Search Results for: Austria

BY ALAN OSBORN

FACED with a global recession caused partly by commercial financial crime, governments have been pushed into taking action against tax evasion in recent months by ending the practice of banking secrecy. Is it the end of the road for tax havens as protected jurisdictions where illicit transactions can hide?…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A NEW system of gathering food health data across the European Union (EU) appears to have marred an annual comparative study from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), with Britain’s data collection being indirectly criticised.

While the UK appears to have received a relative clean bill of health regarding food-related illnesses, statistical anomalies probably explain the results, with Britain supplying insufficient information.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

YOU might think, given the preponderance of doomsayers predicting drought and desertification in Europe because of global warming, that the rainfall data would back them up.

But on a continent-wide scale, it does not.

A report on water scarcity issued by the European Environment Agency (EEA) earlier this year noted that "precipitation in Europe generally increased over the twentieth century, rising by 6-8 % on average between 1901 and 2005".…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A EURO 12 million European Union (EU) research project has developed genetically modified tobacco plants able to produce a pharmacologically active substance treating autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Pharma-Planta project scientists have created interleukin-10 (IL-10) from these tobacco plants at sufficiently high levels for effective extraction and purification.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AS the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) begins its first coordinated enforcement checks of the REACH chemical control system, Europe’s top adhesives industry federation has stressed concerns about its potential uneven application country-to-country.

ECHA announced on April 30 it has launched ‘REACH-EN-FORCE-1’, a joint enforcement project with national inspectors checking pre-registrations, registrations and work on REACH safety data sheets.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE IMMINENT threat of heavy USA tariffs on many European Union (EU) confectionery exports has been lifted, after Washington and Brussels struck a preliminary deal over the long-running beef hormone dispute. Retaliatory duties such as 100% duties on filled chocolate, chewing gum, raspberry and lingonberry jams were to have been levied this month (May), but have now been suspended, along with other EU food products earmarked for new tariffs, such as fruit juices from Austria, Cyprus, France and Poland.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL and EMMA JACKSON

IF the competition to build gas pipeline networks from Russia, the Caucasus and central Asia to central and western Europe were a horserace, commentators would say it was still too close to call.

For although politicians and diplomats in Brussels, Moscow and other European capitals would never admit it publicly, these multi-million investment projects are contests of power and influence.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A SHOT in the arm has been provided for the European Union’s (EU) Nabucco pipeline project, with Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan signing an agreement with the EU backing the project. In return for promising to work towards bringing Caspian gas to western European markets by 2014, the EU has made pledges on ensuring there is demand for gas and oil reaching Europe through ‘southern corridor’ routes bypassing Russia and Ukraine.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE IMMINENT threat of heavy USA tariffs on many European Union (EU) processed food exports has been lifted, after Washington and Brussels struck a preliminary deal over the long-running beef hormone dispute. Retaliatory duties such as a 300% duty on French cheese Roquefort were to be levied from this week, but have now been suspended.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has drawn back from a robust collective response to the swine flu crisis, despite the disease spreading around Europe. Meeting on Thursday, the EU Council of Ministers for health rejected a French proposal for an EU-wide travel ban to Mexico, the source of the outbreak.…