Search Results for: France

BY ALAN OSBORN and KEITH NUTHALL
FRANCE made unjustified claims on cash set aside for restructuring and conversion in the wine sector last year, the European Commission has reported. It says France has been ordered to pay back Euro 14.52 million to Brussels because of “ineligible use of new planting rights.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has announced it will recover Euro 244.4 million of European Union (EU) agricultural subsidies that were wrongly administered by member states through “inadequate controls” or outright rule breaking. France was the worst offender, with Euro 63.79 being reclaimed, notably regarding subsidies paid for fruit and vegetable “withdrawn from the market”.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A SECOND attempt is being made by the European Commission to criminalise counterfeiting and piracy across the European Union (EU), following the rejection of similar plans by the European Parliament last year. The Commission has re-tabled legislation insisting EU member states impose jail terms or significant fines on offenders, whilst ensuring their police and customs officers can confiscate fake goods and close businesses involved in their manufacture.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE BIOHAZ (biohazard) panel of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has recommended that more research be carried out on the risks of goats contracting BSE, following last year’s confirmed case in France. The panel says, for instance, that goats should be given BSE in an experiment, to check how the disease develops.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has announced it will recover Euro 244.4 million of European Union (EU) agricultural subsidies that were wrongly administered by member states through “inadequate controls” or outright rule breaking. France was the worst offender, with Euro 63.79 being reclaimed, notably regarding subsidies paid for fruit and vegetable “withdrawn from the market”.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EU Council of Ministers has blocked a European Commission bid to lift national bans imposed by Austria, France, Germany, Greece and Luxembourg on eight GM maize and oil seed rape corn products. This was despite their already being authorised by the Commission and the European Food Safety Authority.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FRENCH scientists have pinpointed the area of the brain, which is particularly responsive to nicotine addiction, whilst identifying how the chemical hunts down receptors that are particularly susceptible to its effects. Experiments on mice at France’s Institut Pasteur have shown that nicotine dependence is linked to a specific molecule of brain receptors detecting and reacting to nicotine, which are located in the ‘ventral tegmental’ area of the brain.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THAT criminals abuse the insurance industry is nothing new for a sector routinely screening claims for hints of fraud. However, its managers have proved far less alert to the risk of it being exploited by money launderers and terrorist financers, a new detailed report has claimed.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Union (EU) research project is developing an information technology system that will provide real time advice to emergency services on reducing the damage from maritime disasters involving natural or man-made pollution. The DISMAR, or Data Integration System for Marine Pollution and Water Quality system is now being tested.…

Keith Nuthall
ITALY has become the fourth European Union (EU) country this year to press the European Commission to allow crisis distillation to deal with a major wine grape surplus. Speaking at this week’s EU Council of Ministers, agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer-Boel “acknowledged the serious situation of the sector”, but would not yet agree, saying the “request was still under thorough examination”.…