Search Results for: Belgium

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A GROUND-BREAKING scheme to promote renewable energy in rural Wales has received a European award, in a competition designed to promote good practice and push the European Union towards meeting its target of generating 12 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2010.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A STATE aid inquiry has been formally launched by the European Commission into the benefits offered to Ryanair by its first base in mainland Europe, Brussels South Charleroi Airport, Belgium. The Commission says there is a case to answer over advantages provided by the airport, which is controlled by the Walloon regional government.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
WHILE the number of companies in the European Union’s (EU) insurance sector has been dwindling, the amount of business that it has been writing collectively has been booming, according to the latest comparative figures from EU statistical agency Eurostat.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A DYNAMIC online forum on European energy policy has been launched by an international consortium; the European Union-funded INTUSER website contains information about current energy issues and questionnaires allowing specialists and the public to contribute to policy debates.…

BY PHILIP FINE, in Montreal, Canada

THE EFFECTS of September 11 have left their mark on the relationship between air traffic control national service providers (ANSPs) and their customers. The economic fall-out from the terrorist attacks now defines much of the dialogue between ANSPs, airlines and airports.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has sued RJ Reynolds in New York, seeking damages against allegations that it illegally laundered the proceeds of cigarette smuggling. The case – which also involves Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland and Luxembourg – also seeks an injunction stopping future alleged laundering.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
A LONG-LIST of nine names was being considered this month (January) by the World Health Organisation as potential successors to Gro Harlem Brundtland as director general next year. Dr Brundtland has conducted a relentless campaign against smoking and the organisation may be difficult to elect a similar anti-tobacco crusader given the differences she has had with the US.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE TOTAL phasing out of nuclear energy being carried out by a number of EU countries is not justified according to the EU’s internal market commissioner Frits Bolkestein (CORRECT SPELLING). In a speech headed “Nuclear energy needed more than ever” given to the Institute of Economic Affairs, London, Mr Bolkestein said nuclear energy provided the technical capacity to increase energy diversification which was needed to reduce external dependence.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Union (EU) commissioner has called on EU governments to reconsider the phasing out of nuclear energy, which he says has been approved on the basis of “the moral high ground and….of often unjustified emotions.”

Internal market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein (CORRECT SPELLING) said that technological advances were tackling the environmental difficulties surrounding nuclear energy and although problems still exist, “they do not justify the total phasing out of nuclear energy now carried out by a number of Member States.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission wants to extend for 12 months an experiment allowing shoe and leather repairers in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands to charge lower rates to their customers. The idea is to promote labour intensive industries such as shoe repairing and the Commission is considering making the scheme permanent.…