Search Results for: Greece

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that European Union (EU) insurance laws allow owed salaries to be paid ahead of outstanding policy claims, when an insurance company goes out of business. Its ruling has come in a Greek case brought by a public road-accident liability fund – Epikouriko Kefalaio – against its government for ordering Intercontinental AE, also of Greece, to release part of its frozen assets to pay salary claims.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A REPORT from market analysts IDC has revealed 37% of business programmes used in the EU are pirated. The study, involving 5,600 interviews, identified Greece as having the worst problem, with 63% of business software being pirated, followed by Poland and Lithuania (58%), Latvia (57%) and Estonia 54%.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITAIN’S current strong performance in employing its citizens in general, and offering part-time jobs in particular, has been confirmed by a Eurostat report placing the UK above most other European countries. In a comparative study on employment rates, (rather than unemployment), the European Union (EU) statistical agency said 17.4% of Britons were in part-time employment, a larger proportion than in any other EU country, except in the Netherlands, where it is 32.8%.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FRANCE is Europe’s laggard for implementing European Union (EU) environmental law, the European Commission has concluded. It its latest assessment of compliance with EU green regulations and directives, it notes 11 instances of France being recently censured by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) or threatened with legal action by the Commission over non-compliance with environmental legislation.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE LEGAL web being cast by the European Union (EU) in the fight against money laundering is being tightened still further. A third directive has now been proposed by the European Commission that, among other things, will broaden the definition of money laundering to include not only the concealment or disguise of the proceeds of serious crimes but also the financing of terrorism with either criminal or legally acquired money.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
FRANCE is Europe’s laggard for implementing European Union (EU) environmental law, the European Commission has concluded. Its latest assessment of compliance with EU green regulations and directives notes 38 cases of France being censured by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) or threatened with legal action by the Commission over non-compliance with environmental legislation in 2003.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has ordered Spain to repay Euro 17 million in EU subsidies for breaking payment rules for nut and locust bean production, and Greece Euro 38.55 million for ewe and goat premium errors.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE KEY European Commissioner for Europe’s personnel managers over the next four years will be the Czech Republic’s Vladimir ?pidla, who will become the new European Union (EU) commissioner for employment, social affairs and equal opportunities. Replacing current stand in commissioner Stavros Dimas, of Greece, (who has taken over temporarily from fellow Greek Anna Diamontopoulou), ?pidla…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE RENEWABLE energy and CHP sectors will be closely studying the appointment of new European commissioners for energy and the environment, who take office this November, especially as the change of guard means the departure of energy commissioner Loyola de Palacio.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Environment Agency (EEA) says the old 15 member European Union’s (EU) greenhouse gas emissions fell by 0.5% from 2001-2, following increases in the previous two years. Sadly, proactive anti-global warming measures were not top of the agency’s reasons for the cut.…