Search Results for: Belgium

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Parliament has backed proposals to increase the current EU minimum excise tax rate on diesel to match that for unleaded petrol. However, MEPs want to phase the increase from Euro 302/1,000 litres to Euro 359 by 2015, with Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Bulgaria and Romania having until 2016 – Spain, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Portugal and Greece acting immediately.…

BY CHRIS JONES, in Paris

WAYS in which CO2 emissions from road transport could potentially be reduced were the subject of two days of discussion by experts from Europe and the US during a recent round-table meeting held at the International Transport Forum in Paris.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

WHEN oil and gas executives think of European Union (EU) funding for their projects or companies, they may consider the European Commission, with its high profile in energy spending and investment. But there is another EU institution with an important role as a financial fountainhead for European energy loans: the European Investment Bank (EIB).…

BY MARK ROWE

THE 21st century is seeing a rapid development in the packaging of oils, scents and fats, instigated in part by the increasing global demand for olive oil, along with the burgeoning industry in essential oils.

One of the key trends has been towards the use of packaging to offer fresh products, a development augmented by the increasing perception worldwide of olive oil as a health food product.…

BY CHRIS JONES, in Paris

SETTING a new pollution tax on all road vehicles that varies according to the way they were driven, and mandating clearer targets for reducing emissions, would lead to more efficient climate change policies: that was the view of experts from the US and Europe meeting at the International Transport Forum in Paris last month (NOTE: JANUARY) for a round-table debate on transport’s role in tackling climate change.…

BY MARK ROWE

THE ANNOUNCEMENT by the UK government that it intends to build a new generation of nuclear power plants stands out, not just because of the scale of the proposals, but because it is the first such comprehensive initiative in Europe for some years.…

BY KARRYN CARTELLE, in Auckland; LUCY JONES, in Dallas, Texas; MONICA

DOBIE, in Ottawa; and BILL CORCORAN, in Johannesburg

NEW Zealand has long retained a position of prominence in the global butter products

industry, despite the fact that competitors are always looking to seize export markets in

what is an increasingly competitive market.…

BY CHRIS JONES, in Paris

REDUCING the level of fuel taxes and introducing a levy based on distance travelled could be one way for European governments to meet their ambitious targets for cutting transport emissions, according to experts at a round-table meeting, hosted by the International Transport Forum in Paris.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

RESEARCHERS from 18 European Union (EU) member states and Norway will interview and test thousands of drivers to assess how different alcoholic drinks and narcotic drugs impair motoring performance. The latest in a string of initiatives giving fleet managers more sophisticated information on managing intoxication, the EU-funded DRUID (Driving under the Influence of Drugs, Alcohol and Medicine) project will check samples from volunteers for 33 psychoactive substances, including alcohol, medicine and illegal drugs and inquire into driving performance.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

THE NEXT twelve months – say to Easter 2009 – could prove of fundamental significance for the development of European Union (EU) energy policy on several fronts. In January this year, the European Commission published its long-awaited proposals on renewable energies and CO2 saving, and history may well judge this to be the moment when the EU turned decisively green.…