Search Results for: Spain

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 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

THE SPANISH textile and clothing dying sector will benefit from a Euro 800 million subsidy plan helping it and its customers withstand the recession. The European Commission has granted approval for the scheme as the European Union’s (EU) gatekeeper for national subsidies under the EU’s state aid regime, which has been significantly liberalised since the onset of the recession.…

BY LEE ADENDORFF

IF there was a year when long-term textile and clothing market forecasters missed by a mile, 2008 was it. Forecasts made in 2007 were dominated by looming concerns about trade restrictions, investment in technology, a potential slow-down of production and a consolidation of business investment but no one predicted what devastating effects an unexpected recession would have on the textiles and apparel sector.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

EUROPE’S auto sector has today been promised another cash injection from the European Investment Bank (EIB), which has emerged as the European Union’s (EU) key weapon to help the sector stave off the recession.

The EU-run financing institution’s board of directors today (Tuesday) approved loans to Europe-based car makers worth Euro 866 million to help them design and build cleaner cars with lower CO2 emissions.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE DELICATE state of European Union (EU) and Russia diplomatic and energy relations has been illustrated starkly by the inclusion of eastern European gas interconnection projects within the European economic stimulus package. National governments of these new EU member states threatened to torpedo the entire agreement – seen as the lynchpin of European efforts to shake off the recession – if their gas schemes were not included.…

BY MARK GODFREY

WITH the global recession raging across most of the world, Bangladesh’s knitwear sector is maintaining a strong commercial position and looks better geared to survive the economic downturn than some of its regional competitors. Orders have only dipped marginally say local knitwear producers.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE SCOTCH Whisky Association (SWA) has welcomed the launch of a European Observatory on Counterfeiting and Piracy to fight intellectual property criminals faking its members’ products. The new European Union (EU) institution, launched last week (April 2), has been charged with collecting data on goods counterfeits, raising awareness, promoting discussions on the problem and circulating views and best practice in enforcing intellectual property rights between business and national authorities.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has drawn back from a robust collective response to the swine flu crisis, despite the disease spreading around Europe. Meeting on Thursday, the EU Council of Ministers for health rejected a French proposal for an EU-wide travel ban to Mexico, the source of the outbreak.…

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.…