Sir, Regarding ‘Greens embrace enzymes in climate change fight‘: This is a serious issue and is much like that of genetically-modified organisms. Using enzymes to disrupt biomass is tantamount to opening up the proverbial ‘Pandora’s box”. You do not know the consequences and you do not know where it will end. It is all very [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘EU direct debit rules open to fraud, says consumer group‘: The European Payments Council (EPC) would like to make a few clarifications regarding direct debits schemes in the Single European Payments Area (SEPA). Firstly, the SEPA Direct Debit Schemes developed by the European Payments Council (EPC) in close dialogue with customer representatives do [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Ambassador: ‘Turkey punished over Cyprus’‘: In his interview with EurActiv Germany, Turkish Ambassador Ahmet Acet claimed that the freezing of a number of chapters in his country’s EU negotiations because of the Cyprus problem “is not fair”; that “elements which have nothing to do with the negotiations [i.e. the Cyprus problem] have been [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Šefcovic eases through hearing, fends off accusations‘: Political Situation and Overall Social and Economic Background 2009′s most important political event in Bulgaria was the general election of July 5. 07. 2009 which the GERB political party won in a landslide. Ever since the majority government party got the support of the smaller right-wing [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Hedegaard eyes tougher emission cuts from transport‘: We need urgent and clear goals for the electrification of public transport, because combustion cars and buses destroy the climate, pollute the air and damage human health. The conversion of combustion buses (diesel buses) to electric would be finished in a year. Meanwhile, protests against combustion [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Jeleva chaired firm set up by communist secret services, says MEP‘: I read the above article with great interest, but have a number of comments regarding your sources. Yes, sure: Mrs. Jeleva is even today one of the two managing directors of ETKO Schneiders Ltd, etc. But Ivaylo Kalfin! Isn’t he the ex-Communist [...]

Sir. Regarding ‘Barroso on collision course over Jeleva‘: I just don’t get it. The CV submitted by Ms. Jeleva to the European Parliament and to European Commission President José Manuel Barroso states that she was a “manager” at Global Consult in the periods 2001-2003 and 2006-2007. The company’s income statement for 2008 (!) which can [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘EU looks beyond ‘weak’ Copenhagen deal‘: After 10 days of almost painfully tiresome diplomacy, the Copenhagen Climate Conference resulted in a rather fruitless accord. The text is merely three pages long and was submitted in the early hours of 19 December by the US, China, India, Brazil and South Africa. European Commission President [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Spain’s renewables boom seen driving gas capacity‘: The various statements heard during recent weeks by the Spanish transmission system operators for electricity (REE) and gas respectively (Enagas) that Spain would still need to further increase its combined cycle power plants as back-up power for the safe integration of large amounts of wind power [...]

Sir, Regarding ‘Parliament gears up for fight on financial regulation‘: I’m writing to state the case against any US bill that includes a financial transaction tax. Two bills in particular have proposed this tax as a way to pay for job recovery programmes: ‘Let Wall Street Pay for the Restoration of Main Street Act of [...]