HVG

Austrian political leaders argued over the issue of holding national referendums on new European Union treaties in a final televised debate before a parliamentary election on Sunday.

An ideological gulf has opened between the West and Russia after the war in Georgia, one that requires a more forceful response from the European Union and NATO, Poland's foreign minister said on Thursday.

President Nicolas Sarkozy attacked the world's capitalist system on Thursday, saying it needed to be overhauled and promised to protect the French economy from the fallout.

The European Union banned on Thursday all exports of mercury from the 27-nation bloc from 2011 in a bid to cut global supplies of the toxic metal.

European Union lawmakers rejected delaying plans to limit carbon dioxide emissions from cars on Thursday, in a surprise backlash against easing the auto industry's burden in the fight against climate change.

Poland became on Thursday the International Energy Agency's 28th member, 14 years after it applied, the Paris-based agency said in a statement.

Russia's foreign minister on Wednesday dismissed suggestions by U.S. and European officials that it has become isolated since its war with Georgia and insisted it acted in justifiable self-defense.

Gaspar Miklos Tamas (TGM) defends the Hungarian Democratic Charter in an e-mail to hvg.hu. He claims an article in last week's issue of HVG attacked the charter unfairly. Below, we publish TGM's article and a response by Richard Hirschler, the editor of hvg.hu.

The European Union might do well to share expertise with non-EU countries bordering the Mediterranean to help fight the spread of animal diseases like bird flu or bluetongue, France's farm minister said on Monday.

Europe's top food safety agency will issue a scientific opinion this week on whether processed items containing milk products coming from China pose a risk to human health, the agency's chief said on Monday.

Banks would have to retain 5 percent of securitised products they originate to deter lax underwriting standards under European Union plans to be announced next week, a diplomatic source said on Monday.

A European Union energy saving programme used up 250 million euros ($366 million) of taxpayers' money but ended with little proof of progress, the European Court of Auditors said on Tuesday.

European truckmakers pledged on Tuesday to reduce fuel consumption by 2020 in line with a European Union objective, but called on legislators not to oppose the industry's own attempts to cut emissions.

The promise of a government of experts is a trap twice over. It's a trap for voters, and it's a trap for the Free Democrats and the Socialists, the former coalition partners.

European carbon emission futures rose nearly two percent in early afternoon trade on Monday on utility buying and oil gains, traders said. Benchmark EU allowances for December delivery were trading at 25.1 euros ($36.63) a tonne. Volume was low at around 1,578 lots traded. "There is a lot of utility buying before the close-down for two weeks," one trader said.

The European Commission welcomed on Monday U.S. plans for a $700 billion bailout to ringfence fallout from the credit crisis but anticipated no EU emergency measures.

A European Union mission to monitor the pullout of Russian forces from inside Georgia will comprise some 300 staff, up from a planned 200, and the bulk will arrive in the next two days, EU officials said on Monday.

The planned Nabucco gas pipeline will become a reality if Iran comes on board as a supplier, the chief executive of Hungarian oil and gas group MOL said on Monday.