Search Results for: Greece

BY MICHAEL KOSMIDES, IN ATHENS

THE GREEK ministry of rural development has appealed at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) against a European Commission order that it collect from food producers and return to Brussels almost EUR425 million of European Union (EU) subsidies.…

BY MICHAEL KOSMIDES, IN ATHENS

LIKE most other sectors, Greece’s book market felt the profound effect of the debt crisis this past Christmas, in terms of sales. Annie Ragia, president of the Hellenic Federation of Publishers and Booksellers said that although the country’s market picked up a bit after mid-December, "that was far from enough, as there has been an estimated a 30-40% drop in sales in 2011."…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has confirmed it is scrapping sugar production quotas across the European Union (EU) in 2015 when proposing a comprehensive reform of the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). There have been calls from some member states and MEPs for the quota regime to be renewed, but the Commission has stuck to its guns and will continue with abolition.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission is coming under pressure to toughen its action against high mobile roaming charges, as its latest proposals are debated at the European Parliament.

MEPs want the Commission to go further in its action to foist more competition on the roaming market while capping bills.…

BY MICHAEL KOSMIDES

THE GREEK government has launched an international multibillion Euro tender regenerating the old Athens airport area at Hellinikon. The 620 hectare site is more than twice the size of Hyde Park in London. It includes facilities used for the Athens 2004 Olympics and listed buildings such as the former ‘Athens East Terminal’, designed by the architect Eero Saarinen.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

The European Commission could impose significant conditions on the planned purchase of a 25% stake by German sugar giant Sudzucker of Britain’s ED&F MAN (EDFM) because it regards it as a defacto takeover. Speaking about the Commission’s launch of a detailed inquiry into the deal, a spokeswoman told just-food that its officials were asked to approve it as a merger, noting: "Whether a company acquires ‘control’ is not determined only by…a majority shareholding, but… many other factors."…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed its long-awaited package of measures designed to prevent major oil or gas rig accidents that could pollute European Union (EU) waters. They have been collated into a proposed regulation, which would have to be followed to the letter by member states, if the proposal is approved by MEPs and EU ministers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) anti-fraud Commissioner has blamed member states for the EU accounts again being declared faulty by the Court of Auditors, the union’s financial watchdog. The court concluded in its assessment of the 2010 accounts that while they "present fairly the financial position of the European Union…the payments underlying these accounts were still affected by material error, with an estimated error rate of 3.7% for the EUR122.2 billion of EU spending."…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) anti-fraud Commissioner has blamed member states for the EU accounts again being declared faulty by the Court of Auditors, the union’s financial watchdog. The court concluded in its assessment of the 2010 accounts that while they "present fairly the financial position of the European Union…the payments underlying these accounts were still affected by material error, with an estimated error rate of 3.7% for the EUR122.2 billion of EU spending."…

BY WANG FANGQING

WHILE soybean oil still remains the main cooking oil of choice used in China, the country’s manufacturers have recently been experiencing a shift – with a growing demand for diversity in terms of cooking products in large and small cities.…