Search Results for: Belgium

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched legal action against Austria, Greece, Finland, Spain, Denmark, Belgium, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal and Sweden for failing to comply with a commitment under EU law to monitor average emissions of CO2 from new passenger cars.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers (environment) have agreed in principle that sulphur-free petrol and diesel should be introduced in every Member State from January 1, 2005, making the use of cleaner petrol mandatory from January 1, 2009; ministers agreed that sulphur-free diesel fuel should also become mandatory from that date, although this will be confirmed by a Commission review which will be completed no later than December 31, 2005.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A POLITICAL lifeline has been thrown to the EU’s Euro 3.6 billion, (Pounds 2.2 billion), Galileo project to set up a satellite-based global positioning system for European countries. After EU transport ministers appeared to have doomed the scheme by refusing some Euro 450 million, (Pounds 275 million), of development financing earlier this month, EU government leaders, meeting at the week-end in Belgium, said Galileo was of “strategic importance” adding that a financing decision should be taken by March next year.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission’s plan to establish the satellite-based global positioning system Galileo has been dealt a heavy – and potentially fatal – blow by the EU Council of Ministers (transport), which has blocked finance for the crucial development stage of the programme.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
European Union transport ministers have dealt a heavy, and possibly fatal, blow to the EU’s Galileo global positioning project by refusing to provide finance for the crucial development stage of the programme. The 3.6 billion euro (pounds 2.2 billion) Galileo scheme is designed to establish a satellite-based tracking system that, when operative in 2008, will allow transport operators and others to pinpoint positions on earth and reduce dependence on the American GPS navigation system which is shared with military users and where signals to civilian operators cannot be guaranteed.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE FUTURE of the European Union’s ambitious Galileo project remains in the balance after heads of government, in their summit meeting in Belgium at the weekend, re-affirmed the “strategic importance” they attach to it. The summit called on ministers “to continue work with a view to taking a decision on the funding of the development phase by March 2002 and to decide on the regulation by June 2002.”…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) is about to complete its own recommendations on safety improvements in long road tunnels. Its proposals include roadside checks on lorries to detect overheating and also rules on the amount of fuel carried through tunnels.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has cleared the proposed merger between steel producers Usinor S.A. of France, Luxembourg-based Arbed S.A. and Aceralia Corporación Siderúrgica S.A. of Spain, a deal which would create the world’s biggest steel company. To secure regulatory approval, the companies have agreed to sell off steel production and distribution operations in France, Spain, Luxembourg, Belgium, Italy and Portugal.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Trade Organisation has launched a review of its anti-dumping and countervailing rules, as part of the agreement to embark on a new general round of negotiations.

Ministers agreed at their summit in Qatar, for talks “aimed at clarifying and improving disciplines,” on these protective duty regimes.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
IT was telling that the first step taken by President Bush against Islamic terror groups following the World Trade Centre disaster was to freeze bank accounts. The international community has now responded by agreeing common controls to stop terror groups laundering funds.…