Search Results for: Netherlands

BY ROBERT STOKES

SMALL and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the European Union (EU) complain they cannot get finance from banks, or not on reasonable terms. Banks counter that there is just not that much demand.

Politicians have responded with schemes to improve the flow of finance to SMEs.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission, once a keen promoter of biofuels, has now reined in its enthusiasm, admitting that biofuels can emit as much carbon as fossil fuels, proposing reforms encouraging the production of secondary biofuels based on waste matter and algae.…

BY JULIAN RYALL, IN TOKYO

THE JAPANESE government has signalled that it will relax its rules on beef imports in the early part of 2013.

After hearing the opinions of a 13-strong expert panel, ministers said they would raise the age limit on livestock used to source beef imports to 30 months from the present 20 months.…

BY CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS

THERE is no more need to test healthy livestock in Britain, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands and Spain to be 95% sure they are not affected by Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), a scientific report from by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has recommended.…

BY CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS

A proposal from the Ukraine government to raise its import tariffs on all kinds of meat and poultry (and another 349 categories of goods) would hit European Union (EU) pork meat exports to the country, claims Jean-Luc Mériaux, secretary general of the European Livestock and Meat Trading Union (UECBV).…

BY ALAN OSBORN

Last minute efforts are underway to rescue the European Union’s (EU) Erasmus student exchange programme which has been threatened, among other EU activities, by budget cuts ordered by the EU Council of Ministers. The key date is November 9th when representatives of the Council will conclude 21 days of negotiations

with delegates from the European Parliament in a "Conciliation Council" to see if funding can be restored.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

BRITAIN’S Crown Dependencies (CDs) – the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man – have always been tricky customers for the world’s anti money laundering authorities to get a fix on. This shows up in the approach taken by the European Commission to them in its so-called anti-money laundering (AML) ‘white list’."…

BY CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS

NEW European Union (EU) rules on animal welfare applying from January 2013 might depress the quality of EU-made poultry meat, a spokesman for a major Dutch poultry producer told an international conference in Brussels on the protection of animals in slaughterhouses.…

BY MARK GODFREY, IN BEIJING

FOR sellers of eco-friendly automotive coatings in China, the future is looking bright: sales of 10 million cars a year are predicted to 2030, the Chinese government’s current 12th Five-Year Plan has not only given auto coatings special attention, it marks new materials and green cars as two of seven emerging industries that are garnering government favourtism.…

BY CARMEN PAUN, IN BRUSSELS

JUST two months before the European Commission is expected to release its ‘Blueprint to Safeguard Europe’s Waters’ – a policy paper aimed at strengthening the European Union’s (EU) water policy – electricity companies are voicing their concerns that a largely environmental approach might harm energy goals, including security of supply.…