Search Results for: Greece

BY KEITH NUTHALL
PROVIDERS of domestic care services to the young, elderly, sick or disabled, may be offered the chance to cut the VAT they charge their customers in the future, with the European Commission planning to extend a pilot scheme currently operating in Ireland, Portugal, France and Greece.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
MANY European Union Member States fail to give writers and publishers the royalty rights that they are due under EU law through their national public lending rights rules, the European Commission is claiming. In a report that could lead it to take legal action at the European Court of Justice, Brussels says that France, Greece and Luxembourg fail to give right-holders any remuneration for books lent from public libraries; in Sweden royalties are only paid to national or resident authors; and in Denmark and Finland, payments are only made for books in the local national language.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Union’s drinks industry is one of the continent’s key earners according to a report from EU statistical agency Eurostat, which says its productivity is much higher than that of the food processing sector.

The top performing country in the latest pan-EU figures available (1999) in the drinks industry was France, at Euro 103,700 generated in terms of value added by the sector per person in employment.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE GREEK government is being taken to the European Court of Justice over its insistence that lorry drivers should pay registration taxes in Greece to use their vehicle temporarily in that country, even if it is registered in another EU Member State.…

BY MONICA DOBIE and KEITH NUTHALL
A GROUND-breaking environmental initiative is being developed in Greece involving a desalination plant being powered wholly by the heat of the earth’s upper crust.

The plant’s electricity turbines will be driven by geothermal fluids pumped from deep underground fissures under the island, whose temperatures can reach 100°C.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
GOVERNMENTS and international organisations have highlighted tobacco smuggling as one of the largest illegal drains on their tax revenues. An international conference has brought law enforcement professionals together with health officials to fight this problem. Keith Nuthall reports.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
CHEESE sold in the European Union as Greek Feta will be only produced in certain areas of Greece and follow strict product specifications if a proposed registration of the product as a Protected Designation of Origin is approved by EU ministers.…

KEITH NUTHALL
A DYNAMIC online forum on European energy policy has been launched by an international consortium; the European Union-funded INTUSER website contains information about current energy issues and questionnaires allowing specialists and the public to contribute to policy debates. The three year project’s website includes special sections on alternative, renewable, fossil and nuclear energy.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission has filed an appeal against the dismissal of its cigarette smuggling action in the US against three tobacco companies: Philip Morris, R. J. Reynolds and Japan Tobacco. Notably, it has received formal support in the proceedings from the US Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association for its action, along with the World Health Organisation, the US Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
MINISTERS of the 15 European Union countries have reached agreement on the Trans-European Energy Networks directive. The ministers have essentially supported the Commission proposal of last year and Brussels officials predicted that the European Parliament will do likewise later this year.…