Search Results for: Spanish

BY ALAN OSBORN

A MAJOR battle is looming over the European Union’s (EU) alcohol policy, with Britain seen by many as the major opponent of tougher anti-drink legislation amongst the 25 member states. A Communication (formal policy paper) ‘on a strategy on alcohol-related harm’ is being drawn up by the European Commission, but while this is not due for adoption before mid-2006, furious lobbying on both sides is already evident.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SPAIN has been singled out for criticism by a European Environment Agency (EEA) report on urban wastewater treatment, noting that despite Euro 3.8 billion in targeted subsidies, it does not comply with relevant European Union (EU) laws. The EEA said only 55% of the population is connected to public sewage treatment plants, “and advanced treatment remains an exception”.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
POLITICAL pressure is being piled onto European Union (EU) member states to release more information about how they spend EU-funded grants and subsidies from the Euro 110 billion EU budget. In a long-awaited ‘European Transparency Initiative’, EU anti-fraud Commissioner Siim Kallas has proposed discussions with national governments about ” a legal obligation to publish information about projects and end beneficiaries of funds under shared management”, between member states and Brussels.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has fined four Italian tobacco processors Euro 56 million in total for colluding for six years over the fixing of prices paid to growers and their agents, and on choosing which supplier to use. Such a cartel is illegal under European Union (EU) competition legislation, and has sparked fines of Euro 30 million to Deltafina; Euro 14 million to Transcatab; Euro 10 million to Mindo (formerly known as Dimon); and Euro 2.05 million to Romana Tabacchi.…

BY WESLEY GIBBINGS
THE RELATIONSHIP between Caribbean people and tobacco could have at one time been described as virtually umbilical, with important outward feeders to Europe and other parts of the world. Tobago, the smaller unit of the twin-island state of Trinidad & Tobago, bears the name of the instrument used by native Amerindians 500 years ago to smoke Burly blends.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has announced its latest tranche of funding to help European Union (EU) drinks producers sell products outside the EU. Maybe the most significant grant is Euro 1.43 million being paid over three years by Brussels to Lithuania to boost exports of wines and spirits.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE ROLE of the Caribbean as a staging point for ill-gotten gains goes back to the trans-Atlantic misadventures of the first European ships over 400 years ago. It would appear some habits die hard. Wesley Gibbings reports from Port of Spain, Trinidad.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) has pushed ahead with securing more overseas fishing access deals for EU fishing crews in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Crucially EU ministers have been formally asked to approve a deal regarding the key Pacific grounds off the Solomon Islands.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE SPANISH government has been censured by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for breaking European Union (EU) laws by failing to control waste from a pig farm, near Vera, the Costa Blanca. The ECJ said that by failing to ensure it did not pollute ground waters, especially with slurry, it broke EU nitrates and wastewater directives.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EURO 15 million fine imposed by the European Commission on DaimlerChrysler for alleged illegal anti-competitive actions involving Spanish leasing companies has been lifted. The company had prevented German agents and Spanish dealers from supplying Mercedes-Benz cars to leasing companies before they secured customers, something Brussels said broke European Union (EU) competition laws.…