Search Results for: Germany

BY KEITH NUTHALL
WATER privatisation has certainly had its critics, but it has a new supporter in the shape of the European Commission. It has publicly backed the growing privatisation of Europe’s water utilities, with its internal market commissioner praising British government moves to inject competition into its national sector.…

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 KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) ministers have formally approved the creation of an EU Solidarity Fund, helping Member States deal quickly with the effects of natural and man-made disasters; its funds will be mobilised immediately to assist regions affected by the floods of August and September 2002.…

KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN masters degree in renewable energy has been launched. Coordinated by renewables research group EUREC, the one-year course aims at teaching technically qualified students about a variety of renewable energy methods.

Professor Arthuros Zervos, EUREC vice president said that the course was unique in obliging students to study in at least two different countries.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched a formal investigation into whether Germany’s spirits monopoly law regarding the production of grain brandy, (Kornbranntwein), involves the payment of illegal state subsidies. The Commission wants to prevent small agricultural producers being unfairly favoured with state production subsidies denied to producers from other Member States, and, from 2006, to larger German commercial producers.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA and KEITH NUTHALL
THE GOVERNMENT of Sri Lanka is embarking on a comprehensive survey of the country’s clay resources as demand grows thanks to an official policy of promoting a home-grown ceramics industry, which is already the largest mineral-based sector in this south Asian country.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has publicly backed the growing privatisation of Europe’s water utilities, with its internal market commissioner backing British government moves to inject competition into its national sector.

Indeed, Frits Bolkestein defended the much-maligned record of privatised water services in the UK, blaming the price rises in the 1990’s on a failure to ensure private water companies could compete and previous government neglect.…