The European Parliament yesterday gave its final go ahead for the introduction of the Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) to be applied in the 11 Eurozone member states, which had initially accepted this Commission proposal. The European Parliament has a consultative role on tax matters. Consequently now it’s up to the 11 participating countries in this […]The EU Parliament endorses tax on financial transactions
July 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The European Parliament yesterday gave its final go ahead for the introduction of the Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) to be applied in the 11 Eurozone member states, which had initially accepted this Commission proposal. The European Parliament has a consultative role on tax matters. Consequently now it’s up to the 11 participating countries in this […]EU: 13 major banks may pay fines 10% of worldwide turnover
July 3, 2013 by 2 Comments
In a long-awaited decision, Joaquín Almunia, Vice President of the European Commission responsible for Competition Policy, accused thirteen western giant investment banking groups and two support bodies that those banks created a trust, setting prices in the over the counter trade of Credit Default Swaps and Derivatives, a multi trillion business. The Commission’s investigation covers […]EU secures more and cheaper energy supplies
July 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Last Friday 28 June the Commission welcomed the selection of route for the Azeri natural gas flow to Europe that the Caspian country’s producers made on that same day. Of course it is the ‘Southern Corridor’ through Greece and Albania and under the Adriatic Sea to Italy, then to many EU countries. It’s the Trans […]The European Parliament rewrites the EU budget in a bright day for the Union
June 28, 2013 by 3 Comments
With major breakthroughs in two key policy areas, the European Banking Union and the EU budgets for the period 2014-2020 materialising in the early hours of Thursday 27 June, the 27-28 June Summit of the 27+1 EU leaders couldn’t offer anything more. It degraded into a procedural affair. In relation with those breakthroughs the European […]EU Parliament says ‘no’ to austerity budget
June 27, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The much-advertised agreement between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission on EU’s proper budgets for the next seven years seems to be more like wishful thinking rather than reality. Some days ago the Irish Presidency of the European Council issued a Press release saying that the EU Parliament agreed on the overall spending […]EU budget deal struck with Parliament negotiators
June 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Negotiations for the European Union proper budgets for the 2014-2020 period between European parliament representatives, the Irish Presidency and the European Commission have been concluded. This is the so-called Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020, setting the ceiling for EU spending. The agreement will now be submitted to both the Council and the European Parliament for final […]Europe rethinking its severe austerity policies
June 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment
During the past few weeks there is a noticeable change of climate in Brussels towards a more relaxed attitude over economic policies. On Monday the President of Eurogroup and minister for Finance of Holland, Jeroen Dijsselbloem asked in a letter his 16 colleagues in view of their Luxembourg meeting, to reduce the sovereign debt […]The strong version of the EU banking union gains momentum
June 18, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The creation of a real European Banking Union, built to serve all Eurozone member states on equal terms found yesterday a new strong supporter. Yves Mersch, a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank and former Governor of the Central Bank of Luxembourg speaking yesterday at the UniCredit Business Dialogue in Hamburg, […]Commission presents far-reaching anti-tax evasion measures
June 13, 2013 by Leave a Comment
As from January 2015 dividends, capital gains and all other financial incomes and bank account balances will be added to the currently existing restricted list of categories subject to the automatic exchange of information between the EU tax authorities, according to a proposal by the EU Commissioner Algirdas Šemeta. Practically today only interest on bank […]Commission tries to solidify the EU statistical system
June 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The Greek ‘tragedy’ that became the script of the first chapter of Eurozone’s story of sovereign debt crisis, had in its forefront the fraudulent use of statistics. It suffices to remind that the 2009 Greek state budget was voted in parliament in December 2008 with a headline deficit of 2.8% of the GDP, only to […]EU Council: Private web data to be protected by…abusers
June 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Protection of citizens and businesses web data is still a pending issue in the European Union and internet companies may, probably legally, sell to marketers names, telephone numbers, mail addresses and consumer profiles including personal details. The existing privacy laws are twenty years old and far from effectively protecting our data from being sold and […]Eurozone needs more than some decimals of growth
June 6, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Despite the ambivalent mood within and without Europe for the euro area’s economic prospects, some factual developments do not seem to be discouraging. For one thing the Commission gave yesterday the green light for Latvia to adopt the euro and join the Eurozone as from 1 January 2014. The solid decisiveness of this country during […]Economic recovery won’t tackle youth unemployment problem
June 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Eurozone unemployment rate rose by one decimal point in April reaching 12.2%, from 12.1% in March. This development does not constitute a strong indication that recession in euro area is getting worse. For one thing the rise of the rate of people without a job is very slight and falls in the margin of the […]Mood changes in Europe in favour of growth and jobs
May 30, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Economics is primarily a social not a mathematical science. Forgetting that may lead mathematicians to create toxic investment products like complicated derivatives, which have no other purpose than to cheat people. This misunderstanding may also lead executives like László Andor, EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, to talk about ‘labour market’ as if […]EU leaders slammed on anti-tax evasion inaction and expensive energy
May 29, 2013 by 1 Comment
Only days after the 27 EU leaders gathered in Brussels on 22 May and decided that, “The supply of affordable and sustainable energy to our economies is crucial”, Eurostat, the EU’s statistical service, announced that, “in the second half of 2012 household electricity prices in the EU27 rose by 6.6% and gas prices by 10.3%”. […]EU Parliament shows its teeth in view of 2014 elections
May 24, 2013 by Leave a Comment
One year ahead of the European Parliament elections and the legislators are showing to the Commission and the Council their teeth, which have been sharpened by the Treaty of Lisbon. Practically nothing can be done in the European Union without the consent of the Parliament. A trilateral agreement (Parliament, Council and Commission) is needed on […]Irish Presidency: Not a euro more for EU budgets
May 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The Irish Presidency is becoming the Trojan Horse of the EU Council and the Commission in their quest to push the European Parliament into an agreement over the funding of the Union’s budgets from 2012 up to 2020. The legislative has rejected last week the proposal of the Ecofin Council for parallel negotiations for everything […]Eurozone cannot endure any longer youth marginalisation
May 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The 3239th EU Council meeting was devoted to Education, Youth, Culture and Sport and as usually the Presidency, this semester held by Ireland, very happily presided over it. The Irish Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn T.D. said “I am particularly pleased that we have adopted these Conclusions today. There are still too many […]Why growth is now a one way road for Eurozone
May 17, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Eurozone trade in goods with the rest of the world in March 2013 left a record surplus of €22.9 billion, according to an announcement released by Eurostat, the EU statistical service. Yet the single euro money area is stuck in a long-term recession and high unemployment trap, without visible prospects for an exit. Francois Hollande, […]EU: Tax evasion and fraud flourish under political protection
May 15, 2013 by Leave a Comment
It is a disgrace for the European Union’s political elite to consciously block the internal exchange of information between the member states authorities and banks on matters related to tax evasion and fraud. This is exactly what the 27 EU minister of Finance did yesterday in the Ecofin Council in Brussels. This unbelievable political decision […]Austerity lovers and ‘relaxationists’ fight over the EU budget
May 14, 2013 by 1 Comment
The efforts to reach an agreement between the three most important EU bodies, the Council, the European Parliament and the Commission over the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020, for the Union’s proper spending power, will test not only the cohesion of the EU but also the abilities of the ‘austerity lovers’ to wreak their policy options. […]The G7 fails to agree on growth but protects the big banks
May 13, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Once more the world got together in the G7 group of the industrialised nations and asked Germany to spend more in order to help the rest of the Eurozone and the globe start growing again. The last time was in Washington during the Spring Conference of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, where […]Population in crisis hit EU countries will suffer for decades
May 9, 2013 by 1 Comment
The positive relation between economic growth and the size of population is one of the best established principles in economic theory. There is no doubt then that today’s birth rate and future GDP are positively related, despite the fact that the dynamism of the correlation between those two crucial variables, seems to vary according to […]European Union: Retail sales show deep recession
May 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Retail trade sales are to be found in the core of effective demand in every advanced economy. Being the driving force behind consumer spending they are considered as the main indicator for the general course of the economy, that is if it grows or recedes. Unfortunately for Eurozone and for the European Union in general […]Commission: Do it like the Americans in the food sector
May 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Only some weeks after the European Union consumers learned that they were eating low quality and contaminated with phenylbutazone horse meat, having paid for it as if it was prime quality beef, the Commission chooses to release its proposal for a new Directive, providing for less controls and higher fines and charges. The new legislation […]Austerity ends in Eurozone, Germany is isolated
May 6, 2013 by 1 Comment
Thank god it will not be any more the economists to set the course of economic policy in Eurozone but the people and the politicians. Whatever bad things one may think about politicians, there is one thing that nobody can deny; they can hear the people. In this case the theory of Reinhart – Rogoff proposing […]Inflation and interest rates indicate urgent need for action
May 2, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Inflation indices are a measure not only of the rate of change of consumer prices. In organised economies like Eurozone inflation is a good indirect measurement of economic activities. A bit more inflation above the benchmark of 2% is a good indication that the economy is growing, the opposite for measurements below that level. Inflation […]Inegalitarian taxation on labour haunts Europe’s social model
May 1, 2013 by Leave a Comment
At a time when labour is under serious pressures and threats in the entire European Union, taxation on labour wages continuous not only being the main source of government income but always increasing. Despite the fact that unemployment has reached historic records in the euro area, at 12.1% in March with one out of two […]EU: All economic indicators in free fall
April 30, 2013 by Leave a Comment
It’s a real disappointment to follow the business climate indicator (BCI) table during the last months. As from April 2012 this index is stuck in a continuous downward course and not once in the thirteen month period, from April 2012 to April 2013, this indicator didn’t record a positive price. The continuous line of the […]Eurozone has definitely overcome its structural uncertainties
April 25, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Reading the latest statistics on EU member states government deficit and debt, issued by Eurostat, the EU statistical service was a revelation. For the first time the Service noted that, “Eurostat has no reservations, nor did it make amendments on the data reported by Member States”. It was a relieve knowing this after all those […]What are the real targets of EU’s efforts to fight tax evasion?
April 24, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Algirdas Šemeta, the European Commissioner responsible for Taxation Audit and Anti-fraud announced yesterday in very low tones the creation of a new consultative committee in Brussels, under the name of “tax good governance platform”. This was a very disproportionate outcome, after the widely advertised Commission’s initiative to crack down on tax evasion in the European […]EU Council: The US airlines may freely pollute the European air
April 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The European Union dignitaries could at least have waited for the American Secretary of State, John Kerry, to leave Brussels before offering him yesterday our European dignity as a gift, for his first official visit to the EU capital city. The day that Kerry set his foot on Brussels, the European Council revoked the obligation […]Appalling overall unemployment in Eurozone at 20.6%
April 22, 2013 by Leave a Comment
As it turns out real total unemployment exceeds by far the already dreadful percentages estimated by the national statistical services of the EU countries. According to a press release issued by Eurostat, the EU statistical service, in the EU of 27 member states apart from the tens of millions of the “normal” unemployed, there is […]
