Search Results for: Italy

Keith Nuthall
ITALY has announced that it is to join a growing band of European Union countries that want to grant special national aid for the distillation of excess wine stocks, in the teeth of opposition from the European Commission. It wants Member States to abide by the new common market organisation, which was designed to limit such production subsidies.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE FAILURE of Greece, Italy and Spain to pass national laws, reducing sulphur content in a range of fuels, as required by a EU directive, has led to their governments being formally threatened with legal action at the European Court of Justice.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission has decided not to oppose the granting of state aid by Italy to the Franco-Italian company ST Microelectronics for three research projects costing the equivalent of some pounds 275 million. The maximum aid permitted under EU regulations is pounds 86 million.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL action plan to fight forest fires is being drawn up with the assistance of the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation. Experts from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Ethiopia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, South Africa, Spain, Turkey and USA have been discussing proposals for a system involving mutual assistance and coordinated approaches to forest fire management.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
IN an attempt to stamp out smuggling and fraud, the European Commission is proposing that excise duties on popular cigarettes sold throughout the 15 EU countries should be brought much closer together. In a proposed new directive, the Commission says there should be a minimum fixed amount of excise duty of Euro 70 (about Pounds 42) per 1,000 cigarettes in the most popular price category, which would be in addition to the existing minimum excise requirement of 57% of the retail price.…

Keith Nuthall
AN END to the row over slot distribution in Milan’s two international airports may be in sight, although European Commission officials have told Airports International that they are still waiting for details of an Italian government plan so that they can formally and finally settle the dispute.…