Search Results for: Estonian

BY DAVID HAWORTH

THE PAINT and coatings industry is a small but brightly shining star in the Finnish economy’s firmament, and one, which, as might be expected, has all the virtues of specialised Nordic industrial sectors.

These include a mature market, a great familiarity between manufacturers and customers in a society of little more than five million and harsh winter conditions, which dictate the high consumption of paints.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission’s radiation section of its nuclear energy directorate has given Estonia a largely clean bill of health regarding radiological protection, but has called for some improvements. Checking the Estonian national monitoring network for environmental radioactivity, the Commission said it should compare its practices with those of other European Union member states to improve “the nature and frequency of sampling”.…

BY MARK ROWE

EXPORTS of Lithuanian beer rose by 51.4% in 2005, according to the Lithuanian Breweries Association, to 1.518 million dekalitres – exceeding the combined volumes of the neighbouring Estonian and Latvian beer markets. Domestic consumption was more modest but still saw a healthy growth of 4.5% – though according to a spokesman for brewer Gubernija, the domestic market is loyal, with up to 97% of the domestic market divided between Lithuanian breweries.…

BY DAVID HAWORTH, in Helsinki

BY its own lights Finland is a model of Nordic virtue and is snooty about crime in neighbouring countries round the Baltic. But Interpol begs to differ, ranking Finnish criminality as high for an industrialised economy.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AFTER years of doing nothing, and then years of erecting complex bureaucratic controls, the European Union (EU) is at last starting to get its act together on controlling fraud. Keith Nuthall reports.

IN a filthy flat, not properly cleaned for years, moving the odd cupboard and shining a torch on the floor is sure to highlight a few cockroaches, scuttling for safety towards some Godforsaken corner.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) first dedicated anti-fraud Commissioner has promised to review the structure of complex accounting rules erected at the European Commission in the past five years to prevent corruption and mismanagement scandals. Estonia’s Siim Kallas accepted that some rules created by the outgoing Prodi Commission, especially vice-president Neil Kinnock, “could be simplified” as they “seem to be complicated”.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
DEEP-SEA northeast Atlantic fishing quotas for vessels from the eastern European countries which joined the European Union (EU) in May, have been announced by the European Commission. Initially covering 2004, but also a base for future years, these quotas are in some cases quite substantial, despite the concern about the need to conserve the stocks of these deep water species.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ISSUES of commercial crime have been moving up the European Union’s (EU) policy agenda in recent years. With the arrival of a 25-member European Commission under Jose Barroso, the subject has even greater prominence and involves the responsibilities of three new Commissioners.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s first dedicated anti-fraud Commissioner has promised to deal speedily with future controversial cases of whistleblowing in Brussels, as the outgoing Commission finally sacked its former chief accountant for alleged “unsubstantiated statements”. Responding to complaints that Marta Andreasen was dismissed after a lengthy two-year suspension, Estonia’s Siim Kallas told a European Parliament hearing that such cases “must be handled as fast as possible” under his term of office.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE POLITICIANS appointed to the incoming European Commission taking office on November 1 start intensive hearings at the European Parliament on Monday (27-9), with the competition Commissioner-designate Neelie Kroes expecting tough questioning.

The Dutchwoman has been a board member of many large European companies, such as Swedish automobile manufacturer Volvo, mobile phone group MMO, French defence company Thales and shipping group Royal P&O Nedlloyd.…