Search Results for: Belgium

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE DIPLOMATIC fallout over Russia’s attack on Georgia has continued to impact on European Union (EU) energy policies, although signs of an early thaw in relations are evident. At an EU-Ukraine summit in Paris, the EU promised to sign an Association Agreement with Ukraine mid-2009, bringing Kiev closer to becoming a member state, although no timetable for membership negotiations was set.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

DESPITE widespread scepticism about its viability, the ITER project to build the world’s first commercial nuclear fusion reactor is now under way. It is employing specialists (nearly 300 staff and rising at the end of 2008); releasing Euro millions in research and procurement funding; and in November moved into its headquarters, in Cadarache, southern France, which is where the first nuclear fusion reactor will be built on a 180 hectare site.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) third money laundering directive should have been transposed into national legislation by December last year across the EU. But some EU member states and professional organisations have found its provisions difficult, particularly the introduction of a risk-based approach to the application of anti money laundering disciplines.…

BY MARTINA MARE?KOVÁ

THE CZECH haulage industry is struggling to replace retiring drivers, and a planned government measure to ban motorway lorry driving on Friday afternoons between 3pm and 6pm could make the situation even worse.

This restriction, said Martin ?pry?ar,…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission is threatening further legal action against the British government in a long-running case involving Marks & Spencer trying to reduce its tax bill because of losses incurred in continental Europe. M&S retreated from France, Belgium and Germany in 2001, following losses made by its subsidiaries in these countries, and sought reductions to its main UK tax bill as a result.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN nuclear regulators have been alerted about a release of Iodine-131 gas from the Institut National de Radio-éléments (IRE) in Fleurus, Belgium. As a result of environmental sampling of grass, the Belgian Federal Agency for Nuclear Control restricted the consumption of vegetables and milk produced within 5 km of the plant, near the south Belgium city Charleroi.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN nuclear regulators have been alerted about a release of Iodine-131 gas from the Institut National de Radio-éléments (IRE) in Fleurus, Belgium. The leak was reported by the Belgian Federal Agency for Nuclear Control as a Level 3 incident on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES) scale, which had seven grades of incident severity.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE PLANNED establishment of a joint coordination centre offering daily grid electricity availability forecasts by French operator RTE and Belgium’s Elia has been welcomed by the European Commission. From February 2009, the centre "will develop grid forecasts and support real-time monitoring of electricity flows", said the two network operators, saying the initiative would promote "market coupling".…

BY KARRYN MILLER

FRITS Vranken, senior vice president for business development at Japan Tobacco International (JTI), has recently seen his role expanded since his 2006 appointment at JTI’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Mr Vranken’s role changed at the start of 2008 to include corporate strategy, tobacco taxation and internal communications.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A EUROPEAN Union (EU) and Balkans ministerial council has approved the rules of a dispute settlement mechanism for countries participating within the southeast Europe Energy Community. This links Balkans’ gas (and electricity) regulation with that of EU member states and ensures EU energy legislation is adopted in participating countries.…