Search Results for: European Parliament

Keith Nuthall
BANK fees for moving money from country to country within the Eurozone will match those for making payments within one EU Member State in the future, because of a new European regulation agreed by the EU Council of Ministers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE BELGIAN government has been put on legal notice by the European Commission that it could be heavily fined by the European Court of Justice for its failure to abide by rulings made in 1999 opposing Belgium’s cargo sharing shipping deals with five African countries, namely Togo, Mali, Senegal, the Ivory Coast and its former colony, the Democratic Republic of the Congo.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
The European Commission is now re-thinking its strategy over ship-building following rejection of its favoured approach by the EU Council of Industry Ministers on Wednesday.

Mr Heinz Mico, a spokesman for the trade commissioner Pascal Lamy, said the extension of the EU’s case at the WTO to include LNG carriers would only be realistic if there were “good reasons” for it that went beyond the complaint of one country.…

Keith Nuthall
AN ACTION plan is being developed by the European Commission and the EU automobile industry to promote the introduction of high-tech safety systems in European motor-vehicles; the programme will probably include funding for research and the demonstration of innovations in the field.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EU transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio has launched an aggressive rebuttal of claims by French trade union’s that the European Commission’s single sky initiative is an effective privatisation of air traffic management that will compromise safety standards.

The conservative Spanish commissioner said: “Let there be no misunderstanding: the purpose of the Single Sky is not to boost competition or privatise air traffic control.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed a one-year extension to the EU’s production aid scheme for certain nuts and locust beans, which is due to be phased out in January. Brussels wants EU ministers to continue funding until June 2002, with up to Euro 241.5 per hectare, 25 per cent co-funded by Member States, being made available to producer organisations.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has authorised the Spanish government to grant aid up to a maximum of Euro 1.07 billion, (ESP 178 billion), to its coal industry for the past year, (2001). Brussels has accepted the particular problems facing Spain’s coal sector – with some mines that produce coal that is competitive with imports and others that are very costly – by allowing Madrid to finance operational aid as well as structural reforms.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THREE British projects have won grants from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work for accident prevention schemes designed for small and medium-sized enterprises. The agency announced grants equivalent to pounds 2.7 million in total to 51 projects across the 15 EU countries.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
AMERICAN online book retailers are likely to be upset by the decision of the European Union Council of Ministers (finance) to approve its proposed new VAT requirement for books downloaded from the Internet. The system allows for online EU exporters to sell their goods without charging sales tax, but penalises websites based in the United States, (or other third countries), selling to consumers in the EU.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A NEW report from the European Environment Agency has described the wide gulf between Member States’ performance on renewable energy generation and highlighted a number of reasons for this. The top performer for 1993-9 was Germany, which surged ahead with the development of photovoltaics, solar thermal installations and wind generated energy output.…