Search Results for: Czech Republic

BY DAVID ANDERSON, in Chisinau

AS the European Union (EU) expands its borders ever eastwards, the challenge of dealing with geopolitical and corruption issues grows larger. One such hotspot is Transdniestria, a mixed Russian, Ukrainean and Moldovan-speaking strip of land bordering Moldova, which is recognised by no other country as an independent state.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A PROPOSED liberalisation of European Union (EU) design rights legislation, allowing lorry parts makers to copy and sell spares already made by vehicle manufacturers across the EU has been accepted by the European Parliament’s legal affairs committee. A committee communiqué said: "The directive will allow suppliers to produce motor vehicle components which are identical to the original parts without infringing design protection."…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) is refusing to give up on Russia and its neighbours as stable energy partners for the future, despite the largely inconclusive summit between member states and Moscow last month (October) in Mafra, Portugal. It failed to make progress on the demands from the European Commission for reciprocal liberalisation in Russian energy markets, should the EU allow Russian companies – notably Gazprom – a free hand in member states gas sectors.…

BY MARK ROWE and PAUL COCHRANE

IT is something of an understatement to describe Iran as a peripheral player on the international paint scene. The country’s share of the world market in paints and varnishes in 2007 is, according to research analysts Gobi International, just 0.5%.…

BY DAVID HAWORTH, in Vienna

AUSTRIA boasts a relatively low commercial crime rate. However its position as one of Europe’s crossroads is threatening this good reputation. Today it’s geographically and politically wedged between some older and some more recent European Union (EU) member countries.…

BY CHRIS JONES, in Paris

AUTO manufacturers in Europe are calling for greater support from national governments and European Union (EU) institutions in promoting eco-driving – where good motoring styles are adopted which reduce the greenhouse gas and other polluting emissions from vehicles.…

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 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.…

BY MARK ROWE, in London, JULIAN RYALL, in Tokyo, and RACHEL JONES, in Caracas

PERSONAL care products – soaps, cosmetics, lotions and hair products – have always been important consumers of vegetable and animal-based oils and fats. Yet, this is a complex sub-sector of the global oils and fats industry.…

BY MARK ROWE

ONE of the most perfidious environmental legacies of communism in eastern Europe was that of mining pollution. In particular, across a swathe of the Balkans, from Albania to Bosnia & Herzegovina, (the former Yugoslav Republic of) Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, and Kosovo, up to 150 mines have been identified by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as areas of concern.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has cleared the path to extending the so-called ‘Schengen’ borderless zone within the EU to the eight former communist countries that joined the EU in 2004. Approving reforms made to the border controls these countries have with non-EU states, the council noted that a final Schengen expansion decision could come in December.…