Search Results for: European Parliament

BY ALAN OSBORN
BRITISH hauliers could face new obstacles at trans-alpine crossings in Austria, if a decision by the transport committee of the European Parliament to reject proposals for increasing the number of trips across the Alps is backed by the full assembly.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SIMPLICITY is not one the virtues that is readily associated with the institutions of the European Union, so it is refreshing to note that the European Parliament has recently taken a straightforward step to boost its accountability to the citizens of the continent that it serves.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE WORLD Bank has called on eastern European and central Asian governments to improve their woeful record of judicial reform, in a region where independent justice is still struggling to emerge from the region’s communist legacy.

Speaking at a regional conference in St Petersburg, Russia, Johannes Linn, bank vice president said: “It is quite clear…that the countries of the region need to focus much more effort, not only on ensuring the development of clear and comprehensive legislation, but also on strengthening the capacity, independence, and accountability of the judicial system necessary to interpret and enforce the law.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has run out of patience with France and Belgium over their flouting of the EU Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive and has decided to launch legal cases against the two countries at the European Court of Justice.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission and European Court of Justice are shaping up for a conflict over the rights of national governments to hold golden shares in privatised utilities that given them special rights to intervene in shaping their policies, even when they do not own them.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
EUROPE’S clothing industry is “too big to be squeezed into niche markets,” says a report produced by experts on the sector at the European Commission. EU clothing manufacturers “need a sufficiently broad economic base to generate the turnover and economies of scale necessary to finance research and innovation,” says the report which is not binding on the Commission but will form the basis of future actions by Brussels in the sector.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission has failed in its bid to force the French government to abandon its tough line over the right of driving instructors to deduct tax VAT for vehicles bought for their jobs; Paris insists that they can claim a rebate, only where automobiles are used “exclusively” for teaching.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EU consumer affairs Commissioner David Byrne has revealed details of a planned new European directive on food labelling to a round table on food quality, safety and production, that could lead to a dramatic expansion of the ingredient information that must be printed.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE PORTUGUESE government has been ordered to scrap its reduced five per cent rate of VAT on equipment designed for research into alternative forms of energy, with the European Court of Justice ruling that it contravened the EU’s Sixth VAT Directive, which attempts to harmonise the application of sales taxes.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has asked for electronics research teams – from both the private and public sector – to bid for money from a budget to promote studies and demonstration projects, regarding innovative computing-related technologies.

Using some of the last money still available from the outgoing Fifth Framework Programme of research, which will be wound up by the end of this year, the Commission has announced that it has earmarked Euro 450 million for grants, with a deadline for applications for the bulk of the projects of October 17.…