Search Results for: Croatian

The European anti-fraud office (OLAF) and European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) have struck a cooperation agreement to ensure their future work dovetails. They have agreed to exchange information; set guidelines on reporting and transferring potential cases; and deciding how to mutually support each other’s investigations.…

EUROPE’S confectionery and sweet bakery association CAOBISCO has been pressuring the European Union (EU) to resolve a long-running trade dispute with the USA over aircraft manufacturing subsidies causing Washington to impose tariffs on European food exports. These include 25% duties on exports from the EU (including the UK) of raspberry, strawberry, apricot, peach and other jams; cherries and peaches; sweet biscuits from Germany; waffles and wafers from Britain and Germany; and an additional 25% on these jams when exported from Germany and France.…

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) dairy sector has been riding out the Covid-19 crisis, despite weak raw milk prices, although looming political challenges regarding the EU budget and Brexit makes its future uncertain.

Pekka Pesonen, secretary general for EU farmers’ federation Copa-Cogeca, warned: “Producer prices have not yet seen an upward trend.”…

With low labour costs and stable local demand, Ukraine has long been one of the favoured bases for major tobacco companies. However, even without taking into account before the disruption caused by the Covid-19 crisis, the market has been in flux in recent months as the new Ukrainian government has made efforts to change tobacco taxation while ramping up its fight against tobacco smuggling.…

FAR from being the zone of volatility of the 1990s, eastern and central Europe’s economies and hence their paint and coatings markets, are enjoying stability and steady growth. In Croatia, for instance, according to market researcher Euromonitor International data, the paint and coating industry posted revenues of USD147 million, USD 2 million more than in 2017.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved Croatian government plans to fund the construction and operation of a floating liquid natural gas (LNG) terminal at Krk island, in the northern Adriatic Sea. The European Union (EU) executive said a direct EUR100 million subsidy from the Croatian government complied with EU state aid rules.…

In Croatia, an ultimate beneficial owners register has been established, operated by the Croatian Financial Agency (FINA – Financijska Agencija). Persons demonstrating a legitimate interest in data will be able to obtain limited BO information, including companies and persons undertaking legally required due diligence.…

The murder of graft-busting journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta on October 16 focused the world’s attention on the tiny Mediterranean tax haven and its failure to combat money laundering and corruption. 

But even before the murder, Malta was under fire for its shortcomings in tackling money laundering.…

Croatia has reversed a decision to raise import fees on food imports charged at its borders with its non-European Union (EU) Balkan countries Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia & Herzegovina, as well as on trades from Macedonia, another ex-Yugoslav state. The Croatian ministry of agriculture today (Aug 10) announced that “from Friday [August 11] onwards the border controls would be fully normalised”.…

THE OUTGOING director general of the European Union (EU) anti-fraud office OLAF has stressed how his agency will continue to proactively fight fraud once the new European Public Prosecutors Office (EPPO) is established.

Giovanni Kessler, writing in the last OLAF annual report in his seven-year mandate, has stressed that his agency’s role will be important, now that just 20 out of 28 EU member states have decided to work with the EPPO.…

SERBIA’S Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport handled its first direct flight to New York, USA, last June (2016) and thus grabbed an extraordinary opportunity to start re-positioning itself as a south-east Europe hub offering flight connections.

Domestic airline Air Serbia has been successfully operating this route to John F Kennedy International Airport, but the preparations at the Nikola Tesla for handling transatlantic flights was not smooth at all.…

Natural gas, including its liquefied form LNG, can be the long-term growth story among fossil fuels but needs to withstand stiff challenges

The naming ceremony in February 2017 for offshore facilities for the Ichthys liquefied natural gas project in Australia was another milestone in the huge wave of investment in LNG production capacity globally in recent years.…

THE OLIVE oil industry has traditionally been dominated by some key major European players, notably Spain, Italy and Greece, but with global consumption rising, production is emerging in countries which have previously relied on imports.

International Oil Council statistics show how new production centres are being created.…

MANY personal care product markets in eastern and central Europe are growing slowly, with incremental growth being tapped especially by major international brands who have squeezed out local players with their solid pricing and reliable quality.

But with natural cosmetics rising in popularity, there is still space for innovative smaller players with sufficient local roots and knowhow to appeal to consumers in what remains an extremely diverse region in terms of culture and consumer habits.…

MANY personal care product markets in eastern and central Europe are growing slowly, with incremental growth being tapped especially by major international brands who have squeezed out local players with their solid pricing and reliable quality.

But with natural cosmetics rising in popularity, there is still space for innovative smaller players with sufficient local roots and knowhow to appeal to consumers in what remains an extremely diverse region in terms of culture and consumer habits.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission is taking Croatia to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for failing to ratify the European Union’s (EU) membership of ATC organisation Eurocontrol. The EU Council of Ministers decided the EU should become a member (alongside national governments) in 2004, because of the importance of Eurocontrol to EU aviation policies, notably the European Single Sky.…

MAJOR delays are expected at Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after an Emirates airline plane crash-landed and burst into flames on a runway at Dubai International Airport just after 12:45pm local time today (August 3). Flight EK521 was arriving from Trivandrum International Airport, Thiruvananthapuram, India.…

FOOD and drink manufacturers based in Britain face a risk that their exports to the European Union (EU) will attract duties now the UK government has confirmed it will push ahead with leaving the EU following the June 23 Brexit referendum result.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has protected four more meat traditional products – from Croatia, France, and Spain – by adding them to the European Union’s (EU) list of protected ‘geographical indications.’

This system prevents their sale under registered names across the EU, unless the products are made in their traditional home region and by established production methods laid down in the EU register.…

MULTI-COUNTRY regions such as eastern Europe do not always follow the same script when it comes to market performance. Sometimes, when major events happen, such as the global financial crisis, it is difficult for national coatings markets to buck the trend, but with the recovery now established, weakening economic headwinds, the latent differences between national markets can become clear.…

THE EUROPEAN Association of Sugar Pro­ducers (CEFS) and the European Federation of Trade Unions in the Food, Agriculture and Tourism sectors (EFFAT) have called for the European Union (EU) to push for a global agreement ending all subsidies and other trade-distorting policies affecting the sugar sector.…

The cosmetics industry and market in Croatia is starting to benefit from the country’s nascent economic recovery, although it is still facing a number of challenges. The economy in Croatia, which joined the European Union (EU) in 2013, was forecast by the World Bank to grow by 1% in 2015, following six years of recession.…

THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) is lending Euro EUR20 million to Croatia pharmaco Jadran Galenski Laboratorij d.d. (JGL) to help double its production, hopefully becoming an international player in the sterile solutions segment. The second largest pharmaceutical company in Croatia, it specialises in sterile nose, eye and ear drop solutions, exporting 75% of its production.…

The challenge of maintaining the integrity and efficient operation of remote oil and gas pipelines under deep water will become more taxing in future. And their potential failure will cost companies more in commercial losses and in regulatory penalties, according to industry experts.…

AUSTRIA

The location of ECC Austria in central Vienna means many consumers drop by to receive advice or lodge complaints in person with the ECC’s five staff members. A top priority in 2013 was increasing public awareness about e-commerce fraud; a brochure aimed at combatting the problem was published and more than 600,000 were distributed throughout Austria.…

“WHAT I’m doing now really is a dream job for me.” CFO Juraj Drahovský, 36, from Košice, in eastern Slovakia, is relishing the challenge of helping the RWE Group, one of Europe’s largest energy companies, become a leading player in the Croatian market.…

THE COUNTRIES of eastern and central Europe that came in from the cold in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall have felt the economic chill in recent years, with recession affecting the fortunes of the cosmetics industry.

Across a wide range of countries – for instance – Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia – the retail value of the beauty and personal care products market has remained at around Euro EUR10.70 billion in both 2012 and (according to provisional data for these five countries by market analysts Euromonitor International) in 2013; and is forecast to grow to EUR10.85 billion in 2014.…

BY MARK ROWE; JONATHAN DYSON, in Zagreb; and ANDREW KURETH, in Warsaw

THE COUNTRIES of eastern and central Europe that came in from the cold in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall have felt the economic chill in recent years, with recession affecting the fortunes of the cosmetics industry.…

CROATIA’S meat sector has started reaping the benefits of the country’s June European Union (EU) accession, with officials lodging papers to ensure EU geographical indication for the Baranjski ‘kulen’ (sausage) from the Baranja region. This would mean the name cannot henceforth be used to sell foodstuffs in the EU except for such sausages made traditionally in their Croatian home region.…

EUROPEAN Union (EU) regulators are tangling with the difficulty of tightening rules-of-origin for meat products, given the potentially significant number of manufacturing stages required. The European Commission and European Parliament have been considering their response to the horse meat labelling scandal.…

CROATIA became a European Union (EU) member state on July 1, and will be hoping that its significant olive oil sector will grow though eased EU market access and production support from Brussels.

Marta Bogdanic, director of projects for the food business group at the Croatian food and retail group Agrokor, which produces and sells a range of award-winning Croatian olive oils, and owns the largest olive groves in Croatia, told Oils & Fats International that Croatia’s EU accession will pose several challenges for the country’s olive oil sector.…

CROATIA, which joined the European Union (EU) on July 1, aims to revive its knitting sector following a decline in recent years. While understandably cautious about the next few years, given the current economic troubles in Europe, Croatia plans to capitalise on the potential benefits and opportunities from being an EU member state, focusing on innovation and higher-value products in order to become more competitive.…

WITH Europe’s economy still struggling to deal with the fall-out of the global financial crisis, its co-generation sector has had to fight to expand, or in some cases hold its position. Tightening national government budgets have meant that the co-gen industry has had to argue persuasively for public subsidies and tax breaks, or even the right to have equal treatment with renewable energies.…

AFTER 10 hard years of negotiations, Croatia finally became the European Union (EU)’s 28th member state on July 1, a move that will inevitably open its financial and related services markets to major EU companies and partnerships. One key issue for European financial professionals has been, and will be, the extent to which Croatian business and government is clean.…

ON July 1, Croatia finally became the European Union’s 28th member state – a long-awaited accession following 10 hard years of negotiations. Many of the questions that surrounded Croatia’s eligibility centred on the country’s level of commercial crime and corruption, including money laundering, and concerns about its ability to tackle such problems effectively.…

Croatia’s paint and coatings industry is aiming to capitalise on the benefits of the country’s recent July 1 accession to the European Union (EU), and is hoping that an economic recovery can also help the industry return to growth over the next year.…

Zagreb-based CIOS, one of the leading scrap metal businesses in Southeast Europe, and Eurometrec, the European Metal Trade and Recycling Federation, have told Metal Bulletin that the scrap metal industry in Croatia, which is to join the EU on July 1, has the potential to expand significantly over the next few years.…

THE CROATIAN Chamber of Economy (CCE) has told just-style that the country plans to utilise European Union (EU) funding to help boost its textile and clothing industry after it becomes the 28th EU member state today (July 1). Indeed, European Commission officials stress that Croatia will have access to Euro EUR11.7 billion in EU investment funds over the next seven years if the country can propose suitable projects and programmes.…

THE COMMERCIAL property sector in Croatia, which is to join the European Union (EU) on July 1, is anticipating a boost to several key sectors as a result of the country’s long-awaited accession. However, the industry remains understandably cautious given the continuing economic difficulties being faced by the EU.…

Given it took 10 years negotiations for Croatia to achieve the European Union (EU) membership to be granted on July 1, its government will want pay-back in economic growth and wealth through its new integration with 27 current EU countries.

And it is encouraging that the leading commercial property agencies in Croatia forecast an upturn in several key markets over the next year, due largely to Croatia’s EU accession.…

Concerns about commercial crime, corruption and fraud remained high in Croatia as it joined the European Union (EU) on July 1. And while progress has been made, both the EU and many within Croatia admit that the country must work harder to combat such problems.…

THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) is lending Euro EUR 3.6 million to Croatian pharmaceutical packaging producer Piramida, helping it expand production and restructure its balance sheet. The company mainly sells in former Yugoslav countries and is a regional leader in manufacturing pharmaceutical ampoules and vials.…

BY ROB STOKES

THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched an anti-trust investigation into Russia’s Gazprom, suspecting it of stifling gas market competition in central and eastern European (CEE). The Commission is investigating whether the energy giant may have: divided gas markets by hindering free flow of gas across member states; prevented diversification of gas supply; and imposed unfair prices on customers by linking gas to oil prices.…

BY ZLATKO CONKAS

INCREASING passenger traffic and aircraft movements have required an expansion of Croatia’s Zagreb Airport, which serves the country’s capital, in the form of a new passenger terminal which should be fully operational by 2016.

"Given the imminent entry of Croatia into the European Union [EU] in January 2013, and the existing attractiveness of the capital Zagreb, we need bigger, better, more beautiful and more efficient facilities – which will certainly be achieved with the construction of a new passenger terminal," Tonci Peovic, general manager of Zagreb Airport (Zra?na…

BY MARK ROWE

COSMETICS companies looking to expand sales and manufacturing in Croatia are looking for new opportunities as the ex-Yugoslav country prepares to join the European Union (EU) next year. With a population of 4.9 million, and an expanding, educated middle class, Croatia is an increasingly attractive market for cosmetics and personal care products.…

BY MARK ROWE

CROATIA will join the European Union (EU) in one year’s time (on July 1, 2013), and while the country’s low wages offer opportunities to sell local textiles and clothing into the EU, the Croatian sector could be in better shape.…

BY MARK ROWE

CROATIA has a strong tradition of knitting that features heavily in the traditions of the country’s rural hinterland and this could stand its knitwear sector in good stead for the country’s 2013 accession to the European Union (EU).…

BY ZLATKO CONKAS, IN SERBIA

AS Russian energy giant Gazprom begins construction work on the South Stream pipeline project by the end of this year for an operational launch in 2015, its final route across the Balkans has yet to be decided and governments are jostling for position.…

BY ZLATKO CONKAS, IN NOVI SAD, SERBIA

IT goes without saying that when a country falls apart through years of bloody civil war, the purchase of luxury clothing is not going to be a priority. But peace usually brings a strong desire to put aside painful memories and this can bring a yearning for luxury.…

BY ZLATKO CONKAS

Will Croatia’s ascension to the EU hamper the country’s tobacco industry?

Croatia’s strong tobacco sector stands to benefit from selling into the European Union once the country joins the EU. However it could lose trade in neighbouring states because of duty changes.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has unveiled the cost of its ambitious plan for cutting European Union (EU) greenhouse gas emissions by 80-95% of 1990 levels by 2050. Brussels says that an additional targeted annual investment over the next 40 years is needed – equalling 1.5% of the EU’s GDP – or Euro EUR270 billion.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE QUALITY of Croatian language information provided on packaging for European Union (EU) medicines is being assessed by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Croatia is scheduled to join the EU in June 2012 and EMA wants to ensure Croatian-language medicine information complies with EU information rules before that date.…

THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) is planning to lend money to bring the Ukraine and Croatia air traffic control systems to European standards. The EBRD is developing a Euro EUR45 million financing package for UkSATSE – the air navigation services provider of Ukraine -combined with EUR45 million lent by the European Investment Bank (EIB).…

BY ZLATKO CONKAS, and KEITH NUTHALL

WHEN imagining Europe’s greenest and most efficient energy systems, the countries of the former Yugoslavia do not readily spring to mind. The simple truth is Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, and even Slovenia have a reputation for having ageing energy dirty systems.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) is lending Euro 34 million to Croatian plastics company Dina Petrokemija d.d., to upgrade an existing vinyl chloride monomer plant and construct a new plant for the production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). This expansion is designed to help the company – a subsidiary of Dioki d.d.…

BY MARK ROWE

CROATIA is certainly talking a good game when it comes to cracking down on fraud as its European Union (EU) membership negotiations continue apace. The promised land of a seat at Brussels was sufficient to help Social Democrat law professor and classical music composer Ivo Josipovi?…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, KARRYN MILLER and KEITH NUTHALL

IRAN may be a democratic theocracy, but it certainly does not take the moral high ground when it comes to tobacco smuggling. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has in the past identified Iran as being one of only two countries in the world where more than half the cigarette market share comprises contraband.…

BY MARK ROWE

THE NEXT few years are likely to see several countries accede to the European Union (EU), with significant implications for the personal care sector. Local producers of toiletries, detergents and cosmetics, as well as multinationals in a number of countries, are closely following the negotiations conducted by their governments.…

BY MARK ROWE

The Republic of Bosnia & Herzegovina is a confusing place politically, and so understanding its tobacco market and industry is similarly difficult. Importantly, it comprises two entities, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republic of Srpska and while there is also no domestic tobacco industry in the Republic of Srpska; there is within the Federation, the location of the vast majority of the country’s tobacco production.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE

EGYPT

Eastern Tobacco Company

450 Al Ahram Street, Giza

Tel : +20-18-5724711- 5724332 – 5724945

+20-23-5793326

www.easternegypt.com

British American Tobacco Egypt

City Stars Complex

Star Capital – Tower 4A

Omar Ebn El Khattab Street

Postal Code 11771

Heliopolis, Cairo

T: (+20) 2 480 1080

Japan Tobacco International (Regional)

2nd Floor, Lophitis Business Centre

249, 28th October Street & Emiliou Hourmouziou Corner

CY-3035, Lemesos

P.O.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE UKRAINE government has secured a major loan package designed to secure its reliability as a winter suppler of gas to Europe through improving its gas storage and distribution. The European Commission welcomed the deal, which it helped broker.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPEAN Union (EU) ministers have been asked to swiftly write into EU law a multi-year stock protection plan for eastern bluefin tuna. It is based on an agreement forged last November at the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) at its annual meeting in Marrakech, Morocco.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AIR passengers flying into the European Union (EU) from the Croatian airports of Dubrovnik, Rijeka, Pula, Split, Zadar and Zagreb will be able to keep their duty-free pastes, gels and liquids when taking connecting flights to a second EU destination, in future.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) and Mauritania have agreed to renegotiate and downsize their fishing agreement granting EU fishing boats the right to exploit the north African country’s fishing stocks. These talks follow the embarrassing news that EU fishing fleets have failed to avail themselves of the rights made available to them in the existing agreement, which had been hailed as a groundbreaking deal.…

BY MARK ROWE

THE EXPANSION of the European Union (EU) eastwards has been welcomed by most industries, and the tobacco market is no exception, although the EU enlargement has also created a series of problems for the industry to manage. The accession of Bulgaria to the EU club in 2007 brought a significant tobacco industry player into the fold.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has been approving a series of operational programmes for many European Union (EU) member states’ fishing (and aquaculture) sectors, outlining how it will target money from the European Fisheries Fund (EFF).

One of the largest recipients of this Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) subsidy scheme is France, which is to receive Euro 216 million from 2007-13, less than it received under the 2000-2006 Financial Instrument for Fisheries Guidance (FIFG), which supplied Euro 278 million.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

NEGOTIATIONS designed to lead to Croatia joining the European Union (EU) are being held up by concerns that its government is failing to sufficiently tackle corruption problems, say assessments from European Commission and the European Parliament. Its representative on the issue Austrian Socialist MEP Hannes Swoboda has warned this could delay Croatian accession beyond 2011.…

BY MARK ROWE
CROATIA’S application to join the European Union (EU) has been far from plain sailing. Corruption, commercial crime and general unease about the judicial reform have been cited among reasons for delays to Croatia’s accession. But is Croatia’s commercial crime record so much worse than that of the EU’s newest members, Bulgaria and Romania?…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed that definitive anti-dumping duties are imposed on imports into the European Union (EU) of certain seamless iron or steel pipes and tubes from Croatia, Romania, Russia and Ukraine.

These would expand earlier duties covering pipes and tubes of iron or non-alloy steel – excluding alloy steel – although tariffs on Russian and Romanian exports were suspended in 2004.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed increasing anti-dumping duties on Ukraine exports into the European Union (EU) of certain seamless pipes and tubes of iron or non-alloy steel from 38.5% to 64.1%. This follows a Commission review requested by the Defence Committee of the Seamless Steel Tube Industry of the European Union, which also examined dumping duties on the same product from Croatia.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will lend up to Euro 35 million to Croatian supermarket chain Getro, helping it add nine more stores to its current 15. Although this expansion will be in Croatia, the company will also use the money to explore moving into neighbouring Serbia & Montenegro and Bosnia & Herzegovina.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
JUDICIAL reform is the number one priority for Croatia’s bid to improve its civil, government and business systems to prepare for European Union (EU) membership, said a new report. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s (EBRD) 2004 Transition Report has highlighted Croatia’s establishment of a Judicial Academy, in cooperation with the Law School of Zagreb University and its Supreme Court.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE NUMBER cruise companies that can include the historic Croatian city of Dubrovnik on their itineraries will rise because of a redevelopment of its port, funded by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). It is planning to lend Euro 26.5 million to enable the Port of Dubrovnik Authority to extend the port’s berth area, “creating additional space for increased number and larger sizes of cruise vessels” said an EBRD note.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A TRAINING programme for Croatian judges and prosecutors has been launched involving the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), to enable some of its war crimes cases to be heard in Croatia. The move will help ease the workload of the United Nations-backed tribunal which has been given until 2010 to wind up, preferably by 2008.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Croatia’s Zagrebacka Banka (ZABA) have created a risk-sharing loan facility for Croatian food processors, producers and traders totalling Euro 71.4 million.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank wants to lend up to Euro 95 million to state-owned Croatian gas utility Plinacro to modernise the country’s gas transmission system. The money would be spent on building a new 180 km trunk pipeline from Zagreb to Slavonski Brod, supplying eastern Croatia and a 192 km trunk pipeline from coastal Pula to Karlovac, near Zagreb, connecting networks to offshore Adriatic gas fields and Italy.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Croatia’s Zagrebacka Banka (ZABA) have created a risk-sharing loan facility for Croatian food processors, producers and traders totalling Euro 71.4 million.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has approved a loan of Euro 25 million to Croatian air navigation services provider Croatia Control Ltd to help pay for the replacement of its core air traffic management system, including radar data and flight processing systems and communication equipment.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ANTI-DUMPING duties are likely to be imposed on three Ukrainian steel tube producers when they export product to the European Union, after they told the European Commission that they no longer wanted to be bound by promises to maintain a minimum price level for their products.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has developed plans to lend Euro 25 million to Croatian air navigation services provider Croatia Control Ltd. The money would pay for the renewal of Zagreb Area Control Centre, replacing old equipment and allowing the country to cope with an expected future increase in air traffic.…

Keith Nuthall
EUROPEAN Union ministers have been asked to approve a wine trade deal struck between the European Commission and Croatia. If it is accepted, it will lead to the mutual liberalisation of import and export quotas, the lowering of tariffs and the joint recognition of protected names, such as geographic indications.…