Search Results for: Ireland

By David Haworth, in Brussels

Next Monday, (19/10) Mrs. Catherine Day will deliver the most important speech of her life.

Who is she, you’ll probably ask. Indeed, for someone of immense influence this tall, blond middle-aged Irishwoman is a reclusive figure, shy – not writing very much, still less seeking out audiences.

But, as the secretary general of the European Commission, the lady is the power behind Commission president José Manuel Barroso’s throne.

She is the institution’s leaderene though hiding behind the good manners and discretion of a classic civil servant. Catherine Day is seldom heard and rarely seen.

In a few days, however, she will stand before a huge audience of colleagues to explain to them how the clumsily-titled ‘external action service’ is to be developed and how it will affect their working lives.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

GENERAL Motors wastes Euro 9.8 billion’s worth of environmental and social costs compared to a notional industry average, a new international assessment on auto industry sustainability has claimed. This follows the largest such statistical exercise ever undertaken, carried out by experts from Queen’s University, Belfast, in Northern Ireland; the Euromed Management School, Marseilles, France; and the Institute for Futures Studies and Technology Assessment (IZT), Berlin.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

BOTH the strengths and the weaknesses of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in the anti-money laundering field derive from its role as the supreme interpreter of European Union (EU) law and its responsibility for applying that law consistently through the Union.…

BY PHILIPPA JONES, LEE ADENDOORF, E. BLAKE BERRY, SYMON ROSS, MONICA DOBIE and KEITH NUTHALL

CONSUMER issues have been a key focus of European Union (EU) initiatives regarding utilities of late. The European Commission’s Citizens’ Energy Forum has been busy, recently focusing on improving billing practices, promoting good practice and calling for "clearer, more understandable and accurate bills".…

By David Haworth, in Brussels

By the time you read this, Ireland’s second attempt to ratify the Lisbon Treaty may have succeeded and thunderous pieties about the nation’s wisdom, maturity and farsightedness in reaching the “right” decision will be heard in all the continent’s chancelleries.

Thus the only European Union (EU) member to hold a referendum on this agreement will have been punched to the canvas by fear (the devastating recession) and loathing (the EU institutions and other capitals).

True, the Treaty’s legislative journey is not yet over.…

By Emma Jackson

A groundbreaking food safety centre will open at Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, this month, to help local agri-food industries fight for shares of global food markets by underpinning their reputation for high health standards.

The £2 million Centre for Assured, Safe, and Traceable Food (ASSET), funded in part by Northern Ireland’s Department for Employment and Learning, will research new technologies to detect contaminants in food, which the province’s agri-food industries will implement in their facilities to ensure high standards of food safety.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

HACHETTE Ireland was one of 12 publishers honoured this week at the first awards of the new European Union Prize for Literature (Monday Sept 28). The Dublin-based branch of the Hachette publishing empire was praised for producing one of 12 award winning books: ‘Longshore Drift’ (2006), by Karen Gillece.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE ATTACK by France and Germany on the European Commission’s ‘health check’ reforms to phase out European Union (EU) dairy quotas by 2015 is gathering support, with 16 member states backing increased subsidies. Having failed to persuade the Commission to abandon quota liberalisation, a growing Franco-German-led alliance at the EU Council of Ministers is backing increased subsides while restrictive production quotas expand from 2010 and disappear in 2015.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

ALL is not well with the European Union (EU)’s ambitious ‘water framework directive’ (WFD). The 2009 timetable has slipped. The 27 EU member states were required to establish their first river basin management plans (RBMPs) for all 110 river basin districts in the EU by the end of this year and include specific measures to ensure that all EU waters reach "good" status by 2015.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

IT is a little like the election of a Pope. The five-yearly reappointment of the European Commission – now underway – is shrouded in complex procedure and murky backroom deals. Closed discussions between Europe’s power-brokers in Brussels offices, embassies and national capitals divide up the available positions – currently there are 27: one per member state.…