The president of the European Commission together with EU and German officials fear that Brexit will divide the EU after the negotiations have been concluded. Theresa May is about to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and begin the talks for UK’s exit once the House of Lords grants permission. In addition to the Brexit procedure, […]Will Brexit shatter the EU or is it still too early to predict?
February 15, 2017 by Leave a Comment
The president of the European Commission together with EU and German officials fear that Brexit will divide the EU after the negotiations have been concluded. Theresa May is about to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and begin the talks for UK’s exit once the House of Lords grants permission. In addition to the Brexit procedure, […]“We need to use the momentum globally to ensure that corporations pay their fare share of taxation”, EU Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis outlines from the World Economic Forum 2017.
January 25, 2017 by Leave a Comment
At the third day of the World Economic Forum 2017 in Davos, the session “Taxation without Borders: A Fair Share from Multinationals” took place where tax-base erosion and profit shifting policies were discussed in view of the Panama Papers and the fact that countries lose tones of money when multinationals implement such strategies. Emerging countries […]The COP22 is under full deployment while Donald Trump threatens openly to withdraw the US from the Paris agreement
November 16, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The 22nd Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP22) which is taking place at the Moroccan city of Marrakech is already at its second week with the final meetings to be held under the fear that the newly elected U.S. government will step back from the Paris Agreement. It is […]EU continues targeting on Chinese steel imports instead of the revival of its own economy
October 12, 2016 by 1 Comment
It was last Friday when the European Commission (EC) decided to impose temporary anti-dumping duties on imports of two steel products from China. Particularly, the duties concern hot-rolled flat steel and heavy plates of steel with EC’s investigations to show that Chinese products had been sold at extremely dumped prices. The Commission focuses on finding unfair […]The migration crisis is slowly melting the entire EU edifice
October 5, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last Sunday Hungary voted against the EU mandatory migration plan of accepting 1,294 asylum seekers from Italy and Greece but the referendum’s outcome was considered invalid because it didn’t reach the required threshold of 50%. Hence, it has no legal consequences and Hungary is obliged to follow the EU rules, which implies that the member […]UK keeps its Brexit plan secret or there is no strategy at all whatsoever?
September 14, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The 27 EU leaders will convene on Friday to discuss about Brexit while Theresa May and the British government are still trying to prepare a plan to get the most out of UK’s exit from the EU. The British Prime Minister has made it clear in the parliament that the agreement will include control of the […]Will Merkel ever steer the EU migration Titanic and restore her power in Germany?
September 7, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Angela Merkel’s meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the sidelines of the 11th G20 Summit held in China on 4-5 September was crucial for her political future. The German Chancellor and her party seem to be losing ground, particularly in Mecklenburg-West Pomerania due to their migration policies. The Christian Democratic Union of Germany lost 4 […]Will Europe be able to deal with the migration crisis alone if Turkey quits the pact?
August 4, 2016 by 2 Comments
The European Union keeps on focusing on the implementation of the EU-Turkey agreement on the migration crisis despite being threatened by Turkey that the latter will step off the deal if the EU will not keep its last March’s promises. The European Commission is determined not to let Turkey leave so easily and aims at financially supporting refugees […]Europe provides financial support to African countries while Turkey denies to change terrorism laws jeopardising the EU deal
June 8, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The European Commission convened yesterday in Strasbourg and announced its plans to create a Partnership Framework with third countries and particularly Africa in order to manage migration more effectively. This attempt comes after the EU-Turkey deal which aims at reducing the influx of immigrants coming to Europe via the Aegean Sea. It seems that the […]Tusk fights back while charismatic Boris goes against everybody in Brussels pushing the UK to leave the EU now or never
May 18, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Last week Boris Johnson likened the EU to Adolf Hitler’s plans regarding the Old Continent’s domination. The politician favoring the “Leave” campaign clearly stated that the Brussels bureaucrats are using different kind of methods to unite Europe into a single state. Those statements led to Donald Tusk’s intervention who characterized the former London mayor’s sayings […]Tsipras doesn’t seem to have learned his “almost Grexit” lesson and Greece faces again financial and political dead end
May 5, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The teleconference of the EuroWorking Group which took place yesterday is the forerunner of the extraordinary meeting of the Finance Ministers of the Eurozone on May 9 where Greece’s programme review is about to be discussed. The outcome was, as expected, disappointing regarding the agreement between the two sides on the package of basic and […]Refugee crisis update: EU seeks now close cooperation with Africa while Schulz is shocked to witness live one single wreck full of immigrants
November 11, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Last Monday’s Extraordinary Justice and Home Affairs Council was meant to give just an update on the ongoing refugee crisis, a few days before the summit between EU and African leaders which in Valletta, Malta today and tomorrow. The Interior Ministers convened thus to discuss about the progress shown so far since the Western Balkans’ route summit […]Greener economies and investment to reduce unemployment and increase global growth
November 6, 2015 by Leave a Comment
In less than a month now the UN Climate Conference will be taking place in Paris in order to implement measures that could reverse the downhill of the global climate. At the same time the Corporate Europe Observatory’s survey reveals that the European Commission (EC) is highly promoting the “dirty” energy companies more than the renewable […]EU takes again positive action on migration crisis while Turkey asks for dear favors in exchange for cooperation
October 28, 2015 by Leave a Comment
A mini-summit took place in Brussels last weekend involving the Western Balkan countries and aiming at tackling the escalating migration crisis in the EU. The outcome was the promotion of a 17-point plan which aspires to tackle the issue. The problem that keeps on lingering though is whether the EU countries will look at the greater good of […]Starbucks and FIAT again under Commission’s microscope: is Europe ready to kick multinationals out of the house?
October 21, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Some multinationals (MNEs) such as FIAT and Starbucks have been overdoing it in the EU for quite some time now. The case of tax investigation of the aforementioned companies on whether they have paid the correct amount of corporate income tax or not is ongoing for over a year now. The Commissioner responsible for Competition, Mrs […]Why will Paris upcoming “loose” climate change agreement work better than the previous ones?
October 16, 2015 by 1 Comment
It was only last Tuesday when the European Commission (EC) together with the Moroccan government, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) convened at the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) Forum in Morocco to discuss the overall effect of countries’ contributions to the climate agreement which is going to be concluded […]Refugee crisis update: Commission still in panic while Turkey is to be added in the equation
October 2, 2015 by Leave a Comment
It was only last Wednesday that Russia officially launched airstrikes in Syria which are supposed to target terrorist groups such as Islamic State (IS). The attacks however aim at western Syria where “strangely” IS has no activity. Consequently, while Russia is mitigating the war in Syria backing-up Assad and his government, refugees continue leaving massively the […]Why the 33,000 staff European Commission did not have a real contingency plan for the refugee crisis?
September 25, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Last Wednesday the EU leaders convened in Brussels to discuss the migration crisis in view of the decision made by the Interior Ministers one day ago. The Heads of States finally decided to “work together in a spirit of solidarity and responsibility” supporting the positive vote taken by the majority of Ministers at the Extraordinary […]The refugee crisis brings to light EU’s most horrible flaws and nightmares
September 16, 2015 by 1 Comment
Last Monday, the EU Interior Ministers convened in Brussels in order to discuss about the quotas of the 120.000 refugees proposed by the European Commission (EC) but didn’t manage again to come to a common decision. Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary belong to the group of countries that are against the latter proposal which […]EU migrant crisis: Germany, France and UK to show the way. Will the rest of the EU follow?
September 9, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The recent migrant crisis keeps on plaguing Europe and our good EU leaders and officials strive to find solutions to tackle it. Jean Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission (EC), will present today his plans for sharing asylum seekers among the 28 EU countries. It will be a crucial day for Juncker’s Commission because […]Migration crisis will keep deteriorating as common EU political will is simply not there
August 28, 2015 by 1 Comment
The migration crisis in the European Union was the main issue of the Western Balkans Summit yesterday in Vienna, but was largely overshadowed by the deaths of at least 20 refugees who were found dead in a truck in Austria. This tragic event shocked everyone in the Summit who expressed the need for immediate actions by […]EU should promote immigration as a humanitarian issue in order to provide a more permanent solution
August 7, 2015 by 1 Comment
Only a few days after the Calais migration incident, a new shipwreck just 10 miles off the coast of Libya caused the death of 25 people while there are still 200 people missing out of the 600 who were on board. The European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos in a common […]China’s stock markets show recovery signs while EU is closely watching in anticipation of the €10bn investment
July 31, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The recent turbulence of the Chinese stock exchange has caused great concerns not only to the second biggest world economy but also to the European Union (EU) as a whole. Junker’s European Commission (EC) is anxiously waiting for China to invest in the EU given the fact that not long ago the Chinese Premier promised to […]EU seems to fail its moderate migration promises postponing them for end 2015
July 22, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The European Union’s Interior Ministers convened last Monday on migration but didn’t come to the preferred outcome which was set by the EU leaders only one month ago, in June. Many EU member states opposed to the proposed, by the European Council (EC), distribution of the 40.000 asylum seekers coming from Greece and Italy within […]Greece will probably stay in the Eurozone but at what cost?
July 10, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The technical teams of the European institutions are now discussing the Greek proposal which was approved yesterday evening by SYRIZA’s governmental council and submitted to the institutions minutes before the deadline in order to have a final agreement at tomorrow’s Eurogroup. The fact that the Greek government has come up with a more professional and […]The time is up but the game is still not over for Greece: negotiations continue in anticipation of a new deal
July 1, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The deadline of the 4-month extension that the Greek government had received on February 20 just expired today. However, the Greek government and particularly the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on a last moment decision to return to the negotiating table sent a letter to the institutions only hours before the expiration of the bailout programme. […]Changing the EU copyright law won’t bring us much closer to Digital Single Market
June 10, 2015 by Leave a Comment
It was last Monday in Cannes when Andrus Ansip, Vice President of the European Commission (EC) for Digital Single Market (DSM), was interviewed in the context of the music industry’s annual Midem event. Supporting the Commission’s view and strategy for a Digital Single Market in the EU Mr Ansip mainly focused on the part of eliminating […]Spanish and Polish voters are crying out for an imminent European change while US urge now Germany to change route
May 27, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The election outcomes in Spain and Poland last week were enough to cause even more uncertainty and turbulences to the already shaken European economy. The European leaders and especially Germany is facing another thorn while they struggle to come to a deal with Greece, which focuses on the austerity policy that is constantly followed by the […]Alexis Tsipras against internal and external “enemies” in pursue of a two-phase deal now
May 20, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The Greek government and particularly the Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is currently looking at a deal with the creditors but is facing both interior and exterior “enemies”. Mr Tsipras had extensive talks yesterday in Athens with the government’s officials in order to inform them about the negotiations’ progress. The Finance Minister of Greece – “pop star”, […]Google’s hot summer never ends: EC to launch ANOTHER antitrust inquiry against the American giant
August 8, 2014 by Leave a Comment
We must admit it: this is not exactly a quiet summer for Google. Not in the Old Continent at least. After the “Right To Be Forgotten” case has disturbed Google’s top management’s sleep recently, a new dark cloud may come soon. According to Reuters, the Mountain View, California-based company may soon face a new probe […]No tears for Cyprus in Brussels and Moscow
March 21, 2013 by Leave a Comment
One after the other Eurozone’s major players draw their red lines towards Cyprus, after the country’s Parliament rejected unanimously the agreement struck between the Nicosia government and the Eurogroup in the early hours of Saturday morning 16 March. The agreement was supposed to provide the Cypriot authorities with €5.8 billion from a haircut of 6.75% […]Eurozone in trouble after Nicosia’s ‘no’
March 20, 2013 by Leave a Comment
The comparison of repercussions from the Greek ‘yes’ and the Cyprus ‘no’, to the troika of EU-ECB-IMF proposals, concerning the bailouts of the corresponding economies, may produce political and financial implications for many Eurozone governments, the EU Commission and the International Monetary Fund. The Greek ‘yes’ is presenting very difficult problems in the longer […]Cyprus Parliament says no to blackmail
March 20, 2013 by 1 Comment
Not one Cypriot Parliamentarian voted yes for the draft bill proposal, providing for a haircut on all deposits in Cypriot banks. As a result the island’s financial system will remain shut down until Thursday, in the hope that a solution to the stalemate will be found. It was quite a spectacle to see all the […]
