Search Results for: Austria

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has accused nine European Union (EU) governments of dragging their feet over promoting biofuels in their countries. It has sent critical formal notices to Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland and Slovenia accusing them of failing to submit national reports framing 2005 targets for biofuel consumption, as required under the Biofuels Directive.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission will stage a wide-ranging competition inquiry into the energy sector, with officials to “identify obstacles to competition – be it regulation, state aid, private barriers” then “propose solutions, working closely with national administrations, regulatory bodies and competition authorities”.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
PRESSURE on oil companies to continue cleansing their fuels of potential pollutants continues to be applied within the European Union (EU), with the European Commission preparing for the introduction of a new standard ‘Euro 5’ in 2010. It has advised EU member states to harmonise any tax concessions encouraging the use of diesel cars cleaner than the ‘Euro 4’ emissions standard, (which became compulsory on January 1).…

BY DEIRDRE MASON
THE WORLD is waking up to biofuels, increasingly produced from food crops and their waste by-products, and now one of the growing energy alternatives to conventional fossil fuels. As prices for traditional energy rise year on year, and energy watchers warn of oil production peaking around 2010, governments are looking towards food producers to grow the raw feedstock for the fuel of the twenty-first century.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

NON-DIOXIN LIKE PCB CONTAMINATION WARNING – EFSA

THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has called on the food industry to further minimise non-dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (NDL-PCBs) in food, because of health concerns about excess contamination. * http://www.efsa.eu.int/science/contam/contam_opinions/1229/contam_op_ej284_ndl-pcb_en1.pdf

ECJ SMOKED FLAVOURINGS CRISPS – BRITAIN APPEAL

A EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has rejected a British government attempt to strike down a EU regulation controlling smoke flavourings in foods.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that European Union (EU) member states may ban the sale of unwrapped chewing gum from automatic vending machines on health grounds, if they so choose.

ENDS…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
WHILE discussions continue over how to ensure the security of energy supplies to the European Union (EU), Brussels institutions are sinking money into one sure bet, eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), for instance, is lending US$170 million to SOCAR, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, to fund two Caspian gas projects.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) has highlighted Britain, Germany, Luxembourg, Hungary, Austria, and the only European Union (EU) countries offering drug addiction programmes for young offenders. These countries, its 2005 annual report noted approvingly, have "selective prevention programmes for first-time offenders (largely cannabis users), offering psychological support, training and counselling."…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is hailing the success of a European Union (EU)-funded research project that has created new technology helping small-scale combined heat and power (CHP) plants to run on biomass fuels. Applicable for the power range of 200 – 1,000 kWel, its key innovation is using a screw-type steam engine.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

RUSSIA has sent another threat to Europe over gas supplies, undermining its reputation as a potential reliable energy partner for its western neighbours. Semyon Vainshtok, the president of Russia pipeline monopoly Transneft has told the daily newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta that Russia has "overfed Europe with crude".…