Search Results for: German

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE CREATION of an international joint-venture, manufacturing oxo chemicals – which are a key ingredient of many solvents – has been agreed by the European Commission. It has approved the 50/50 initiative involving German chemical producers Celanese AG and Degussa AG; it will trade as European Oxo Chemicals (EOC).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ENVIRONMENTAL imaging from the European Space Agency’s ERS-2 satellite helped Swedish, German and Danish oil containment ships scoop up the bulk of an oil slick released from a sunken Chinese freighter that threatened the southern coast of Sweden this month.(June)…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FEARS that avian flu may have spread from the Netherlands to poultry in Germany have sparked movement controls on live poultry, hatching eggs and fresh, unprocessed and non-heat-treated poultry manure or litter. They cannot be moved within the Lander of North Rhine-Westphalia because of an unconfirmed outbreak amongst chickens in Schwalmtal, near the Dutch border.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has granted environmental approval to plans for extending the life of Germany’s Prosper Haniel Colliery, near near Bottrop in North-Rhine Westphalia, using its powers to protect the EU’s Natura 2000 conservation sites. Brussels said the potential ecological damage that may be caused by continued operations at Haniel was justified by “reasons of overriding public interest.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the payment of more than Euro 3.3 billion to the German coal mining industry for this year, while also accepting a restructuring plan for the sector that will reduce subsidies and production until 2007.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE FIVE major European suppliers of chemicals to the cosmetics industry have been raided by the European Commission, which suspects them of price-fixing. Brussels says that its inspectors, along with national competition officials, carried out “simultaneous and unannounced inspections at the premises of the major European producers of the bleaching agent hydrogen peroxide, as well as softening agents, solvents and methacrylates.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is investigating state aid of Euro 1 million paid by the German government to stationary giant Herlitz, to prevent a subsidiary – Falken Office Products – from going insolvent. Brussels fears this payment may have broken European Union state aid rules.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has made its formal offer at the World Trade Organisation’s Doha Development Round to boost access to the European Union insurance market to non-EU players. However, following pressure from national European capitals, its services talks liberalisation package is hedged with a large number of exceptions protecting local interests.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
HAMBURG’S ageing and crumbling sewerage network is to be upgraded by a Euro 420 injection of funding, with the European Union’s (EU) European Investment Bank (EIB) planning to provide Euro 180 million of this money. The scheme involves a large number of small repair projects to improve the north German port’s waste water services, including the modernisation of its sewage treatment system and the reconstruction and upgrading of its sewerage networks.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AGREEMENT in principle over the proposed reforms to the European Union’s gas and electricity liberalisation directives has been secured at the European Parliament’s key industry committee, although it is also holding out for some important changes. MEP’s backed a report from Luxembourg member Claude Turmes which called for amendments insisting upon close cooperation between the European Commission and national regulators to ensure a level playing field regarding security of supply.…