Search Results for: Greece

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A GREEK renewable energy company has been ordered to repay the equivalent of Drachma 9.4 million, plus interest, of the Drachma 13.8 million it was given by the European Commission in 1985 to instal a 300 kW wind energy converter on an Aegean island; the idea was to demonstrate the system for two years and then hand it over to an operator.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CONSTRUCTION companies in Germany, Italy, Greece and Portugal may soon be forced to use quieter plant, including concrete mixers, mobile and tower cranes, dumper trucks and hydraulic excavators, because of legal threats against their national governments. The European Commission is warning it may launch cases at the European Court of Justice to force them to implement directive 2000/14/EC on noise emissions from outdoor equipment.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is piling political pressure onto industries, especially fossil fuel electricity generators, which pour greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, to force them to clean up their processes, adding costs to their bottom line.

In a move that will only serve to make CHP and renewable plants more competitive by comparison, the Commission is preparing a raft of legal cases against eight European Union Member States, to force them to monitor and restrict their production of key greenhouse pollutants.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITAIN’S health authorities provide fewer drug addicts with substitution treatment than do a majority of other European Union Member States, a statistical review by an EU drug-use agency has claimed.

The proportion of “problem drug users” given alternative medicines to wean them off their addiction ranges between six and 22 per cent in the UK, taking into account available data, estimates the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A RAFT of legal cases are being prepared by the European Commission against eight European Union Member States, to force them to monitor and restrict their production of the key greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

In a bid to make the EU stick to its Kyoto Protocol commitments, the Commission has formally warned Britain, Luxembourg, Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Spain and Germany of potential legal actions at the European Court of Justice.…

KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN consumers still lack the confidence to buy in countries other than their own, in spite of all the efforts made to open up the internal market, the European Commission reports. A special survey by the Commission shows that only 31 per cent of consumers think their rights are well protected when they shop cross-border in the EU, against 56 per cent who feel well protected in their own country.…

KEITH NUTHALL
A STRING of cases have been launched by the European Commission against Member States of the European Union to try and force them to comply with EU water legislation; under existing rules, failure to abide by the court’s rulings can see national governments being hit with huge daily recurring fines of up to Euro 100,000.…

KEITH NUTHALL
CONTINENTAL hauliers competing unfairly with British companies because of the low rate of duty of fuel in their home countries, may escape seeing tough rises in excise when the EU passes its long awaited energy taxation directive.

Agreeing that the legislation should be passed by December, heads of government at the recent Barcelona summit also performed an about-turn and said that the directive should “bear in mind the needs of professionals in the road haulage industry.”…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission has decided to bring an action against Greece in the European Court of Justice over its interpretation of the EU’s maritime cabotage regulation of 1992 and its application to the number of crew on board cruise and other vessels engaged in services between the Greek islands.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has been given authority to negotiate a comprehensive “Governing International Fisheries Agreement” with the USA. EU ministers said Brussels officials should

Meanwhile, the EU Council of Ministers has agreed a regulation aiming at boosting cod stocks in the Irish Sea this year, protecting adult cod during the spawning season, notably enforcing an area closure from February.…