Archive
International News Services archives articles supplied to clients one year or more after initial publication. These articles are protected by a password and not made available to readers without permission from clients. They are used as a background resource by agency journalists. Upon client requests, International News Services will remove such articles from the archive or not upload them in the first place. They are included to demonstrate the breadth of topics undertaken by the agency and also to help promote clients’ coverage.
SPAIN GAS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) has drawn up plans to lend Spanish utility Enagás SA up to Euro 450 million to reinforce and extend the country’s gas transmission network and reserve facilities. These improvements would cover most of the country and are included in the 2002-2011 Spanish National Energy Plan.…
PORTUGAL/GERMANY PROCUREMENT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
PUBLIC procurement rules telling Portuguese utilities to conduct open tenders for their purchases are illegal under European Union (EU) law, the European Commission is claiming. As a result, it is threatening legal action at the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which has the power to order Portugal to comply.…
BELGIUM RENEWABLES
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is has given Belgium two months in which to say how it will prevent Flanders’ regional government from imposing distribution charges on imports of electricity from renewable energy resources, while not levying supplies from Flemish ‘green’ producers, that is directly placed on the national grid.…
FINLAND & SWEDEN
BY KEITH NUTHALL
SWEDEN and Finland are being threatened with legal action at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) over their alleged failures to properly clean their wastewater discharges, a problem causing the shallow Baltic Sea to become rich with nutrients, sometimes causing dangerous algal blooms.…
SPAIN WATER
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission was due to meet the Spanish government on Monday (3 May) about how European Union (EU) finds might support the funding of a pared down – but still controversial – Spanish National Hydrological Plan. An announcement was planned for the same day and it was anticipated that some Brussels money would be made available for diverting water from the northern Jucar river basin to the Vinalopó, near Alicante.…
OECD ENVIRONMENT MEETING
BY KEITH NUTHALL
ENVIRONMENT ministers of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have called on the body’s rich country members to redouble their efforts to separate economic growth from ecological degradation or miss established OECD environmental targets for 2010.…
SCANDINAVIA - 3G INVESTMENT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) has lent Scandinavian 3G mobile project Hi3G Swedish Krona (SEK) 1,800 million (Euro 197.5 million), welcoming the initiative as “one of the first stand-alone UMTS networks to be developed in Europe by a new entrant”.…
E-BUSINESS EUROPE
BY KEITH NUTHALL
E-BUSINESS W@tch (NOTE – CORRECT SPELLING), an EU-funded monitoring organisation, is claiming that businesses in countries joining the European Union (EU) in May are embracing new Internet technologies rapidly – especially broadband – resulting in a smaller digital divide with existing members than expected.…
PUBLIC PROCUREMENT REVIEW
BY KEITH NUTHALL
UTILITIES enjoying market privileges who will in the future continue to be covered by European Union (EU) public procurement rules when buying in goods and services have been asked to comment on European Commission plans to reform the policing of this open tendering system.…
USTR TELECOMS REPORT
BY KEITH NUTHALL
GERMANY is at the centre of a lengthy critique of global restrictions on the telecommunications sector issued by the United States Trade Representative (USTR), which it warns may form the basis future World Trade Organisation disputes cases. Germany has been criticised regarding access to leased lines and high mobile termination rates, in particular, with the USTR attacking the German telecom regulator RegTP’s “lack of authority to impose certain measures (ie.,…