Search Results for: Finland

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) is moving towards supporting environment-friendly road transport, rather than dedicating resources to promoting public transport, a European Parliament debate organised by the Automobile and Society Forum, has heard. The European Commission is currently reviewing its 2001 transport white paper and its working papers have noted "disappointment" over the results of the EU’s pro-public transport policies.…

BY DAVID HAWORTH, in Brussels, and KEITH NUTHALL

1. The Commission is a keen supporter of creating increased gas storage capacities. But who should pay for developing these facilities?

The Commission believes that investment in storage should be left to the market, and the costs allocated through market forces.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

RUSSIA’S President Vladimir Putin has signalled a tough fight with the European Union (EU) over oncoming talks about a future energy deal, as the European Commission has mapped out the key elements it would like to see in place.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE COST to Britain’s exchequer of refusing to participate in the European Union’s legal agreement with Philip Morris over illicit cigarette trades has become clearer with the European Commission dividing up the spoils. PMI has promised to pay US$1 billion over 12 years to the European Commission and 10 European Union (EU) member states who have participated in the deal, with the cigarette giant already handing over US$325 million.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

ONE of the biggest problems faced by anti-money laundering forces in the European Union (EU) is that there are 25 (soon to be 27) different national law enforcement agencies and jurisdictions and most member states are reluctant to cede authority on law and order issues to central EU institutions.…

BY MARK ROWE

WHEN it came to accession to the European Union (EU) in 2004, the Baltic States were something of a special case. Though unable to compete on the same scale as their neighbours in Poland, or further south, Ukraine and the Czech Republic, the economies of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia quickly gained a reputation for being micro economic powerhouses – and the same has applied to their paint industries.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has hailed as a success two pilot projects involving large European Union (EU) companies making detailed commitments to reduce the environmental impact of their products. Finland mobile phone giant Nokia and French retailer Carrefour have led consortia of like-minded companies to reduce resources consumed and waste generated by mobiles and wooden garden furniture they make and sell.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE FINNISH government has helped secure the withdrawal from sale of 14 lines of tops because of concerns that their drawstrings could strangle children wearing them. The offending products were from Denmark, China, India, Hong Kong and Estonia, and included the BOYSTAR fleece-jacket; the BOGI Aaron-jacket; JONATHAN ECO CLIMATE baby overalls; and other lines, reported the European Commission’s RAPEX consumer alert service.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

CURRENT European Union (EU) president Finland will this year urge fellow member states to raise the political profile of alcohol across Europe as a threat to public health, bringing in specific measures to curb abuses. Its views are particularly important this year, because the European Commission is buffing up just such a plan for release in September or October, and the Finns will be pushing or agreement at the EU Council of Ministers in December.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

MEMBER states of the European Union (EU) have been encouraged at a European Federation of Accountants (FEE) sponsored-conference in Brussels to follow in the European Commission’s footsteps and adopt accrual accounting practices. EU budget Commissioner Dalia Grybauskaite told the ‘Modernising accounting in the Public Sector – Exchange of Experience’ conference that the system, now largely installed at the Commission, offered national governments major benefits.…