Search Results for: Belgium

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Tripoli and Beirut

THE OPENING up of Libya’s economy could not have come at a better time for international oil companies, which have been beset in recent years by dwindling easily accessible oil reserves, tighter controls over exploration rights and extraction, and heightened security concerns.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL and CHRIS JONES, in Brussels

INTENSE well-informed debates are likely to follow the release in January of a comprehensive package of legislation by the European Commission on fighting climate change through emissions trading, renewable energy, pollution caps, biofuels and environmental state aid.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has highlighted eight member states as having failed to submit national energy efficiency action plans as required by the European Union’s (EU) energy services directive. Legal action has already been launched against 10 member states – but two of these (Belgium and Slovakia) submitted action plans in December.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has welcomed an order made by French magistrates against two dairy executives to repay more than Euro 23 million in EU subsidies claimed for pure butter, which was actually adulterated. Jean-Pierre Boisgontier and Guy Fléchard, of dairy company Fléchard de la Chapelle d’Andaine, were also respectively sentenced to suspended prison sentences of eight and five months and fined Euro 20,000 and Euro 37,500.…

BY ANDREW CAVE

PUBLIC place smoking bans are spreading like wildlife these days, with one country after another drawing up rules preventing tobacco use where it could expose non-smokers to second-hand smoke.

In the European Union (EU), this year, public place smoking bans have been introduced in England, Estonia and Finland, for instance.…

BY ANDREW CAVE

FOLLOWING the introduction on July 1 of public place smoking bans in England 240 million people worldwide were covered by public smoking restrictions, according to the International Union Against Cancer (UICC). (NOTE – THIS IS A FRENCH ACRONYM)

The movement towards such restrictions is becoming ubiquitous in the European Union (EU), with Estonia, Finland, Scotland and Ireland already have full public-place bans, while Italy, Sweden and Malta have partial bans, allowing smoking only in closed-off, separately-ventilated areas.…

By Keith Nuthall in Brussels

Scientists involved in a European Union (EU)-funded research project claim they are making progress in their goal of developing a nanotechnology-based coating that will prevent shellfish, algae and seaweed from latching onto ships. Professor James Callow, the coordinator of the project, of Britain’s Birmingham University told a European Commission bulletin: "A number of different design concepts incorporating principles of nanotechnology have shown to have value in deterring or reducing the adhesion of marine fouling organisms."…

By Keith Nuthall in Brussels

European Union (EU) researchers have devised a way of reducing the weight of noise insulation materials in cars without making them noisier. The EU research network Eureka says the Euro 4 million France-led project E!2411 ERTAC has discovered that by layering compressed felt with a low density felt, the weight of sound insulation could be cut by 50%.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

ENVIRONMENTAL health officers may think there are a lot of smokers in the UK – in 2005, 24% of adults aged 16 or over in Britain smoked cigarettes, but spare a thought for officials in Greece – home of Europe’s keenest smokers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE LEVEL of incineration and recycling of municipal waste within Britain is as low as former communist countries in eastern Europe, a new European Environment Agency (EEA) report has concluded. In an assessment of the contrasting waste management practices in the 27 European Union (EU) member states, the EEA bracketed Britain with Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.…