Search Results for: Germany

BY KEITH NUTHALL

HEADS of governments of the European Union (EU) and the European Commission have cleared the way for EU member states to reduce excise duties on natural gas, as a short term measure to fight rising prices. A communiqué following Thursday and Friday’s (19-20 June) EU summit in Brussels, told the 27 member states: "Measures can be considered to alleviate the impact of higher oil and gas prices on the poorer sections of the population, but should remain short-term and targeted."…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A REPORT from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) has revealed that almost a half of OECD member countries (including many in Europe) have potentially dangerous nutrient and pesticide concentrations in drinking water sources.

Tests carried out in recent years (NOTE: CALLED MID-2000’S IN THE REPORT) on surface water and groundwater monitoring sites in agricultural areas show these pollutants often "exceed national drinking water recommended limits" said a new OECD report on the environmental impact of farming.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE FRENCH and German governments have struck agreement over the proposed compulsory 120g/km target for automobiles within the European Union, (EU), with Paris giving ground to Berlin in some key areas.

Germany has opposed the European Commission-proposed average emissions cap saying the burden on technological changes would fall unfairly on its own iconic auto industry, producing – as it does – high quality, powerful cars with comparatively intense CO2 emissions.…

BY MARK GODFREY, in Beijing

WORRIES about inflation and food shortages have left the Chinese government struggling to balance efforts to temper inflation with its ambitious biofuels development programme. Increasing demand for food and biofuels in China have been a key driver in increasing global consumption of fats and oils at an average 4% per year according to the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE ENVIRONMENTAL impact of the proposed Russia-to-Germany Baltic Sea pipeline should be "carefully investigated" and alternative overland routes considered first, the European Parliament petitions committee has said. Responding to concerns of Polish and Lithuanian environmentalists, the committee concluded if an undersea Nord Stream pipeline did pose real and serious environmental risk, EU institutions and member states should "use every legal means" to prevent its construction.…

By Alan Osborn

The Paris-based educational consulting company Eduniversal, part of the SMBG group, has published a list of 1,000 top business schools ranking them by their "capacity for international influence" and grouped into nine geographic regions. SMBG, which specialises in reference services and publications for educational and higher educational institutions, claims that the Eduniversal initiative is "the first stone of a global federation of education."…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

BRITISH hauliers are still at risk when driving though long road tunnels on the continent, with European governments failing to introduce officially recommended safety designs and equipment.

So concludes the latest European Union (EU)-supported European Tunnel Assessment Programme (EuroTAP) safety probe.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

AS the Money Laundering Bulletin discussed recently, essentially there are three international non-governmental organisations engaged in the fight against money laundering – the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) together with its sister regional organisations, plus the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

ALMOST one third of British turkey flocks being fattened for the food industry are contaminated with salmonella, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has warned. In a comprehensive study of the problem across the European Union (EU), EFSA concluded that Britain has one of the poorer records within Europe, having a contamination rate above the EU average of 30.7%.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

A NEW pilot initiative is aiming to make European Union (EU) national electronic public procurement systems compatible, to ease cross-border online tendering. Although EU law insists that public procurement contracts are made available to suppliers from foreign member states, making such bids can involve difficult and unfamiliar paperwork.…