|
|
|
European Commission Spokesman's Briefing for 99-05-17
From: EUROPA, the European Commission Server at <http://europa.eu.int>
MIDDAY EXPRESS
News from the Spokesman's midday briefing
Nouvelles du rendez-vous de midi du Porte-Parole 17/05/1999b
CONTENTS / CONTENU
[01] EU to challenge excessive level of US trade sanctions
[02] La Commission autorise l'opération Renault / Nissan
[03] La Commission autorise l'acquisition de Tecnologistica par le groupe
TNT Post
[04] All aboard Sweden's jobs train
[05] Ritt Bjerregaard : "Integration and sustainability are two sides of
the same coin"
[01] EU to challenge excessive level of US trade sanctions
The United States (US) have announced that they will seek authority from
the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to suspend trade concessions covering
trade of about 202 million US$ as a result of the hormone dispute.
Commenting on this announcement, European Commissioner Franz Fischler,
responsible for Agriculture, said : "I am disappointed that the US has felt
compelled to announce that it intends to proceed with the notification of
trade sanctions arising from the hormone dispute. We have recently sent to
the US a very detailed scientific report which raises doubts about the
safety of the hormones which are registered for use as growth promoters in
the US and Canada, and we had hoped that the US would take more time to
study this before proceeding along the path of trade retaliations. The
amount of the sanctions proposed - 202 million US$, whilst it is much less
than the very ambitious claims of the US cattle industry - is more than
double the amount the US itself unilaterally applied at an earlier stage of
this dispute. We will certainly challenge this sum, and the US will have to
try to justify it before a WTO arbitrator."
[02] La Commission autorise l'opération Renault / Nissan
La Commission européenne a autorisé la concentration par laquelle le
constructeur automobile français Renault acquiert des participations au
capital du constructeur automobile japonais Nissan Motor, Nissan Diesel et
des filiales de financement européennes de Nissan. L'opération concerne
principalement le secteur de la voiture de tourisme où les lignes de
produits de Renault et de Nissan se recouvrent dans certains segments. Bien
que l'opération renforce le degré de concentration du secteur, la
Commission a conclu que la fusion ne créera pas une position dominante
étant donné la forte présence des concurrents existants sur le marché.
[03] La Commission autorise l'acquisition de Tecnologistica par le groupe
TNT Post
La Commission européenne a autorisé une opération dans le secteur de la
logistique, par laquelle le groupe néerlandais TNT Post Group NV (TPG)
acquiert la société italienne Tecnologistica S.p.A. TPG deviendra le
principal fournisseur dans ce secteur en Italie, toutefois la Commission a
considéré que la position atteinte sur le marché ne sera pas assez
significative pour engendrer des problèmes de position dominante, compte
tenu, notamment, de la présence de nombreux et importants fournisseurs de
logistique en Italie et du taux de croissance du marché.
[04] All aboard Sweden's jobs train
For the third consecutive year, Sweden's highly successful jobs train will
today start a 16-day nationwide tour. The train - almost half a kilometre
long - will take in 26 cities, providing new ideas on jobs, entrepreneurship
and employment projects. The initiative attracted over 50,000 people last
year and this year numbers are expected to increase further. The train will
carry exhibitions - bringing together 65 exhibitors from more than 60
organisations, agencies and companies. The central focus is employment in
the future and the creation of a truly open labour market. The European
Union (EU) will provide details of the European employment strategy, the
Social Fund and visitors will be able to look for jobs across the continent
through the EURES database, which houses information from more than 500
European job centres. Saluting a "highly original idea", European
Commissioner for Employment and Social Affairs, Padraig Flynn, said : "This
is a great way of showing people how committed the EU and Member States are
to jobs".
[05] Ritt Bjerregaard : "Integration and sustainability are two sides of
the same coin"
At a speech to day in Bonn at the 25th Anniversary Conference of the EEB
(European Environmental Bureau) 'Towards a sustainable Europe' European
Commissioner for Environment, Ritt Bjerregaard, paid tribute to the work of
NGO's in general and of the EEB in particular. "We need each other - but it
is not always an easy life. If you were always happy with the decisions the
Commission takes you would not be a real NGO. And if I always did what you
wanted, I would not be a realistic politician." You "have a key role to
play in bringing citizens' concerns to the attention of policy makers. And
we need to address the major challenges facing us if we are to deliver
sustainable development : making integration a reality; moving towards a
recycling society ; addressing international problems effectively; and
maximising the environmental benefits of enlarging the European Union". Mrs
Bjerregaard mentioned two examples where we need to achieve real
integration and sustainability : agriculture, where "the recent Agenda 2000
agreement established a linkage between direct support to producers and
environmental protection" ; and climate change, where the measures needed
to achieve our commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions "will have to
address all sectors - energy, transport, agriculture and industry". The
Commissioner finally addressed some of the future challenges for
sustainability. "In the end, we need to build not just a sustainable Europe,
but a sustainable world. Integration needs to be a global concept". With
reference to the WTO Ministerial Conference in Seattle at the end of the
year she said : "Free trade is the solution of the past. Green trade is the
solution of the future". And on enlargement: "Two solutions seem equally
unacceptable : that enlargement is postponed because of the environment. Or
that enlargement does not take environmental concerns fully into account".
MIDDAY EXPRESS
From EUROPA, the European Commission Server at http://europa.eu.int/
© ECSC - EC - EAEC, Brussels-Luxembourg, 1995, 1996
|
