Search Results for: Research

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has published new proposals for tobacco growing subsidies for the 2002, 2003 and 2004 harvests; they underline Brussels’ policies to phase out the cultivation of unpopular leaf varieties and also to channel money into helping growers abandon the industry.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
The European Commission has announced a significantly tougher regime for EU tobacco growers for the period 2002 to 2004, openly admitting that the revised scheme “sets the scene for allowing the phasing out of subsidies.” EU leaders agreed at their summit meeting in Gothenberg in June that the subsidies should be brought to an end in parallel with measures to develop alternative sources of income for tobacco workers and growers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE INSTITUTIONS of the European Union should be given an explicit authority to help formulate and shape its Member States energy policies, the European Parliament’s industry committee has said. Responding, to the European Commission’s green paper on energy supply, the committee has called for energy to be made a key priority of the EU, by including a chapter on the subject in the next revision of the EU treaties.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EU ministers have backed the initial stages of development of the GMES, (global monitoring for environment and security), project, where observation satellites will work alongside ground level sensors to collect environmental data. The idea is that it will help the EU form policies on climate change, sustainable development, scientific research and the management of natural disasters such as floods.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
A STUDY of 8,000 primary schools in the Netherlands has revealed “dirty, cramped and unsafe” conditions that have affected the morale of teaching staff and pupils. The report, drawn up by the Dutch research institute TNO on behalf of the country’s Ministry of Education, concludes that the schools themselves are partly to blame by diverting money from health and safety budgets to new educational programmes but says there is also a shortage of funding necessary for schools to comply with the Dutch Occupational Health and Safety and Building Acts.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EU Council of Ministers, (health), has adopted formal guidelines on the prudent use of antibiotics and other anti-microbial agents in human medicine, to contain the spread of resistance in viruses and bacteria to these pharmaceuticals.

This non-binding Recommendation asks national governments to provide public information on the subject, to use a precautionary ‘by prescription only’ approach, to carry out more research and to improve monitoring of consumption of these drugs.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has been ordered to conclude wide-ranging research agreements on nuclear energy with the Russian Federation, focusing on general safety within the industry and fusion power generation. Brussels has also been told by EU ministers to strike a deal with Kazakhstan on fusion research.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has decided not to oppose the granting of Euro 143 million, (Pounds 86 million) state aid by Italy to the Franco-Italian company ST Microelectronics for three research projects costing Euro 456 million, (Pounds 275 million).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed that Euro 440 million be set aside from the proposed EU’s 6th Framework Research Programme, to fund research into subject areas not yet identified, but which will become technological priorities in the future.…

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.…