Search Results for: Portugal

BY ALAN OSBORN
TEXTILE manufacture incurs the lowest labour costs of any industry in the European Union (EU) according to figures (for 2000) released by Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency. Labour costs per employee in textiles were Euro 21,000 (Pounds 14,500) compared to an average of Euros 35,000 for the whole manufacturing sector.…

KEITH NUTHALL
BRITISH travel agencies are amongst the most productive in the European Union (EU), according to a report on labour productivity written by Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency. Its study assessed the added value created by each worker in a given year for a range of industries, Britain’s travel agencies were the second most productive in the holiday industry.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SWEDEN has the highest European Union unit labour costs in the combined tobacco, food and drinks industries, according to a report from Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency; its average for the latest available comparable figures (year 2000) was Euro 38,000.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) may like to pose as the globe’s environmental crusader, setting a good example to the bad old dirty United States, but the latest figures from the European Environment Agency (EEA) – for 2001 – have shown that for a second year running, EU greenhouse gas emissions have risen.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has offered to enshrine in international law, the right of non-European Union retailers to enjoy the same rights to set up supermarkets, hypermarkets and departments stores across Europe, as local retail companies.

Its offer comes in the World Trade Organisation’s Doha Development Round, where negotiations on services are the most advanced of all its talks on liberalising global commerce.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) may pose as the globe’s environmental crusader, but the latest figures from the European Environment Agency (EEA) – for 2001 – have shown that for a second year running, EU greenhouse gas emissions have risen.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AGREEMENT in principle over the proposed reforms to the European Union’s gas liberalisation directives has been secured at the European Parliament’s key industry committee, although it is proposing important changes. MEP’s called for amendments insisting upon close cooperation between the European Commission and national regulators regarding security of supply.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
Mr Willem de Ruiter (51), a Dutchman with a degree in civil engineering, has been appointed the first executive director of the European Maritime Safety Agency, which was created by EU governments last year and is in the process of being set up.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
FRANCE, Italy, Spain and Portugal are blocking a move by the European Commission to allow the import into the EU of Australian wine flavoured by the addition of oak chips. This is a faster and cheaper process than the traditional method of ageing wine in oak barrels.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITAIN and Greece have escaped from being taken to the European Court of Justice by the European Commission over allegations that they had failed to implement the European Union’s (EU) Fourth Motor Insurance Directive.

The European Commission reported that the two governments had responded to a legal final warning letter by writing the directive into their national laws, having missed a deadline of July 20 last year.…