Search Results for: Greece

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) Council of Ministers has called on the European Commission to frame an action plan on simplifying red tape for the fishing industry, “reducing their bureaucratic workload and the restrictions that bear down on fishermen”.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE LONGEST collectively agreed working hours in the European Union’s (EU) retail sectors are found in richer western European countries, as well as poorer new member states from eastern and southern Europe, a new study has shown. And Britain, usually attacked for having the longest working hours in western Europe, actually has below-average collectively bargained time at work in the retail sector, noted the European Industrial Relations Observatory, looking at 2004 figures.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has asked the EU Council of Ministers to outlaw five national bans on genetically modified products: Austria’s ban on genetically modified maize (MON 810) and GM maize (Bt 176), Germany and Luxembourg’s ban on Bt 176; and Greece’s block on sales of GM spring swede rape.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Court of Justice advocate general has advised the rejection of German and Danish government claims that the word ‘feta’ cheese is a generic term, that can be exploited for marketing purposes by manufacturers based outside the Greece region where it is traditionally made.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EURO 4.72 million fine should make anyone mend their ways; anyone, it seems, bar the Greek government, which is facing possible further legal action for not cleaning-up the illegal waste dump causing the original punishment. This was at the mouth of the beautiful River Kouroupitos, Crete, and was only closed after Athens paid many Euro 20,000 daily penalties for ignoring a European Court of Justice (ECJ) closure order in 2000.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is lending up to Euro 20 million to help glass bottle manufacturer Stirom SA Romania, modernise a furnace and reform its distribution systems. In the latest of a string of investments by the bank improving the country’s packaging sector, Yioula SA, Greece, -owned Stirom may also use the money to buy additional capacity, said the EBRD.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has conditionally approved the greenhouse gas pollution allocation plan of Poland and the Czech Republic, leaving the European Union (EU) just two countries shy of approving all national components of its emissions trading scheme. Now only Greece and Italy await approval.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
DIVISIONS over the EU sugar regime reforms have been clarified at a European Union (EU) Council of Ministers (agriculture) meeting. British, Danish, German, Swedish, Latvian and Maltese delegations wanted “rapid reform, to make the sector more competitive”, though concerns of ex-European colonies in the African Pacific Caribbean (ACP) bloc “should be taken into account”.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has accused nine European Union (EU) governments of dragging their feet over promoting biofuels in their countries. It has sent critical formal notices to Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland and Slovenia accusing them of failing to submit national reports framing 2005 targets for biofuel consumption, as required under the Biofuels Directive.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has released a report detailing sales trends and environment improvements in European Union-consumed motor fuels. It shows, for instance, that the average sulphur content in petrol and diesel roughly halved between 2001 and 2003. In that year, 30.3% of diesel sold had less than 50 parts per million (ppm) of sulphur, with 24.9% less than 10ppm, (Germany and Sweden dominated consumption of this cleanest diesel, while regular diesel was most common in Austria, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain).…