Search Results for: Germany
10 results out of 3221 results found for 'Germany'.
EU ROUND UP - NEW EUROPEAN COMMISSION UNVEILED
BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE PLANNED shape of a new European Commission for the next five years has been unveiled, and it includes recreating a new single directorate general (DG) for energy. Since 2000, the Commission has operated a joint directorate general for energy and transport, but with the growing importance of the energy brief to the European Union (EU), energy policy will receive a new separate directorate general.…
GLOBAL ROUND UP OF 2009 CLOTHING AND TEXTILE NEWS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A YEAR of struggle would be the best way to sum up 2009 as far as the global clothing and textile industry is concerned. The depth and severity of the worldwide recession left many clothing and textile companies reeling, even impacting upon China, which had previously been dominating global markets.…
FINNISH LORRY DRIVERS JUST WANT A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD
BY JOHN PAGNI
HAILING from arguably Europe’s most egalitarian country, Finns take equality seriously. So when it appears that some are being treated differently from others, even the normally phlegmatic, taciturn Finnish trucker may be roused into voicing an opinion.
Being a large country with a small population and a good road network, congestion is rare.…
UTILITIES FACING GREEN-TINGED NEW EUROPEAN COMMISSION FOR NEXT FIVE YEARS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A SHIFT in European Union (EU) energy policy should become apparent from February 1, when Germany’s Günther Oettinger should become EU energy Commissioner. Replacing Latvia’s Andris Piebalgs for the next five years, the appointment of a German to this increasingly powerful position has been widely touted as shifting EU energy relations towards closer links with Russia.…
TRANSPORT REGAINS SEPARATE DIRECTORATE GENERAL IN EUROPEAN COMMISSION
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A CLEAR signal that the end is nigh for the European Union’s (EU) free stimulus spending on Europe’s auto sector has been made with the announcement of nominations for a new European Commission to take office, probably, in February.…
NORDIC REGION EMBRACING BIOFUEL INNOVATION
BY GERARD O’DWYER
NORDIC governments are pushing ahead with energy-centered reforms to build a significantly larger regional market for the production and sale of biofuels. All these neighbouring countres are expected to follow Sweden’s lead and implement policies to eliminate fossil fuel dependence by 2030, Sigbjørn Johnsen (NOTE – SPELLING IS CORRECT), Norway’s finance minister, said in an address to the country’s Storting (parliament) on December 14.…
ITALIAN WINE SECTOR BOOSTS QUALITY TO SEIZE EXPORTS AMIDST DECLINING DOMESTIC MARKET
BY LEE ADENDORFF, ERIC LYMAN and KEITH NUTHALL
INTRODUCTION
THE ITALIAN wine industry hit rock bottom a generation ago, when thousands of bottles of Italian wine were found laced with deadly levels of methanol, a key ingredient in antifreeze that had been used to raise the alcohol content of the wine.…
Van Rompuy, Ashton appointments could boost French protectionism within Europe
By Alan Osborn, International News Services
The share-out of top jobs in the EU announced last Thursday night after weeks of political maneouvring has had an almost universally poor reception. The appointment of Mr Herman Van Rompuy, the Belgian prime minister, to be the first full-time EU president, and that of the British peer baroness Catherine Ashton to be the EU’s foreign policy chief, (both of them relative unknowns) have been widely seen as disappointments and the waste of a chance to put the EU on the world stage by appointing well-known, assertive figures.
Not everybody will see it negatively though. As the realpolitik behind these moves becomes plainer, we can see that France and Germany have done a lot better than other countries – apparently at the expense of the United Kingdom. As part of the deal to install Lady Ashton, Britain has agreed to allow Michel Barnier, a centre-right French politician, to take responsibility for the internal market in the new EU Commission next year.…
FRANCE TAKES CONTROL OF KEY EU INTERNAL MARKET PORTFOLIO
BY KEITH NUTHALL
FRANCE has secured control of the key European Commission internal market portfolio for the next five years, according to the new team unveiled today by the Commission’s president José Manuel Barroso. The move, if confirmed by the European Parliament in January, is sure to spark concerns amongst supporters of liberalisation given the French government’s usual support for bureaucratic controls on the economy.…
EUROPEAN RESEARCHERS AIM TO WIELD NANOTECHNOLOGY TO IMPROVE ELECTRONIC CARS
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A MAJOR European research project is to spend Euro 44 million on developing tiny components to help electric vehicles improve their performance, so that they can better compete with models powered with liquid fuels. The Fiat and Audi-backed E3CAR (Energy efficient electrical car) project will especially focus on emerging nanotechnologies as its researchers aim to boost electric cars’ often less than stellar driving abilities.…