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BY ALAN OSBORN

NEARLY a year after Nicolas Sarkozy was elected president, the widely expected Thatcherite revolution in France he was supposed to bring about has still to arrive. He talked boldly during his election campaign of radical labour market reforms including an end to France’s rigid employment practices, overhaul of the 35-hour working week and at least a start at dismantling the hugely expensive pensions and other perks enjoyed by transport and utility workers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE NEWEST members of the European Union (EU) – Bulgaria and Romania – have been roundly attacked in Brussels over failures to combat organised crime and corruption. Their inaction could cost them dear. Keith Nuthall reports.

BEING criticised by the European Commission could easily be compared to being slapped with a wet fish: unpleasant, but nothing to lose sleep about.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

WORKING groups for the new European Nuclear Energy Forum have started investigating the opportunities and risks facing Europe’s nuclear power sector, while examining how it can improve its transparency.

Following up an inaugural conference held in Bratislava last November 2007, three groups of high level nuclear experts have staged meetings and circulated papers.…

BY JULIAN RYALL, in Tokyo

BY any standards, it has been a tough couple of years for the Japanese nuclear energy industry. Still stinging from public, political and media criticism of atomic energy operators’ practices – including the way in which companies consistently failed to report data that might have been damaging to their operations – the industry was then dealt a blow by Mother Nature.…

BY MARK ROWE

MALAYSIA’S paint and construction industries are going through a stabilisation phase, according to the government’s Department for Statistics. Figures released by the department show that the paint industry grew by 3% in both 2006 and 2007, and is projected to grow by around 5% each year from now until 2011.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

DRAFT changes to the European Union’s (EU) Eurovignette directive could allow hauliers to be charged tolls covering direct and indirect costs of traffic pollution, noise and congestion. A leaked document containing reforms under discussion at the European Commission include draft proposals allowing Eurovignette charging to take account of the environmental and health costs of fine particulate matter and nitrogen oxide emissions.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has struck two natural gas supply agreements with Iraq and Turkmenistan that will enable the EU to reduce its dependence on Russian exports. EU external relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov (NOTE – CORRECT NAME) have agreed that the EU will buy 10 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas annually from Turkmenistan.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

COMBUSTION plants, factories and new car models will have to emit less harmful particulate matter into the air in future, after the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers approved a new directive limiting these pollutants. It insists member states must, for instance, reduce exposure to the finer PM2.5 particles in towns and cities 20% by 2020, from 2010 levels, and bring urban exposure levels to below 20 micrograms/m3 by 2015.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

INTERNATIONAL commitments for European Union (EU) member states to consider the impact of water, construction, energy and other major policies and programmes on neighbouring countries are to be written into EU law. The European Commission has proposed that the Protocol on Strategic Environmental Assessment to UN Espoo Convention is formally adopted by the EU.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE ORGANISATION for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) 2008 Environmental Outlook report argues that transport could help cut key air pollutants by about 33% and limit greenhouse gas emissions growth to 12%. Recommended green policies include "more stringent regulations and standards" on pollution and CO2 emissions for transport, plus eco-taxes and polluter-pay systems.…