Search Results for: European Parliament

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development is to lend Euro 21.5 million to Balkanpharma, Bulgaria’s leading producer of pharmaceuticals, to support the modernisation of three production sites. It is hoped that the reforms will enable the recently privatised company to raise its standards to meet European Union and Bulgarian official good manufacturing practice levels, allowing it to maintain traditional export and domestic markets and increase its access to the EU.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched formal state aid investigations into the purchase of overpriced shares by the Walloon regional government, of Belgium, from the Flemish carpet manufacturer Beaulieu.

Officials consider that the payment was in effect a debt write-off, as Beaulieu settled a debt of BEF 113.7 million owed to the regional government by transferring 9,704 shares in the Holding Verlipack II company, also of Belgium.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL fund to support the decommissioning of Bulgaria’s Kozloduy nuclear power station will be able to call on Euro 100 million, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has said. It will act as the fund administrator and has said that contributions had been received from Britain, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the EU.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
AN ACROSS-THE-BOARD reduction in EU fishing activity lasting for several years and including a cut of 40 to 50 per cent in cod and hake catches is to be formally proposed by the European Commission in an effort to safeguard the future of the fishing sector.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ALTHOUGH petrol and diesel consumption rose by 45 per cent in the European Union between 1985 and 1998, technological improvements meant pollution actually fell during this time, a study from Eurostat has claimed.

Between 1980 and 1998, the EU witnessed a 25 per cent drop in nitrogen oxides and non-methane volatile organic compound emissions, for which road transport is largely responsible.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has tried to make up for its failure to strike fishing access deal with Morocco by forging an improved agreement with its north African neighbour Mauritania which Brussels claims its “the most important with a third country” that it has made.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EU’S development and humanitarian aid Commissioner Poul Nielson (SPELLING CORRECT) and trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy have met European pharmaceutical industry leaders to discuss how to implement the new Brussels action programme on treating major communicable diseases, namely HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, which was approved by the Council of Ministers this May.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
PLANS to develop a new kind of European Union patent, which would allow R&D units to gain protection for their inventions across the EU by making one comparatively simple application, are being discussed. A so-called Community Patent would be easier to operate than the existing European Patents, which have to be translated into the official language of each Member State in which it is to apply.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission is urging EU governments to take new measures against the spread of anti-microbial resistance. In a formal discussion paper, Brussels has proposed a more prudent use of antibiotics and other such agents, including raising awareness among the public, a “prescription only” approach and improved monitoring of consumption.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A RESEARCH study is being staged by the European Commission this year into developing a noise modelling tool for the road transport sector, looking at the effectiveness of technical adaptations to tyres, engines and road surfaces and examining the scope for making further noise improvements in these fields.…