Search Results for: German

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has given the go-ahead for the acquisition by Gaz de France (GDF) of the German oil and gas activities of Preussag Energie. Brussels has been examining the potential effect on competition in Germany’s upstream energy market and concluded that these were “only small.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
LONG awaited European Union legislation promoting the co-generation of heat and power (CHP) has been attacked in the European Parliament, where MEP’s have accused it of “lacking ambition.” Indeed, the parliament’s industry committee has supported a critical report by German socialist MEP Norbert Glante which lamented the absence in the proposals of future targets for cogeneration and EU rules on financial support.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE PREMISES of five major European chemical companies have been raided by the European Commission’s antitrust services in a search for evidence of price-fixing in solvents, and a small list of other products. Brussels said the investigation was at a “preliminary stage” and could lead to no evidence of wrong-doing.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AGREEMENT in principle over the proposed reforms to the European Union’s gas liberalisation directives has been secured at the European Parliament’s key industry committee, although it is proposing important changes. MEP’s called for amendments insisting upon close cooperation between the European Commission and national regulators regarding security of supply.…

BY PHILIP FINE

TEAMS of microbiologists have concluded that it is not just unsafe to swim in sewage infiltrated waters, but that the amount of sickness caused by such pollution is actually far more predictable than previously thought. The findings have prompted them to call for global health-based legislation on the quality of the world’s bathing waters.…

Keith Nuthall
A MODEL tax system for construction projects that cross national borders within Europe has been devised by the European Commission for work on a new bridge spanning the Rhine between Germany and Switzerland. The Commission has proposed that standard EU VAT laws are suspended, suggesting that all relevant good and services should attract German VAT and no Swiss VAT.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
AN UNUDUAL and significant announcement was made by the European Commission earlier this month (April 2nd) and it should be required reading for any-one who thinks that Brussels is frightened of France when it comes to farming matters.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FINNISH lawyers are the most lightly regulated in the European Union (EU), according to the surprising results of a European Commission-funded survey designed to promote the need for liberalisation in Europe’s liberal professions. Oddly, Greece, not known for its adherence to EU rules, has the union’s most heavily regulated legal profession; under a statistical indices developed by the Institute for Advanced Studies, Vienna, Greece has a regulation burden of 9.5, while the laissez-faire Finns score a tiny 0.3.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A MOVE by European Union (EU) health and consumer affairs Commissioner David Byrne to kick-start preparations to lift the five year de-facto moratorium on genetically modified organism imports into the EU has been blocked by Germany, France, Greece, Belgium, Luxembourg and Austria.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has drawn up plans to lend US$6 million to an Azerbaijan company, which is to apply coatings to the Middle East country’s growing oil and gas pipeline network.

Baku-based EUPEC PipeCoatings Azerbaijan will receive this revolving loan facility; it is an Azeri-German joint venture between EUPEC PipeCoatings GmbH, of Germany, and Azertrans Ltd and Azinvest, of Azerbaijan.…