Search Results for: Austria

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A SERIES of exemptions from the European Union’s (EU) new energy taxation directive have been proposed by the European Commission for the eastern and southern European countries joining the EU in May (barring Cyprus).

They would be added to the already long list of exemptions negotiated by existing Member States that prompted EU internal market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein to liken the legislation to “Gruyere cheese”.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is taking six national governments to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) because of allegations that they have failed to implement the large combustion plants directive that seeks to cut air pollution through strict limits on sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide emissions.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CONCERNS have been raised by eastern and central European environmental groups about the possible worsening of drinking water quality that could be caused by the construction of the planned Danube-Oder-Elbe canal. The Czech Republic’s Friends of the Earth branch is leading green groups from Germany, Austria, Poland and Slovakia in pressing the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers to avoid including the project in its priority list for funding from the trans-European transport networks (TENs) scheme.…

BY PHILIP FINE

A US airport is working on an agreement with a German company to jointly run a baggage-handling operation that they can market to local airlines. Jacksonville International Airport and Fraport AG – the Frankfurt-based company that owns and operates that city’s airport – would save airlines the expense of hiring workers and buying equipment needed to move bags to and from aircraft.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE IRISH government has announced that it is backing an Austrian call for the ongoing European Union (EU) intergovernmental conference (IGC) – that is writing the EU’s first constitution – to convene a separate conference to review the Euratom nuclear energy treaty.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is trying to clear legal logjams preventing companies with share capital from different European Union (EU) Member States from merging, transactions that are illegal in the Netherlands, Sweden, Ireland, Greece, Germany, Finland, Denmark and Austria.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE IRISH government has announced that it is backing an Austrian call for the ongoing European Union (EU) intergovernmental conference (IGC) – that is writing the EU’s first constitution – to convene a separate conference to review the Euratom nuclear energy treaty.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A RULING from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) over the protracted row over the rights to the names Budweiser and Bud could weaken an attempt to prevent US-based Annheuser Busch from importing its beer into Austria. Its Czech Republic rival Budejovicky Budvar has been trying to block such imports – named ‘American Bud’ – on the grounds that a bilateral convention between Austria and the Czech Republic reserves the name “Bud” for Czech beer in Austrian markets.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
NEGOTIATIONS on a new eco-points system setting quotas for road hauliers travelling through Alpine passes in Austria have stalled following disagreement between the European Parliament and the EU Council of Ministers. The UK, along with Germany and France, blocked the deal arguing that it would bar transit through Austria for many vehicles.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission has formally threatened Italy, Portugal, Austria, Luxembourg, Greece and Finland with legal action at the European Court of Justice for failing to implement European Union (EU) legislation on marine equipment. The 2002 directive ‘laying down quality requirements and testing standards for equipment to be placed on board an EU ship’ aims to enhance sea safety and prevent marine pollution through a harmonised enforcement of international rules regarding onboard equipment.…