Search Results for: French

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EU transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio has launched an aggressive rebuttal of claims by French trade union’s that the European Commission’s single sky initiative is an effective privatisation of air traffic management that will compromise safety standards.

The conservative Spanish commissioner said: “Let there be no misunderstanding: the purpose of the Single Sky is not to boost competition or privatise air traffic control.…

BY JOHNATHAN THOMSON
DESPITE the general fears about air travel sparked by the World Trade Centre disaster, commercial aviation is not only incredibly safe, but is getting safer each decade despite the considerable rise in global traffic. Tens of thousands of passenger aircraft take to the skies every day across the world, yet during the 1990’s there were only 483 fatal air accidents globally.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE LATEST report of the European Court of Auditors on annual spending by the European Union is depressingly familiar. It says the figures do not warrant official approval. It puts a questionmark over some Pounds 2.5 billion out of the pounds 50 billion spent by the EU in 2000, with most of the suspect figures again in the farm sector.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the takeover of Filtrauto S.A., the French manufacturer of automotive filters, by its Italian rival Sogefi S.p.a. Brussels cleared the deal on competition grounds, because the merged company will still have to fight for sales, facing opposition particularly from German manufacturers Mann & Hummel and Mahle.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A SYSTEM of tax exemptions allowing French companies to deduct liability for losses incurred by subsidiaries or branches abroad breaks the European Coal and Steel Community’s Steel Aid Code, the European Commission has ruled.

Following an investigation, it has concluded that none of the exemptions provided for, such as aid for research and development, environmental protection or closures, are applicable.…

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.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has signed an agreement with Russia on space research cooperation. EU research commissioner Phillipe Busquin and Russian space agency director general Youri Koptiev agreed a joint document on the Euro-Russian Space Partnership. The deal focuses on mutual assistance in the development of satellite navigation systems such as Galileo and Glonass, Brussels’ “global monitoring for environment and security” (GMES) initiative and launch services, notably the launch of Soyuz rockets from the European Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FRENCH government is to be taken to the European Court of Justice by the European Commission over its refusal to allow medical laboratories established in another Member State, to open a branch or agency in France.

Brussels is also asking judges to tell Paris to scrap regulations contained within its national law, (Decree No.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE FIRST cracks are appearing in what has so far been a remarkably solid public front over the European Union project to send global positioning satellites into orbit, with the European Parliament expressing concern about its financial viability.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A REVIEW of European safety laws designed to prevent industrial explosions – such as that which recently ripped through the Atofina fertiliser plant in Toulouse, France, killing 29 people and injuring 2,400 – is to be launched by a specialist EU committee.…