Le Monde, Paris – Cartoon. See more.
NRC Handelsblad, Amsterdam – Austerity and free market regulations have created a band of loyal followers: The Precarious. And they are threatening the jewel European civilization, social security, argues Belgian writer Geert Van Istandael. See more.
„Very determined“ but „largely ineffective“: in the wake of the publication of a report commissioned by the socialist group in the European parliament in 2012 and coordinated by UK Tax Research Director Richard Murphy, El Mundo looks at the figures delivered by the EU drive to combat tax fraud and and close tax avoidance loopholes. According to the report, capital flight, the black economy and various corporate manouevres to avoid tax continue to cost EU countries €1trn in lost revenue every year. In the current context, reports El Mundo —
the drive to combat tax evasion has become a priority for the European Union, now that the crisis has drawn attention to diminishing state revenues.
In response to a European Council request for an “Action plan” submitted in March 2012, last month the Commission announced a series of recommendations, which as El Mundo points out are non-obligatory, for greater cooperation between the EU’s 27 member states. In the meantime, and in spite of the EU’s limited powers in the fight to combat tax fraud, some positive results have begun to emerge, concludes the daily —
The most significant success has been the signing of bilateral agreements on the exchange of tax information between the EU, Saint Marino, Liechtenstein, Monaco and Switzerland, which apply in all EU member states.[…] The sums recovered thanks to these agreements have increased 11-fold over the past seven years. Better still, starting on January 1, 2013, a new regulation has come into force to prevent countries from citing banking secrecy as a reason for refusing to comply with a request from a member state for tax information on one of its citizens.
Alternatives économiques , Paris – The latest figures are grim: unemployment has soared to record levels in the eurozone, with 11.8 per cent of the workforce unemployed. So far, however, European countries have been unable to harmonise their social policies in an effort to get out of the crisis. See more.
Three coalition parties have backed a call issued by Parliamentary President Gregor Virant and his Civic List party for the resignation of Prime Minister Janez Janša, who has been accused of corruption. DeSUS, the Slovenian People’s Party and New Slovenia have made Janša’s withdrawal a condition for their continued support for the country’s ruling centre-right coalition. Early general elections this spring are increasingly viewed as the only way to resolve the country’s social and political crisis.
Masked individuals who opened fire with automatic weapons on the headquarters of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ party in Athens left a rocket behind. The offices of New Democracy and PASOK, the Greek socialist party that is a member of the ruling coalition, had already been targeted by attacks last weekend.
In reprisal to French military intervention against them, Malian jihadis have threatened “to attack the heart of France”. The French government has announced it will reinforce France’s „Vigipirate“ anti-terrorist security plan. Paris is also concerned about the fate of seven French hostages who are currently being held in the Sahel.
In a verdict designed to act as a “deterrent”, Ernst Strasser has been sentenced to a four-year jail term for corruption. In 2010, the former interior minister who was then an MEP, was “trapped” by Sunday Times journalists presenting themselves as lobbyists, who offered money in return for his political support. The court described the defence’s argument that Strasser had only pretended to accept a bribe in a bid to unmask so-called “secret agents” as “fantastic”.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron has brought forward the date of his much-anticipated speech on Britain’s future in Europe from January 22 to Friday, January 18, under pressure from German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The original date clashed with the 50th anniversary of the signing of the German-French Elysée treaty. Cameron’s speech is expected to include a commitment to renegotiate Britain’s membership and hold a referendum on whether to accept the new deal.
According to a report published by Instituto Cervantes, Spanish is the world’s second most popular language – after Chinese – with 495m native speakers in 2012. After English, it is also the most popular international communication language, with 7.5 per cent of the global population expected to speak it by 2030. The US will be home to the largest number of Spanish speakers by 2050, while the language was the second most used on Twitter in 2012 and the third most popular on the Internet.