Brussels, 20/12/2007 (Agence Europe) - It would be an understatement to say that the soil protection framework directive made life difficult for the Portuguese presidency at its last Environment Council in Brussels on 20 December, and that a miracle would have been needed for agreement to have been reached without removing all substance from the text. As we went to press, failure had been acknowledged, as a result of a blocking minority. It will now fall to the Slovenian, and probably...