Search Results for: Germany

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) Council of Ministers is under pressure to agree proposals to set up a so-called ‘Community Patent’ that would give inventors the option of obtaining a single patent legally valid throughout the EU. Germany and Portugal are objecting to wording in the proposed texts and have succeeded in blocking the initiative, angering EU internal market commissioner Frits Bolkestein who said the Commission “cannot accept that the proposed central and specialised EU jurisdiction should be watered down.”…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) Council of Ministers for competitiveness has failed to agree legal proposals for setting up a so-called ‘Community Patent’ that would give inventors the option of obtaining a single patent legally valid throughout the EU.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE TOTAL phasing out of nuclear energy being carried out by a number of EU countries is not justified according to the EU’s internal market commissioner Frits Bolkestein (CORRECT SPELLING). In a speech headed “Nuclear energy needed more than ever” given to the Institute of Economic Affairs, London, Mr Bolkestein said nuclear energy provided the technical capacity to increase energy diversification which was needed to reduce external dependence.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved Germany’s controversial Euro 647 million state aid injection to TotalFina Elf subsidiary Mitteldeutsche Erdöl Raffinerie for constructing the Leuna 2000 refinery in Saxony-Anhalt. Brussels had re-examined the project and has now cleared all aid, including Euro 61.4 million, which had been blocked pending the decision.…

BY PHILIP FINE, in Montreal, Canada

THE EFFECTS of September 11 have left their mark on the relationship between air traffic control national service providers (ANSPs) and their customers. The economic fall-out from the terrorist attacks now defines much of the dialogue between ANSPs, airlines and airports.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has sued RJ Reynolds in New York, seeking damages against allegations that it illegally laundered the proceeds of cigarette smuggling. The case – which also involves Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland and Luxembourg – also seeks an injunction stopping future alleged laundering.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union is considering a range of requests to liberalise its insurance sector under commitments it will make in a future World Trade Organisation (WTO) deal, following the ongoing so-called Doha Development Round.

These include calls for it to eliminate existing restrictions in Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy and Portugal on the cross-border supply of maritime and air transport insurance.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
GERMANY is being threatened with legal action by the European Commission over the award of sewage water treatment and gas and electricity supply contracts by the city of Jever, Friesland, north Germany. Brussels says that the contracts were agreed without open tendering procedures legally required to ensure competition in public procurement.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has approved the payment by the German government of Euro 25 million in investment aid to Kunz Faserplattenwerk Baruth to help it set up a new medium density fibreboard (MDF) mill, in Brandenburg, eastern Germany. The company is part of the Kunz Group, which develops, produces and markets timber-based material.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE WORLD is a very long way from establishing a global system for air traffic management, but at least some of the building blocks are now being put into place. We know that neither global regulation nor global management of air traffic is a realistic concept unless preceded by a number of fundamental changes in the way the two are handled institutionally in many countries.…