Search Results for: european union

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A RESEARCH study is being staged by the European Commission this year into developing a noise modelling tool for the road transport sector, looking at the effectiveness of technical adaptations to tyres, engines and road surfaces and examining the scope for making further noise improvements in these fields.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
MINISTERS from the 15 EU member governments have cut back the proposed representation of the European Commission on the management board that will run the new European Food Authority. Instead of four members on the 16-member panel, the Commission is to have only one.…

Keith Nuthall
THE EUROPEAN Commission has greeted with anger the decision by the European Parliament to reject a proposed directive on harmonising financial procedures for takeover bids that take place within the European Union.

The proposal was formally tabled six years ago and has been the centre of intense debate, leading to what was supposed to be a final compromise, struck between the parliament and the EU Council of Ministers, meeting in a conciliation committee.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AN INTERNATIONAL fund to support the decommissioning of Bulgaria’s Kozloduy nuclear power station will be able to call on Euro 100 million, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has said. It will act as the fund administrator and has said that contributions had been received from Britain, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the EU.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has launched formal state aid investigations into the purchase of overpriced shares by the Walloon regional government, of Belgium, from the Flemish carpet manufacturer Beaulieu.

Officials consider that the payment was in effect a debt write-off, as Beaulieu settled a debt of BEF 113.7 million owed to the regional government by transferring 9,704 shares in the Holding Verlipack II company, also of Belgium.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE EUROPEAN Commission is to open an in-depth investigation into the planned acquisition of the Austrian man-made fibres group Lenzing by the London-based multinational CVC Capital Partners Group. The latter company already controls Acordis, which produces man-made fibres for industrial, textile, medical and hygiene applications in Austria.…

KEITH NUTHALL
A SECOND Forum of EU Forest-based Industries is to be held in Stockholm on June 21, focusing on sustainable raw material, the enhanced use of wood and impact assessments of forest regulations.

Participants will include the Chairman of the (EU forest) Industry Council Lars Rekke and Erkki Liikanen, EU Enterprise and Information Society Commissioner.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
AN ACROSS-THE-BOARD reduction in EU fishing activity lasting for several years and including a cut of 40 to 50 per cent in cod and hake catches is to be formally proposed by the European Commission in an effort to safeguard the future of the fishing sector.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed that EU legislation be amended to make the installation of speed limiters compulsory for all large vans, vehicles that have so far been exempt from such regulations. Thus far, only lorries registered since 1988 of more than 12 tonnes in weight have had to be fitted with this technology, but the Commission has now concluded that this rule should be extended to all commercial vehicles of 3.5 tonnes or more.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has complied with a ruling from the European Ombudsman, who backed the right of Friends of the Earth to read environmental studies regarding the compliance of the UK and Gibraltar with directives on waste, hazardous waste and habitats.…