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 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 […]Resisting EU budget cuts
June 12, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The Irish Presidency, with its self-congratulating and artificially sweetened style, announced once more ‘a major breakthrough’ in the EU budget negotiations with the European Parliament, without the slightest reference to the other side’s position. This obvious neglect of basic reporting rules which goes as far as sidestepping of democratic principles, has become standard in Irish […]Schaeuble wants IMF out and bailouts ‘a la carte’ with Germany only to gain
June 11, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Wolfgang Schaeuble, the German Minister of Finance issued an appeal yesterday to European partners to do together whatever it takes, in order to push the International Monetary Fund out of the European Union. Four years ago it was again Schaeuble and Germany the ones who demanded the cooperation of IMF in the first bailout of […]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 […]China confirms anti-state-subsidy investigation on EU wine imports
June 7, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Yesterday, only a few days after the European Commission decided to impose provisional anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese solar panels imported in the EU, the Mission of the People’s Republic of China to the European Union issued a Press release where the spokesperson of the Mission confirmed that the Ministry of Commerce of China, in response […]IMF: Sorry Greece it was a mistake of 11% of your GDP
June 6, 2013 by 1 Comment
IMF’s country report on Greece which was published yesterday, recognises that the Fund’s initial programme underestimated by almost 11% of GDP the impact of the draconian austerity measures imposed on the country. As a result recession proved much greater than expected reaching 22% of the GDP. The relevant part of the report says that, “Fiscal […]Commission: New proposal for centrally managed bank resolution
June 5, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The European Commission is about to honour once more its title as ‘Guardian of the Treaties’. This fundamental Commission’s mandate obliges the EU’s executive to always promote more rather than less Union. In this respect after the French President Francois Hollande and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed in Paris last week, to support a […]EU imposes provisional anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese solar panels
June 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Today the European Commission has decided to impose provisional anti-dumping duties on imports of solar panels, cells and wafers from China. The relevant Press releaese goes like that,”This decision follows a thorough and serious investigation and extended contacts with market players. As the market for and imports of solar panels in the EU is very […]Commission’s action against imports from China questioned
June 4, 2013 by Leave a Comment
According to European Commission’s procedures, the legal dead line for a decision to be taken on the imposition or not of provisional tariffs on European imports of Chinese solar panels, expires tomorrow 5 June. It must be noted however that the EU Trade Spokesman John Clancy, when issuing a Press release on 27 May noted […]Paris agreed with Berlin over a loose and ineffective banking union
May 31, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Safeguarding the basics of the Franco-German unity, which functions as the powerhouse of the European Union, had another victim. The French President Francois Hollande and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed yesterday in Paris to undermine the effectiveness of the European Banking Union. Instead of a strong central and financially independent bank resolution authority in […]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 […]Poverty and social exclusion skyrocket with austerity
May 29, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Proportion of the population at-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion, 2011 Social exclusion and poverty has been a constant danger for a very large part of our modern western societies. It is understandable that while the economies grow this danger recedes and the opposite is true in recession. To measure however the danger of social exclusion and […]‘Two pack’ austerity package in force but with less vigor
May 28, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The ‘Two-Pack‘, an EU regulation package for Eurozone’s austere fiscal reform enters into force on 30th May 2013 in all euro area Member States. The new strict fiscal rules for euro area countries proved necessary, after the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), failed to refrain budget deficits and public debt below 3% and 60% of […]Germany to help China in trade disputes with Brussels
May 27, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The visit of the new Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China and party secretary of the State Council, Li Keqiang to Germany paid tangible dividends. After meeting with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel he got an official and public promise from her that Berlin will intervene in the Brussels procedures, to cool down […]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 […]Eurozone: There is a remedy for regional convergence
May 23, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Regional unemployment statistics in the European Union as published today by Eurostat, the EU statistical service, show clearly that the wide differentiation of this crucial variable calls for an appropriate modulation of policies designed to counter different growth/recession records. The European Central Bank is currently supplying ample and almost zero cost liquidity to Eurozone’s core […]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: Even good statistics mean deeper recession
May 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment
One after the other the main indicators of Eurozone’s economic health are deteriorating slowly but surely. Even positive statistical findings, like the March Euro area surplus in international trade of goods, having reached a record €22.9 billion, if looked more closely reveal a deepening recession of the internal economy, while the rest of the world […]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 […]The inhumane face of crisis mirrored in numbers
May 18, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The discussion and the argumentation about the unbelievable fall of living standards of the most deprived part of the population in the European Union during the crisis years is more or less an assertion, based on what every one of us sees and hears in one’s own personal social circle. Unemployment percentages tell only part […]An all-out fight for the EU budget
May 17, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The European Parliament hardens its stance over the EU budget negotiations with the Council and the Commission. The legislative rejects the proposal of the Ecofin Council for parallel negotiations over the 2013 budget and the Multiannual Financial Framework for the 2014-2020 spending. The three-way budget negotiations include the additional funds needed to pay for the […]Commission threatens Chinese firms with trade penalties
May 16, 2013 by Leave a Comment
European Union Trade Commissioner, Karel De Gucht, announced yesterday that, “The European Commission has today taken a decision in principle to open an ex officio anti-dumping and an anti-subsidy investigation concerning imports of mobile telecommunications networks and their essential elements from China”. Without naming individual firms this Commission decision is directly targeted against two international […]Germany openly seeks more advantages for its banks
May 15, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The Commission proposal for a Bank Resolution and Recovery Directive divided deeply the Ecofin council in its yesterday’s Brussels meeting. Again the division took the form of North versus South or rather Germany & Co against everybody else. Mr Wolfgang Schauble, the German Federal Minister for Finance, insisted that the line of funds to be […]Education expenditure in the EU not hurt much by crisis
May 14, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Early research even from the 1970s has proved that investments in education give the highest returns compared to placements in physical capital. This is true for public and private education expenditure alike. The problem is that those returns are for one thing cashed in during a very long period of time and politically their positive […]Why the West supports the yen’s devaluation and Japanese over-indebtedness
May 13, 2013 by 1 Comment
While the ministers of Finance of seven major industrialised countries making up the G7 council agreed pompously last weekend that monetary devaluations should not be used as a home economy revitalisation tool, Japan doing exactly that got a pat on the back and was given the green light to continue on the same path. The […]A comprehensive strategy for Eurozone’s long term growth gains momentum
May 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment
European Commissioner László Andor responsible for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion delivered an inspired speech entitled “Countering the crisis: fixing Europe’s monetary union and upgrading EU employment policy“, during an event at the London School of Economics. His idea about the European project is included in the very title of this speech that is connecting […]Eurozone plans return to growth
May 10, 2013 by Leave a Comment
After Dr Wolfgang Schaeuble, the German minister of Finance stated that it was a fair decision by Brussels to give France two more years to straighten up its fiscal accounts, the climate in Eurozone has changed from winter to spring. Up to now Paris was at odds with Berlin over the severe austerity policies imposed […]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 […]Tax evasion and fraud threaten the European project
May 8, 2013 by 23 Comments
Tax evasion and avoidance has been a perennial issue from the moment taxation was invented. Presently the European Commission estimates that in the EU of 27 member states, tax avoidance and fraud runs up to €1 trillion yearly, more than enough to foot the bill of government deficits that plague the EU economy and have […]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 […]The banks dragged Eurozone down to fiscal abyss
May 6, 2013 by Leave a Comment
For a long time now economic analysts and commentators have been arguing that government support to financial institutions was the main culpable party of excess fiscal deficits in the Eurozone and the European Union as a whole. Those are direct subsidies under the form of capital injections, quite different from the support to lenders from […]Commission and ECB prepare new financial mega-tool in support of SMEs
May 3, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Yesterday the two most important institutions of the European Union, the European Commission and the European Central Bank, separately unveiled their intentions to seriously engage in an effort to create a new policy tool in support of the Union’s Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and defragment Eurozone’s financial markets .The Commission issued an announcement entitled, […]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 […]
