BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The German presidency of the European Union has proposed a compromise for solving a long-running row within the bloc over how to cut import tariffs on wrought aluminium, diplomats said yesterday. Germany has said that as a first step, the EU’s tariffs should fall to 3 percent from the current 6 percent, the diplomats said. But that cut should not be introduced with retroactive effect, they said. The EU’s executive Commission previously proposed that the halving of the duties should be made retroactive to January 1, 2007 before an elimination of the fees from 2009. Germany is proposing that rather than eliminating the duties from 2009, the EU should carry out a review in three years’ time on how to proceed with any further changes, the diplomats said.

Cyprus’s Marfin Popular Bank agreed to pay $137.4 million to buy a 99 percent stake in small Ukrainian lender Marine Transport Bank (MTB), the lender said in a filing to the Athens bourse yesterday. Marfin will also purchase three of MTB’s leasing units for a total of $700,000 according to the agreement, the company said. MTB’s share capital and reserves were valued at $34.1 million at the end of September 2006, while it holds deposits of $156.2 million and a loan portfolio of $148.3 million, Marfin said. The Odessa, Ukraine-based MTB has a total of 86 outlets, it said. The agreement between Marfin and MTB is subject to approval by Cypriot and Ukraine regulators, the statement said. (Reuters)

The European Commission will start legal proceedings against Romania over its car tax rules because they discriminate against some secondhand cars, EU Tax Commissioner Laszlo Kovacs said in Brussels yesterday. “They can’t leave (the rule) as it is,” Kovacs told reporters, adding that the legal action will be launched tomorrow. “It’s discriminatory against secondhand cars from other member states,” Kovacs said. Registration tax in Romania was higher on secondhand cars imported from elsewhere in the European Union than on similar vehicles bought in the country, Kovacs said. (Reuters)

Vodafone and TIM Hellas are expanding their pilot operation of their national roaming service, two months after the start of its application in Cephalonia, Ithaca, Kalamata and the broader area of the Messiniakos Gulf, in the southwest Peloponnese. From today, for two months, the service is expanding to Eastern Macedonia and Thrace and to the islands of Crete, Karpathos, Kassos and Antikythera. The service allows subscribers to use the other company’s network when their own is not available.

Local firm KLT Energy SA agreed to implement projects of electricity production from the photovoltaic systems of German industry Heckert Solar. The deal also secures KLT Energy the exclusive rights to Heckert Solar products in Greece.