Search Results for: Romanian

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE NEW European Union (EU) agriculture Commissioner who took office on Wednesday (Feb 10) has asked the food industry for views on reforming the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Romanian Dacian Ciolo? told a meeting of EU food producers’ organisation COPA-COGECA yesterday (Thursday) he had no detailed blueprint for the CAP after 2013.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL, ANCA GURZU and DAVID HAWORTH

THE CONFECTIONERY manufacturing sector in the European Union (EU) has a new political boss in the shape of Romania’s Dacian Ciolo?, who became the EU’s latest agriculture Commissioner on February 10. Appointed amidst pledges he would be willing to use EU money to guarantee food production, he has promised to undertake a swift review of the EU’s reformed sugar regime.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) has now approved a Euro 400 million loan to Ford Romania to help it expand and modernise its Craiova assembly plant, tooling it for building a small car model. Ford is already assembling Transit Connect vans at Craiova, and production is expected to increase this year thanks to the expansion.…

BY ANCA GURZU

THE ROMANIAN government has promised to introduce a special levy on soft drinks, in what it hails as the world’s first junk food tax. A communiqué from the country’s health ministry on Tuesday (5/1) said: "The new tax will represent 1% from all fast-food sales, and the funds we will collect will help contribute to the country’s health programmes…" It said health minister Attila Czeke had told the ministry’s nutrition commission "to establish the exact details of this concept", and officials will be consulting with drinks producers, importers and retailers.…

BY MARK ROWE

MOLDOVA would appear to fit the description of a far away country about which the world knows nothing. But its location, adjacent to Romania, (one of the two most recent European Union (EU) member states, Ukraine, the Black Sea and the disputed, politically uncertain region of Transnistria (which remains formally part of Moldovan territory, while its government has little authority there), is extremely familiar, and favoured, by counterfeit cigarette producers and traffickers.…

BY ANCA GURZU AND KEITH NUTHALL

THE ROMANIAN government has promised to introduce a special tax on junk food – a world first, it claims. A communiqué from the country’s health ministry said: "The new tax will represent 1% from all fast-food sales, and the funds we will collect will help contribute to the country’s health programmes…" Officials had told the ministry’s nutrition commission "to establish the exact details of this concept", and officials will be consulting with drinks producers, importers and retailers.…

BY DAVID HAWORTH

EFFORTS to boost food producers in their frequent quarrels with big-time retail chains have been promised by the European Union’s (EU) agriculture Commissioner-designate Dacian Ciolo? when he appeared before European Parliament lawmakers.

Speaking in a confirmation hearing in Brussels, he said he wanted "to improve the negotiating position" of food producers when dealing with large retailers: "I want to see a better dialogue between the various actors in the food chain.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

FRANCE’S nominee to the new European Commission has publicly declared he will try to influence the Romanian proposed as the new agriculture Commissioner. Speaking at a press conference in Paris, Michel Barnier, who has been allotted the powerful internal market brief, said: "He will be independent but I will give him my opinion," a potentially undiplomatic statement given the concerns aired about French influence over nominee Dacian Ciolo?.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE EUROPEAN Commission has demonstrated its wholehearted backing for the development of Ford’s Craiova car plant in Romania, approving a Euro 57 million subsidy from the Romanian government for training. Acting as the European Union’s (EU) national handout regulator, the Commission has allowed the grant, on condition it is released in installments, which matches Ford’s training expenses.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

WHAT a difference a year makes. The changed face of European Union (EU) controls over public subsidies to its automakers has been illustrated clearly by Friday’s (13-11) decision by the European Commission to allow government guarantees backing a Euro 400 million loan to Ford Romania SA.…