD BY CIVIL WAR
Civil war, currency instability and smuggling are hitting the Libyan sheep market and stocks of the key Libyan Barbary Sheep breed are decreasing. It is a key source for both meat and wool. Dr Abdulla Elmansoury, Professor of Physiology at Libyan International Medical University, in Benghazi, where he is Dean of the Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, who is also a livestock farmer with holdings near Benghazi has seen his lamb business destroyed by the Libyan civil war that has continued since 2014.…
EASTERN EUROPE’S SLOW BUT STEADY GROWTH A WORLD AWAY FROM POST-COMMUNIST GROWTH HEYDAY
MANY personal care product markets in eastern and central Europe are growing slowly, with incremental growth being tapped especially by major international brands who have squeezed out local players with their solid pricing and reliable quality.
But with natural cosmetics rising in popularity, there is still space for innovative smaller players with sufficient local roots and knowhow to appeal to consumers in what remains an extremely diverse region in terms of culture and consumer habits.…
EASTERN EUROPE’S SLOW BUT STEADY GROWTH A WORLD AWAY FROM POST-COMMUNIST GROWTH HEYDAY
MANY personal care product markets in eastern and central Europe are growing slowly, with incremental growth being tapped especially by major international brands who have squeezed out local players with their solid pricing and reliable quality.
But with natural cosmetics rising in popularity, there is still space for innovative smaller players with sufficient local roots and knowhow to appeal to consumers in what remains an extremely diverse region in terms of culture and consumer habits.…
EU ROUND UP – EU PUSHES AHEAD WITH EUROPEAN ANTI-FRAUD COLLABORATION, DESPITE THREATS TO EU UNITY
FACED with the twin threats of Brexit and a new US President-elect who prefers bilateral relations to multilateralism, the European Union (EU) and its institutions are nonetheless pushing ahead with forging a collaborative system of anti-fraud law enforcement.
In a sign that such initiatives draw overwhelming backing from European Parliament political groups, the EU’s elected assembly, its plenary has backed by 545 votes to 91 a detailed call for the European Commission to review its legislation against corruption and organised criminals.…
EU PUSHES AHEAD WITH DEVELOPING EASTERN EUROPEAN INTERNATIONAL GAS PIPELINE LINKS
MILLIONS of Euros have been released by the European Union (EU) to fund projects deepening the international gas pipeline network in eastern Europe, a key element of EU plans for forge an ‘energy union’.
One major project is a EUR179 million plan to create the Bulgaria–Romania–Hungary–Austria (BRUA) system of gas lines.…
EU ROUND UP - EUROPEAN COMMISSION LAUNCHES GLOBAL TAX AVOIDANCE BLACKLIST ASSESSMENT
THE EUROPEAN Commission has completed the first phase of an assessment designed to help the European Union (EU) frame its own blacklist of jurisdictions deemed un-cooperative over tax evasion and avoidance. Brussels has released a ‘scoreboard’ of non-EU jurisdictions judging whether they exchange information with foreign tax authorities, have preferential or low tax regimes, have close and important economic and financial links with the EU and are politically stable (and hence more attractive as a tax haven).…
ENERGY DIPLOMACY GIVES EU THE MEANS TO FORGE SECURE SUPPLIES, BUT IT IS NO SURE BET
IN an ever more interconnected world, where reliable energy flows are of critical importance to sophisticated developed economies, the role of diplomacy in helping keep oil and gas flowing is perhaps more important than ever before.
Of course, oil and gas has always been an international business.…
LEGISLATION TO ENABLE GROWTH OF IRISH GAMBLING INDUSTRY WHILE TACKLING CRIME AND PROTECTING VULNERABLE USERS
THE opening of Paddy Power bookmaker shops in provincial Romanian cities such as Cluj in the past year is the latest show of international ambition from an Irish corporation which has become a market leader and has shaken up the European gambling industry.…
BULGARIA AND GREECE STRIKE GAS INTERCONNECTOR AGREEMENT
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.…
DEALING WITH DIGITAL ESSENTIAL TO BOOST COSMETICS SALES, CONFERENCE HEARS
Delivering products that are present in everyday life to unknown markets across the globe, online sales are essential to boost the already booming EUR77 billion European cosmetics market, Cosmetics Europe director general John Chave told last week’s ‘Personal care in a changing world’ conference in Brussels (June 13-17).…
BY LEE AUSTRALIA PLOTS TIGHTER RULES ON MONEY LAUNDERING AND TERROR FINANCE
A SWEEPING review of Australia’s Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006, published in April 2016, has made more than 80 recommendations to tighten and extend the scope of this key piece of legislation. Among these are proposals to streamline due diligence obligations on the part of reporting entities while reinforcing auditing procedures, increasing the scope of the legislation to cover more professional categories and types of transactions and increasing surveillance particularly in the remittance sector.…
DEEP EU SPLITS OVER CONFLICT MINERAL MONITORING SCHEME
The European Union (EU) is struggling to resolve deep political divisions over whether a future diligence scheme to prevent conflict minerals hitting Europe’s shores should be mandatory or voluntary and over the influence that industry should have on the system’s operation. …
EASTERN EUROPEAN PERSONAL CARE PRODUCT SECTOR AND MARKET SHRUGS OFF STAGNATION
It has taken more than half a decade for the cosmetics markets of eastern Europe to finally shrug off a long-running period stagnation that has characterised the regional market. Two underlying features – the financial crisis of 2008 and the completion of multinational takeovers in the noughties that saturated these post-communist markets – lay behind the extended period of slow, low or non-existent growth.…
ALGERIA HOPES NEW RENAULT PLANT WILL BOOST LONG TERM GROWTH IN LOCAL AUTO MANUFACTURING
THE EXPANSION of Renault’s manufacturing operations in Algeria looks set to continue, providing new jobs in the north African nation, fuelling speculation about its strategic significance. The company has already created 250 direct jobs and 500 indirect jobs according to Guillaume Josselin, chief executive officer of Renault Algeria, through the opening last November 10 (2014) of a car manufacturing plant, based in the coastal city of Oran.…
NEW FOOD LABELLING RULES BRING HARMONISATION, BUT ALSO CHALLENGES
THE NEW European Union (EU) food labelling rules that started applying from December 13 have brought harmonisation about how and what information should be given to EU consumers, representatives of the confectionery industry say. But upcoming changes that are still being discussed may pose some challenges for manufacturers and packagers alike.…
TRADE MEPS CALL EU PLANS ON CONFLICT MINERALS TOO WEAK
European parliamentarians debating European Commission proposals for the voluntary self-certification by European companies importing tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold from ‘conflict and high risk’ regions have called for more clarity about how the system would operate.
In the first exchange of views on the proposal in the European Parliament, centre-right Romanian MEP Iuliu Winkler told the institution’s international trade committee members.…
ROMANIA TOLD TO REFORM UNFAIR INTEREST TAXATION RULES
Romania has been asked by the European Commission to give foreign EU companies the same rights as Romanian businesses regarding taxing their interest income. Romania resident legal entities are taxed only on net interest income, while foreign EU organisations are taxed more heavily on gross interest income earned in Romania.…
IFRS FACES MANY CHALLENGES, BUT THE BENEFITS OUTWEIGH THE COSTS
INTERNATIONAL Financial Reporting Standards’ (IFRS) are not perfect, but their benefits to the European Union (EU) have outweighed their costs, an Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) event in Brussels heard on September 25. The European Commission is carrying out its first public consultation on the impact of IFRS in the European Union (EU), seeking formal comments by October 31, helping it generate policy proposals by the end of this year.…
ROMANIAN HEALTH MINISTRY RESPONDS AFTER BEING SUED BY PATIENTS
THE ROMANIAN health ministry is working on the revised list of medicines that patients suffering from cancer and other chronic disease could receive under their healthcare coverage in the country, after it was sued by patients’ organisations in May.
“We hope to present the new list [of covered medicines] in autumn, as we have committed before,” a ministry spokeswoman told Manufacturing Chemist.…
EU AVIATION CRISIS CELL COORDINATING AIRSPACE AFTER MALAYSIAN FLIGHT SHOT DOWN IN UKRAINE
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) aviation crisis cell (EACCC) is currently coordinating the response of the European airspace network to the closure of airspace in part of eastern Ukraine on July 17, following the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines MH 17 flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.…
JOHNSON & JOHNSON DEMONSTRATE GOOD PRACTICE IN PRAGUE SHARED SERVICE CENTRE
WHEN American personal care product giant Johnson & Johnson opened its shared-services centre in Prague during 2006, it employed 12 people and provided only in-group procure-to-pay services. Currently this Johnson & Johnson finance centre is the largest of the five centres the company operates worldwide in terms of staff numbers as well as the scope of services it provides to internal business partners.…
EU ROUND UP – BRUSSELS PLOTS NEW EU ENERGY SECURITY STRATEGY AFTER UKRAINE CRISIS
THE EUROPEAN Commission has released a new European Energy Security Strategy, aimed at further reducing Europe’s reliance on energy imports, notably on politically unreliable trading partners such as Russia.
Its new policy plan was to be debated at the next European Union (EU) summit (European Council) on June 26-27, in Brussels.…
EBRD FOCUSES INVESTMENT ATTENTION ON CRISIS-HIT UKRAINE AND NEIGHBOURS – FINANCING IN RUSSIA FALLS
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) is increasing its assistance to Ukraine, because of its ongoing political and military crisis, the development institution’s annual meeting has been told. The country is a core part of the EBRD’s eastern, central Europe and central Asia region of operation, along with Russia, which recently annexed Crimea, sparking a diplomatic firestorm.…
BRUSSELS EARMARKS EURO 3.6 MILLION FOR ROMANIA STEEL REDUNDANCIES
The European Commission has proposed that Euro EUR3.6 million be taken from the European Union’s (EU) globalisation fund to help 1,000 former steel workers in Romania get back to work. The sum must be formally approved by the European Parliament and Council of Ministers.…
ECC-NET’S 2013 ANNUAL REPORT - NATIONAL UNIT ROUND UP
AUSTRIA
The location of ECC Austria in central Vienna means many consumers drop by to receive advice or lodge complaints in person with the ECC’s five staff members. A top priority in 2013 was increasing public awareness about e-commerce fraud; a brochure aimed at combatting the problem was published and more than 600,000 were distributed throughout Austria.…
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT BACKS SINGLE SKY REFORMS, BUT CAUTIOUS ON ATC SUPPORT SERVICE LIBERALISATION
THE EUROPEAN Parliament has backed proposals to boost the implementation of the European Union’s (EU) beleaguered Single European Sky reforms, although MEPs passed amendments that would delay some proposed liberalisation measures.
Voting today in Strasbourg (March 12), the parliament’s plenary gave a first reading approval to this proposed regulation and also a related regulation reforming the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).…
EU-WIDE ASSET FREEZING TAKES A BIG STEP
POWERS to freeze criminal assets simultaneously across most of the
European Union (EU) have moved closer the European Parliament plenary overwhelmingly backed a draft directive already given an informal nod by most member states.
It will allow EU-wide confiscation of assets acquired through active and passive corruption in both the private and public sectors including officials of EU institutions.…
MOST EU COUNTRIES NOT CONVINCED OF ORIGIN LABELLING FOR MEAT AS INGREDIENT
MANY European Union (EU) countries are unsure whether imposing mandatory labelling requirements for the country of origin of meat used as ingredient in processed food products would bring benefits that justify the costs, a meeting of EU agriculture ministers in Brussels yesterday (24 March) revealed.…
FRANCE AND BELGIUM WELCOME DEAL OVER LOW GERMAN MEAT SECTOR WAGES
THE FRENCH government has welcomed an agreement between the German Food and Allied Workers Union (NGG) and the employers group ANG to introduce a minimum wage structure for the approximately 80,000 employees of the German meat industry.
French farm minister Stephane le Foll said that following the deal the expected the Germany good industry to return to “more balanced competition with its European partners.”…
EASTERN EUROPE COSMETICS SALES STILL SLUGGISH – WITH SALES TRENDS STARTING TO MIRROR WESTERN EUROPE
THE COUNTRIES of eastern and central Europe that came in from the cold in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall have felt the economic chill in recent years, with recession affecting the fortunes of the cosmetics industry.
Across a wide range of countries – for instance – Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia – the retail value of the beauty and personal care products market has remained at around Euro EUR10.70 billion in both 2012 and (according to provisional data for these five countries by market analysts Euromonitor International) in 2013; and is forecast to grow to EUR10.85 billion in 2014.…
EASTERN EUROPE COSMETICS SALES STILL SLUGGISH – WITH SALES TRENDS STARTING TO MIRROR WESTERN EUROPE
BY MARK ROWE; JONATHAN DYSON, in Zagreb; and ANDREW KURETH, in Warsaw
THE COUNTRIES of eastern and central Europe that came in from the cold in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall have felt the economic chill in recent years, with recession affecting the fortunes of the cosmetics industry.…
OIL AND GAS RESEARCH PROJECTS OFFERED MORE EU MONEY
OIL, gas and petrochemical companies can bid for an increased pot of European Union (EU) funding for research projects under the new Horizon 2020 programme, which was approved in November. It has an overall budget exceeding Euro EUR78.6 billion and will run from January to 2020.…
ROMANIA CLEARED TO EXPORT PORK MEAT FROM ALL HOLDINGS STARTING 2014
ROMANIA will be allowed to export pork meat to the European Union (EU) market from all of its commercial pig holdings from New Year’s Day (2014), the country’s National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority (ANSVSA) has announced.
Pork meat producers from 37 Romanian counties have been prevented from exporting their products to the rest of the EU since 2007, since these areas were affected by outbreaks of classical swine fever.…
HUGE LOSSES IN EU VAT REVEALED BY STUDY
EUROPEAN Union (EU) treasuries are losing almost Euro EUR200 billion-a-year in unpaid VAT lost because of non-compliance or non-collection, a European Commission report has concluded. A study of data into 26 member states covering the years 2000 to 2011 calculated that EUR193 billion was lost in 2011, comparing predicted and actual VAT revenues.…
EUROPEAN COGENERATION PROSPERS IN SOME COUNTRIES, WHILE FIGHTING WEAK ECONOMIES AND UNHELPFUL POLICY IN OTHERS
WITH Europe’s economy still struggling to deal with the fall-out of the global financial crisis, its co-generation sector has had to fight to expand, or in some cases hold its position. Tightening national government budgets have meant that the co-gen industry has had to argue persuasively for public subsidies and tax breaks, or even the right to have equal treatment with renewable energies.…
EU STEEL ACTION PLAN WILL ASK GOVERNMENTS TO STOP INCREASING TAXES ON STEEL INDUSTRY
European Union (EU) governments will be asked to stop levying more taxes on their steel manufacturers in an EU steel action plan to be presented on June 11, Steel First can reveal. Romania’s economy minister Varujan Vosganian, an EU minister closely involved in drafting the policy has outlined a series of details to be written into the text.…
ROMANIA STILL FACING SERIOUS CORRUPTION CONTROL ALLEGATIONS
ROMANIA might have been a European Union (EU) member state since 2007, but it is still dogged by allegations that it is a home for corruption and its performance in fighting graft continues to be formally monitored by the European Commission.…
ROMANIAN PRESIDENT ACTS TO SMOOTH SCHENGEN ENTRY
ROMANIAN President Traian Basescu has asked the country’s prime minister to sack two ministers facing graft charges until April 30 so the country can be accepted as a member of the European Union’s (EU) in the Schengen passport-free zone by the end of the year.…
ROMANIA’S ACCOUNTING AND TAX RULES TO COME UNDER INTERNATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
ROMANIA’S accounting and tax processes are about to come under spotlight after the country joined the Organisation for European Cooperation & Development (OECD) global forum on transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes at the end of January. It could be a rough rise for a country whose corruption failings are still being assessed by a special European Commission review, even though it joined the European Union (EU) as long ago as 2007.…
AML WORK ONLY GETTING STARTED ON SEIZING PROCEEDS OF TRAFFICKING OF HUMAN BEINGS
PROFITS from human trafficking are estimated at USD32 billion-a-year and growing, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), with the trade one of the fastest growing international crimes, now second to the drugs trade and ahead of arms trafficking. But despite its emotive nature as a crime, only recently has the money laundering angle to human trafficking been taken more seriously, and there is still a way to go.…
EFSA READY TO DELIVER SCIENTIFIC GUIDANCE ON HORSEMEAT SCAM
THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has declared it is ready to investigate the contamination of beef products with horsemeat, because it raises issues of false labelling, food quality and traceability in the European Union (EU) food chain. Although there is no evidence at the moment of any food safety issues, risk managers from EU countries are already conducting extensive tests of meat products to assess their components.…
ROMANIA AND BULGARIA STILL STRUGGLE WITH FRAUD AND ORGANISED CRIME
BY MARK ROWE AND CARMEN PAUN
AMIDST the fanfare that greeted Romania and Bulgaria’s accession to the European Union, there was little expectation that membership would eradicate corruption overnight. There were, though, reasonable grounds for anticipating tangible progress. Five years on, major corruption scrutiny bodies appear to have come to just such a conclusion: that Bulgaria at least has made substantial efforts to clean out some of the worst elements of corruption, but has plenty left to do.…
ROMANIAN BANKS SCAMMED FOR EUR85 MILLION IN LOANS FRAUD
BY CARMEN PAUN
TWO Romanian banks have been hit by staff issuing EUR85 million fraudulent loans to customers who should never have qualified for financing, the country’s directorate for the investigation of organised crime and terrorism (DIICOT) has revealed. The banks are BRD, controlled by France’s Société Générale, and Volksbank, part of the identically named Austrian group.…
REGULATORY ROUND UP - EU SUGAR QUOTAS COULD STAY AS CAP REFORM DEBATE HOTS UP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
PRESSURE is growing on European Union (EU) ministers to give the EU’s sugar production quota system a stay of execution. MEPs on the European Parliament’s agriculture committee have called for the retention of EU sugar quotas for beet farmers until 2020, rather than follow existing plans to phase them out in 2015.…
ROMANIAN PM ACCUSED OF ACADEMIC PLAGIARISM
BY CARMEN PAUN AND KEITH NUTHALL
ROMANIA’S Prime Minister Victor Ponta has been accused of plagiarising his PhD (ironically on the International Criminal Court) by two senior academic bodies. First, the Romanian National Council for Attesting Titles, Diplomas and University Certificates (CNATDCU) ruled on June 29 that the PM copied part of his 2003 thesis – and it was dismantled by the ministry of education that same day.…
ROMANIA: PRIME MINISTER PLAGIARISM ROW SNARES ACADEMICS
BY CARMEN PAUN
Senior Romanian professors have dismissed attacks on their integrity made after they were involved in analysing the accusation of academic plagiarism against the country’s Prime Minister Victor Ponta. The University of Bucharest’s Mircea Dumitru and Professor Marius Andruh have both come under fire from supporters of the prime minister, but have vigorously rejected the criticism levelled against them.…
FINAL BATTLE OVER THE EUROPEAN EFFICIENCY DIRECTIVE TO BE FOUGHT ARTICLE BY ARTICLE
BY CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS
THE FINAL battle over the proposed European Union (EU) energy efficiency directive will be fought article by article over the next weeks in Brussels, Martin Lidegaard, Denmark’s climate and energy minister said on Thursday. "There’s still a lot of work to be done, a lot of compromises that should be achieved and it will need flexibility from our side, but also from the [European] Parliament and the Commission’s side if we shall succeed in ending [the negotiations for] this directive," Lidegaard told a press conference.…
INTERNATIONAL ROUND UP - EU SUGAR QUOTAS TO GO
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has confirmed it is scrapping sugar production quotas across the European Union (EU) in 2015 when proposing a comprehensive reform of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). There have been calls from some member states and MEPs for the quota regime to be renewed, but the Commission has stuck to its guns and will continue with abolition.…
ROMANIA CLEARED TO SELL PIG MEAT TO REST OF EU
BY KEITH NUTHALL
ROMANIAN pigmeat exporters have been told they can at last allow its pigmeat exporters to sell into the rest of the European Union (EU), lifting a ban existing since Romania joined the EU in January 2007 over swine flu control concerns.…
EASTERN EUROPE IS GROWING ITS BIOFUEL FEEDSTOCK CAPACITY
BY ZLATKO CONKAS, BLAKE BERRY, MONIKA HANLEY, MARK ROWE and KEITH NUTHALL
EASTERN Europe is often regarded as developing in the slipstream of richer western Europe – and so far the model seems to be fitting with biofuels. That said, significant biodiesel manufacturing capacity is in place in the region, according to the European Biodiesel Board.…
EU ROUND UP - BRUSSELS FOCUSES BIOFUEL SUPPORT ON GREENER FUELS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has taken another step towards focusing the European Union’s (EU) support for biofuel production on those fuels that create at least 35% less carbon emissions than fossil fuels. A key part of this process is using certification schemes to ensure that biofuels are green, taking account of the environmental impact of their production as well as use, and the Commission has now recognised seven of these systems.…
MEPS CALL FOR REFORMS TO DECOMMISISONING PROJECTS IF FUNDING SHOULD BE RENEWED
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament has called for improvements to be made to three eastern Europe decommissioning programmes if generous European Union (EU) funding is to be renewed.
The EU is now starting to consider its next medium-term financing programme from 2014 to 2020, which means authorisation for many spending projects will lapse in 2013.…
PATCHWORK OF PIPELINES BEING DEVELOPED TO BRING HYDROCARBONS FROM THE CASPIAN TO EUROPE
BY MARK ROWE
THE FUEL pipeline network around the Caspian and Black Seas increasingly resembles a London Underground map, a comparison enhanced by the latest potential addition to the lattice, known as the AGRI scheme.
AGRI, the acronym for the Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania Interconnector, is a proposal for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) transportation across the Black Sea.…
EU-ROUND UP - MORE EFFORT NEEDED TO GREEN EUROPE'S ENERGY SECTOR - BRUSSELS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
DESPITE having set a clear goal of ensuring 20% of the European Union’s (EU) energy consumption is drawn from green sources, such as biogas and biofuels, more money and resources must be wheeled into action. That is the claim of the European Commission, in a long-awaited policy paper from its energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger, assessing the EU’s renewable energy directive.…
COMMUNITY WORK ROUSING RESENTMENT AT SIERRA LEONE MINE
BY LEAH GERMAIN
A ROW has erupted between Sierra Mineral Holdings I Ltd (SML), a Vimetco NV subsidiary currently mining a vast bauxite deposit in Sierra Leone, and the government department with monitors it. In an interview in Freetown with Metal Bulletin, the Sierra Leone government complained about Vimetco’s perceived lack of commitment to community development – it is a claim that the company has strongly denied.…
CEFIC CALLS FOR REACH RED TAPE REVIEW
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EUROPEAN chemical industry federation CEFIC has called for a review of administration under European Union (EU) chemical control system REACH to help small-and-medium-sized companies (SMEs) deal with its burden. As the first key REACH chemical deadline of November 30 approaches, CEFIC director general Hubert Mandery has looked ahead to subsequent deadlines, which involve chemicals used in smaller volumes.…
ROMANIA'S OLTCHIM ABANDONS TAKEOVER DEAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A ROMANIAN chemical company making caustic soda flakes and hydrogen peroxide has abandoned an attempt to takeover a troubled supplier after opposition from the European Commission. It was probing concerns about the legality under European competition law of a Romanian government 80% loan guarantee of a Euro EUR62 million bank loan to help Oltchim buy Arpechim.…
DIGITAL BUZZ SURROUNDING SPANISH PUBLISHING FOCUS OF THIS YEAR'S MADRID INTERNAITONAL BOOKFAIR
BY ROBERT STOKES
A SURGE in e-book reading in Spain coincides with exhibition space being devoted to digital publishing for the first time ever at LIBER, the International Book Fair for the Spanish speaking world, from Wednesday to Friday this week in Madrid.…
BULGARIA IMPROVES ANTI-FRAUD RECORD WHILE ROMANIA SLIPS BACK - BRUSSELS REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE LATEST European Commission monitoring report on Bulgaria and Romania’s fight against fraud and corruption has said Sofia has made progress, while Bucharest has slipped back. Since the victory of the centre right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria last June, robust policies have tackled organised crime, fraud and corruption.…
EBRD CONSIDERS TAKING LEAD IN REFINANCING DEBT OF ROMANIAN ALUMINIUM SMELTER
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) is considering taking the lead in refinancing the bulk of the debt owed by south-east Europe’s largest aluminium producer – Romania’s Alro.
The London-based EBRD has drafted a plan to lend Alro up to US dollars USD180 million, of which at least USD105 million would be syndicated to commercial banks (including the company’s current lenders).…
EASTERN EUROPE'S POWER SECTOR GOES GREEN
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.…
MEPS SEEK BAN ON CYANIDE MINING TECHNOLOGIES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Parliament is seeking a European Union (EU) ban on using cyanide technologies in mining, notably to prevent a repeat of the year 2000 Baia Mare gold mine disaster in Romania. Then toxic tailings were released into the River Danube system when a dam penning them up collapsed.…
EU OFFICIALS REVEAL COUNTERFEIT CLOTHING AND ACCESSORY HAUL IN INTERNATIONAL OPERATION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
ROMANIAN customs officers participating in an international anti-smuggling action have seized 20 tonnes of undocumented perfume from a lorry – containing scents in Gucci, Versace, Calvin Klein, Chanel and other packaging. The raid was coordinated with other actions across Europe by European Union anti-fraud unit OLAF.…
EU OFFICIALS REVEAL COUNTERFEIT DRINKS HAUL IN INTERNATIONAL OPERATION
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 6,400 litres of counterfeit and smuggled alcohol. 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.…
CIOLO? BACKS DAIRY QUOTA ABOLITION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE NEW European Union (EU) agriculture Commissioner will have reassured liberalisers with a clear commitment today that he supports scrapping restrictive EU dairy production quotas in 2015. Romanian Dacian Ciolo?’ appointment came amidst mutterings in Brussels, London and elsewhere that he might reinstate dairy quotas.…
CIOLO? CALLS FOR OPEN DEBATE ON CAP REFORM
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE NEW European Union (EU) agriculture Commissioner who took office on Wednesday (Feb 10) has asked the food industry for views on reforming the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Romanian Dacian Ciolo? told a meeting of EU food producers’ organisation COPA-COGECA yesterday (Thursday) he had no detailed blueprint for the CAP after 2013.…
INTERNATIONAL CONFECTIONERY NEWS ROUND-UP - CIOLO? APPOINTMENT
BY KEITH NUTHALL, ANCA GURZU and DAVID HAWORTH
THE CONFECTIONERY manufacturing sector in the European Union (EU) has a new political boss in the shape of Romania’s Dacian Ciolo?, who became the EU’s latest agriculture Commissioner on February 10. Appointed amidst pledges he would be willing to use EU money to guarantee food production, he has promised to undertake a swift review of the EU’s reformed sugar regime.…
EIB CONFIRMS FINANCING FOR FORD'S ROMANIA PLANT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) has now approved a Euro 400 million loan to Ford Romania to help it expand and modernise its Craiova assembly plant, tooling it for building a small car model. Ford is already assembling Transit Connect vans at Craiova, and production is expected to increase this year thanks to the expansion.…
CIOLO? ALLAYS CONCERNS HE WILL BE 'FRENCH POODLE' WITH COMPETENT PERFORMANCE
BY DAVID HAWORTH
EFFORTS to boost food producers in their frequent quarrels with big-time retail chains have been promised by the European Union’s (EU) agriculture Commissioner-designate Dacian Ciolo? when he appeared before European Parliament lawmakers.
Speaking in a confirmation hearing in Brussels, he said he wanted "to improve the negotiating position" of food producers when dealing with large retailers: "I want to see a better dialogue between the various actors in the food chain.…
MOLDOVA REMAINS FERTILE GROUND FOR TOBACCO SMUGGLING RINGS
BY MARK ROWE
MOLDOVA would appear to fit the description of a far away country about which the world knows nothing. But its location, adjacent to Romania, (one of the two most recent European Union (EU) member states, Ukraine, the Black Sea and the disputed, politically uncertain region of Transnistria (which remains formally part of Moldovan territory, while its government has little authority there), is extremely familiar, and favoured, by counterfeit cigarette producers and traffickers.…
ROMANIA TO TAX JUNK FOOD
BY ANCA GURZU AND KEITH NUTHALL
THE ROMANIAN government has promised to introduce a special tax on junk food – a world first, it claims. A communiqué from the country’s health ministry said: "The new tax will represent 1% from all fast-food sales, and the funds we will collect will help contribute to the country’s health programmes…" Officials had told the ministry’s nutrition commission "to establish the exact details of this concept", and officials will be consulting with drinks producers, importers and retailers.…
ROMANIA TO TAX SOFT DRINKS
BY ANCA GURZU
THE ROMANIAN government has promised to introduce a special levy on soft drinks, in what it hails as the world’s first junk food tax. A communiqué from the country’s health ministry on Tuesday (5/1) said: "The new tax will represent 1% from all fast-food sales, and the funds we will collect will help contribute to the country’s health programmes…" It said health minister Attila Czeke had told the ministry’s nutrition commission "to establish the exact details of this concept", and officials will be consulting with drinks producers, importers and retailers.…
FRANCE PROMISES TO USE ITS INFLUENCE ON ROMANIAN AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER
BY KEITH NUTHALL
FRANCE’S nominee to the new European Commission has publicly declared he will try to influence the Romanian proposed as the new agriculture Commissioner. Speaking at a press conference in Paris, Michel Barnier, who has been allotted the powerful internal market brief, said: "He will be independent but I will give him my opinion," a potentially undiplomatic statement given the concerns aired about French influence over nominee Dacian Ciolo?.…
BRUSSELS BACKS GOVERNMENT TRAINING HANDOUTS FOR FORD ROMANIA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has demonstrated its wholehearted backing for the development of Ford’s Craiova car plant in Romania, approving a Euro 57 million subsidy from the Romanian government for training. Acting as the European Union’s (EU) national handout regulator, the Commission has allowed the grant, on condition it is released in installments, which matches Ford’s training expenses.…
ROMANIANS PICK UP FOOD PORTFOLIO AT BRUSSELS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
ROMANIA has been awarded the powerful agriculture portfolio in a proposed new European Commission, with former agriculture minister Dacian Ciolo?, 40, being formally proposed to take over from Mariann Fischer Boel. The announcement today by reappointed Commission president José Manuel Barroso is sure to worry supporters of a leaner Common Agricultural Policy.…
BRUSSELS APPROVES EIB LOAN TO FORD WHILE OLD STATE AID PROBE REMAINS OPEN
BY KEITH NUTHALL
WHAT a difference a year makes. The changed face of European Union (EU) controls over public subsidies to its automakers has been illustrated clearly by Friday’s (13-11) decision by the European Commission to allow government guarantees backing a Euro 400 million loan to Ford Romania SA.…
EUROPOL GIVES INSIGHT INTO CUTTING EDGE TECHNOLOGICAL AND ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE IN ORGANISED CRIME
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPOL’s Organised Crime Threat Assessments have not always contained a wealth of detailed useful information – but its 2009 report shows how crime groups are adopting innovative technology and organisational skills: international business should take note. Keith Nuthall reports.…
PORTUGUESE HAULERS ACCEPT ROUGH RIDE IN RECESSION
BY BRENDAN DE BEER and CARRIE-MARIE BRATLEY
"THIS is one of the most serious situations we have ever been faced with," admitted António Mousinho, chairman of Portugal’s National Haulage Association (ANTRAM) at the beginning of October.
As with other industries in these economically turbulent times, the haulage industry in Portugal and its trade unions and professional associations are becoming increasingly obsessed with simple economic survival.…
EU ROUND UP - UKRAINE MAY GET US$3 BILLION HELP FROM EUROPE FOR GAS REFORMS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE SIZE of the planned international investment in Ukraine’s gas distribution system has been revealed in a European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) memorandum: up to US$3 billion maybe pumped in. Money would start flowing with a US$300 million working capital loan from the EBRD for purchasing gas, repayable after this winter heating season.…
EASTERN EUROPE OILS AND FATS SECTOR BEING OPENED TO WESTERN EUROPE THROUGH EU TRADE DEALS
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.…
PERSONAL CARE PRODUCT INDUSTRY FIGHTS TO PRESERVE ITS REPUTATION AGAINST COUNTERFEITERS AND PIRATES
BY KEITH NUTHALL, JULIAN RYALL, in Tokyo, EMMA JACKSON and LEAH GERMAIN
TIME was when counterfeit personal care products were commonly crude fake perfumes pedalled in markets and workplaces during the Christmas and other festive periods to bargain hunters who knew they were buying rubbish.…
EU ROUND UP - EUROPE 95% DEPENDENT ON OIL IMPORTS IN FUTURE WARN MEPS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE DEPENDENCE of the European Union (EU) on imports to meet oil supply needs will rise to 95% by 2030, a European Parliament report has claimed. This will expose the EU to strategic dangers through buying oil from unstable or potentially hostile countries in the Middle East and from Russia, it warned.…
INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION ROUND-UP - UN CLOSE TO PORT BAN FOR ILLEGAL FISHING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
NEGOTIATORS are close to forging an international agreement that would ban vessels involved in illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing from ports worldwide. The United Nations Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has been hosting the talks, and has reported the "general outlines… on ‘port state’ measures that would deny vessels engaged in IUU fishing access to fishing ports are largely in place."…
TOUGH TIMES LOOM FOR SCANDINAVIAN TRUCKERS
BY LARS RUGAARD
CASH shortages, competition from abroad and cost rises threaten to remove one of every three of Denmark’s roughly 35,000 lorry drivers from their trade this year, haulage experts are warning. Speaking to Commercial Motor, a Danish truck driver sitting on the bunk of his Volvo truck sums up his industry’s gloom in one sentence: "Earlier things were better".…
EU-AUSTRALIA WINE DEAL EXPANDED AND SIGNED
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) and Australia have signed a wine trade agreement, having expanded its scope to protect Bulgarian and Romanian producers. Because these countries joined the EU in January 2007, they were excluded from the text of the agreement concluded later that year.…
INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION ROUND-UP - ARCTIC FISHERIES INITIATIVE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A CONTROLLED opening of Arctic fisheries made more accessible because of the steady retreat of polar ice through climate change has been called for in a European Commission policy paper.
It wants "a regulatory framework for [those] Arctic high seas not yet covered by an international conservation and management regime before new fishing opportunities arise," saying no fisheries should be opened for any country until such controls are established.…
ITALIAN HAULIERS BEING FORCED OUT OF BUSINESS BY TERRIBLE CONDITIONS AND CUT-THROAT COMPETITION
BY LEE ADENDORFF
IT has been a devastating year for Italian hauliers. In the last 10 months, 8,000 mostly single-vehicle hauliers have left the industry according to Gianni Montalli, president of the National Transport Union (CAN FITA Unione Nazionale Imprese di Trasporto).…
EU-AUSTRALIA WINE DEAL EXPANDED TO PROTECT BULGARIAN AND ROMANIAN PRODUCERS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has expanded the scope of the European Union’s (EU) wine agreement with Australia to protect Bulgarian and Romanian producers. Because these countries joined the EU in January 2007, they were excluded from the agreement concluded later that year.…
SPANISH DRIVERS PREFER TO DRIVE AT HOME, DESPITE RISING CONCERNS ABOUT MOTORWAY ROBBERIES
BY PAUL RIGG
ROBBERIES, competition from immigrants and the state of the economy are the issues of most pressing concern for Spanish hauliers, according to drivers interviewed in truck stops on the outskirts of Madrid by Commercial Motor.
"I woke up with my kidneys and head hurting like I’d drunk a bottle of whisky," said Elias Calyo, 46, from Andalucia in the south of Spain.…
ROMANIAN PARLIAMENT FLOUTS EU ACCESSION AGREEMENT OVER HOME BREW DUTY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE ROMANIAN parliament has flouted the agreement its country signed to gain membership of the European Union (EU) by voting to scrap excise duty collected on traditional home-brewed spirits. This exemption would apply for homemade ‘palinca’ and ‘tuica’ to a maximum quantity of 250 litres of pure alcohol within these drinks per household.…
EU-AUSTRALIA WINE DEAL EXPANDED TO PROTECT BULGARIAN AND ROMANIAN PRODUCERS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has expanded the scope of the European Union’s (EU) wine agreement with Australia to protect Bulgarian and Romanian producers. Because these countries joined the EU in January 2007, they were excluded from the text of the agreement concluded later that year.…
EU PRESSURE ON CORRUPTION HELPS SECURE SACKING OF ROMANIAN LABOUR MINISTER
BY KEITH NUTHALL
CONSTANT European Union (EU) pressure on Romania to cleanse its government of corruption has finally achieved a concrete result, with the sacking of the country’s labour minister – accused of graft. Paul P?curaru was dismissed via presidential decree almost a year after the chief prosecutor of Romania’s National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) requested permission to investigate claims he had asked a local politician to direct contracts to his son’s company.…
BRUSSELS LAUNCHES FORMAL PROBE INTO FORD SUBSIDIES IN ROMANIA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission may block the payment by the Romanian government of Euro 57 million to fund a training programme at the Ford plant at Craiova, south west Romania, because it fears it is illegal state aid. Brussels has launched a formal state aid inquiry into the planned subsidy, to check whether it does actually break European Union (EU) subsidy laws.…
BRUSSELS LAUNCHES FORMAL PROBE INTO FORD SUBSIDIES IN ROMANIA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
FORD’S plans to create a state of the art plant at Craiova, south west Romania, have hit yet another obstacle: the European Commission has declared a new subsidy from the Romanian government may be a handout too far.…
EU ROUND UP - RUSSIA ENERGY TALKS UNDERWAY AT LAST
BY KEITH NUTHALL
FORMAL negotiations between the European Union (EU) and Russia over renewing the 1997 partnership and cooperation agreement between them are under way at last: formal talks started in Brussels on July 4, following a successful EU-Russia summit at the Siberian oil town of Khanty-Mansiysk..…
HUNGARY AND ROMANIA AGREE CROSS-BORDER GAS LINK
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE HUNGARIAN and Romanian governments have agreed to connect their gas distribution systems, a move hailed by the European Commission as being important for eastern Europe security of energy supplies. Brussels is particularly happy the network operators of the two countries (Hungary’s FGSZ Ltd and Romania’s Transgaz will build the pipeline link, without any third country assistance, (such as Russia).…
ROMANIA FOOD RETAIL SECTOR IS BOOMING
BY MARK ROWE
THE FOOD retail sector in Romania has witnessed extraordinary growth in the past five years. Despite the fact that VAT in Romania is 19%, above the eastern European average, between 2002 and 2007, the grocery retail sector rose by 134.5% and is forecast to grow by a further 53.6% by 2012.…
ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT SUBSIDY FOR FORD CRAIOVA PLANT APPROVED BY EUROPEAN COMMISSION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A NEW and potentially well-priced source of Ford models has emerged, the European Commission approving the payment of Euro 143 million in subsidies from the Romanian government to help the multinational turn around the formerly state-owned Craiova vehicle manufacturing complex.…
EUROPEAN NUCLEAR ENERGY FORUM WORKING GROUPS START INVESTIGATING EU REFORMS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
WORKING groups for the new European Nuclear Energy Forum have started investigating the opportunities and risks facing Europe’s nuclear power sector, while examining how it can improve its transparency.
Following up an inaugural conference held in Bratislava last November 2007, three groups of high level nuclear experts have staged meetings and circulated papers.…
ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT SUBSIDY FOR FORD CRAIOVA PLANT APPROVED BY EUROPEAN COMMISSION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the payment of Euro 143 million in subsidies from the Romanian government to Ford, to help turn around the Craiova vehicle manufacturing complex, which it took over in March. The decision is the latest in a bumpy ride for Ford, which in February saw the Commission demand it effectively hand over an additional Euro 27 million for its plants, which it had secured for Euro 57 million.…
BULGARIA AND ROMANIA ATTACKED OVER CORRUPTION AND ORGANISED CRIME
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE NEWEST members of the European Union (EU) – Bulgaria and Romania – have been roundly attacked in Brussels over failures to combat organised crime and corruption. Their inaction could cost them dear. Keith Nuthall reports.
BEING criticised by the European Commission could easily be compared to being slapped with a wet fish: unpleasant, but nothing to lose sleep about.…
BRITAIN OPPOSES PIGMEAT EXPORT REFUNDS DESPITE PORK PRODUCER DEMOS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE BRITISH government has opposed Polish government proposals for introducing export refunds to promote European Union (EU) pigmeat sales abroad, despite recent London demonstrations by UK pork producers. Around 200 pig rearers picketed the 10 Downing Street residence of prime minister Gordon Brown earlier this month, protesting at low prices paid by supermarkets.…
EU MOVES TO FIGHT CORRUPTION IN EUROPE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
CORRUPTION is hard to pin down and is by nature the most insidious commercial crime. While the European Union (EU) has been showing its concern that Europe’s governments and international organisations are at risk, news about a probe into European Parliament financial misdemeanours have highlighted the EU’s own failings.…
FRANCE'S CARREFOUR PUSHES AHEAD WITH ROMANIA EXPANSION
BY ALAN OSBORN
THE FRENCH-OWNED Carrefour food retailer has announced major plans for expansion in Romania where it expects to achieve sales of exceeding Euro 1 billion in 2008. The company’s eleventh Romanian hypermarket was recently opened in Braila, with an investment of Euro 20 million, and nine more will be opened in 2008-2009, said a company spokeswoman.…
CHINA PRESSES ON WITH POLICY OF NATIONAL CHAMPIONS. TOBACCO CONTROL HOWEVER IS STARTING TO CATCH ON
BY MARK GODFREY, in Beijing
LONGYAN Cigarette Factory reflects the kind of good fortune and ambition which characterised China’s tobacco industry in 2007. Located in the city of the same name in southeastern Fujian province, the factory’s almost US$1 billion revenues for 2007 are a 24.5% increase on figures for the previous year.…
BRUSSELS CLEARS ENEL ROMANIA DEAL
BY ALAN OSBORN
The proposed acquisition of EMS, a Romanian utility engaged in the distribution and retail supply of electricity in the south of the country, by the Italian electricity giant Enel, has been cleared by the European Commission. Brussels said the two companies’ activities overlapped in the retail supply of electricity but there were no grounds for concern as "there are several other strong competitors present."…
AUSTRIA'S COMMERCIAL CRIME EXPOSURE RISES WITH EASTERN EUROPE FRONTIER CONTROLS FALLING
BY DAVID HAWORTH, in Vienna
AUSTRIA boasts a relatively low commercial crime rate. However its position as one of Europe’s crossroads is threatening this good reputation. Today it’s geographically and politically wedged between some older and some more recent European Union (EU) member countries.…
ROMANIAN STAKE INCREASED BY CADBURY
BY MARK ROWE
CADBURY Schweppes has welcomed the increase by its subsidiary Vantas International in Romanian chocolate confectionery producer Kandia-Excelent just weeks after a buy-out bid for the company expired. Vantas International, a fund controlled by Cadbury Schweppes, increased it stake in the burgeoning chocolate producer to 95.73% from 93.32%.…
EU MINISTERS BACK PIGMEAT STORAGE REGIME
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) ministers have backed the European Commission’s move to introduce private storage aid for pigmeat to fight current low prices. Under the programme, pigmeat producers can claim EU aid when storing meat for between three and five months.…
EBRD BACKS DEVELOPMENT OF ROMANIAN BEER MALTING INDUSTRY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is investing Euro 20 million into boosting the size of Romania’s beer malting industry. The money will go to Soufflet Malt Romania SA, the country’s second largest malt producer and majority-owned by Compagnie Internationale de Maltieres SA, of France.…
EU OPINION POLL SHOWS PLENTY OF DEMAND FOR AUTOMOBILES IN 'GREEN' EUROPE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE STEREOTYPE of Europeans favouring public transport over private cars is deeply flawed according to a new European Commission-funded opinion poll that interviewed 25,767 people. Pollsters Gallup not only confirmed that private motor transport is the most widespread means of making journeys in the EU (53% of those polled drove rather than cycled, walked or took public transport), 22% of these motorists would not drive less, even with dramatic improvements to rail, bus, air and boat transport.…
EU RULES ON DISQUALIFIED DRIVERS TO COVER BULGARIANS, ROMANIANS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) ministers have been asked to extend to new EU member states Bulgarian and Romania a convention that would effectively prevent these countries’ lorry drivers from working in the rest of the EU, if they receive driving bans while working outside their home countries.…
IFC PLANS TURKEY, ROMANIA GAS INVESTMENT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INTERNATIONAL Finance Corporation (IFC), of the World Bank, is lending US$50 million to American oil and gas producer Toreador Resources Corporation helping it develop natural gas resources in the Black Sea’s South Akcakoca Basin, off Turkey’s European coast.…
COMMISSION CRACKS DOWN ON ROMANIA, MALTA SECOND-HAND CAR IMPORT RESTRICTIONS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is demanding that Romania reforms its car registration taxation, which it thinks deters the import of second-hand cars, a key issue for fleets wanting to offload older vehicles. Romania is potentially a major market for EU used cars, given its 22 million population and lower wages.…
ANTI-FRAUD LEGISLATION IN THE BALKANS SLOWLY TOUGHENED THROUGH EU ACCESSION PROCESS
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.…
COMMISSION CRACKS DOWN ON ROMANIA, MALTA SECOND-HAND CAR IMPORT RESTRICTIONS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is demanding that Romania reforms its car registration taxation, which it thinks deters the import of second-hand cars, a key issue for fleets wanting to offload older vehicles. Romania is potentially a major market for EU used cars, given its 22 million population and lower wages.…
PRO-FRENCH VIP GROUP PRESSES FOR FRENCH LANGUAGE PRIMACY IN EU LAW
BY KEITH NUTHALL
IN an initiative bound to irritate any lawyer practising in English, a highly connected Francophile international group is pressing for the French language to have precedence in any translation dispute regarding European law. Why? Well, it’s simple, secretary of the Academie Francaise Maurice Druon told the European Parliament this week: “The language of Montesquieu is unbeatable.”…
EC STRIKES TENTATIVE DEALWITH RUSSIA OVER MEAT BAN THREAT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A PRELIMINARY deal brokered by the European Commission in Moscow covering meat hygiene controls has headed off the immediate threat of Russia banning all imports of European Union (EU) meat and meat products from January 1. The Russian government had warned of an import blockade, because of concerns over the health and safety of meat from Bulgaria and Romania, who join the EU that day and henceforth benefit from pan-EU export rights.…
RUSSIA EU MEAT BAN THREAT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
RUSSIA is threatening to impose an import ban on all European Union (EU) meat products from January 1. Moscow has written to the European Commission warning of a potential embargo because of the admission that day of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU – Russia claims safety concerns over these country’s meat products, which would henceforth have free circulation in the EU.…
RUSSIA THREATENS TO DEEPEN MEAT ROW WITH EUROPE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
RUSSIA is threatening to impose an import ban on all European Union (EU) meat products from January 1. Moscow has written to the European Commission warning of a potential embargo because of the admission that day of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU – Russia claims safety concerns over these country’s meat products, which would henceforth have free circulation in the EU.…
RUSSIA THREATENS TO DEEPEN MEAT ROW WITH EUROPE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
RUSSIA is threatening to impose an import ban on all European Union (EU) meat products from January 1. Moscow has written to the European Commission warning of a potential embargo because of the admission that day of Bulgaria and Romania to the EU – Russia claims safety concerns over these country’s meat products, which would henceforth have free circulation in the EU.…
EBRD LOAN FOR ROMANIA STEEL MANUFACTURER
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) is planning to lend Romanian steel maker Donasid Euro 10 million to upgrade and increase production of round billets, used for seamless pipe manufacture. The loan will help the Tenaris-owned plant in south-east Romania boost annual production to 425,000 tons by 2009, from 230,000 tons in 2006.…
USA THREATENS ROMANIAN TRADE IN POULTRY ROW
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE USA government is threatening to play hardball with Romania over the eastern European country’s refusal to accept imports of American poultry, unless production plants meet European Union (EU) rules, especially on welfare. No US plants are EU-approved, and faced with a halt to poultry exports to Romania, the US government is threatening to scrap a wide range of trade benefits, under its ‘generalised system of preferences’ regime.…
SEAMLESS IRON STEEL PIPES EU ANTI DUMPING DUTIES CROATIA ROMANIA RUSSIA UKRAINE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed that definitive anti-dumping duties are imposed on imports into the European Union (EU) of certain seamless iron or steel pipes and tubes from Croatia, Romania, Russia and Ukraine.
These would expand earlier duties covering pipes and tubes of iron or non-alloy steel – excluding alloy steel – although tariffs on Russian and Romanian exports were suspended in 2004.…
ROMANIA COMMERCIAL CRIME FEATURE - EU ACCESSION RESPONSE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
ROMANIA is desperate to join the European Union (EU) but it remains unclear whether that desperation extends to clamping down on business crime, one of the key obstacles that Romania must overcome to gain entry to the club.…
ROMANIA COMMERCIAL CRIME FEATURE - EU ACCESSION RESPONSE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
ROMANIA is desperate to join the European Union (EU) but it remains unclear whether that desperation extends to clamping down on business crime, one of the key obstacles that Romania must overcome to gain entry to the club.…
EGYPT PRIVATE UNIVERSITY BOOM HIGHER EDUCATION REFORM
BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Cairo
THE EGYPTIAN government has passed new compulsory standards for its country’s booming private university sector, because teaching quality at the eight independent universities established in Egypt in the past decade has sometimes been poor.
With so many new institutions chasing a quick buck, teaching and facilities has been unreliable, Professor Farag Elkamel, Dean of Mass Communications at the Al-Ahram Canadian University (ACU) told the Times Higher Education Supplement.…
EU COUNCIL OF MINISTERS - SLOVAKIA SLOVENIA ROMANIA BULGARIA EU-CHILE DEAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has made permanently legal across the EU experimental wine-making practices that have been under trial. They include the treatment of must and fermenting wine with charcoal, employing L-ascorbic acid, adding dimethyldicarbonate (DMDC) and using yeast mannoproteins.…
BIRDFLU LATEST - ROMANIA/TURKEY SUSPECT OUTBREAKS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE RISK of bird flu entering the European Union (EU) is becoming increasingly likely, with the European Commission banning imports of live birds and untreated feathers from Turkey, after a suspected outbreak in this country straddling Europe and Asia.…
EU ROUND UP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A PROACTIVE competition inquiry has been launched into the European Union’s (EU) natural gas sector, with the aim of rooting out anti-competitive practices. If the European Commission discovers instances of gas companies breaking existing EU competition law, legal action could follow.…
EBRD ROMANIA/MOLDOVA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is planning to lend Romania’s European Drinks Group Euro 195 million to fund a long-term investment and expansion programme. Its aim, said a bank memorandum, was to ensure the drinks and food producer changed from “a (large) family run entrepreneurial company into a well organised large corporate”.…
ROMANIA EBRD
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is lending up to Euro 20 million to help glass bottle manufacturer Stirom SA Romania, modernise a furnace and reform its distribution systems. In the latest of a string of investments by the bank improving the country’s packaging sector, Yioula SA, Greece, -owned Stirom may also use the money to buy additional capacity, said the EBRD.…
ROMANIA FEATURE
BY MARK ROWE
THE YEAR 2007 will be a significant one for Romania. It is the year that the country is scheduled to join the European Union (EU); it is also the year that Romania’s second nuclear power unit is expected to come on line.…
OVERMATTER
BY KEITH NUTHALL
In another step expected to smooth the distribution of the country’s electricity, the World Bank’s Programmatic Adjustment Loan (PAL) programme for Romania will privatise all six distribution companies. In recent months, four European investors have taken over the companies that form the heart of the Romanian energy sector, in transactions totalling around €2.25 billion.…
ROMANIA/BULGARIA AO 95
BY ALAN OSBORN
IT’S fair to say that neither Bulgarian nor Romanian wine stands very high in wine-lovers’ affections at the moment. That wasn’t always so.
The wines were held in some esteem in the 80s, for instance, under the last years of communist rule, but standards have slipped pretty drastically in the score of years since then.…
SPAIN REPORT
BY LIZ HALL
SPAIN’S paint and coating industry has every right to be self-congratulatory at present: the widespread investment and business improvements of recent years have paid off with the sector securing a well-earned place alongside its counterparts elsewhere in the developed world.…
ROMANIA - EU CONCERN
BY KEITH NUTHALL
ROMANIA’S newly appointed minister for European integration has raised concerns that European Union (EU) demands for the country to slash its steel industry subsidies ahead of its anticipated EU accession in 2007 will cause widespread plant closures. Ene Dinga told Brussels news wire Euractiv (CORRECT SPELLINGS) that this was of “particular concern” to him, as it is anticipated that at least 8,500 out of the current 52,000 Romanian steel industry jobs will go.…
EU ROUND UP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
WHILE discussions continue over how to ensure the security of energy supplies to the European Union (EU), Brussels institutions are sinking money into one sure bet, eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), for instance, is lending US$170 million to SOCAR, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, to fund two Caspian gas projects.…
ROMANIA TRADE DEAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EU food producers and manufacturers will gain duty free penetration of the Romanian market by 2007, with Romanian duties being phased out on lines ranging from confectionary and dairy products to bread and vegetables. In return, Romanian producers get duty free access by 2007 for a similarly wide range of food products.…
ROMANIA TRADE DEAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) meat producers will gain duty free penetration of Romania by 2007 for some key by-products, even if the country’s planned EU accession that year falls through. Under a free trade deal Romanian duties would be phased out on animal fats and oils, partly or wholly hydrogenated, inter-esterified, re-esterified or elaidinised, as well as animal fats that are boiled, oxidized, dehydrated, sulphurised, blown, or even polymerised.…
NEW EU TRADE DEALS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
DUTIES on a range of Romanian confectionary exported to European Union (EU) will be phased out by 2007, easing the country’s oncoming EU membership. Affected lines range from chewing gum, liquorice extract, white chocolate, boiled sweets and toffees.…
ROMANIA DEAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) drinks producers will gain duty free penetration of the Romanian market by 2007, even if the country’s planned EU accession on that year falls through. Under a free trade deal designed to ease its membership, Romanian duties of 60% on brandy, rum, gin, vodka, liqueurs and vermouth imported from the EU would disappear on January 1 of that year, as would 35% duties on EU whiskies.…
ROMANIA TRADE DEAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) ministers have been asked to approve granting Romanian wool producers immediate duty free access to the EU market for their crude wool grease exports from this year until 2007. Romania will then probably become an EU member country, enjoying unfettered access to the EU market for all its wool goods.…
EBRD LEASING LOANS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has announced two loans that will allow Romanian and Slovenian companies to lease commercial and passenger vehicles. As part of its general remit to develop eastern Europe, the bank will lend Euro 10 million to Romania’s BCR Leasing, which will on-lend the money to small businesses “to purchase cars or equipment that will support their business development”.…
ROMANIA DEAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) drinks producers will gain duty free penetration of the Romanian market by 2007, even if the country’s planned EU accession on that year falls through. Under a free trade deal designed to ease its membership, Romanian duties on beer would be phased out from 45% today to zero by 2007, 60% brandy, rum, gin, vodka, liqueurs and vermouth duties would disappear on January 1 of that year, as would 35% duties on EU whiskies.…
ROMANIA COURTS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE ROMANIAN government will inaugurate the country’s first specialised commercial court on October 1, part of a process to match the country’s legal system with norms in the European Union (EU). Romania hopes to become a member state in 2007 and as a result, earlier this year passed a law reorganising its judiciary.…
ROMANIAN COURT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
ROMANIA was to inaugurate its first specialised commercial court on October 1, part of a process to match the country’s legal system with norms in the European Union (EU). The business court will be staffed with eight judges, seven clerks and four support staff (including an IT specialist).…
EU ROUND UP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Environment Agency (EEA) says the old 15 member European Union’s (EU) greenhouse gas emissions fell by 0.5% from 2001-2, following increases in the previous two years. Sadly, proactive anti-global warming measures were not top of the agency’s reasons for the cut.…
EBRD ROMANIA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is lending Euro 135 million to two Romanian wood-processing companies, to prepare them for acquisition by Kronospan Holdings Limited, Europe’s leading wood panel producer. The loan will help financially restructure MDF Sebes, a medium-density fibreboard and resin plant, and Sepal, a particle-board plant.…
ROMANIA AGREEMENT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
ROMANIA’S meat processing industry will be given three extra years – to the end of 2009 – to modernise and upgrade 26 slaughtering and meat processing units and two poultry processing plants to meet European Union (EU) standards, if the country joins the EU in January 2007.…
ROMANIA DEAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
ROMANIA’S drinks industry will have an eight-year transitional period, until 2015, for ending the use of prohibited hybrid vine varieties for quality wine production; it currently produces half its wine from such grapes. It will also be allowed to protect within the EU traditional names of certain wine and spirit products under an agreement with the European Commission helping the country to join the EU by the end of 2006.…
ROMANIA DEAL
Keith Nuthall
ROMANIA’S drinks industry will be allowed to protect within the EU traditional names of certain wine and spirit products under an agreement with the European Commission helping the country to join the EU by the end of 2006. The deal on agricultural matters will prevent non-Romanian producers from selling wines called Vinars Târnave, Vinars Murfatlar and Vinars Vrancea, as well as spirits named Palinca and Tuica Ardeleneasca de Bistrita (SPELLINGS CORRECT).…
WAGES STUDY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
FOR a truly well-paid metalworking job – go to Romania, my son. That would appear to be the message of recent collective pay award statistics released by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, (an EU agency).…
WAGES STUDY
BY KEITH NUTHALL
FOR a local government job with real pay prospects – go to Romania. That would appear to be the message of recent collective pay award statistics released by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, (an EU agency).…
MINE WASTE MANAGEMENT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE DISASTERS caused by the tailings pond disasters at Baia Mare, Romania, and Aznalcóllar, Spain, have generated a major rethink in Brussels about the suitability of regulating potentially toxic mining waste under general European Union (EU) waste and landfill legislation.…
EASTERN EUROPE FEATURE
BY ALAN OSBORN
SEEN in the context of the past decade, the entry of 10 new member states to the European Union (EU) which took place on May 1 has proved nothing like the disaster for the nuclear industry that was once feared.…
ROMANIA ASSISTANCE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) is signalling growing confidence in the ability of Romanian public authorities to handle complex large-scale utility projects, through the award of loans and grants for development schemes. Romanian administrative standards have been criticised in the past few years for holding up the country’s progress towards joining the EU.…
ROMANIA ASSISTANCE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) is signalling growing confidence in the ability of Romanian public authorities to handle complex large-scale utility projects, through the award of loans and grants for development schemes. Romanian administrative standards have been criticised in the past few years for holding up the country’s progress towards joining the EU.…
ROMANIA TUBE DUTIES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers has approved European Commission plans to re-erect anti-dumping duties against two Romanian producers of certain seamless pipes and tubes of iron or non-alloy steel, declared illegal last year by the European Court of Justice over administrative mistakes.…
ROMANIA TUBE DUTIES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
RESERVE anti-dumping duties against two Romanian producers of certain seamless pipes and tubes of iron or non-alloy steel are to be re-imposed, even though they had last year been declared illegal by the European Court of Justice.
Judges had ruled last January that the European Commission made administrative errors when fixing the level of protection required for European Union (EU) producers from exports made by Petrotub SA and Republica SA.…
ROMANIA DEAL
BY KEITH NUTHALL
MUTUAL trade between the European Union (EU) and Romania in a range of tobacco products will become duty free by 2007, easing the eastern European country’s anticipated EU accession of that year. A trade agreement phases out duties on cigarettes (including those flavoured with cloves), cigars, cheroots and cigarillos, smoking tobacco, homogenised or reconstituted tobacco, chewing tobacco and snuff.…
EU ROUND UP
BY KEITH NUTHALL
AFTER a long period of consultation, a comprehensive directive protecting the European Union’s (EU) groundwater reserves has been proposed by the European Commission, which would force Member States to establish and police locally sensitive pollution limits. The legislation would insist that national governments carefully monitor groundwater quality and take steps to reverse its pollution, where it has exceeded these self-imposed thresholds.…
ROMANIA WATER
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is lending Romanian water utility Regia Autonoma Aquaserv Euro 7 million to improve drinking water supplies for the central Romania town of Targu Mures. The loan complements a Euro 20.9 million grant from the European Union’s (EU) ISPA programme to extend the 160,000-citizen town’s sewer network, improve storm management systems and help rehabilitate a water plant.…
BUCHAREST RESTORATION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
ENVIRONMENTAL health is necessarily a broad science, after all, the pollution, pathogens and accident risks that surround us are many and varied. So it makes sense, when trying to improve the environmental health of a particular urban area, to take a holistic approach, making improvements to services and cleanliness, as well as the built environment.…
WORLD BANK - ROMANIA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Bank is lending Romania a Euro 74.3 million package to help it develop a fully-functioning wholesale electricity market and boost the reliability of its transmission systems. Concerned that a lack of reliability of power supplies could hinder economic growth, especially in the capital Bucharest and in Transylvania, the bank wants to “attract and sustain private sector participation in the power sector.”…
ROMANIAN SHIP REVIEW
BY KEITH NUTHALL
ROMANIA’S Ministry of Public Works, Transports and Housing has launched a seaworthiness review of all Romanian flagged ships, which it hopes will allow it to provisionally close its European Union accession negotiations regarding transport policy. The inquiry was sparked by the Prestige disaster off Spain and the resulting release of a blacklist by the European Commission of ships that had visited European Union ports with safety defects.…
ROMANIA CO-GEN
KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has drawn up plans to lend Romanian Industrial Energy Efficiency Company Euro 11 million, so it can help around 15 creditworthy industrial companies develop “more efficient and reliable sources of energy,” especially by using co-generation.…
SPS COMMITTEE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
SWITZERLAND has complained to a key World Trade Organisation committee that its beef imports are being unfairly restricted by the USA because of concerns that they are contaminated with BSE. It has claimed at the WTO Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Committee that the US should not, for example, be insisting on the onsite inspection of Swiss meat plants, because the Office International des Épizooties has classified Switzerland as having a low incidence the disease.…
EU-ROMANIA
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A LAPSED double-checking system for imports of Romanian steel products into the European Union is to be reinstated from July, assuming EU ministers approve a proposal from the European Commission. The system was established when Romania and the EU signed an association agreement, (a broad trade and political relations deal), in 1996, but its legal authority lapsed last December.…
EASTERN EUROPE SHIPBUILDING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
INTERNATIONAL financial assistance is required in the eastern European shipbuilding and repair industries, if they are to withstand increased competition following the planned entry of their countries to the European Union, a report ordered by the European Commission has concluded.…
POLAND-ROMANIA
Keith Nuthall
POLAND has refused to accept a recommendation from the Textiles Monitoring Bureau of the World Trade Organisation that it lift transitional safeguard duties imposed on imports of acrylic/modacrylic staple yarn, pure or mixed with wool or fine animal hair, from Romania.…
EASTERN EUROPE THINK PIECE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
CYNICS may look at the hastening political process of allowing eastern European countries, and their large agricultural sectors, into the European Union, and ask, ‘what’s in it for us?’
It’s a good question given that the 10 countries that are at the front of the membership queue, (with the tiny exceptions of Malta and Cyprus), are hardly wealthy.…
OLAF REPORT ETC
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE PROCESS of transforming the European Union’s anti-fraud office OLAF into a truly independent operator, with enough investigative muscle and legislative teeth to make an impact in Brussels’ fight against financial crime, has proved to be a slow and difficult task, its latest report admits.…