Search Results for: European Parliament

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Agency for Reconstruction has awarded three new contracts to international consortiums to boost Kosovo’s electricity sector, which relies on the province’s coal mines. In particular, the agency has awarded a Euro 9 million contract to a SwedPower led group, to give training, management support and technical assistance to Kosovo electricity company KEK, notably so it can better manage its coal supplies.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Commission-funded report has claimed that technological advances have made it feasible to roll-out the next phase of offshore wind turbines, which could generate 100 MW, dwarfing the capacity of the current 80 MW models.

The Concerted Action on Offshore Wind Energy in Europe (CA-OWEE) project has concluded that “the physical and environmental challenges are within the grasp of the offshore and wind energy industries,” although there are still problems posed by “market uncertainties.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development is joining with Raiffeisenbank Austria to set up a US$12 million pilot leasing facility, to allow Russian mining and construction companies to secure equipment from top mining machinery manufacturer Caterpillar Inc.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A RAFT of legal cases are being prepared by the European Commission against eight European Union Member States, to force them to monitor and restrict their production of the key greenhouse gas carbon dioxide.

In a bid to make the EU stick to its Kyoto Protocol commitments, the Commission has formally warned Britain, Luxembourg, Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Spain and Germany of potential legal actions at the European Court of Justice.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Space Agency is offering to check how countries are implementing environmental treaties such as monitoring the growth of forests under the Kyoto Protocol or their rate of shrinkage under the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. Its Treaty Enforcement Services using Earth Observation can use ESA satellites to check the extent of national woodland stocks.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission is expected this month (May) to announce a proposed directive boosting the use of co-generation, although EU electricity association Eurelectric thinks it may at the same time moderate earlier targets for doubling the share of energy represented by the sector.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Union’s anti-fraud unit OLAF has reacted angrily to the leaking to German news magazine Stern of a confidential dossier of new EU corruption allegations compiled last year by Brussels whistle-blower Paul van Buitenen. Since he handed his report in August to OLAF and the Commission’s administration directorate, officials have been “analysing” its contents and discussing how to follow it up.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union, the USA, China and 87 other countries have agreed new global guidelines on how to rid wood packaging material of wood-eating insects, the United Nations has announced. To guarantee that packaging is pest-free, exporters would need to certify with a globally recognised symbol that the material has been heated or fumigated.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission will propose the creation “as quickly as possible” of an EU administrative system for verifying the legality of imported wood products. This will be part of a promised EU action plan against illegal logging discussed at the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade workshop held in Brussels from April 22 to 24.…

KEITH NUTHALL
WIDE-RANGING consultation has been launched by the European Commission into the idea of harmonising national laws across the European Union that regulate who is liable when a product is defective and a consumer wants to claim compensation.

EU justice and home affairs Commissioner Antonio Vitorino has claimed that with cross-border shopping growing between Member States, European citizens should be clear about their rights, wherever they buy goods or services.…