Search Results for: Portugal

BY DAVID HAWORTH

THE NEW secretary general of the European Union (EU) financial watchdog, European Court of Auditors, does not have much on the job training to do.

When Eduardo Ruiz García took up his new posting on March 16 he had already served as a Court official for 20 years and now at 48 he has, in effect, dedicated his professional life to the well-being and improvement of the institution.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL, LEAH GERMAIN and MONICA DOBIE

MAYBE the best sign that renewable energies have hit the mainstream is that they now have their very own international organisation: the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Launched in Bonn, Germany, this January, with the support of 76 countries, including its host nation, Spain, Italy, France and Sweden, the roster of signatory nations has since been swollen by India and Belarus.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE PLANNED acquisition of Spanish company sugar and bakery ingredient company Azucarera Ebro S.L. by Britain’s Associated British Food Plc, owner of British Sugar, has been approved by the European Commission. It concluded there are no serious competition issues associated with this international deal, despite there being some overlap by the companies in sugar sales to Spain and Portugal.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE PORTUGUESE and Spanish knitwear sectors are to benefit from special government programmes designed to support clothing producers in these countries withstand the recession, given these countries regard the sector as having strategic importance. The Portuguese government has announced a major Euro 850 million plan to boost its struggling clothing sector, with Euro 600 million being lavished on export credit insurance.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

SENIOR Brussels diplomats have been told to revise the proposed Euro 5 billion energy infrastructure building plan drafted by the European Commission to help kickstart Europe’s economy from its current slump.

The EU Council of Ministers (general affairs) released a communiqué saying "adjustments of certain aspects will still be necessary."…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EVERY recession has a silver lining: inefficient competitors are unmasked and forced out of business; and governments usually spend freely to pump prime an ailing economy. And for major essential industries such as the power sector, economic slumps can be good times.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE STRENGTH of Britain’s recycling sector is becoming a force to reckon with across Europe, according to the latest available comparative figures from European Union (EU) statistical agency Eurostat. The proportion of municipal waste recycled in the UK equalled the EU average in 2007, it says – 22%.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE PORTUGUESE government has announced a major Euro 850 million plan to boost its struggling textile and clothing sector, with Euro 600 million being lavished on export credit insurance. Another Euro 180 million will help Portuguese textile and clothing companies secure access to bank loans, with smaller sums being spent, for example, on backing risk capital investment (Euro 20 million); and rationalisation through mergers and acquisitions (Euro 30 million).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has concluded in a detailed report that a fully functioning European Union (EU)-wide single market in natural gas and electricity is far from complete. It spoke of a "mixed picture of the progress of completing the internal energy market".…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE DEPENDENCE of the European Union (EU) on imports to meet oil supply needs will rise to 95% by 2030, a European Parliament report has claimed. This will expose the EU to strategic dangers through buying oil from unstable or potentially hostile countries in the Middle East and from Russia, it warned.…