Search Results for: Belgium

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has approved a list of priority projects that will draw in EU funding and diplomatic support under its 2007-13 trans European network (TENs) energy programme. Agreed with the European Parliament, the schemes are designed to fulfil the EU’s energy policy goals of improving security of supply, especially from outside member states, and underpinning Europe’s internal market in gas and electricity.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission is offering a comprehensive European Union (EU) free-trade deal to Russia, to secure cheaper and more reliable gas and oil supplies. Commission president José Manuel Barroso said the EU will offer this to Russia once it has joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO), maybe this year.…

STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has concluded an overlap in Netherlands fleet leasing and management services is not sufficiently serious to block a planned takeover of international leasing and body repair company Athlon by a subsidiary of Holland’s Rabobank.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has dropped long-running legal action against the UK government, after it abandoned a get-tough policy against so-called ‘booze cruise’ travellers importing cheap alcohol from low duty France and Belgium. Because this fuelled a black market in alcohol, damaging legitimate retailers not only had UK customs demanded proof that their cargo was for personal use, but in its absence their alcohol and sometimes their vehicles were confiscated.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AN UNPRECEDENTED joint paper from the European Commission and European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Javier Solana calls for the EU to diversify its energy sources beyond Russia. In particular, the paper suggests the EU looks closer to home: at Algeria and Turkey.…

STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has approved a subsidy regime for EU short flax fibre and hemp producers in the old fashioned way – paying money per tonne of fibre. Ministers agreed to extend until the end of the 2007/2008 marketing year processing aid of Euro 90/tonne for short flax fibre and hemp fibre and Euro 160/tonne for long flax fibre until 2007/2008, and Euro 200/tonne for 2008/2009 and thereafter.…

BY DAVID HAWORTH, in Brussels

WHEN asked about corruption in Belgium by Commercial Crime International, a government official held his nose in the time-honoured gesture. But was he being fair? Some recent high profile cases have brought the nation some lurid publicity.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

THE FINNISH government is to challenge the European Commission’s proposals for a broad definition of vodka under the proposed new European Union (EU) spirit labelling regulations, exploiting its oncoming strong position as EU president. Finland will use its control over EU Council of Ministers business to try and secure agreement that only drinks made from cereals or potatoes can be labelled ‘vodka’.…

BY MARK ROWE, in Xian, China

THE FACE that China’s museum sector presents to the world might have looked very different had a farm labourer chosen another part of a remote field near the city of Xian in 1974 to dig a well.…

STORIES BY KEITH NUTHALL

BELGIUM should better prepare for its goal of phasing out nuclear power between 2015 and 2025, an International Energy Agency (IEA) assessment has concluded. Given that nuclear energy currently supplies about 55% of Belgian electricity, "filling the resulting gap will require other supply sources, such as electricity imports, new generation capacity or energy savings," noted the IEA.…