Search Results for: European Parliament

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CRIMINALS are still fleecing the European Union’s budget of hundreds-of-millions of Euro, according to the latest European Commission fraud report. But Brussels is refusing to throw in the towel, unveiling more anti-fraud proposals, Keith Nuthall reports.

THE ANNUAL report on the Protection of the Communities’ (EU’s) Financial Interests and the Fight Against Fraud always seems to have been misnamed, in that it usually focuses on how much money the European Union has been losing to fraudsters, rather than saving.…

Keith Nuthall
A FRENCH government state aid system for producers of liqueur wines and spirits, funding promotional measures, research, technical support and investment, is under threat, because of a European Court of Justice ruling that it should never have been sanctioned by the European Commission.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is drafting a policy paper, (Communication), on the conservation of soil quality within the European Union and the prevention of its degradation. Brussels has launched public consultation on its contents, before releasing a final version.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A COMPROMISE deal has been struck in Brussels over a transitional regime for the European Union sugar industry, which will last until July 2006, when a comprehensive review is expected to have taken place.

The European Commission had been pressing to deep cuts in market supports, but these have been resisted by some Member States, who are represented on the EU Council of Ministers, which approved the final agreement.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
SPECIAL care should be taken to make sure that GM cotton fibres do not pose a health risk when used in medical products, the European Union’s Scientific Steering Committee, which advises the European Commission on legislation, has said.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
MINISTERS from the 15 EU member governments have cut back the proposed representation of the European Commission on the management board that will run the new European Food Authority. Instead of four members on the 16-member panel, the Commission is to have only one.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
MEMBER States of the European Union have come under political pressure from Brussels to outlaw the designing and marketing of alcoholic drinks, such as alcopops, to children and adolescents, as part of a move against under-age drinking.

The EU Council of Ministers (health) has adopted a Recommendation, (formal non-binding guidelines), which calls on national governments to “ensure” that the drinks industry does not produce alcoholic beverages specifically “targeted, designed or promoted to appeal” to young people.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
A CALL by the European Commission to step up and harmonise Internet security throughout the 15 member countries has generally been welcomed by British business as a useful input to the growing debate on the subject.

“It’s a wake-up call that tells us that the EU is going to be taking information security very seriously and that businesses will face challenges over the next two to three years on how to deal with it,” said Nigel Hickson, head of e-business at the Confederation of British Industry.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed that EU legislation be amended to make the installation of speed limiting devices compulsory for all buses. Thus far, regulations have only ordered that limiters are fitted on buses of 10 tonnes or more in weight, but the Commission has now concluded that this rule should be extended to all buses and minibuses with more than eight passenger seats.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ADMINISTRATIVE reforms made by the Belgian government in the wake of the dioxin contamination crisis have been judged so effective by the European Commission, that it has decided to drop a European Court of Justice case against alleging that Belgium had broken EU food safety laws.…