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BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union ministers are to be asked to approve new pan-European Union construction standards, with the aim of improving the energy efficiency of new and renovated buildings, (above 1,500 square metres), by up to 22 per cent in the year 2010.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union countries are still achieving economic growth at the cost of exhausting the world’s natural energy and mineral resources, a report from the European Environment Agency (EEA) has claimed.

Based on data for years up to 1997, the agency concludes that: “EU countries have made little progress towards preventing economic growth from translating into higher natural resources use.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union’s Euro 2.5 billion Galileo programme to set up a global positioning system by 2008 is firmly back on track in spite of concerns expressed by Britain, Germany and others about the cost.

Telecom ministers of the 15 EU countries have now pledged finance of up to Euro 100 million, (Pounds 60 million), for 2001 and have agreed to take a decision on a further Euro 450 million, (Pounds 270 million) at the end of the year.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE CREATION of an effective pan-European rail freight network has taken a step forward, with the proposal of common operating systems for railway signalling and telecommunications by the European Commission. These technical standards include the specifications for the European Rail Traffic Management System, which will improve safety, for instance by controlling the spacing between trains and also emergency braking.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has appealed for information technology research teams to become involved in a project to identify common content characteristics of the most internationally popular European Union-designed websites.

Its directorate general for Information Society said that it wanted to “benchmark availability and usage of European digital content,” focusing on sites receiving the most hits in the EU Member States, Norway, Iceland and the United States.…

Keith Nuthall
ASK the man propping up the bar in a smoky pub who is Britain’s top expert on secret codes, and he would probably say James Bond. Which is probably why many companies are hiring experts from a government agency linked to its intelligence unit GCHQ for advice on computer cryptography and other IT security issues.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
COMPULSORY minimum standards, for the treatment of asylum seekers within the European Union, have been proposed by the European Commission.

Using its new powers to table European legislation on justice and home affairs, the Commission has proposed that Member States provide a “minimum level of support with special help for the vulnerable,” such as unaccompanied children, torture victims and pregnant women.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE PUBLISHERS Association has welcomed the final agreement – after four years of discussions – of the EU digital copyright directive, but has warned that the debates are not finished, the focus will now shift to its implementation by Member States.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE UNITED Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation has formally decided to set up a new Sub-Committee on Aquaculture, serve as an intergovernmental forum for information exchange, discussion and consensus-building on emerging issues in fish farming. The FAO said that the sub-committee would provide guidance for governments and international bodies on technical and policy matters.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
IT is a pre-requisite of successful policy making that public authorities need to have an accurate picture of the status quo, and also an effective way of measuring the results of reforms. Maybe nowhere is this truer than with the complex subject of sustainable agriculture and rural development.…