Search Results for: France

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has called for the closure of EU coalmines that perform poorly economically, where they have been lavished with state aid paid with the view to them being restructured and turned around.

In its latest report on state aid to the mining industry, (for the year 2000), Brussels adopts an aggressively negative tone about aid paid by national governments to the coal industry, which it claims “is in crisis, despite several years of state aid.”…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is distributing 1.2 million leaflets this summer, which aims to educate holiday-makers on how to use the single European currency, the Euro, whose notes and coins will be launched in January.

Called “Don’t forget to Pack the Euro,” the leaflet encourages tourists to get used to the concept of the Euro whilst vacationing abroad this summer.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
(maximum marks for this one, I think. Only drawback – it’s only as good as the alarm system it comes with.)

Price (installed):

the 2000 model (155 cubic metres) – pounds 1,350

the 4000 model (250 cubic metres) – pounds 1,800

the 8000 model (400 cubic metres) – pounds 2,200

Contact:

Smokecloak

10 Cochran Close, Crownhill

Milton Keynes, Bucks.…

KEITH NUTHALL
FRANCE has been ordered by the European Commission to recover 100 million French Francs, (Euro 15.2 million), which it paid to ailing textile and clothing company Manufacture Corre(E IS ACUTE)zienne de Ve(E HAS CIRCUMFLEX)tements Ve(E HAS CIRCUMFLEX)tements (MCV).

Brussels had not been notified about the payments, which it says broke EU state aid rules, because they did not promote effective investment in the company which would have allowed it to become self-sufficient.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has decided to take France to the European Court of Justice, for failing to implement the EU gas directive before its August 2000 deadline. Paris has pointed out that draft legislation has been adopted, but Brussels asked the ECJ to order it to comply, because there is no date for it to be approved by the national assembly.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE CASE brought by the European Commission against the Philip Morris and RJ Reynolds corporations for their alleged involvement in cigarette smuggling has opened at the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York. The Commission has now been formally joined in the case by Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Luxembourg, who have given mandate Commission lawyers to represent them.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed that sulphur should be banned from petrol in the EU by 2011, and has proposed that sulphur-free petrol and diesel should be made available in every Member States from January 1, 2005.

Brussels thinks sulphur elimination is important, because the chemical damages catalytic converters and makes them less efficient.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
EXPERTS from 54 countries and five international organisations are considering the results of a simulated nuclear accident at the French reactor at Gravelines, near the border with Belgium, across the English Channel. The exercise, which was carried out on May 22-23rd, was to test national and international procedures following a nuclear emergency, the co-ordination of information, and the effectiveness of advisory and decision-making mechanisms.…

KEITH NUTHALL
IN the world’s continually growing urban communities, household consumption of water accounts for the bulk of demand, and as such, has to be the target of conservation strategies, for them to maximise their effectiveness.

However, a rather gloomy report from the European Environment Agency has claimed that high prices and lack of information are preventing many households from using devices that can substantially cut their water consumption.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Union has voiced “disappointment and concern” at a decision by the US Department of Commerce to impose provisional countervailing duties on imports of low enriched uranium from the EU.

European Commission officials said that the case concerned uranium that had been processed for use in electricity generation.…