European Commission
united-kingdom

Commission confirms action on sewage disposal in Northern Ireland

The European Commission is sending a final written warning to the United Kingdom asking it to comply with the 1991 Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive. Under this Directive, sewage and other wastewater from all urban centres with populations of over 15,000 is required to undergo secondary-level (i.e. biological) treatment before being discharged into rivers and the sea. The necessary treatment plants to achieve this should have been operational by 31 December 2000, but in the UK this has not yet been done for 14 urban areas. Nine of the areas are in Northern Ireland: Bangor, Carrickfergus, Coleraine, Londonderry, Larne, Newtownabbey, Omagh, Portrush and Donaghadee. Moreover, the situation in Northern Ireland risks being exacerbated by a decision to allow substantial new development to go ahead in some of the areas where no appropriate wastewater treatment is in place. This appears to be happening despite the authorities' own assessment that the developments pose a medium to high risk of having negative environmental impacts. The other five towns are in England and Scotland, at Broadstairs and Margate in Kent, Brighton on the south coast, Bideford/Northam in Devon and Lerwick in Scotland.

[IP/05/30]

EU Trade Commissioner seeks trade measures to relieve tsunami victims

Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has said that the EU is actively considering ways to use trade policy to provide relief for regions and businesses affected by the tsunami in the Indian Ocean. Mr Mandelson said: “I want to find ways to assist people and businesses hit by the tsunami. The localised nature of the damage poses real challenges in ensuring that relief hits the target, but there are trade measures we can use to assist rebuilding in the countries affected by the disaster, notably by speeding up measures to improve their access to our markets." The European Commission's delegations in affected countries are working to identify businesses that are affected by EU trade defence measures, such as anti-dumping duties, with the possibility of suspending them. The European Commission will also consider ways of re-orienting its trade related assistance to affected countries in order to help businesses boost exports.

[IP/05/25]

EU Business

• Economics and Finance Ministers meet in the Ecofin Council on 24 January in Brussels when they will discuss the Work Programmes of the Luxembourg Presidency and of the Commission and the economic consequences of the tsunami disaster;
• Luxembourg took over the Presidency of the EU on 1 January 2005 and will continue with an Agriculture and Fisheries Council on 24 January in Brussels. The new Presidency website is www.eu2005.lu/en