Presseurop

Finance Minister Luis de Guindos has indicated that he may be willing to review deficit targets for Spain’s regions, if the European Commission will consent to lower deficit targets for the Spanish state in 2013.

A more attainable deficit target is one of the “key demands” of the Catalan regional government, notes the Barcelona daily. De Guindos was speaking on the occasion of a Madrid meeting with EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn. For his part, Rehn insisted on the need to persevere with reforms to fight unemployment, which now affects 26 per cent of Spain’s working population.

In a short televised speech on January 28, Queen Beatrix announced that she intends to abdicate in favour of her son, Willem-Alexander (45), who will assume the throne on April 30, the date of the Queen’s Day national holiday. Her timing is symbolic, notes the daily: This year, the sovereign will be 75 years old, and the Kingdom of the Netherlands will celebrate its bicentenary.

According to Trouw, “the political turbulence of recent years dissuaded her from abdicating” sooner, however, with the advent of the Rutte II government, “calm seems to have been restored in Dutch politics”. Finally, “the Queen apparently took an early decision so that Willem-Alexander would not have to wait in the wings for as long as Charles” in the United Kingdom.

Britain may send hundreds of troops to Mali and neighbouring West African countries, as part of efforts to support France in its operation to drive Islamist militants from its former colony.

Downing Street said Britain is „keen“ to provide further military assistance to France, but said forces will not engage in combat. UK military forces could be dispatched to Nigeria and Senegal to train local troops or boost surveillance operations.

French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici has been quick to point out that his cabinet colleague, Labour Minister Michel Sapin, was speaking figuratively when he declared that “France is a totally bankrupt state!” The daily notes that “technically, France is far from default and thus nowhere near being bankrupt, even though many indicators are now flashing red.”

Le Figaro reminds its readers that France has not balanced a budget since 1973, and that the country’s debt, which is still increasing, will reach 91 per cent of GDP by the end of this year. Paris also had a record €74bn trade deficit in 2011, while Germany reported a surplus of €150bn. Hardly any improvement is expected in 2012.

From 2008 to 2011, ArcelorMittal Finance, which is registered in Belgium, generated profits of €5.8bn. However, because the steel group’s “internal bank” is “hypercapitalised” (€28bn of capital between 2008 and 2010, and €36.6bn in 2011), it was able to take advantage of “notional interest deduction”, a specifically Belgian tax break that allows companies to avoid tax if they invest using their own resources.

Over four years, the group’s “internal bank” deducted €5.6bn: ArcelorMittal was only obliged to pay tax for one year (€81mn in 2008). This amounted to an overall tax rate of 1.4 per cent from 2008-2011.

Earthquakes close to natural gas drilling sites in Groningen in northern Netherlands have apparently become more frequent and more intense. An official study published on January 25 estimates that the quakes could reach 4 or 5 degrees on the Richter scale.

The state mining monitoring authority has recommended a reduction in the amount of drilling. On a visit to the region, the Minister for Economic Affairs took the view that this would be “irresponsible from an economic point of view”. In 2011, the gas field generated revenues of €11.5 billion for the state, and it currently supplies gas for 97% of Dutch homes.

Two hundred and seventy eight European banks will reimburse €137bn to the European Central Bank (ECB), the equivalent of one third of the €489bn borrowed from a line of credit made available in late 2011 by ECB President Mario Draghi.

The early repayment is evidence of the banks wish to demonstrate their financial health, and Spanish banks will be among the first to fulfill their obligations.

On January 25, the Polish parliament (Sejm) dismissed three draft bills on civil partnership (two prepared by the opposition and one by the ruling Civic Platform – PO). Surprisingly, despite PM Donald Tusk’s calls to back his party draft bill, 46 conservative PO MPs led by Justice Minister Jarosław Gowin voted against the project, stirring widespread anger.

Soon after the vote, all dissenters along with Donald Tusk received more than 400,000 emails criticizing them for “prejudice” and neglecting “the interests of thousands of Poles living in informal unions”.