Search Results for: Spain

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Parliament is pressing for an effective re-nationalisation of European Union (EU) powers to support the continued existence of an EU cotton production industry. In non-binding amendments to a proposed EU subsidy system largely disconnected from cotton production levels, MEPs have called for national funds earmarked for wide-ranging actions protecting the industry.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE SPANISH government has been ordered to repay Euro 54.9 million in European Union (EU) subsidies after the European Commission concluded it had wasted the money on unauthorised planting of vineyards in 2003 and 2004. The expansion broke EU planting controls designed to contract Europe’s wine sector into a commercially viable sector focused on quality wines, rather than churning out cheap wine that ends up in compulsory distillation programmes.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has opened a detailed merger probe into the proposed acquisition of certain parts of the Netherlands’ GBI by Britain-based Associated British Foods (ABF). Both companies produce dry, compressed and liquid baker’s yeast and Brussels fears competition problems in Portugal, Spain and France.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

The European Commission is placing water pricing policies at the forefront of moves to tackle the growing problem of water shortage in the EU, officials confirmed at a conference hosted by the European Water Forum in the European Parliament on 16 April.…

By Keith Nuthall

A UNITED Nations-sponsored global initiative to encourage business schools to teach and promote social and environmentally responsible commercial practices has gathered a critical mass of support. More than 100 business schools worldwide have now signed up to the Principles for Responsible Management Initiative.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

NEARLY a year after Nicolas Sarkozy was elected president, the widely expected Thatcherite revolution in France he was supposed to bring about has still to arrive. He talked boldly during his election campaign of radical labour market reforms including an end to France’s rigid employment practices, overhaul of the 35-hour working week and at least a start at dismantling the hugely expensive pensions and other perks enjoyed by transport and utility workers.…

BY RACHEL JONES, in Caracas

OFF the coast of Guyana and Surinam, north of Brazil, lie what may be some of the world’s largest untapped oil reserves. They have remained unexplored for years, thanks to a maritime border dispute between the two South American countries, the former an ex-British colony, and the latter once run by the Dutch.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

IMPROVED cooperation between fisheries authorities in the European Union (EU) and Russia is to be established, following the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Brussels and Moscow. The deal covers fishing grounds in the Baltic and the north Atlantic and involves better contacts between the European Commission and Russia’s state committee for fisheries.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

MORE than a fifth of European teenagers are overweight or obese, failing to eat sufficient fruit and vegetables, while exercising too little the European Union (EU) HELENA project has warned.

British youths were among the 3,000 13-17-year-olds studied by HELENA (healthy lifestyle in Europe by nutrition in adolescence) researchers, along with adolescents in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Spain and Sweden.…

BY PAUL COCHRANE, in Damascus and Beirut, and HELENA FLUSFELDER, in Jerusalem

INTRODUCTION AND THE GULF

THE DENIM sector in the Middle East is as diverse as it is fragmented, with strong demand in the Gulf and Israel for major brand names and the latest trends, while in the less economically developed parts of the Levant international brands are of less importance than style.…