The European Commission opened a fresh probe into Chinese solar panel makers on Thursday, raising the heat in the latest dispute between China and its Western trading partners.The Commission said it had "launched an anti-subsidy ... investigation into imports of solar panels and their key components" made in China after industry lobby group EU ProSun charged that Beijing was giving its...
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The 2011 accounts present fairly the financial position of the European Union and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year. Revenue and commitments were free from material error. However, payments were affected by material error, with an estimated error rate of 3.9 % for the EU budget as a whole. The level of error remained similar to 2010 when it was 3.7 %. In 2011 the...
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A sound Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is one that provides the right instruments to farmers in different agricultural realities to operate sustainable farming practices which produce adequate high quality food at competitive prices, a round table was told. The round table was held at the Grand Hotel Excelsior in Floriana as part of Re:turn to the Future, a European Union-funded campaign...
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The direct subsidies for stockbreeders for Campaign 2012 will thus total about 140 million BGN. Each farmer can quickly check the size of their financial aid on the SFA website: State Fund Agriculture (SFA) transferred the first part of the decoupled complementary national direct payments for cattle and buffalo, as well as the payments coupled to sheep and goats. A total of 96 million BGN...
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The second year of implementation of the National Beekeeping Programme 2011-2013 concluded successfully. Beneficiaries signed 1 188 contracts with a total value of 6 763 246 BGN. So far, 5 367 783 BGN have been paid out, which accounts for an 82% annual budget absorption. This is the highest absorption and the largest amount of funds paid out since the start of the programme. There are...
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Germany and France have agreed to keep the European Union farming budget at its current level, following a meeting between their agriculture ministers in Berlin on Wednesday (10 October), reported EurActiv. Germany's Ilse Aigner and France's Stéphane Le Foll said they "support the Commission’s proposal to maintain the agricultural budget to the nominal level of 2013 for the...
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Retailers have committed to take voluntary action in waste prevention, particularly on food waste. At the Retail Forum in Brussels yesterday they confirmed their continued belief in the need to move to a resource efficient economy in spite of the challenging economic situation. Looking to the sustainability goals they had set themselves in key areas in precious years, such as selling more...
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The last working document published by the EU's Cypriot presidency has sparked fears in France that the new EU budget will slash direct subsidies to farmers, despite the country's firm opposition, EurActiv.fr reports. October will mark the second year of formal negotiations for a new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). France, the largest beneficiary of the CAP, has battled since the...
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Flavouring substances in food will become even safer and more transparent thanks to two pieces of legislation adopted today by the European Commission. Only those flavouring substances featuring on the approved lists will be permitted for use by the food industry. Used to alter the taste and/or odour of food, flavourings substances have a long history of safe use in a wide variety of foods,...
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State Fund Agriculture approved projects worth 15 288 900 BGN under Measure 321: Basic Services for the Economy and Rural Population. The projects come from 19 municipalities that plan to build or improve social care facilities for children and youth as part of the national strategy for removing children from social care institutions. The budget for the admission period, which lasted from...
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Farmers submitted 1 479 applications worth 72 315 705 BGN during the application period under Measure 112: Setting up young farmers between August 20 and September 11. The budget for this period was 78 232 000 BGN, which is enough to finance all projects that meet the admission criteria set under the decree regulating Measure 112. The funds were transferred to its budget with the seventh...
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The European Commission rejected Monday charges that EU biofuel policy was contributing to soaring food prices but confirmed that it will trim its targets for their use. Biofuels were once seen as a potential source of cheap alternative energy but critics say they are often based on food crops or use land that could and should be used for food production, helping drive prices higher,...
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