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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Tue 18 Dec - 8:16
France : Taxing times for wealthy Gauls
17 December 2012Le Monde Paris
Actor Gérard Depardieu tells French President François Hollande: “I'm not backing you any more, Asterix"
Nicolas Vadot
Actor Gérard Depardieu, an icon of French cinema, is settling in Belgium to benefit from the country's lower tax rates. His decision unleashed a passionate debate on tax rates for the wealthy, economic patriotism and European fiscal policy.
Two centuries or so ago, French aristocrats chose exile to escape the "sans culottes" [revolutionary rabble] and the guillotine. New times, new trends. Today the (very) wealthy today choose fiscal exile to flee taxation that they see as killing them or, at the very least, as "expropriation".
Gérard Depardieu is one of these people. And, as is often the case with this icon of the French cinema, his case has taken on proportions that are as huge as they are incongruous. His choice, announced in early December, to reside in Belgium is unambiguous: he intends to benefit from the benevolent tax policies on the other side of the border.
He was not afraid to set off a national drama worthy of his celebrity status. "Pretty pathetic," commented Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault. "Who are you to judge me in this way?" Depardieu replied with his best dramatic flourish, even threatening to return his passport and to give-up his French nationality.
Slanging match
This set off a new hue and cry with the Labour Minister referring outright to "a kind of personal decline" and the Minister of Culture, showing a tad more humour, called on the actor to "return to silent films".
One Socialist MP went so far as to suggest that tax exiles be stripped of their nationality. Playful minds will see in this "affair" a surrealist farce. The more politically-minded will see a cold response of the wealthiest to the severity of French tax authorities as well as the demonstration that, for them, managing their capital is of much greater concern than the national interest. Nonetheless, everyone would do well to think about the cause of this drama.
It goes back to the presidential campaign. Wanting to make an impression and to provide some guarantees to the Left, François Hollande caused a surprise by proposing to tax revenues above €1m at a rate of 75 per cent.
Seen as expropriation by conservatives – which is questionable since similar rates existed previously in the 1970s [under conservative governments] – the rate was justified, he assured, by the duty of solidarity and the need to redress calamitous public accounts. Obviously, these arguments did not convince those concerned. There is a reason for this.
Punitive rate
On the one hand, the 75 per cent rate seems punitive. If Hollande wanted to respect the spirit of the Declaration of Human Rights, according to which citizens must make tax contributions "according to their ability", he would have imposed two, three, even four additional brackets, reaching, if need be, the rate of 75 per cent.
On the other hand, it shows that fiscal policy in a single country is inefficient in these days of globalisation and of free circulation of European citizens.
Holland runs the risk of paying the political price for his shock electoral announcement last spring. He may be dragging this controversy in the same way [former conservative President] Nicolas Sarkozy towed his fiscal shield [which, conversely, capped taxes on the wealthiest].
Raising taxes is necessary; the wealthiest must contribute more than the others. But, in the end, the symbolic brutality of the 75 per cent rate undermines this message
17 December 2012Le Monde Paris
Actor Gérard Depardieu tells French President François Hollande: “I'm not backing you any more, Asterix"
Nicolas Vadot
Actor Gérard Depardieu, an icon of French cinema, is settling in Belgium to benefit from the country's lower tax rates. His decision unleashed a passionate debate on tax rates for the wealthy, economic patriotism and European fiscal policy.
Two centuries or so ago, French aristocrats chose exile to escape the "sans culottes" [revolutionary rabble] and the guillotine. New times, new trends. Today the (very) wealthy today choose fiscal exile to flee taxation that they see as killing them or, at the very least, as "expropriation".
Gérard Depardieu is one of these people. And, as is often the case with this icon of the French cinema, his case has taken on proportions that are as huge as they are incongruous. His choice, announced in early December, to reside in Belgium is unambiguous: he intends to benefit from the benevolent tax policies on the other side of the border.
He was not afraid to set off a national drama worthy of his celebrity status. "Pretty pathetic," commented Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault. "Who are you to judge me in this way?" Depardieu replied with his best dramatic flourish, even threatening to return his passport and to give-up his French nationality.
Slanging match
This set off a new hue and cry with the Labour Minister referring outright to "a kind of personal decline" and the Minister of Culture, showing a tad more humour, called on the actor to "return to silent films".
One Socialist MP went so far as to suggest that tax exiles be stripped of their nationality. Playful minds will see in this "affair" a surrealist farce. The more politically-minded will see a cold response of the wealthiest to the severity of French tax authorities as well as the demonstration that, for them, managing their capital is of much greater concern than the national interest. Nonetheless, everyone would do well to think about the cause of this drama.
It goes back to the presidential campaign. Wanting to make an impression and to provide some guarantees to the Left, François Hollande caused a surprise by proposing to tax revenues above €1m at a rate of 75 per cent.
Seen as expropriation by conservatives – which is questionable since similar rates existed previously in the 1970s [under conservative governments] – the rate was justified, he assured, by the duty of solidarity and the need to redress calamitous public accounts. Obviously, these arguments did not convince those concerned. There is a reason for this.
Punitive rate
On the one hand, the 75 per cent rate seems punitive. If Hollande wanted to respect the spirit of the Declaration of Human Rights, according to which citizens must make tax contributions "according to their ability", he would have imposed two, three, even four additional brackets, reaching, if need be, the rate of 75 per cent.
On the other hand, it shows that fiscal policy in a single country is inefficient in these days of globalisation and of free circulation of European citizens.
Holland runs the risk of paying the political price for his shock electoral announcement last spring. He may be dragging this controversy in the same way [former conservative President] Nicolas Sarkozy towed his fiscal shield [which, conversely, capped taxes on the wealthiest].
Raising taxes is necessary; the wealthiest must contribute more than the others. But, in the end, the symbolic brutality of the 75 per cent rate undermines this message
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Tue 18 Dec - 17:22
European Union: Is Europe standing on its head?
18 December 2012Dagens Nyheter Stockholm
Kazanevski
Born to give a political dimension to the common values of Europeans, the Union, with the complicity of the member States, has acquired power and skills that have weakened the people it was supposed to defend, argues the Irish writer Colm Tóibín.
Colm Tóibín
The European Union seems like a strange dream we had; it was a way of shaping and crafting a set of political values into a complex system which would place human values, a rich culture and ideas of equality at the very centre of our concerns. It turns out that as a system the European Union could withstand anything except a crisis.
Now, under the stress of a financial crisis, every country is sure of one thing only – that its own borders and its own interests matter more than any common good. While the old currencies may have gone, or most of them have, the old ways of thinking remain.
In our loyalties, once the pressure is on, we live in nation states, even though our banks function under a new global dispensation. Money moves now in the same way as air does, utterly free, being blown back and forth by the wind, unregulated, unstable, uncertain. It is ideas which have remained under lock and key. And with ideas, identities. We are sure now who is German and who is Greek; we are sure that we are Irish and you are Swedish.
Remember the dream
It is important to remember what the dream meant. It is important now at the periphery of Europe where I live to begin again to use the language of political and cultural idealism, to take the language which has been debased by our political masters and see if certain (or uncertain) words or concepts might mean something, even if only to offer us the comfort than poetry does, language used sonorously and responsibility, in a time of private hardship.
One aspect of our European heritage is a way of laughing. In our daily lives, our folk tales and our literature, mockery and self-deprecation are at the very core of the European sensibility. We have a right to laugh at the Emperor as he passes in all his pomp. He has no clothes. We have been laughing at our leaders all our lives. The general knows that the corporal, once he gets home, or has some drinks, will lose all respect for the general’s medals and uniform.
In Shakespeare, the Fool or the gravedigger will talk more sense than the king or the prince. In Cervantes, Don Quixote is a hero only because he is so obviously such a fool. And in Europe, if we feel like it, we laugh at God and think what a fool he must be. This is what makes us different from citizens of the United States, or China, or the Middle East.
Humanist culture
In Europe there is an idea of a humanist culture which is common to us all, something which comes from a freedom to write and read whatever we please, and think fresh thoughts and create fresh images. There were times when the European Union seemed to embody this, seemed to be a secularising influence on Europe, placing humanist ideas and tolerance and equality of opportunity and the possibility of progress at its very centre.
Europe came to mean progress, especially in countries such as Greece, Portugal, Spain and Ireland, which had bad roads and backward politics. It came to mean peace in the countries which had known war. We improved our infrastructure courtesy of Europe, and slowly our political culture changed too. But there were times when Europe came to mean money and power. We noticed, for example, that when Irish politicians or civil servants or judges went to work in Europe, their salaries seemed very high.
What also came was the secrecy that those who love power enjoy. The European Union based itself on a diplomatic system rather than, say, a parliamentary system. Thus what happened behind closed doors, and appeared in secret memos, affected our lives more than what happened in our own parliaments. When the members of the Council of Ministers met they issued bland statements and stood for a photograph. No one knew what they had really decided, or how. The European Parliament remains a large and expensive alibi for transparency.
Making an enemy of the people
The European Union seemed ready to take more and more power for itself. It appeared also to have no interest in reforming itself, or examining its own procedures. In using the systems which diplomats use, it created a strange enemy called the people. Thus there were two power blocs – the citizens of Europe who had less and less power, and the rulers of Europe who had more each year. The rulers often fooled the people; the rulers seemed to know what was best for the people.
Some of the changes they made were marvellous, however. We could cross borders in Europe without having our passports stamped, or, if driving, without having any controls at all. We could move goods, for the most part, without paying duty.
We could live and work where we liked within Europe. I loved how western Europe embraced the countries of the east after 1989. I loved the idea that Europe would become a place of cities rather than states, because our cities, and the ideas and images that spread in them, were our great European creation.
I loved the idea that the concept of nationhood and nationalism would belong to a 19th Century dream and a 20th Century nightmare, ended now. I even loved the euro when it came and was proud that Ireland had joined it from the beginning. I loved the new edicts coming from Europe on the environment; I loved the deregulation of air travel. I even believed that a time would come when Europe would mean something in the world, when our concept of human rights would stand powerful like the euro and make a difference to what happened in China or the Middle East.
Irish heyday
In Ireland during the boom years we had full employment. We did not have to emigrate as we usually do. We worked very hard. In a downturn, we would normally be able to devalue our currency, or allow for inflation. We cannot do this now. Just as the euro suits Germany and other rich countries and makes their exports competitive, it does not suit us. But we are locked into it.
In the meantime, Germany and other rich European countries speak as the source of all wisdom in Europe and, perhaps more important, the source of all authority.
Under pressure, the idea of a European Union has failed. There are only nation-states now looking after their own interests. We have woken from the great dream. It is daytime in Europe. All we have to comfort us are our ability to laugh at our foolishness and theirs; all we have is the memory of what was once possible. And then the paintings, the books, the songs and symphonies, the great galleries and museums and libraries and public buildings which make up our culture.
We can wander alone at night in the city streets in Lisbon and Riga, Athens and Dublin, Constanza and Stockholm, and know that the impulse towards social solidarity and political idealism may come again, perhaps more intensely now that we know how fragile it is. But not for a while.
18 December 2012Dagens Nyheter Stockholm
Kazanevski
Born to give a political dimension to the common values of Europeans, the Union, with the complicity of the member States, has acquired power and skills that have weakened the people it was supposed to defend, argues the Irish writer Colm Tóibín.
Colm Tóibín
The European Union seems like a strange dream we had; it was a way of shaping and crafting a set of political values into a complex system which would place human values, a rich culture and ideas of equality at the very centre of our concerns. It turns out that as a system the European Union could withstand anything except a crisis.
Now, under the stress of a financial crisis, every country is sure of one thing only – that its own borders and its own interests matter more than any common good. While the old currencies may have gone, or most of them have, the old ways of thinking remain.
In our loyalties, once the pressure is on, we live in nation states, even though our banks function under a new global dispensation. Money moves now in the same way as air does, utterly free, being blown back and forth by the wind, unregulated, unstable, uncertain. It is ideas which have remained under lock and key. And with ideas, identities. We are sure now who is German and who is Greek; we are sure that we are Irish and you are Swedish.
Remember the dream
It is important to remember what the dream meant. It is important now at the periphery of Europe where I live to begin again to use the language of political and cultural idealism, to take the language which has been debased by our political masters and see if certain (or uncertain) words or concepts might mean something, even if only to offer us the comfort than poetry does, language used sonorously and responsibility, in a time of private hardship.
One aspect of our European heritage is a way of laughing. In our daily lives, our folk tales and our literature, mockery and self-deprecation are at the very core of the European sensibility. We have a right to laugh at the Emperor as he passes in all his pomp. He has no clothes. We have been laughing at our leaders all our lives. The general knows that the corporal, once he gets home, or has some drinks, will lose all respect for the general’s medals and uniform.
In Shakespeare, the Fool or the gravedigger will talk more sense than the king or the prince. In Cervantes, Don Quixote is a hero only because he is so obviously such a fool. And in Europe, if we feel like it, we laugh at God and think what a fool he must be. This is what makes us different from citizens of the United States, or China, or the Middle East.
Humanist culture
In Europe there is an idea of a humanist culture which is common to us all, something which comes from a freedom to write and read whatever we please, and think fresh thoughts and create fresh images. There were times when the European Union seemed to embody this, seemed to be a secularising influence on Europe, placing humanist ideas and tolerance and equality of opportunity and the possibility of progress at its very centre.
Europe came to mean progress, especially in countries such as Greece, Portugal, Spain and Ireland, which had bad roads and backward politics. It came to mean peace in the countries which had known war. We improved our infrastructure courtesy of Europe, and slowly our political culture changed too. But there were times when Europe came to mean money and power. We noticed, for example, that when Irish politicians or civil servants or judges went to work in Europe, their salaries seemed very high.
What also came was the secrecy that those who love power enjoy. The European Union based itself on a diplomatic system rather than, say, a parliamentary system. Thus what happened behind closed doors, and appeared in secret memos, affected our lives more than what happened in our own parliaments. When the members of the Council of Ministers met they issued bland statements and stood for a photograph. No one knew what they had really decided, or how. The European Parliament remains a large and expensive alibi for transparency.
Making an enemy of the people
The European Union seemed ready to take more and more power for itself. It appeared also to have no interest in reforming itself, or examining its own procedures. In using the systems which diplomats use, it created a strange enemy called the people. Thus there were two power blocs – the citizens of Europe who had less and less power, and the rulers of Europe who had more each year. The rulers often fooled the people; the rulers seemed to know what was best for the people.
Some of the changes they made were marvellous, however. We could cross borders in Europe without having our passports stamped, or, if driving, without having any controls at all. We could move goods, for the most part, without paying duty.
We could live and work where we liked within Europe. I loved how western Europe embraced the countries of the east after 1989. I loved the idea that Europe would become a place of cities rather than states, because our cities, and the ideas and images that spread in them, were our great European creation.
I loved the idea that the concept of nationhood and nationalism would belong to a 19th Century dream and a 20th Century nightmare, ended now. I even loved the euro when it came and was proud that Ireland had joined it from the beginning. I loved the new edicts coming from Europe on the environment; I loved the deregulation of air travel. I even believed that a time would come when Europe would mean something in the world, when our concept of human rights would stand powerful like the euro and make a difference to what happened in China or the Middle East.
Irish heyday
In Ireland during the boom years we had full employment. We did not have to emigrate as we usually do. We worked very hard. In a downturn, we would normally be able to devalue our currency, or allow for inflation. We cannot do this now. Just as the euro suits Germany and other rich countries and makes their exports competitive, it does not suit us. But we are locked into it.
In the meantime, Germany and other rich European countries speak as the source of all wisdom in Europe and, perhaps more important, the source of all authority.
Under pressure, the idea of a European Union has failed. There are only nation-states now looking after their own interests. We have woken from the great dream. It is daytime in Europe. All we have to comfort us are our ability to laugh at our foolishness and theirs; all we have is the memory of what was once possible. And then the paintings, the books, the songs and symphonies, the great galleries and museums and libraries and public buildings which make up our culture.
We can wander alone at night in the city streets in Lisbon and Riga, Athens and Dublin, Constanza and Stockholm, and know that the impulse towards social solidarity and political idealism may come again, perhaps more intensely now that we know how fragile it is. But not for a while.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Wed 19 Dec - 6:57
Britain will be weaker without EU, says USA
The White House has warned Britain that its position on the world stage could be significantly weakened by leaving the European Union.
With David Cameron now saying a Britain out of Europe was now 'imaginable', US agitation has reached a new high Photo: Thierry Roge/EPA
By Alex Spillius, Diplomatic Correspondent
9:00PM GMT 18 Dec 2012
647 Comments
The Obama administration has expressed concern at what US officials see as Britain's slide towards the European exit door.
Washington firmly believes that the departure of its strongest partner in Europe would also reduce American influence on the continent, as Britain so often shares American views.
An EU without Britain would be seen as weaker on free trade and less reliable on defence and foreign policy issues.
With David Cameron now saying a Britain out of Europe was now "imaginable", US agitation has reached a new high.
After observing the rise in popularity of Ukip and the rise of anti-European sentiment generally, the issue was raised by President Barack Obama in a video-conference call with the Prime Minister on Tuesday. It was also high on the agenda of a visit by a US national security council official to Downing Street and the Foreign Office earlier this week.
Related Articles
"It is important to state very clearly that a strong UK in a strong Europe is in America's national interest," said a senior US administration official. "We recognise national states but see the EU as a force multiplier."
The White House is perplexed by the view held by some Euro-sceptics that the so-called Special Relationship would be enhanced by a British exit, because it believes Britain would have more clout as a full partner of the European club.
It acknowledges that some countries, like Britain, matter more than others in the EU, dismissing the notion that Washington only wants one phone number to dial for Europe to make life easier.
Britain's free trade philosophy is regarded as vital in preventing the union from drifting towards protectionism, while since World War Two, successive British governments have been more assertive on a variety of foreign policy issues, and more in line with American thinking, than other major European nations.
"We understand that a Europe without the UK would be a weaker Europe," said a Whitehall source.
"We are getting more and more questions about this, particularly from the US and China. People want to know what it would mean.
"But at the moment we are focussed on making Europe work better for us. We are on focussing on free trade, the single market and commerce. We are committed to making the EU more competitive."
With the eurozone still in danger of collapse, and momentum building on the continent for greater fiscal and political union, the Government has edged towards holding a referendum on EU membership.
Conservatives are increasingly envisaging a future where Britain's involvement withdraws from European institution and limits its connections to the single market and free trade.
Ukip, which supports withdrawal from the union Britain joined under a Conservative government in 1973, has enjoyed strong showings in recent by-elections and has overtaken the Lib Dems to poll at between seven and 14 per cent.
The coalition is already considering opting out of numerous common judicial and policing measures contained in the Lisbon Treaty, which enshrined closer European integration, most notably the European arrest warrant.
Adding to American apprehension about Europe is the eurozone's slide back into recession, which Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, has attributed to "austerity policies taking effect".
"I want to urge European leaders to keep working to address the challenge of economic growth and jobs," she said.
Senior US officials believe that even if an immediate threat of collapse has passed, eurozone leaders have not resolved problems in manner that gives long-term comfort.
William Dartmouth MEP, Ukip's foreign affairs spokesman said: "There have been times in history when the US has been very pleased that Britain has remained independent of the continent, and we expect that to continue.
"It is not the job of the UK to make the work of US diplomats easier. It is our job to secure our own interests."
Hear Hear.!!!
The White House has warned Britain that its position on the world stage could be significantly weakened by leaving the European Union.
With David Cameron now saying a Britain out of Europe was now 'imaginable', US agitation has reached a new high Photo: Thierry Roge/EPA
By Alex Spillius, Diplomatic Correspondent
9:00PM GMT 18 Dec 2012
647 Comments The Obama administration has expressed concern at what US officials see as Britain's slide towards the European exit door.
Washington firmly believes that the departure of its strongest partner in Europe would also reduce American influence on the continent, as Britain so often shares American views.
An EU without Britain would be seen as weaker on free trade and less reliable on defence and foreign policy issues.
With David Cameron now saying a Britain out of Europe was now "imaginable", US agitation has reached a new high.
After observing the rise in popularity of Ukip and the rise of anti-European sentiment generally, the issue was raised by President Barack Obama in a video-conference call with the Prime Minister on Tuesday. It was also high on the agenda of a visit by a US national security council official to Downing Street and the Foreign Office earlier this week.
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"It is important to state very clearly that a strong UK in a strong Europe is in America's national interest," said a senior US administration official. "We recognise national states but see the EU as a force multiplier."
The White House is perplexed by the view held by some Euro-sceptics that the so-called Special Relationship would be enhanced by a British exit, because it believes Britain would have more clout as a full partner of the European club.
It acknowledges that some countries, like Britain, matter more than others in the EU, dismissing the notion that Washington only wants one phone number to dial for Europe to make life easier.
Britain's free trade philosophy is regarded as vital in preventing the union from drifting towards protectionism, while since World War Two, successive British governments have been more assertive on a variety of foreign policy issues, and more in line with American thinking, than other major European nations.
"We understand that a Europe without the UK would be a weaker Europe," said a Whitehall source.
"We are getting more and more questions about this, particularly from the US and China. People want to know what it would mean.
"But at the moment we are focussed on making Europe work better for us. We are on focussing on free trade, the single market and commerce. We are committed to making the EU more competitive."
With the eurozone still in danger of collapse, and momentum building on the continent for greater fiscal and political union, the Government has edged towards holding a referendum on EU membership.
Conservatives are increasingly envisaging a future where Britain's involvement withdraws from European institution and limits its connections to the single market and free trade.
Ukip, which supports withdrawal from the union Britain joined under a Conservative government in 1973, has enjoyed strong showings in recent by-elections and has overtaken the Lib Dems to poll at between seven and 14 per cent.
The coalition is already considering opting out of numerous common judicial and policing measures contained in the Lisbon Treaty, which enshrined closer European integration, most notably the European arrest warrant.
Adding to American apprehension about Europe is the eurozone's slide back into recession, which Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, has attributed to "austerity policies taking effect".
"I want to urge European leaders to keep working to address the challenge of economic growth and jobs," she said.
Senior US officials believe that even if an immediate threat of collapse has passed, eurozone leaders have not resolved problems in manner that gives long-term comfort.
William Dartmouth MEP, Ukip's foreign affairs spokesman said: "There have been times in history when the US has been very pleased that Britain has remained independent of the continent, and we expect that to continue.
"It is not the job of the UK to make the work of US diplomats easier. It is our job to secure our own interests."
Hear Hear.!!!
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Age : 67
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Thu 20 Dec - 0:07
Poland: Kids are so last century
17 December 2012Polityka Warsaw
Shared 220 times in 10 languages
Children in the European Fairy Tales Centre in Pacanów, 200km from Warsaw
AFP
Poles are staying in education longer and putting off having children – sometimes for too long. The country already has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world and if current trends continue, it may well top the global childlessness ranking in the not too distant future, writes a Polityka commentator.
Martyna Bunda
If the current declining pregnancy rate trend holds, demographers say, only two out of three Polish girls today will ever become a mother. It is already clear that of those born in the 1970s and 1980s, one in five are likely to remain childless, compared with one in eight for those born in the 1960s and just a few percent for those born back in the 1950s.
If one in three women never became a mother, Poland would have the lowest maternity rate in the world, lower than Japan, the US or Great Britain, where roughly one in four women never give birth.
Researchers believe that longer education is the key factor behind the globally declining fertility rate. And Poland has been undergoing a boom in educational services: the education rate rose from 13 per cent in 1991 to nearly 54 per cent in 2011. Of the 2.5 million Polish youths aged 18-12, as many as 1.9 million are students. Add the highly liberal labour market conditions, junk contracts, high risk of unemployment among young people and big expectations, and this his means that women are having their first baby later in life – a whole two years later than fifteen years ago. The percentage of women who delay having children until they are 30 has risen twice during the same period.
But changes in the genetic code have not followed as quickly as the cultural change. Bodies are not adapted to entering maternity in the fourth decade of life.
Doctors estimate that as many as one in five couples in Poland have a problem getting pregnant. Medicine can help but in vitro fertilization (IVF), the most reliable last-resort method, had until now been available only to the affluent as the costs were high.
Circumventing parliament, the government has recently issued a ruling, that opens the way for 30,000 IVF procedures to be financed with public money. First, however, in keeping with international law, Poland has to pass a bioethics bill and since the Church is opposed to supported fertilization, the risk remains that infertile couples will be left out in the cold.
Temporary relationships
Single women holding a tertiary degree have trouble finding the right partner. The Famwell research project, carried out by the Warsaw School of Economics’ Institute of Demography, shows that as many as one in two childless women born in the 1960s have never had a serious relationship which lasted long enough to consider children.
This is, first and foremost, because a Polish woman with an university degree will not marry a man without a degree. Statistics show such marriages are almost nonexistent. The other reason, especially outside of big cities, is that the potential grooms are stuck between the cultures of past and present.
As in the days of yore, they feel exempt from household chores, but today they also no longer feel obliged to fulfil their traditional function, that is, providing for the family materially.
Ever more independent, educated and more mobile (young women were the latest – and largest – wave of Polish post EU-accession labour emigration), graduate single women do not want a partner they will have to be carrying on their back for the rest of their lives.
They would even accept the traditional scenario of staying at home if the man brought home a decent salary. But well-paid and easily available jobs are in scarce supply in Poland today, so they are caught in a tricky bind.
Intimacy issues
Big-city single women, on the other hand, complain about the oversupply of male partners keen to avoid long-term relationships. This is partly due to a surprisingly high percentage of youths who have a psychological problem with being close. This is a matter of brain make-up: the lack of childhood-developed patterns suggesting that closeness and intimacy are good things; the dominant attitude perceives intimacy as a dangerous thing.
Young people are increasingly unable to create lasting relationships. In this context, internet researchers point out the effect that dating portals or the web culture in general have had on both sexes, as it has never been easier to sail from one encounter to another without the chance of entering in a long-term relationship.
Demographers estimate that some 7 million Poles aged 25-45 are single. As many as four in ten of those aged 25-35 live with their parents, maintaining at best a loose relationship with someone, OECD research shows.
At the same time, women themselves have been less and less keen to enter in relationships, for the same reasons as stated above and because they are the daughters of the “mother-Poles”, who worked themselves to exhaustion, slogging away at two jobs – the professional one and the household one.
For women born in the 1950s, marrying meant an automatic decline in self-esteem and self-integrity. Their daughters do not want to follow the same path.
Maternal instinct
Anthropologists add, that the importance of having children has fundamentally altered in people’s minds.
Wanting but not being able to have a child remains one of the hardest experiences in life, resulting in profound, legitimate mourning, therapists note, but this is not true for everyone.
Contemporary science says there is no longer such thing as a maternal instinct. Or, at least, that it does not manifest itself in every woman, which unfortunately includes also mothers.
Some simply do not accept themselves in the role and the price for unwanted parenthood is paid by the child. Non-parenthood is thus as inherently a part of civilisational development as, say, life-span extension.
But the need and desire to be a parent can be immense. Regardless of their mindset, most people still need to have babies, perceiving them as a fundamental love-related experience. An experience that gives meaning and completeness to life.
It is, in fact, the one ally that the birth rate has.
17 December 2012Polityka Warsaw
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Children in the European Fairy Tales Centre in Pacanów, 200km from Warsaw
AFP
Poles are staying in education longer and putting off having children – sometimes for too long. The country already has one of the lowest fertility rates in the world and if current trends continue, it may well top the global childlessness ranking in the not too distant future, writes a Polityka commentator.
Martyna Bunda
If the current declining pregnancy rate trend holds, demographers say, only two out of three Polish girls today will ever become a mother. It is already clear that of those born in the 1970s and 1980s, one in five are likely to remain childless, compared with one in eight for those born in the 1960s and just a few percent for those born back in the 1950s.
If one in three women never became a mother, Poland would have the lowest maternity rate in the world, lower than Japan, the US or Great Britain, where roughly one in four women never give birth.
Researchers believe that longer education is the key factor behind the globally declining fertility rate. And Poland has been undergoing a boom in educational services: the education rate rose from 13 per cent in 1991 to nearly 54 per cent in 2011. Of the 2.5 million Polish youths aged 18-12, as many as 1.9 million are students. Add the highly liberal labour market conditions, junk contracts, high risk of unemployment among young people and big expectations, and this his means that women are having their first baby later in life – a whole two years later than fifteen years ago. The percentage of women who delay having children until they are 30 has risen twice during the same period.
But changes in the genetic code have not followed as quickly as the cultural change. Bodies are not adapted to entering maternity in the fourth decade of life.
Doctors estimate that as many as one in five couples in Poland have a problem getting pregnant. Medicine can help but in vitro fertilization (IVF), the most reliable last-resort method, had until now been available only to the affluent as the costs were high.
Circumventing parliament, the government has recently issued a ruling, that opens the way for 30,000 IVF procedures to be financed with public money. First, however, in keeping with international law, Poland has to pass a bioethics bill and since the Church is opposed to supported fertilization, the risk remains that infertile couples will be left out in the cold.
Temporary relationships
Single women holding a tertiary degree have trouble finding the right partner. The Famwell research project, carried out by the Warsaw School of Economics’ Institute of Demography, shows that as many as one in two childless women born in the 1960s have never had a serious relationship which lasted long enough to consider children.
This is, first and foremost, because a Polish woman with an university degree will not marry a man without a degree. Statistics show such marriages are almost nonexistent. The other reason, especially outside of big cities, is that the potential grooms are stuck between the cultures of past and present.
As in the days of yore, they feel exempt from household chores, but today they also no longer feel obliged to fulfil their traditional function, that is, providing for the family materially.
Ever more independent, educated and more mobile (young women were the latest – and largest – wave of Polish post EU-accession labour emigration), graduate single women do not want a partner they will have to be carrying on their back for the rest of their lives.
They would even accept the traditional scenario of staying at home if the man brought home a decent salary. But well-paid and easily available jobs are in scarce supply in Poland today, so they are caught in a tricky bind.
Intimacy issues
Big-city single women, on the other hand, complain about the oversupply of male partners keen to avoid long-term relationships. This is partly due to a surprisingly high percentage of youths who have a psychological problem with being close. This is a matter of brain make-up: the lack of childhood-developed patterns suggesting that closeness and intimacy are good things; the dominant attitude perceives intimacy as a dangerous thing.
Young people are increasingly unable to create lasting relationships. In this context, internet researchers point out the effect that dating portals or the web culture in general have had on both sexes, as it has never been easier to sail from one encounter to another without the chance of entering in a long-term relationship.
Demographers estimate that some 7 million Poles aged 25-45 are single. As many as four in ten of those aged 25-35 live with their parents, maintaining at best a loose relationship with someone, OECD research shows.
At the same time, women themselves have been less and less keen to enter in relationships, for the same reasons as stated above and because they are the daughters of the “mother-Poles”, who worked themselves to exhaustion, slogging away at two jobs – the professional one and the household one.
For women born in the 1950s, marrying meant an automatic decline in self-esteem and self-integrity. Their daughters do not want to follow the same path.
Maternal instinct
Anthropologists add, that the importance of having children has fundamentally altered in people’s minds.
Wanting but not being able to have a child remains one of the hardest experiences in life, resulting in profound, legitimate mourning, therapists note, but this is not true for everyone.
Contemporary science says there is no longer such thing as a maternal instinct. Or, at least, that it does not manifest itself in every woman, which unfortunately includes also mothers.
Some simply do not accept themselves in the role and the price for unwanted parenthood is paid by the child. Non-parenthood is thus as inherently a part of civilisational development as, say, life-span extension.
But the need and desire to be a parent can be immense. Regardless of their mindset, most people still need to have babies, perceiving them as a fundamental love-related experience. An experience that gives meaning and completeness to life.
It is, in fact, the one ally that the birth rate has.
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Greece: A therapist’s worst nightmare
19 December 2012Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Frankfurt
People eat food donated by the Greek church in central Athens on 17 October 2012
AFP
A German trauma therapist journeys to Greece. What he sees there surpasses his worst fears. Greek society is crumbling under the pressure of the crisis. Excerpts.
Melanie Mühl
Trauma is Georg Pieper's business. Whenever a disaster hits Germany, the traumatologist is on the spot. Following the attacks in Oslo and Utøya, Pieper travelled to Norway and supervised his colleagues there. He knows what it means to look closely study and measure the scale of a disaster.
In October Pieper, spent a few days in Athens, where he gave continuing education courses for psychologists, psychiatrists and doctors on trauma therapy. Although he had prepared himself for some shocks, the reality was even worse than he had gloomily expected.
For Germans who watch the news, the crisis is very remote. It encroaches on us first and foremost in hearing terms like "rescue fund" or "billion-euro holes". Instead of understanding the global context, we see Angela Merkel in Berlin, Brussels or somewhere else, stepping out of dark limousines with a grave expression on her face.
We don't learn the whole truth, not about Greece, or Germany, or about Europe. Pieper calls what is happening right before our very eyes a “massive displacement effort.” The defence mechanism of politicians in particular functions superbly.
Begging and scavanging
In October 2012 he saw a Greece where heavily pregnant women were rushing around, going from from hospital to hospital begging, but because they had neither health insurance nor enough money, nobody wanted to help them bring their child into the world. In a suburb of Athens, people who were until recently middle class, were gathering fruit and vegetable scraps from the street.
An old man said that he could no longer afford the medication for his heart condition. His pension had been slashed by half. He had worked for more than forty years, and he thought he had done everything right. Now he no longer understands the world.
People who go to a hospital must bring their own bedding, and even their food. Since the cleaning staff was fired, doctors and nurses, who have not been paid for months, have been cleaning the wards. There aren't enough disposable gloves and catheters, and the EU is warning of the danger of the spread of infectious diseases.
Whole blocks of flats have in the meantime had their oil supplies cut off for lack of money. In spring a 77 year old man shot himself in front of the Parliament in Athens. Shortly before his act, he is said to have cried out: “This is how I leave my children with no debts.” In the past three years the suicide rate in Greece has doubled.
Whirlwind of helplessness
A trauma is an event that shakes the world of the individual to its foundations. The experience is so overwhelming that it pulls the victim into a whirlwind of absolute helplessness. Only a cynic speaking about Greece talks about its “social decline”. What we are living through now is a collective trauma.
“The Greek men have been particularly hard hit by the crisis,” says Pieper. Much more than women do, men derive their identity from their work – in other words, their value to the labour market. But the value to the market of the vast majority of them keeps falling. That's also an attack on their masculinity. Mental illnesses such as depression are spreading in an epidemic across Greece. No one will be surprised that three quarters of all suicides are men.
One doesn't have to be either a pessimist or an expert to grasp what that means for the social relationships among people and for the bonds holding Greek society together.
The anger at a corrupt and perverted domestic system and at the international political system that spends the tranches of aid money to bail out the banks, but not to save people, is terrible. And it is growing. The men bring this anger home to their families, and their sons take it out to the street. The number of violent gangs that attack minorities is increasing.
That was why in November the United States issued a travel warning for Greece, advising that people with dark skin were particularly vulnerable. That, says Pieper, shocked him – that such a warning should be issued for a country like Greece, which sees itself as a hospitable land.
Societal collapse
Even the most devastating blow need not bring an individual to his knees, says Pieper, because each of us has a tremendous will to survive. So much for the good news. The bad news is that a social safety net needs a functioning society. What power such a society can have was shown by Utøya. All of Norway stood behind the victims of the massacre, as if someone had rung out a bell of solidarity across the country.
In Greece the functioning society has been undermined for so long that it has finally collapsed: the crisis has wiped out the welfare state. “In such dramatic situations,” says Pieper, “man turns into a kind of predator.” Sheer necessity drives him into casting off his reasonableness, and selfishness displaces solidarity.
A few days ago Transparency International published its Corruption Index. Greece holds bottom ranking in the EU, rubbing elbows with Colombia and Djibouti. News like that is pure poison.
Georg Pieper says, “I wonder how much longer this society can hold out before it explodes.” Greece is on the brink of civil war. That affects us all.
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Related
19 December 2012Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Frankfurt
People eat food donated by the Greek church in central Athens on 17 October 2012
AFP
A German trauma therapist journeys to Greece. What he sees there surpasses his worst fears. Greek society is crumbling under the pressure of the crisis. Excerpts.
Melanie Mühl
Trauma is Georg Pieper's business. Whenever a disaster hits Germany, the traumatologist is on the spot. Following the attacks in Oslo and Utøya, Pieper travelled to Norway and supervised his colleagues there. He knows what it means to look closely study and measure the scale of a disaster.
In October Pieper, spent a few days in Athens, where he gave continuing education courses for psychologists, psychiatrists and doctors on trauma therapy. Although he had prepared himself for some shocks, the reality was even worse than he had gloomily expected.
For Germans who watch the news, the crisis is very remote. It encroaches on us first and foremost in hearing terms like "rescue fund" or "billion-euro holes". Instead of understanding the global context, we see Angela Merkel in Berlin, Brussels or somewhere else, stepping out of dark limousines with a grave expression on her face.
We don't learn the whole truth, not about Greece, or Germany, or about Europe. Pieper calls what is happening right before our very eyes a “massive displacement effort.” The defence mechanism of politicians in particular functions superbly.
Begging and scavanging
In October 2012 he saw a Greece where heavily pregnant women were rushing around, going from from hospital to hospital begging, but because they had neither health insurance nor enough money, nobody wanted to help them bring their child into the world. In a suburb of Athens, people who were until recently middle class, were gathering fruit and vegetable scraps from the street.
An old man said that he could no longer afford the medication for his heart condition. His pension had been slashed by half. He had worked for more than forty years, and he thought he had done everything right. Now he no longer understands the world.
People who go to a hospital must bring their own bedding, and even their food. Since the cleaning staff was fired, doctors and nurses, who have not been paid for months, have been cleaning the wards. There aren't enough disposable gloves and catheters, and the EU is warning of the danger of the spread of infectious diseases.
Whole blocks of flats have in the meantime had their oil supplies cut off for lack of money. In spring a 77 year old man shot himself in front of the Parliament in Athens. Shortly before his act, he is said to have cried out: “This is how I leave my children with no debts.” In the past three years the suicide rate in Greece has doubled.
Whirlwind of helplessness
A trauma is an event that shakes the world of the individual to its foundations. The experience is so overwhelming that it pulls the victim into a whirlwind of absolute helplessness. Only a cynic speaking about Greece talks about its “social decline”. What we are living through now is a collective trauma.
“The Greek men have been particularly hard hit by the crisis,” says Pieper. Much more than women do, men derive their identity from their work – in other words, their value to the labour market. But the value to the market of the vast majority of them keeps falling. That's also an attack on their masculinity. Mental illnesses such as depression are spreading in an epidemic across Greece. No one will be surprised that three quarters of all suicides are men.
One doesn't have to be either a pessimist or an expert to grasp what that means for the social relationships among people and for the bonds holding Greek society together.
The anger at a corrupt and perverted domestic system and at the international political system that spends the tranches of aid money to bail out the banks, but not to save people, is terrible. And it is growing. The men bring this anger home to their families, and their sons take it out to the street. The number of violent gangs that attack minorities is increasing.
That was why in November the United States issued a travel warning for Greece, advising that people with dark skin were particularly vulnerable. That, says Pieper, shocked him – that such a warning should be issued for a country like Greece, which sees itself as a hospitable land.
Societal collapse
Even the most devastating blow need not bring an individual to his knees, says Pieper, because each of us has a tremendous will to survive. So much for the good news. The bad news is that a social safety net needs a functioning society. What power such a society can have was shown by Utøya. All of Norway stood behind the victims of the massacre, as if someone had rung out a bell of solidarity across the country.
In Greece the functioning society has been undermined for so long that it has finally collapsed: the crisis has wiped out the welfare state. “In such dramatic situations,” says Pieper, “man turns into a kind of predator.” Sheer necessity drives him into casting off his reasonableness, and selfishness displaces solidarity.
A few days ago Transparency International published its Corruption Index. Greece holds bottom ranking in the EU, rubbing elbows with Colombia and Djibouti. News like that is pure poison.
Georg Pieper says, “I wonder how much longer this society can hold out before it explodes.” Greece is on the brink of civil war. That affects us all.
On the web
Related
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Ireland bank debt easing 'essential' IMF warns EU
The International Monetary Fund has warned Europe its inaction over Irish bank debt could threaten the nation's exit from its bail-out programme by the end of 2013.
In November 2010, the Irish government was forced to seek an €85bn bail out from the European Central Bank, IMF and European Commission. Photo: AP
By Denise Roland, and agencies
6:07PM GMT 19 Dec 2012
6 Comments The IMF, one arm of Dublin's 'troika' of lenders, which also includes the European Commission and European Central Bank, toughened up its language towards eurozone leaders, who agreed six months ago to improve the conditions of Ireland's bank rescue.
A central issue is the €31bn used to rescue the former Anglo Irish Bank, which at the time was provided in so-called promissory notes - a time-fixed IOU - but which Dublin is pushing the European Central Bank to replace with long term government securities.
The IMF's report will reinforce Dublin's call for the debt to be restructured by March, when the next payment of €3.1bn is due.
The Irish government struck a deal to avoid immediate payment of the €3.1bn owed last March, settling the bill by issuing a 13-year bond, and has indicated it wants a similar deal on the entire debt before March 2013.
"We consider that resolving this issue is an essential part of the whole package that would be needed for a smooth exit to reliance on market funding," said Craig Beaumont, the International Monetary Fund's Ireland mission chief.
"We are strongly encouraging that a resolution of the issue be reached by the end of March."
The eurozone leaders' accord in June helped push Irish bond yields down sharply, allowing Ireland to become the first bailed-out euro country to return to long-term bond markets and begin to pre-fund a sizable chunk of the funding it will need once its €85bn bail-out ends next December.
However, Ireland is not yet in a position to resume monthly bond auctions. The IMF said prospects for durable market access depended greatly on the delivery of European commitments, particularly via a so-called retroactive recapitalisation of viable Irish banks with European rescue funds.
Eurozone creditor countries have proved reluctant to allow Dublin to tap precious rescue funds, while talks with the European Central Bank to secure longer-term funding for its banks have made slow progress.
After cutting its growth forecast for 2013 for the fifth successive review, the IMF also raised the prospect that slower growth might leave the government on the hook to cover even more banking losses if the bank-sovereign loop is not broken.
"In this context, market doubts about debt sustainability could easily re-emerge, undermining the availability of the substantial market financing needed and resulting in prolonged dependence on official support," the IMF said in a statement.
"The most definitive way to forestall such a scenario would be through decisive direct bank recapitalisation by the European Stability Mechanism, which would reduce public debt directly and insulate the sovereign from potential contingent liabilities from the banking sector. The way forward is clear
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Portugal: How the Troika stole Christmas!
20 December 2012El País Madrid
The boardgame "Here comes the Troika."
The "Men in Black," or Troika of lenders from the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Union, who offer bailouts in exchange for austerity, have become a source of humour. It is the basis of a new card game and advertisement, but the laughter hides fears that the situation will deteriorate in 2013.
Antonio Jiménez Barca
In Lisbon, a new card game called "Here comes the Troika" is already on sale in several stores. The rules of the game are simple: players try to protect the millions they have won thanks to their influence peddling, they try to win elections and protect their positions before a malevolent card appears and ruins all of their plans. This nefarious card pictures three sinister-looking men in black, The Troika, come to seize their winnings.
In shopping malls, an advertisement announces a new credit plan allowing shoppers to pay for Christmas purchases in three payments. The slogan provides a hint of irony: If the Troika finds out..." In other words, it would be best if it did not know that, despite it all, we are wasting the little money we have left (or that it has left us).
In Portugal, recurring jokes and jests are used to stave off the economic and human stifling attributed to the Troika. The end of year festivities will be bleak. Civil servants will not get a Christmas bonus and, in January 2013, new measures and budget restrictions will be implemented.
Cost savings
This is the most controversial and restrictive budget bill the country has known in recent history. It includes a sharp hike in taxes, representing, on average, the equivalent of the loss of one month's salary. According to the Portuguese Confederation of Trade and Services, Portuguese trade will fall by 10 to 15 per cent in 2013 compared to 2012, which was already a disastrous year. Some merchants are very glum and say their sales have plummeted by 30 per cent. Taxi drivers who spend all day in the streets swear they have lost 40 per cent of their clients.
Magazines and television programmes are filled with tips on where to buy cheaply, how to find second-hand shops and hints on how to save money. Shops selling on consignment are popping up everywhere, recycling just about everything from clothes in good condition to items that can be resold forever.
In 2012, the economy slowed by 3 per cent over the year, consumer spending was down by 2 per cent and unemployment reached a record 16 per cent. Trade unions estimate that, in the past few years, the active workforce lost 10 per cent of its purchasing power. "And things will get worse in 2013," warns Arménio Carlos, general-secretary of the CGTP trade union confederation.
Things will get worse
That is why the Portuguese wonder how this disaster scenario will end. The Finance Minister, Vitor Gaspar, says that the first improvements will come in the second half of 2013. The problem is he said things would improve a year ago, yet, in 2012 the recession deepened. For the moment, everything suggests that things will get worse, much worse.
A part from the tax hike, the abolished bonuses and the apparition of a slew of new taxes which apply to a large portion of the Portuguese population, the government has also announced that, in February, it will present the Troika with a framework that provides savings of €4bn. The saving will be made by reducing public services, particularly in health and education. Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho warned, in a much talked about interview a few weeks ago, that he is seeking a way to make citizens pay – totally or in part – for their children's high school education.
Yet, all is not miserable. Pedro Passos Coelho, who usually announces bad news to the population on television, was questioned about macroeconomic issues during an official visit to Turkey on December 17 and he used the occasion to provide what today passes for good news: "For the first time in a long while, we are no longer on the edge of the cliff."
On the web
Portugal
A country for sale
Portugal is to end the year with a succession of privatisations, which will include TAP (Portuguese Airlines), the state broadcaster (RTP), and the airports company (ANA). The government in Lisbon is also expected to finalise the privatisation of Viana do Castelo shipyards, when it chooses between tenders from Brazilian group Rio Nave and the Russians of RSI Trading.
A single buyer, the Colombian-Brazilian tycoon Germán Efromovich, has offered €350m for TAP, which is burdened with a debt of €1.2bn. The Portuguese state, which will keep only 10 per cent of that amount, will announce its decision on the sale on December 20. The director of Jornal de Negócios Pedro Santos Guerreiro writes —
As for the national broadcaster, Expresso explains that the "Government has three models for RTP" — to have it run as a privately owned concession; privatisation of 49 per cent of the capital along with a total commitment from management to cooperate with a private operator; or restructuring. The government seems to prefer privatisation, points out the weekly, which adds that the matter will be settled before the end of the year. To date, the only potential buyer is the Angolan group Newshold, which owns the Portuguese weekly Sol and is a part owner of the media group Cofina.
In December 2011, the Portuguese government sold its majority stake (21.3 per cent) in the country's main electric company (EDP) to the Chinese Three Gorges public company, for €2.7bn.
20 December 2012El País Madrid
The boardgame "Here comes the Troika."
The "Men in Black," or Troika of lenders from the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Union, who offer bailouts in exchange for austerity, have become a source of humour. It is the basis of a new card game and advertisement, but the laughter hides fears that the situation will deteriorate in 2013.
Antonio Jiménez Barca
In Lisbon, a new card game called "Here comes the Troika" is already on sale in several stores. The rules of the game are simple: players try to protect the millions they have won thanks to their influence peddling, they try to win elections and protect their positions before a malevolent card appears and ruins all of their plans. This nefarious card pictures three sinister-looking men in black, The Troika, come to seize their winnings.
In shopping malls, an advertisement announces a new credit plan allowing shoppers to pay for Christmas purchases in three payments. The slogan provides a hint of irony: If the Troika finds out..." In other words, it would be best if it did not know that, despite it all, we are wasting the little money we have left (or that it has left us).
In Portugal, recurring jokes and jests are used to stave off the economic and human stifling attributed to the Troika. The end of year festivities will be bleak. Civil servants will not get a Christmas bonus and, in January 2013, new measures and budget restrictions will be implemented.
Cost savings
This is the most controversial and restrictive budget bill the country has known in recent history. It includes a sharp hike in taxes, representing, on average, the equivalent of the loss of one month's salary. According to the Portuguese Confederation of Trade and Services, Portuguese trade will fall by 10 to 15 per cent in 2013 compared to 2012, which was already a disastrous year. Some merchants are very glum and say their sales have plummeted by 30 per cent. Taxi drivers who spend all day in the streets swear they have lost 40 per cent of their clients.
Magazines and television programmes are filled with tips on where to buy cheaply, how to find second-hand shops and hints on how to save money. Shops selling on consignment are popping up everywhere, recycling just about everything from clothes in good condition to items that can be resold forever.
In 2012, the economy slowed by 3 per cent over the year, consumer spending was down by 2 per cent and unemployment reached a record 16 per cent. Trade unions estimate that, in the past few years, the active workforce lost 10 per cent of its purchasing power. "And things will get worse in 2013," warns Arménio Carlos, general-secretary of the CGTP trade union confederation.
Things will get worse
That is why the Portuguese wonder how this disaster scenario will end. The Finance Minister, Vitor Gaspar, says that the first improvements will come in the second half of 2013. The problem is he said things would improve a year ago, yet, in 2012 the recession deepened. For the moment, everything suggests that things will get worse, much worse.
A part from the tax hike, the abolished bonuses and the apparition of a slew of new taxes which apply to a large portion of the Portuguese population, the government has also announced that, in February, it will present the Troika with a framework that provides savings of €4bn. The saving will be made by reducing public services, particularly in health and education. Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho warned, in a much talked about interview a few weeks ago, that he is seeking a way to make citizens pay – totally or in part – for their children's high school education.
Yet, all is not miserable. Pedro Passos Coelho, who usually announces bad news to the population on television, was questioned about macroeconomic issues during an official visit to Turkey on December 17 and he used the occasion to provide what today passes for good news: "For the first time in a long while, we are no longer on the edge of the cliff."
On the web
Portugal
A country for sale
Portugal is to end the year with a succession of privatisations, which will include TAP (Portuguese Airlines), the state broadcaster (RTP), and the airports company (ANA). The government in Lisbon is also expected to finalise the privatisation of Viana do Castelo shipyards, when it chooses between tenders from Brazilian group Rio Nave and the Russians of RSI Trading.
A single buyer, the Colombian-Brazilian tycoon Germán Efromovich, has offered €350m for TAP, which is burdened with a debt of €1.2bn. The Portuguese state, which will keep only 10 per cent of that amount, will announce its decision on the sale on December 20. The director of Jornal de Negócios Pedro Santos Guerreiro writes —
The race between four competing consortia eager to acquire Aeroportos de Portugal (ANA) is also equally controversial. “France’s Vinci have offered €3bn for ANA," reports Jornal de Negócios.
The state fell into a trap: just one interested buyer and no time to do it better. (...) All of the money Efromovich proposes will be spent ‘inside’ TAP. (...) The state, which is handing over the company, will receive little or nothing in return.
As for the national broadcaster, Expresso explains that the "Government has three models for RTP" — to have it run as a privately owned concession; privatisation of 49 per cent of the capital along with a total commitment from management to cooperate with a private operator; or restructuring. The government seems to prefer privatisation, points out the weekly, which adds that the matter will be settled before the end of the year. To date, the only potential buyer is the Angolan group Newshold, which owns the Portuguese weekly Sol and is a part owner of the media group Cofina.
In December 2011, the Portuguese government sold its majority stake (21.3 per cent) in the country's main electric company (EDP) to the Chinese Three Gorges public company, for €2.7bn.
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Presseurop
Will ECB supervision of the eurozone’s largest banks prevent another financial crisis?
14 December 2012
Yes
29% (358 votes)
No
59% (728 votes)
Don't know
12% (150 votes)
Total votes: 1236
Your comments
=============================
Some comments from around Europe, as you can see the Brits are not the only people who criticise the EU
Will ECB supervision of the eurozone’s largest banks prevent another financial crisis?
14 December 2012
Yes
29% (358 votes)
No
59% (728 votes)
Don't know
12% (150 votes)
Total votes: 1236
Your comments
English
AnotherTommy7043314.12.2012 | 17:43Link
Anyone had any bright ideas yet about how to solve the fact that the Euro is slightly undervalued for the German economy, about right for the Dutch and Finnish economies, marginally over-valued for the French, Irish, Belgians and hopelessly and ruinously overvalued for the Italians, Greeks, Spanish and Portuguese? Anyone? Anyone?
Portuguese
NunoD13253014.12.2012 | 20:36Link
What the hell are you talking about? Haven't you heard Monsieur le President? This crisis is over!
Anyone had any bright ideas yet about how to solve the fact that the Euro is slightly undervalued for the German economy, about right for the Dutch and Finnish economies, marginally over-valued for the French, Irish, Belgians and hopelessly and ruinously overvalued for the Italians, Greeks, Spanish and Portuguese? Anyone? Anyone?
NunoD13253014.12.2012 | 20:41Link
BTW Tommy, some economists have estimated the escudo was overvalued by 30-40% to the DM in 1999. Worst than that, the escudo was even overvalued to the peseta (Germany and Spain = nearly a third of all our external trade). Do you see the atomic bomb we have in our hands?
About
PresseuropEnglish
AnotherTommy7043314.12.2012 | 21:13Link
I'm afraid I do see, my friend.
BTW Tommy, some economists have estimated the escudo was overvalued by 30-40% to the DM in 1999. Worst than that, the escudo was even overvalued to the peseta (Germany and Spain = nearly a third of all our external trade). Do you see the atomic bomb we have in our hands?
About
Portuguese
merkurio1515.12.2012 | 00:21Link
That is also why we have to break up the Euro and the Eu by any means necessary. All the rest is circus.
About
Dutch
Neo9115.12.2012 | 11:09Link
With all those Goldman-Sachs terminators on the buttons it will only get worse for the people of Europe and also the Germans, Fins, Dutch etc will get infected. I am afraid this economic 'atomic bomb' will cause violence in the end, just the same as we dealt with all suppression for centuries in the past.
AboutEnglish
bohoo13653017.12.2012 | 21:33Link
"Will ECB supervision of the eurozone’s largest banks prevent another financial crisis?"
Yes, of course, what else?
Hahahahaha!
About
French
rms292005118.12.2012 | 19:08Link
Roosevelt avait imposé cela puis cette mesure avait été annulée par la suite pour le plus grand profit des banques et des spéculateurs. Il faut absolument revenir là dessus. D'autre part revenir également aux banques centrales au lieu d'emprunter aux banques privées à des taux impossibles. Nous marchons vraiment sur la tête. Nul pays ne peut s'en sortir avec les règles actuelles si ce n'est à affamer leurs peuples !
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About
French
kyszyl26319.12.2012 | 09:44Link
Of course, didn't you notice how Goldman Sachs is good at preventing crisis, how you cannot be sure that its puppet Mr Draghi will act otherwise. Do not worry, everything is under control many benefits from a crisis.
=============================
Some comments from around Europe, as you can see the Brits are not the only people who criticise the EU
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Re: New EC Thread
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Italy's Mario Monti resigns, as MPs pass budget
Mario Monti has been in office for just over a year
Continue reading the main story
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Mario Monti has resigned as Italian prime minister, officials say, keeping a promise to step down after the passing of his budget by parliament.
MPs earlier passed the 2013 budget drawn up by his government with 309 votes in favour and 55 against.
An announcement on whether Mr Monti will take part in elections - expected in February - will probably be made at a news conference on Sunday.
Mr Monti was brought in to form a technocratic government last year.
However, the conservative People of Freedom party of his predecessor, Silvio Berlusconi, withdrew its support for his cabinet this month.
Mr Berlusconi, a three-time prime minister already, is fighting his sixth election campaign.
The new political uncertainty in Italy, the third-biggest economy in the eurozone, has unsettled investors.
'Undecided'
Mr Monti travelled to the presidential palace after a cabinet meeting late on Friday to hand in his resignation to President Giorgio Napolitano.
President Napolitano accepted the resignation and called on Mr Monti to remain as head of an interim administration until the elections, which analysts say will most probably be held on 24 February.
The date will be determined after President Napolitano consults with political leaders on Saturday and dissolves the two chambers.
In his last speech before his resignation, Mr Monti said his 13 months in office had been "difficult but fascinating".
Opinion polls suggest the Democratic Party's Pierluigi Bersani will be the biggest election winner
"The work we did... has made the country more trustworthy... more competitive and attractive to foreign investors," he told foreign diplomats in Rome.
Opinion polls suggest the centre-left Democratic Party, under Pierluigi Bersani, will win the largest share of the vote in the election.
Since taking office with his non-party team of ministers, Mr Monti has been implementing economic austerity measures and argues that his spending cuts and tax hikes have staved off disaster.
The economist and former European commissioner cannot stand for election himself as he is already a senator for life but he could theoretically return as a minister, perhaps as unofficial leader of a centrist coalition.
"Those closest to him say he has not yet decided and do not rule out a surprise decision," the Italian daily Corriere Della Sera said.
"Slowly, as the hours pass, the largest parties which supported Monti begin to see him as a potential adversary."
On Thursday, Mr Monti, 69, defended the "bitter medicine" of budgetary discipline, in what appeared to be a response to attacks by Mr Berlusconi on austerity policies.
Mr Monti told workers at the Fiat factory that it would be "irresponsible to waste all the sacrifices that Italians [had] made".
On Friday, he joked that the impending end of his technocratic government was "not the fault of the Mayan prophecy", referring to a prediction that the world would end on Friday.
Mario Monti has been in office for just over a year Continue reading the main story
Related Stories
Mario Monti has resigned as Italian prime minister, officials say, keeping a promise to step down after the passing of his budget by parliament.
MPs earlier passed the 2013 budget drawn up by his government with 309 votes in favour and 55 against.
An announcement on whether Mr Monti will take part in elections - expected in February - will probably be made at a news conference on Sunday.
Mr Monti was brought in to form a technocratic government last year.
However, the conservative People of Freedom party of his predecessor, Silvio Berlusconi, withdrew its support for his cabinet this month.
Mr Berlusconi, a three-time prime minister already, is fighting his sixth election campaign.
The new political uncertainty in Italy, the third-biggest economy in the eurozone, has unsettled investors.
'Undecided'
Mr Monti travelled to the presidential palace after a cabinet meeting late on Friday to hand in his resignation to President Giorgio Napolitano.
President Napolitano accepted the resignation and called on Mr Monti to remain as head of an interim administration until the elections, which analysts say will most probably be held on 24 February.
The date will be determined after President Napolitano consults with political leaders on Saturday and dissolves the two chambers.
In his last speech before his resignation, Mr Monti said his 13 months in office had been "difficult but fascinating".
Opinion polls suggest the Democratic Party's Pierluigi Bersani will be the biggest election winner "The work we did... has made the country more trustworthy... more competitive and attractive to foreign investors," he told foreign diplomats in Rome.
Opinion polls suggest the centre-left Democratic Party, under Pierluigi Bersani, will win the largest share of the vote in the election.
Since taking office with his non-party team of ministers, Mr Monti has been implementing economic austerity measures and argues that his spending cuts and tax hikes have staved off disaster.
The economist and former European commissioner cannot stand for election himself as he is already a senator for life but he could theoretically return as a minister, perhaps as unofficial leader of a centrist coalition.
"Those closest to him say he has not yet decided and do not rule out a surprise decision," the Italian daily Corriere Della Sera said.
"Slowly, as the hours pass, the largest parties which supported Monti begin to see him as a potential adversary."
On Thursday, Mr Monti, 69, defended the "bitter medicine" of budgetary discipline, in what appeared to be a response to attacks by Mr Berlusconi on austerity policies.
Mr Monti told workers at the Fiat factory that it would be "irresponsible to waste all the sacrifices that Italians [had] made".
On Friday, he joked that the impending end of his technocratic government was "not the fault of the Mayan prophecy", referring to a prediction that the world would end on Friday.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Sun 23 Dec - 10:23
Some comments from Europe:-
Shared 17 times in 10 languages
Your comments
Shared 17 times in 10 languages
Your comments
SAK111120.12.2012 | 17:49Link
In the crisis the ECB seems so far to be the only decision-making body at EU level driven by truly European goals, able to take meaningful actions. The EU council is essentially driven by national goals, and the EU Parliament is, unfortunately, still too weak. so 'thank you' ECB!
Neo929220.12.2012 | 22:14Link
The EU nobel price is by far the most funny; The french will soon learn why we fought against communism for decades; A Grexit is not a threat but a must to regain some confidence in EU regulations and law making especially from those few countries that pay for the majority; These parties seem to be the only politics telling at least some true story
The OS were nice like every 4 years...
But the ECB involvement is a potential ecomomic H-bomb with debts rising towrds US standards, a turbo towards a full collapse and potential violence. Good luck for 2013everyone!
ckoureas8310831020.12.2012 | 23:55Link
Why is Grexit seen as a threat and not an opportunity? Only the socialists in Brussels see it as a threat.
Lx21734327343221.12.2012 | 03:41Link
Because of China. They want us to solve our own mess, they don't want to be left with an atomic bomb on their hands, like a greek default. And in my opinion, they are absolutely right. Last time Angela went to China (and she is allways going there) she got warned: if Greece defaults and leaves the euro, China will loose its trust in the euro, meaning, she will probably get rid of public debt certificates from the EZ and buy no more eurozone countries debt bonds. Try to imagine what effect would have to Europe if those billions or trillions or megazillions of euros from China stoped to be invested on the euro and in Europe. Greece cannot leave just like that. If Greece leaves without its problem solved we will all be in big trouble. Merkel absurd approach to the eurocrisis pushed us all to a complete dependency on foreign powers moods, not only in terms of exports, but also in terms of debt. Just another point to make her work as german chancellor look even more miserable.
Why is Grexit seen as a threat and not an opportunity? Only the socialists in Brussels see it as a threat.
ckoureas8310831021.12.2012 | 04:37Link
Oh so it is a threat to Germany but an opportunity to everyone else. Got it!
Jeleg83183121.12.2012 | 09:47Link
It is not what Lx21 says. I don't know if he is right, but he explains that it is a threat to all countries in the Euro zone, and by extension, for the other European countries too, including UK.
Oh so it is a threat to Germany but an opportunity to everyone else. Got it!
Benno von Arschimboldi13913921.12.2012 | 10:51Link
Toutes les propositions sont des non-évènements.
.12.2012 | 13:45Link
Hi Jeleg, read this link
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/analysis-of-chancellor-merkel...
Specially the paragraph: "It's difficult to say why Merkel eventually chose the domino theory. Perhaps it was partly the doing of Chinese fund managers who, during her visit to Beijing in the summer, bluntly described to her what they saw as the devastating consequences of ejecting Greece from the euro zone. If that happened, they said, China would no longer have any confidence in the euro and, as a result, would stop buying bonds issued by euro-zone member states
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Sun 23 Dec - 22:44
Germany wants Britain in the EU, says Wolfgang Schäuble
Germany does not want to push Britain out of the European Union, but will not be “blackmailed” with the threat of an exit either, the country’s finance minister has warned.
Amid fears that a tide of Euroscepticism could sweep London towards the exit, Mr Schäuble said that he wanted "more British involvement in Europe, not less".
By Szu Ping Chan
11:02AM GMT 23 Dec 2012
1008 Comments
Amid fears that a tide of Euroscepticism could sweep London towards the exit, Wolfgang Schäuble urged Britain to avoid a referendum on EU membership that would create “uncertainty”.
“I would wish for more British involvement in Europe, not less,” he said in an interview with German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.
“We want to keep Britain in the EU and not push it out.”
However, Mr Schäuble cautioned that any attempt to “blackmail” Germany with threats of an exit would not be tolerated.
“Our British friends are not dangerous, but a referendum would create uncertainty,” he added.
Related Articles
Last week, UK prime minister David Cameron described a British secession as “imaginable”, even though he would be against the move.
Mr Cameron has faced increased pressure from Tory backbenchers to claw back more powers from Brussels. David Davis, the Tory eurosceptic MP, has called for the British public to be given the chance to vote for a major repatriation of powers from the EU by early 2014.
The White House has also waded into the argument, warning that Britain’s position on the world stage could be significantly weakened by an exit.
Mr Schäuble renewed his call for an EU president that was “directly elected by the people, like in France and America”.
Herman Van Rompuy, the current president of the European Council, was elected by the 27 leaders of the EU, even though he was the only candidate to run for the post, while the president of the European Commission, currently Jose Manuel Barroso, was chosen by the European Parliament.
Separately, Italian caretaker prime minister Mario Monti said that he would consider running for a second term in next February’s election.
Speaking at an end-of-year news conference, Mr Monti, who resigned on Friday after 13 months in office, said that if a party or coalition offered a credible programme that he supported, “I would be ready to offer my encouragement, advice and if necessary leadership.”
He warned that Italy’s next government must not make easy election promises or backtrack on reforms started by his technocrat administration.
“We have to avoid illusory and extremely dangerous steps backwards,” he said.
Mr Monti, who was appointed to lead an unelected government to save Italy from financial crisis, has faced growing calls to seek a second term.
=====================================
As one of the biggest donors to the EU Britain should have a say in matters but is treated with contempt. Now , they are saying we should stay......for their sake not ours. Be brave Cameron give Britain back to the British , you have the Nations's vote on this.
Germany does not want to push Britain out of the European Union, but will not be “blackmailed” with the threat of an exit either, the country’s finance minister has warned.
Amid fears that a tide of Euroscepticism could sweep London towards the exit, Mr Schäuble said that he wanted "more British involvement in Europe, not less".
By Szu Ping Chan
11:02AM GMT 23 Dec 2012
1008 Comments Amid fears that a tide of Euroscepticism could sweep London towards the exit, Wolfgang Schäuble urged Britain to avoid a referendum on EU membership that would create “uncertainty”.
“I would wish for more British involvement in Europe, not less,” he said in an interview with German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.
“We want to keep Britain in the EU and not push it out.”
However, Mr Schäuble cautioned that any attempt to “blackmail” Germany with threats of an exit would not be tolerated.
“Our British friends are not dangerous, but a referendum would create uncertainty,” he added.
Related Articles
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17 Dec 2012
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Cameron: UK will never join a European army
17 Dec 2012
Boris says leaving EU 'not end of the world'
16 Dec 2012
Last week, UK prime minister David Cameron described a British secession as “imaginable”, even though he would be against the move.
Mr Cameron has faced increased pressure from Tory backbenchers to claw back more powers from Brussels. David Davis, the Tory eurosceptic MP, has called for the British public to be given the chance to vote for a major repatriation of powers from the EU by early 2014.
The White House has also waded into the argument, warning that Britain’s position on the world stage could be significantly weakened by an exit.
Mr Schäuble renewed his call for an EU president that was “directly elected by the people, like in France and America”.
Herman Van Rompuy, the current president of the European Council, was elected by the 27 leaders of the EU, even though he was the only candidate to run for the post, while the president of the European Commission, currently Jose Manuel Barroso, was chosen by the European Parliament.
Separately, Italian caretaker prime minister Mario Monti said that he would consider running for a second term in next February’s election.
Speaking at an end-of-year news conference, Mr Monti, who resigned on Friday after 13 months in office, said that if a party or coalition offered a credible programme that he supported, “I would be ready to offer my encouragement, advice and if necessary leadership.”
He warned that Italy’s next government must not make easy election promises or backtrack on reforms started by his technocrat administration.
“We have to avoid illusory and extremely dangerous steps backwards,” he said.
Mr Monti, who was appointed to lead an unelected government to save Italy from financial crisis, has faced growing calls to seek a second term.
=====================================
As one of the biggest donors to the EU Britain should have a say in matters but is treated with contempt. Now , they are saying we should stay......for their sake not ours. Be brave Cameron give Britain back to the British , you have the Nations's vote on this.
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Re: New EC Thread
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EU money only benefits the corrupt
21 December 2012De Standaard Brussels
Ugandan billboard warning people of the dangers of corruption
Futureatlas
According to the European Court of Auditors, it’s almost impossible to check how EU aid money is spent by developing countries. As a major EU aid fraud scandal hits Uganda, commentators in Kampala wonder why European donors continue to funnel cash into a corrupt country.
Mark Schenkel
Timothy Kalyegira has a simple piece of advice for his government: steal as much aid money as possible. If European countries “have nothing better to do with their taxpayers' money than give it to a government with a proven track record of corruption,” then it is “only logical” that corrupt government officials will spend the money on houses and expensive cars.
Timothy Kalyegira is a well-known political commentator in Uganda. He regularly voices his opinion in the independent newspaper Daily Monitor. Kalyegira's sarcastic comment is a reaction to one of the larger scandals concerning aid in his country.
The European Union, Great Britain, Ireland, Denmark, Norway and Germany have suspended €225 million in aid to Uganda. Donor countries are responding to the theft of at least €10 million that was intended for northern Uganda, an area that is recovering from armed conflict. They demand that those funds are recovered before they resume their aid programme.
Citizens sleeping on the streets
Commentators, journalists and newspaper readers in Uganda have retorted with scorn, ridicule and disbelief. Of course, primary responsibility lies with the Ugandan government officials who have pocketed the money, but are the European countries not also partly to blame? They continue giving to a government that has, all too often, proven its inclination to steal donor funds. “Somehow, though,” says Kalyegira, the European governments plagued by recession would “rather see their own citizens sleep on the streets and starting to get their meals from soup kitchens,” than see Africans get by without western aid.
The funds stolen in Uganda were intended as budget support, money transferred directly to a government. The underlying idea is that the recipient countries are best able to determine where the aid is required. What's more, budget support creates political leverage – at least in theory. Uganda was in the 1990s the first country to receive budget support from the World Bank. President Yoweri Museveni was thus rewarded for his macro-economic stabilisation policy. In the meantime, Museveni has ruled the country for 27 years and fraud scandals have become the order of the day.
The fact that budget support does not always have the desired effect was confirmed on Tuesday when Karel Pinxten, speaking on behalf of the European Court of Auditors, further commented on the €1.6nm that the EU committed last year to aid of this type. "Once the money is transferred, it is lost from sight," said Pinxten. "That's a risk that we no longer want to take."
Few Ugandans put great faith in those words. After all, donors continued with budget support despite funds being stolen from the Community of Nations and the Global Fund, an organisation that fights Aids, TB and malaria.
"So we can be sure that it won’t be long before we hear of western aid now restored," says Kalyegira. “As soon as the donor aid comes in, it will be back to buying luxury cars for Ugandan ministers, taking their wives and mistresses on shopping sprees to the West and building more arcades in Kampala." That explains the brazen advice to steal the money: if donors don't want to listen, then they will have to feel the consequences.
Neo-colonial relationship of dependency
Joachim Buwembo, another commentator, wrote that he was happy with Uganda's thieving government. For if it continues these practices until the West has no other option but to definitely stop giving development aid, an end will come to the “neo-colonial” relationship of dependency. An extra benefit, wrote Buwembo, is that it may lead to a reduction in corruption. Simply because there is less to steal.
Representatives from northern Uganda, for which the stolen funds were intended, do not want the aid to end outright. They, unlike the newspaper commentators in Kampala, do benefit from the money, at least in theory. But they have no objections to suspending the aid until the thieves have been prosecuted.
Translated from the Dutch by Kelly Boom
21 December 2012De Standaard Brussels
Ugandan billboard warning people of the dangers of corruption
Futureatlas
According to the European Court of Auditors, it’s almost impossible to check how EU aid money is spent by developing countries. As a major EU aid fraud scandal hits Uganda, commentators in Kampala wonder why European donors continue to funnel cash into a corrupt country.
Mark Schenkel
Timothy Kalyegira has a simple piece of advice for his government: steal as much aid money as possible. If European countries “have nothing better to do with their taxpayers' money than give it to a government with a proven track record of corruption,” then it is “only logical” that corrupt government officials will spend the money on houses and expensive cars.
Timothy Kalyegira is a well-known political commentator in Uganda. He regularly voices his opinion in the independent newspaper Daily Monitor. Kalyegira's sarcastic comment is a reaction to one of the larger scandals concerning aid in his country.
The European Union, Great Britain, Ireland, Denmark, Norway and Germany have suspended €225 million in aid to Uganda. Donor countries are responding to the theft of at least €10 million that was intended for northern Uganda, an area that is recovering from armed conflict. They demand that those funds are recovered before they resume their aid programme.
Citizens sleeping on the streets
Commentators, journalists and newspaper readers in Uganda have retorted with scorn, ridicule and disbelief. Of course, primary responsibility lies with the Ugandan government officials who have pocketed the money, but are the European countries not also partly to blame? They continue giving to a government that has, all too often, proven its inclination to steal donor funds. “Somehow, though,” says Kalyegira, the European governments plagued by recession would “rather see their own citizens sleep on the streets and starting to get their meals from soup kitchens,” than see Africans get by without western aid.
The funds stolen in Uganda were intended as budget support, money transferred directly to a government. The underlying idea is that the recipient countries are best able to determine where the aid is required. What's more, budget support creates political leverage – at least in theory. Uganda was in the 1990s the first country to receive budget support from the World Bank. President Yoweri Museveni was thus rewarded for his macro-economic stabilisation policy. In the meantime, Museveni has ruled the country for 27 years and fraud scandals have become the order of the day.
The fact that budget support does not always have the desired effect was confirmed on Tuesday when Karel Pinxten, speaking on behalf of the European Court of Auditors, further commented on the €1.6nm that the EU committed last year to aid of this type. "Once the money is transferred, it is lost from sight," said Pinxten. "That's a risk that we no longer want to take."
Few Ugandans put great faith in those words. After all, donors continued with budget support despite funds being stolen from the Community of Nations and the Global Fund, an organisation that fights Aids, TB and malaria.
"So we can be sure that it won’t be long before we hear of western aid now restored," says Kalyegira. “As soon as the donor aid comes in, it will be back to buying luxury cars for Ugandan ministers, taking their wives and mistresses on shopping sprees to the West and building more arcades in Kampala." That explains the brazen advice to steal the money: if donors don't want to listen, then they will have to feel the consequences.
Neo-colonial relationship of dependency
Joachim Buwembo, another commentator, wrote that he was happy with Uganda's thieving government. For if it continues these practices until the West has no other option but to definitely stop giving development aid, an end will come to the “neo-colonial” relationship of dependency. An extra benefit, wrote Buwembo, is that it may lead to a reduction in corruption. Simply because there is less to steal.
Representatives from northern Uganda, for which the stolen funds were intended, do not want the aid to end outright. They, unlike the newspaper commentators in Kampala, do benefit from the money, at least in theory. But they have no objections to suspending the aid until the thieves have been prosecuted.
Translated from the Dutch by Kelly Boom
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Wed 26 Dec - 23:50
Banco Financiero y de Ahorros, the parent of Bankia, has negative value of 10.4 billion euros ($13.8 billion), Spain’s bank-rescue fund said, as it pledged to recapitalize all the lenders it controls by year-end.
Bankia, BFA’s listed unit, has a negative value of 4.15 billion euros, the FROB rescue fund said in an e-mailed statement today in Madrid.
Enlarge image
Bankia Parent BFA Has Negative Value of $13.8 Billion, FROB Says
Angel Navarrete/Bloomberg
Pedestrians pass a Bankia SA branch in Madrid.
Pedestrians pass a Bankia SA branch in Madrid. Photographer: Angel Navarrete/Bloomberg
BFA-Bankia (BKIA), the largest recipient of aid from Spain’s European bank bailout, is receiving 18 billion euros of public funds to plug its capital hole. The valuation published today doesn’t affect the size of that shortfall and will be used to help determine how much of the bank will remain in shareholders’hands.
BFA will carry out a capital increase of 13.5 billion euros, which the FROB will subscribe to using securities issued by the euro region’s European Stability Mechanism rescue fund. ESM securities will also replace 4.5 billion euros of Spanish treasury bills that Spain injected into Bankia in September as a stop-gap measure.
Bankia will issue 10.7 billion euros in contingent convertible bonds, which BFA will buy, and which will convert into ordinary shares early next year as part of a capital reduction. That process, which will take place alongside burden-sharing exercises to impose losses on junior debtholders, will make sure that the “shareholders are the first to bear losses or restructuring costs,” the FROB said.
Bankia was formed in 2010 from the merger of seven Spanish savings banks and traded on the stock market last year as part of the previous government’s efforts to clean up an industry reeling from real estate losses. The shares have lost 82 percent since the initial public offering, which depended on the banks’retail clients.
The European Commission approved last month the recapitalization plans for the four lenders that will receive 37 billion euros of European aid in the coming days. FROB has agreed to sell Banco de Valencia to Caixabank (CABK) SA, while NCG Banco and Catalunya Banc remain under state control.
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Russia Has No Plans to Give Cyprus Loan on Risk, Storchak Says
By Olga Tanas, Stepan Kravchenko & Scott Rose - Dec 26, 2012 9:01 AM GMT
Russia has no plans to grant a 5 billion-euro ($6.6 billion) loan requested by Cyprus because the risks are too great to be assumed by a single creditor, Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said.
“We have no specific plans or instructions to do so,”Storchak said in a Dec. 24 interview in Moscow. “It’s obvious that no single creditor can work with Cyprus alone,” he said.“Anyone who steps up on an individual basis to finance that country’s government or to help recapitalize its banks would be taking an enormous risk.”
Cyprus, whose public debt is forecast to reach 89.7 percent of gross domestic product this year, in late June became the fourth euro-area nation to request a financial rescue since a 2010 bailout of Greece. In addition to seeking aid from its euro-zone partners and the International Monetary Fund, Cyprus asked Russia for a fresh loan after borrowing 2.5 billion euros last year.
A bailout deal with the euro area and IMF will be signed by Feb. 12, Kathimerini reported on Dec. 22, citing Thomas Wieser, who heads the group of officials that prepare meetings of euro-area finance ministers. Cyprus may need as much as 17.5 billion euros, almost the size of its economy, to pay its bills and recapitalize banks, Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly said on Nov. 22.
Russia would consider giving financial assistance to Cyprus as a part of international rescue package after the euro area takes a unified stance on aiding the island, President Vladimir Putin said on Dec. 21 in Brussels.
Communist President
“While we don’t exclude taking part, as the president said, we’re not major creditors,” said Storchak, who oversees Russia’s debt and international financial cooperation. If a group of lenders were formed to help Cyprus, it would be based on Cyprus’s membership in the European Union, he said.
Russia’s current loan to Cyprus, which matures in 2016, was intended to help communist Cypriot President Demetris Christofias stabilize his government’s finances. Cypriot lawmaker Stavros Evagorou said on Oct. 13 that the government was seeking to extend the loan.
Bilateral financial lending to foreign states should be treated as a commercial transaction, where the creditor expects to be repaid, Storchak said. More often, countries seeking financial assistance are in need of grants, though politicians are reluctant to say so openly, he said.
they feel uncomfortable. Isolation takes its toll. Our financial agencies have almost no interaction.”
By Olga Tanas, Stepan Kravchenko & Scott Rose - Dec 26, 2012 9:01 AM GMT
Q
Russia has no plans to grant a 5 billion-euro ($6.6 billion) loan requested by Cyprus because the risks are too great to be assumed by a single creditor, Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak said.
“We have no specific plans or instructions to do so,”Storchak said in a Dec. 24 interview in Moscow. “It’s obvious that no single creditor can work with Cyprus alone,” he said.“Anyone who steps up on an individual basis to finance that country’s government or to help recapitalize its banks would be taking an enormous risk.”
Cyprus, whose public debt is forecast to reach 89.7 percent of gross domestic product this year, in late June became the fourth euro-area nation to request a financial rescue since a 2010 bailout of Greece. In addition to seeking aid from its euro-zone partners and the International Monetary Fund, Cyprus asked Russia for a fresh loan after borrowing 2.5 billion euros last year.
A bailout deal with the euro area and IMF will be signed by Feb. 12, Kathimerini reported on Dec. 22, citing Thomas Wieser, who heads the group of officials that prepare meetings of euro-area finance ministers. Cyprus may need as much as 17.5 billion euros, almost the size of its economy, to pay its bills and recapitalize banks, Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly said on Nov. 22.
Russia would consider giving financial assistance to Cyprus as a part of international rescue package after the euro area takes a unified stance on aiding the island, President Vladimir Putin said on Dec. 21 in Brussels.
Communist President
“While we don’t exclude taking part, as the president said, we’re not major creditors,” said Storchak, who oversees Russia’s debt and international financial cooperation. If a group of lenders were formed to help Cyprus, it would be based on Cyprus’s membership in the European Union, he said.
Russia’s current loan to Cyprus, which matures in 2016, was intended to help communist Cypriot President Demetris Christofias stabilize his government’s finances. Cypriot lawmaker Stavros Evagorou said on Oct. 13 that the government was seeking to extend the loan.
Bilateral financial lending to foreign states should be treated as a commercial transaction, where the creditor expects to be repaid, Storchak said. More often, countries seeking financial assistance are in need of grants, though politicians are reluctant to say so openly, he said.
they feel uncomfortable. Isolation takes its toll. Our financial agencies have almost no interaction.”
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Re: New EC Thread
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Portugal: How the Troika stole Christmas
20 December 2012El País Madrid
The boardgame "Here comes the Troika."
The "Men in Black," or Troika of lenders from the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Union, who offer bailouts in exchange for austerity, have become a source of humour. It is the basis of a new card game and advertisement, but the laughter hides fears that the situation will deteriorate in 2013.
Antonio Jiménez Barca
In Lisbon, a new card game called "Here comes the Troika" is already on sale in several stores. The rules of the game are simple: players try to protect the millions they have won thanks to their influence peddling, they try to win elections and protect their positions before a malevolent card appears and ruins all of their plans. This nefarious card pictures three sinister-looking men in black, The Troika, come to seize their winnings.
In shopping malls, an advertisement announces a new credit plan allowing shoppers to pay for Christmas purchases in three payments. The slogan provides a hint of irony: If the Troika finds out..." In other words, it would be best if it did not know that, despite it all, we are wasting the little money we have left (or that it has left us).
In Portugal, recurring jokes and jests are used to stave off the economic and human stifling attributed to the Troika. The end of year festivities will be bleak. Civil servants will not get a Christmas bonus and, in January 2013, new measures and budget restrictions will be implemented.
Cost savings
This is the most controversial and restrictive budget bill the country has known in recent history. It includes a sharp hike in taxes, representing, on average, the equivalent of the loss of one month's salary. According to the Portuguese Confederation of Trade and Services, Portuguese trade will fall by 10 to 15 per cent in 2013 compared to 2012, which was already a disastrous year. Some merchants are very glum and say their sales have plummeted by 30 per cent. Taxi drivers who spend all day in the streets swear they have lost 40 per cent of their clients.
Magazines and television programmes are filled with tips on where to buy cheaply, how to find second-hand shops and hints on how to save money. Shops selling on consignment are popping up everywhere, recycling just about everything from clothes in good condition to items that can be resold forever.
In 2012, the economy slowed by 3 per cent over the year, consumer spending was down by 2 per cent and unemployment reached a record 16 per cent. Trade unions estimate that, in the past few years, the active workforce lost 10 per cent of its purchasing power. "And things will get worse in 2013," warns Arménio Carlos, general-secretary of the CGTP trade union confederation.
Things will get worse
That is why the Portuguese wonder how this disaster scenario will end. The Finance Minister, Vitor Gaspar, says that the first improvements will come in the second half of 2013. The problem is he said things would improve a year ago, yet, in 2012 the recession deepened. For the moment, everything suggests that things will get worse, much worse.
A part from the tax hike, the abolished bonuses and the apparition of a slew of new taxes which apply to a large portion of the Portuguese population, the government has also announced that, in February, it will present the Troika with a framework that provides savings of €4bn. The saving will be made by reducing public services, particularly in health and education. Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho warned, in a much talked about interview a few weeks ago, that he is seeking a way to make citizens pay – totally or in part – for their children's high school education.
Yet, all is not miserable. Pedro Passos Coelho, who usually announces bad news to the population on television, was questioned about macroeconomic issues during an official visit to Turkey on December 17 and he used the occasion to provide what today passes for good news: "For the first time in a long while, we are no longer on the edge of the cliff."
On the web
Portugal
A country for sale
Portugal is to end the year with a succession of privatisations, which will include TAP (Portuguese Airlines), the state broadcaster (RTP), and the airports company (ANA). The government in Lisbon is also expected to finalise the privatisation of Viana do Castelo shipyards, when it chooses between tenders from Brazilian group Rio Nave and the Russians of RSI Trading.
A single buyer, the Colombian-Brazilian tycoon Germán Efromovich, has offered €350m for TAP, which is burdened with a debt of €1.2bn. The Portuguese state, which will keep only 10 per cent of that amount, will announce its decision on the sale on December 20. The director of Jornal de Negócios Pedro Santos Guerreiro writes —
As for the national broadcaster, Expresso explains that the "Government has three models for RTP" — to have it run as a privately owned concession; privatisation of 49 per cent of the capital along with a total commitment from management to cooperate with a private operator; or restructuring. The government seems to prefer privatisation, points out the weekly, which adds that the matter will be settled before the end of the year. To date, the only potential buyer is the Angolan group Newshold, which owns the Portuguese weekly Sol and is a part owner of the media group Cofina.
In December 2011, the Portuguese government sold its majority stake (21.3 per cent) in the country's main electric company (EDP) to the Chinese Three Gorges public company, for €2.7bn.
20 December 2012El País Madrid
The boardgame "Here comes the Troika."
The "Men in Black," or Troika of lenders from the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Union, who offer bailouts in exchange for austerity, have become a source of humour. It is the basis of a new card game and advertisement, but the laughter hides fears that the situation will deteriorate in 2013.
Antonio Jiménez Barca
In Lisbon, a new card game called "Here comes the Troika" is already on sale in several stores. The rules of the game are simple: players try to protect the millions they have won thanks to their influence peddling, they try to win elections and protect their positions before a malevolent card appears and ruins all of their plans. This nefarious card pictures three sinister-looking men in black, The Troika, come to seize their winnings.
In shopping malls, an advertisement announces a new credit plan allowing shoppers to pay for Christmas purchases in three payments. The slogan provides a hint of irony: If the Troika finds out..." In other words, it would be best if it did not know that, despite it all, we are wasting the little money we have left (or that it has left us).
In Portugal, recurring jokes and jests are used to stave off the economic and human stifling attributed to the Troika. The end of year festivities will be bleak. Civil servants will not get a Christmas bonus and, in January 2013, new measures and budget restrictions will be implemented.
Cost savings
This is the most controversial and restrictive budget bill the country has known in recent history. It includes a sharp hike in taxes, representing, on average, the equivalent of the loss of one month's salary. According to the Portuguese Confederation of Trade and Services, Portuguese trade will fall by 10 to 15 per cent in 2013 compared to 2012, which was already a disastrous year. Some merchants are very glum and say their sales have plummeted by 30 per cent. Taxi drivers who spend all day in the streets swear they have lost 40 per cent of their clients.
Magazines and television programmes are filled with tips on where to buy cheaply, how to find second-hand shops and hints on how to save money. Shops selling on consignment are popping up everywhere, recycling just about everything from clothes in good condition to items that can be resold forever.
In 2012, the economy slowed by 3 per cent over the year, consumer spending was down by 2 per cent and unemployment reached a record 16 per cent. Trade unions estimate that, in the past few years, the active workforce lost 10 per cent of its purchasing power. "And things will get worse in 2013," warns Arménio Carlos, general-secretary of the CGTP trade union confederation.
Things will get worse
That is why the Portuguese wonder how this disaster scenario will end. The Finance Minister, Vitor Gaspar, says that the first improvements will come in the second half of 2013. The problem is he said things would improve a year ago, yet, in 2012 the recession deepened. For the moment, everything suggests that things will get worse, much worse.
A part from the tax hike, the abolished bonuses and the apparition of a slew of new taxes which apply to a large portion of the Portuguese population, the government has also announced that, in February, it will present the Troika with a framework that provides savings of €4bn. The saving will be made by reducing public services, particularly in health and education. Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho warned, in a much talked about interview a few weeks ago, that he is seeking a way to make citizens pay – totally or in part – for their children's high school education.
Yet, all is not miserable. Pedro Passos Coelho, who usually announces bad news to the population on television, was questioned about macroeconomic issues during an official visit to Turkey on December 17 and he used the occasion to provide what today passes for good news: "For the first time in a long while, we are no longer on the edge of the cliff."
On the web
Portugal
A country for sale
Portugal is to end the year with a succession of privatisations, which will include TAP (Portuguese Airlines), the state broadcaster (RTP), and the airports company (ANA). The government in Lisbon is also expected to finalise the privatisation of Viana do Castelo shipyards, when it chooses between tenders from Brazilian group Rio Nave and the Russians of RSI Trading.
A single buyer, the Colombian-Brazilian tycoon Germán Efromovich, has offered €350m for TAP, which is burdened with a debt of €1.2bn. The Portuguese state, which will keep only 10 per cent of that amount, will announce its decision on the sale on December 20. The director of Jornal de Negócios Pedro Santos Guerreiro writes —
The race between four competing consortia eager to acquire Aeroportos de Portugal (ANA) is also equally controversial. “France’s Vinci have offered €3bn for ANA," reports Jornal de Negócios.
The state fell into a trap: just one interested buyer and no time to do it better. (...) All of the money Efromovich proposes will be spent ‘inside’ TAP. (...) The state, which is handing over the company, will receive little or nothing in return.
As for the national broadcaster, Expresso explains that the "Government has three models for RTP" — to have it run as a privately owned concession; privatisation of 49 per cent of the capital along with a total commitment from management to cooperate with a private operator; or restructuring. The government seems to prefer privatisation, points out the weekly, which adds that the matter will be settled before the end of the year. To date, the only potential buyer is the Angolan group Newshold, which owns the Portuguese weekly Sol and is a part owner of the media group Cofina.
In December 2011, the Portuguese government sold its majority stake (21.3 per cent) in the country's main electric company (EDP) to the Chinese Three Gorges public company, for €2.7bn.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Fri 28 Dec - 8:15
Europe would unravel if Britain were to repatriate powers, says Herman van Rompuy
The whole European Union could unravel under David Cameron's plans to claw back powers from Brussels, Herman van Rompuy has warned.
European leaders are worried that allowing Britain to 'repatriate' powers could pave the way for an exit Photo: Thierry Roge/EPA
4:27PM GMT 27 Dec 2012
1199 Comments
Herman van Rompuy, one of Europe's most senior figures, said countries like Britain cannot simply "cherry pick" which laws from Brussels they wish to follow.
Mr Cameron has promised a "fresh settlement" with Brussels amid pressure from his backbenchers to give the British public a say on whether to leave the EU.
He is widely expected to make a speech in the new year outlining plans for a referendum in 2015, which would voters a choice between a new relationship with Europe and leaving altogether.
Mr Cameron will fight for Britain to stay in the EU on new terms but European leaders are worried that allowing Britain to "repatriate" powers could pave the way for an exit and encourage other countries to seek similar deals.
In an interview with the Guardian, Mr van Rompuy last night issued a warning that countries must not "seek to undermine" the EU by seeking special privileges.
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He said the whole European project could fall apart if all member states only looked out for their own interests.
"If every member state were able to cherry-pick those parts of existing policies that they most like, and opt out of those that they least like, the union in general, and the single market in particular, would soon unravel," he said.
"All member states can, and do, have particular requests and needs that are always taken into consideration as part of our deliberations. I do not expect any member state to seek to undermine the fundamentals of our co-operative system in Europe."
Mr van Rompuy's intervention comes after Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat deputy Prime Minister, warned that Britain must not back out of Europe.
This week, he dismissed plans for a referendum on the country’s membership of the EU as “putting the cart before the horse”.
He argued against offering a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU and says that Britain should instead be exercising its leadership role in Europe.
The deputy Prime Minister insists that he is “not frightened” of a public vote but says that such a suggestion is premature given the uncertainty surrounding plans to rewrite the Lisbon treaty to try to underpin the euro.
Mr Cameron has already promised Conservative MPs that the party will fight the election on a “clear Eurosceptic position”.
He wants Britain to take a step back from Europe as the countries in the eurozone country make plans to join together in a "super-state" with closer political and financial integration.
A poll yesterday showed that most Britons now want to leave Europe, with 51 per cent saying they would vote for an exit – in a marked hardening of eurosceptic attitudes
The whole European Union could unravel under David Cameron's plans to claw back powers from Brussels, Herman van Rompuy has warned.
European leaders are worried that allowing Britain to 'repatriate' powers could pave the way for an exit Photo: Thierry Roge/EPA
4:27PM GMT 27 Dec 2012
1199 Comments Herman van Rompuy, one of Europe's most senior figures, said countries like Britain cannot simply "cherry pick" which laws from Brussels they wish to follow.
Mr Cameron has promised a "fresh settlement" with Brussels amid pressure from his backbenchers to give the British public a say on whether to leave the EU.
He is widely expected to make a speech in the new year outlining plans for a referendum in 2015, which would voters a choice between a new relationship with Europe and leaving altogether.
Mr Cameron will fight for Britain to stay in the EU on new terms but European leaders are worried that allowing Britain to "repatriate" powers could pave the way for an exit and encourage other countries to seek similar deals.
In an interview with the Guardian, Mr van Rompuy last night issued a warning that countries must not "seek to undermine" the EU by seeking special privileges.
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He said the whole European project could fall apart if all member states only looked out for their own interests.
"If every member state were able to cherry-pick those parts of existing policies that they most like, and opt out of those that they least like, the union in general, and the single market in particular, would soon unravel," he said.
"All member states can, and do, have particular requests and needs that are always taken into consideration as part of our deliberations. I do not expect any member state to seek to undermine the fundamentals of our co-operative system in Europe."
Mr van Rompuy's intervention comes after Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat deputy Prime Minister, warned that Britain must not back out of Europe.
This week, he dismissed plans for a referendum on the country’s membership of the EU as “putting the cart before the horse”.
He argued against offering a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU and says that Britain should instead be exercising its leadership role in Europe.
The deputy Prime Minister insists that he is “not frightened” of a public vote but says that such a suggestion is premature given the uncertainty surrounding plans to rewrite the Lisbon treaty to try to underpin the euro.
Mr Cameron has already promised Conservative MPs that the party will fight the election on a “clear Eurosceptic position”.
He wants Britain to take a step back from Europe as the countries in the eurozone country make plans to join together in a "super-state" with closer political and financial integration.
A poll yesterday showed that most Britons now want to leave Europe, with 51 per cent saying they would vote for an exit – in a marked hardening of eurosceptic attitudes
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Panda Fri 28 Dec - 8:31
Too cowardly to have a Referendum BEFORE the next election . Britain is treated as an outsider in the EU, yet is one of the biggest contributors. The austerity measures imposed by Germany , although necessary , should not be demanded in the middle of a recession. The unemployment of at least 6 Countries is so high it is causing protest marches and real hardship. Germany is laughing all the way to the Bank while the weak Euro helps their exports and are much more disciplined as a Nation than the Southern Countries.
Let's hope 2013 brings some relief from this crisis.
Let's hope 2013 brings some relief from this crisis.
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Re: New EC Thread
malena stool Fri 28 Dec - 10:26
If Cameron is unable to unable to understand that the electorate here in the UK are the people he represents; then he should resign and give someone else a chance or grow up, develop some Gonads and give the 'smelly plebs' a referendum to decide our European Membership.
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Re: New EC Thread
Angelina Fri 28 Dec - 12:18
malena stool wrote:If Cameron is unable to unable to understand that the electorate here in the UK are the people he represents; then he should resign and give someone else a chance or grow up, develop some Gonads and give the 'smelly plebs' a referendum to decide our European Membership.
He's totally useless - he and Nick Clegg deserve each other!
I hate the EU but I'm not convinced that we should leave it.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Fri 28 Dec - 15:51
I think the big problem with the EU is that there are so many different Langauges and cultures and the EU Committee is trying to force a "one Nation" mentalitiy when clearly it isn't and will never be because there are so many different views. . You cannot have a one size fits all and had it just been a free trade agreement and a European defence force made up of ALL Countries that could have worked.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Fri 28 Dec - 20:27
Jacques Delors: Britain could leave the European Union
Britain could leave the European Union and enter into a looser economic relationship with it as the eurozone moves towards becoming a federal state, Jacques Delors said today.
The proposal from Mr Delors suggest that France might be willing to cut Britain loose Photo: Paul Grover
By Bruno Waterfield, Brussels
2:32PM GMT 28 Dec 2012
923 Comments The former European Commission president, who is credited as the architect of the modern EU and the euro, has broken ranks with other European leaders to offer Britain an exit from the Union.
"The British are solely concerned about their economic interests, nothing else. They could be offered a different form of partnership," he told Handelsblatt, a German financial newspaper.
"If the British cannot support the trend towards more integration in Europe, we can nevertheless remain friends, but on a different basis. I could imagine a form such as a European economic area or a free-trade agreement."
The comments will add weight to growing demands from Conservative backbench MPs and Euro-sceptics for David Cameron to renegotiate Britain's relationship with Europe and to bring back powers from the EU to Westminster.
The Prime Minister has said that he supports continued EU membership but wants a "new settlement" which will involve Britain opting-out of justice measures and seeking exemptions to any further centralisation of power in Brussels.
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27 Dec 2012
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10 Dec 2012
Clegg warns Cameron not to back out of Europe
27 Dec 2012
The proposal from Mr Delors suggest that France might be willing to cut Britain loose, boosting the influence of Paris, as the EU moves to fiscal and political union in 2014 in the wake of the eurozone debt crisis.
In a concerted campaign to keep Britain in Europe, Germany and senior European officials have warned that British demands to be able to "cherry pick" which bits of the EU it signs up to could unravel the whole bloc.
Herman Van Rompuy, the EU president, yesterday warned that if countries like Britain were allowed to pick and choose then the whole European edifice would crumble.
"If every member state were able to cherry-pick those parts of existing policies that they most like, and opt out of those that they least like, the union in general, and the single market in particular, would soon unravel," he told the Guardian.
"All member states can, and do, have particular requests and needs that are always taken into consideration as part of our deliberations. I do not expect any member state to seek to undermine the fundamentals of our co-operative system in Europe." Mr Cameron is under pressure to give the British public a say on whether to leave the EU, demands that will be fuelled by the comments from Mr Delors.
He is widely expected to make a speech in the New Year outlining plans for a referendum in 2015, which would voters a choice between a new relationship with Europe and leaving altogether.
"Only an in/out referendum on the date of the next general election will truly reset Britain's relationship with Europe and help deliver an outright Conservative victory," said Mark Pritchard the Tory MP folr Wrekin.
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Re: New EC Thread
malena stool Fri 28 Dec - 21:09
How very big hearted of Mr Delors to suggest that France might be willing to cut Britain loose... I'm not one to live in the past but, the French were not so ready to make suggestions like that back in 1914 nor 1939...... Quite the contrary....
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Sat 29 Dec - 4:14
malena, Britain has never been closely allied to Europe, nor aquiescent like some European Countries which is why we remain outsiders in the EU. I don't think it's the end of the World if we leave, Britain does very little trade with other European Countries and like the rest of the World trading is focussed on the emerging markets and China and Japan.
Britain could opt to be a neutral Country like Switzerland to lessen the expenditure of the MOD ....just think how much money would be saved, not to mention lives.!!!!!!
Britain could opt to be a neutral Country like Switzerland to lessen the expenditure of the MOD ....just think how much money would be saved, not to mention lives.!!!!!!
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Sat 29 Dec - 15:26
French Court Says 75% Tax Rate on Rich Is Unconstitutional
By Helene Fouquet & Alan Katz - Dec 29, 2012 1:25 PM GMT
President Francois Hollande’s 75 percent millionaire-tax is unconstitutional because it doesn’t guarantee equality for taxpayers, France’s top court ruled.
Hollande’s plan would have added extra levies of 18 percent on individuals’ incomes of more than 1 million euros ($1.32 million), while regular income taxes and a 4 percent exceptional contribution for high earners would have been based on household income, the court said today in an e-mailed statement. As a result, two households with the same total revenue could end up paying different rates depending on how earnings are divided among members of those households, which runs counter to a rule of equal tax treatment, the Paris-based court said.
The tax, one of Hollande’s campaign promises, had become a focal point of discontent among entrepreneurs and other wealth creators, some of whom have quit French shores as a result. Movie star Gerard Depardieu, 64, said he was leaving France“because you consider success, creativity, talent, anything different are grounds for sanction.”
French billionaire Bernard Arnault, chief executive officer of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA (MC), filed an application for Belgian nationality in September. While he promised to continue paying taxes in France, the action prompted fierce criticism from Hollande and his supporters.
“Politically, this has an impact because it was a symbol for French public opinion, and was considered abroad as the emblem of French tax excess, of French tax hell,” saidDominique Barbet, senior economist at BNP Paribas SA in Paris.“In deficit terms, it’s truly negligible.”
Flight Risk
The decision could be positive for France’s bond market because it shows there is a limit to the government’s ability to raise taxes on the wealthy and may decrease the flight risk of more rich French citizens, Barbet said.
The constitutional court lowered a series of other tax increases, calling them excessive or saying they also violated equality of treatment for taxpayers. The tax rate on stock options and free shares was lowered to a maximum of 64.5 percent from a rate of as much as 77 percent. The marginal tax rate on a type of private retirement benefit, known as “retraites chapeau,” was cut to a maximum of 68.34 percent from a planned rate in 2013 of 75.34 percent.
Looking at France’s wealth tax, the court said that unrealized gains couldn’t be included in assessing the tax because it ignores the requirement to take into account a payer’s ability to meet his obligations.
‘Patriotism’
Hollande called on the “patriotism” of the country’s rich to do their part during Europe’s more than three-year-old financial crisis.
French Prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said in an e-mailed statement that the government “takes note” of the court decision and for the 75 percent tax band “will present a new proposal in line with the principles laid down by theConstitutional Court.”
The new proposal will be part of the next budget law, Ayrault said in the statement.
The court’s decision will lower tax revenue by less than 500 million euros in 2013, according to a spokeswoman for the prime minister’s office who declined to provide her name.
Budget Constraints
Former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s opposition Union for a Popular Movement political party had asked the court earlier this month to overturn the measure.
The tax, which Hollande said would be in place for two years, is part of the 2013 budget law and would have gone into effect starting on Jan. 1.
Hollande’s 2013 budget relies on 20 billion euros in additional taxes: 10 billion euros from companies and 10 billion euros from individuals. In addition to the millionaire tax, Hollande has added new charges on capital gains, an increased tax on wealth, a boost to inheritance charges and an exit tax for entrepreneurs selling their companies. His government has also created a new 45 percent tax bracket for incomes exceeding 150,000 euros per year.
The moves come as Hollande seeks to cut France’s public deficit to 3 percent of gross domestic product next year from a projected 4.5 percent this year. The court’s decision doesn’t call into question deficit targets or the path set out to get there, Ayrault said in the statement.
By Helene Fouquet & Alan Katz - Dec 29, 2012 1:25 PM GMT
Q
President Francois Hollande’s 75 percent millionaire-tax is unconstitutional because it doesn’t guarantee equality for taxpayers, France’s top court ruled.
Hollande’s plan would have added extra levies of 18 percent on individuals’ incomes of more than 1 million euros ($1.32 million), while regular income taxes and a 4 percent exceptional contribution for high earners would have been based on household income, the court said today in an e-mailed statement. As a result, two households with the same total revenue could end up paying different rates depending on how earnings are divided among members of those households, which runs counter to a rule of equal tax treatment, the Paris-based court said.
The tax, one of Hollande’s campaign promises, had become a focal point of discontent among entrepreneurs and other wealth creators, some of whom have quit French shores as a result. Movie star Gerard Depardieu, 64, said he was leaving France“because you consider success, creativity, talent, anything different are grounds for sanction.”
French billionaire Bernard Arnault, chief executive officer of LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA (MC), filed an application for Belgian nationality in September. While he promised to continue paying taxes in France, the action prompted fierce criticism from Hollande and his supporters.
“Politically, this has an impact because it was a symbol for French public opinion, and was considered abroad as the emblem of French tax excess, of French tax hell,” saidDominique Barbet, senior economist at BNP Paribas SA in Paris.“In deficit terms, it’s truly negligible.”
Flight Risk
The decision could be positive for France’s bond market because it shows there is a limit to the government’s ability to raise taxes on the wealthy and may decrease the flight risk of more rich French citizens, Barbet said.
The constitutional court lowered a series of other tax increases, calling them excessive or saying they also violated equality of treatment for taxpayers. The tax rate on stock options and free shares was lowered to a maximum of 64.5 percent from a rate of as much as 77 percent. The marginal tax rate on a type of private retirement benefit, known as “retraites chapeau,” was cut to a maximum of 68.34 percent from a planned rate in 2013 of 75.34 percent.
Looking at France’s wealth tax, the court said that unrealized gains couldn’t be included in assessing the tax because it ignores the requirement to take into account a payer’s ability to meet his obligations.
‘Patriotism’
Hollande called on the “patriotism” of the country’s rich to do their part during Europe’s more than three-year-old financial crisis.
French Prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said in an e-mailed statement that the government “takes note” of the court decision and for the 75 percent tax band “will present a new proposal in line with the principles laid down by theConstitutional Court.”
The new proposal will be part of the next budget law, Ayrault said in the statement.
The court’s decision will lower tax revenue by less than 500 million euros in 2013, according to a spokeswoman for the prime minister’s office who declined to provide her name.
Budget Constraints
Former President Nicolas Sarkozy’s opposition Union for a Popular Movement political party had asked the court earlier this month to overturn the measure.
The tax, which Hollande said would be in place for two years, is part of the 2013 budget law and would have gone into effect starting on Jan. 1.
Hollande’s 2013 budget relies on 20 billion euros in additional taxes: 10 billion euros from companies and 10 billion euros from individuals. In addition to the millionaire tax, Hollande has added new charges on capital gains, an increased tax on wealth, a boost to inheritance charges and an exit tax for entrepreneurs selling their companies. His government has also created a new 45 percent tax bracket for incomes exceeding 150,000 euros per year.
The moves come as Hollande seeks to cut France’s public deficit to 3 percent of gross domestic product next year from a projected 4.5 percent this year. The court’s decision doesn’t call into question deficit targets or the path set out to get there, Ayrault said in the statement.
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Re: New EC Thread
Panda Sat 29 Dec - 18:00
David Cameron plan to opt out of EU policing laws 'will allow criminals to run free'
David Cameron's “crazy” plan to repatriate powers from Brussels will allow paedophiles and criminals to run free, Europe’s most senior justice official has warned.
The centre-right commissioner rejects any possibility of Britain 'repatriating' powers from the EU Photo: GETTY
By Bruno Waterfield, Brussels
8:00PM GMT 28 Dec 2012
1604 Comments
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Viviane Reding, the vice-president of the European Commission, attacked the Prime Minister over the Government’s proposal to opt out of European Union law enforcement and policing measures.
The justice commissioner expressed particular concern that the Government was “minded” to opt out from 135 EU crime and policing laws, including the European Arrest Warrant (EAW), which, she claimed, had “horrified” Britain’s own police force.
“Do you want criminals and paedophiles running around freely on the streets? Is that really in the United Kingdom’s interest? It is crazy,” she said.
In June 2014, the crime and policing legislation comes under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, handing control of sensitive extradition and policing issues to EU judges.
Under the Lisbon Treaty, Britain must either opt out of every measure or allow the EU jurisdiction over all 135 pieces of European legislation, a substantial transfer of sovereignty.
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Mr Cameron is under pressure from back-bench Tory MPs to show that he has won a new political “settlement” that claws back or “repatriates” powers from the EU. Opting out of the justice measures provide him with an opportunity to declare a victory and will avoid Conservative splits over giving the EU courts ultimate power over extradition cases and cross-border police operations.
David Cameron plan to opt out of EU policing laws 'will allow criminals to run free'
David Cameron's “crazy” plan to repatriate powers from Brussels will allow paedophiles and criminals to run free, Europe’s most senior justice official has warned.
The centre-right commissioner rejects any possibility of Britain 'repatriating' powers from the EU Photo: GETTY
By Bruno Waterfield, Brussels
8:00PM GMT 28 Dec 2012
1604 Comments
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Viviane Reding, the vice-president of the European Commission, attacked the Prime Minister over the Government’s proposal to opt out of European Union law enforcement and policing measures.
The justice commissioner expressed particular concern that the Government was “minded” to opt out from 135 EU crime and policing laws, including the European Arrest Warrant (EAW), which, she claimed, had “horrified” Britain’s own police force.
“Do you want criminals and paedophiles running around freely on the streets? Is that really in the United Kingdom’s interest? It is crazy,” she said.
In June 2014, the crime and policing legislation comes under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, handing control of sensitive extradition and policing issues to EU judges.
Under the Lisbon Treaty, Britain must either opt out of every measure or allow the EU jurisdiction over all 135 pieces of European legislation, a substantial transfer of sovereignty.
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Mr Cameron is under pressure from back-bench Tory MPs to show that he has won a new political “settlement” that claws back or “repatriates” powers from the EU. Opting out of the justice measures provide him with an opportunity to declare a victory and will avoid Conservative splits over giving the EU courts ultimate power over extradition cases and cross-border police operations.
Reflecting hardening attitudes in Europe, Mrs Reding, the centre-Right commissioner from Luxembourg, rejected any possibility of Britain “repatriating” powers from the EU.
“You have to make up your mind, either you belong to it or you don’t belong. There is no cherry picking,” she said. “That status quo cannot be undone. We will certainly advance to make it more coherent and stronger.”
Mrs Reding, the longest serving EU commissioner, said that British police and law enforcement agencies were of the “same opinion” over any move to opt out of justice measures.
“It is the British police that made an outcry of horror when they heard the British Government wants to opt out of certain instruments that are essential for Britain to defend itself,” she said.
The European Arrest Warrant (EAW) was opposed by Mr Cameron when the legislation enacting it into British law passed through the Commons 10 years ago. Under the warrants, Britons are automatically deported to the EU countries demanding their arrest, even for crimes that are not an offence in Britain.
Ministers are split on whether Britain should leave the EAW system, which was used to return Osman Hussein, the July 21, 2005, bomber, from Italy.
Senior police officers and the Liberal Democrats oppose leaving the system, but most Tories want to pull out unless the EU arrest warrant is reformed.
Mrs Reding, who is responsible for the EAW, is not sympathetic to reform and noted that the measure was introduced at the demand of Jack Straw, the former Labour home secretary, in 2001.
“I am not planning to change it,” she said. “We do not need to change it. What I have done is build a new system around it which protects the rights of suspects.”
Mrs Reding argued that 19.3 million Britons travelled to France every year and 12 million to Spain and one million lived abroad, meaning that EU agreement on justice protections was important.
“The UK needs this because its citizens do. The whole discussion of opting in or opting out is against the interests and rights of British citizens,” she said
“You have to make up your mind, either you belong to it or you don’t belong. There is no cherry picking,” she said. “That status quo cannot be undone. We will certainly advance to make it more coherent and stronger.”
Mrs Reding, the longest serving EU commissioner, said that British police and law enforcement agencies were of the “same opinion” over any move to opt out of justice measures.
“It is the British police that made an outcry of horror when they heard the British Government wants to opt out of certain instruments that are essential for Britain to defend itself,” she said.
The European Arrest Warrant (EAW) was opposed by Mr Cameron when the legislation enacting it into British law passed through the Commons 10 years ago. Under the warrants, Britons are automatically deported to the EU countries demanding their arrest, even for crimes that are not an offence in Britain.
Ministers are split on whether Britain should leave the EAW system, which was used to return Osman Hussein, the July 21, 2005, bomber, from Italy.
Senior police officers and the Liberal Democrats oppose leaving the system, but most Tories want to pull out unless the EU arrest warrant is reformed.
Mrs Reding, who is responsible for the EAW, is not sympathetic to reform and noted that the measure was introduced at the demand of Jack Straw, the former Labour home secretary, in 2001.
“I am not planning to change it,” she said. “We do not need to change it. What I have done is build a new system around it which protects the rights of suspects.”
Mrs Reding argued that 19.3 million Britons travelled to France every year and 12 million to Spain and one million lived abroad, meaning that EU agreement on justice protections was important.
“The UK needs this because its citizens do. The whole discussion of opting in or opting out is against the interests and rights of British citizens,” she said
==================================
What a Bl***y cheek this Woman has.!!!!! Is Belgium vetting everyone travelling to London on the tunnel crossing...NO?
How many times has the EU turned down a request for extradition or overturned our Court rulings ?
What about the non EU Countries ? if they have to show passports Britain can do the same.
David Cameron's “crazy” plan to repatriate powers from Brussels will allow paedophiles and criminals to run free, Europe’s most senior justice official has warned.
The centre-right commissioner rejects any possibility of Britain 'repatriating' powers from the EU Photo: GETTY
By Bruno Waterfield, Brussels
8:00PM GMT 28 Dec 2012
1604 Comments In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Viviane Reding, the vice-president of the European Commission, attacked the Prime Minister over the Government’s proposal to opt out of European Union law enforcement and policing measures.
The justice commissioner expressed particular concern that the Government was “minded” to opt out from 135 EU crime and policing laws, including the European Arrest Warrant (EAW), which, she claimed, had “horrified” Britain’s own police force.
“Do you want criminals and paedophiles running around freely on the streets? Is that really in the United Kingdom’s interest? It is crazy,” she said.
In June 2014, the crime and policing legislation comes under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, handing control of sensitive extradition and policing issues to EU judges.
Under the Lisbon Treaty, Britain must either opt out of every measure or allow the EU jurisdiction over all 135 pieces of European legislation, a substantial transfer of sovereignty.
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Mr Cameron is under pressure from back-bench Tory MPs to show that he has won a new political “settlement” that claws back or “repatriates” powers from the EU. Opting out of the justice measures provide him with an opportunity to declare a victory and will avoid Conservative splits over giving the EU courts ultimate power over extradition cases and cross-border police operations.
David Cameron plan to opt out of EU policing laws 'will allow criminals to run free'
David Cameron's “crazy” plan to repatriate powers from Brussels will allow paedophiles and criminals to run free, Europe’s most senior justice official has warned.
The centre-right commissioner rejects any possibility of Britain 'repatriating' powers from the EU Photo: GETTY
By Bruno Waterfield, Brussels
8:00PM GMT 28 Dec 2012
1604 Comments In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Viviane Reding, the vice-president of the European Commission, attacked the Prime Minister over the Government’s proposal to opt out of European Union law enforcement and policing measures.
The justice commissioner expressed particular concern that the Government was “minded” to opt out from 135 EU crime and policing laws, including the European Arrest Warrant (EAW), which, she claimed, had “horrified” Britain’s own police force.
“Do you want criminals and paedophiles running around freely on the streets? Is that really in the United Kingdom’s interest? It is crazy,” she said.
In June 2014, the crime and policing legislation comes under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, handing control of sensitive extradition and policing issues to EU judges.
Under the Lisbon Treaty, Britain must either opt out of every measure or allow the EU jurisdiction over all 135 pieces of European legislation, a substantial transfer of sovereignty.
Related Articles
Britain could leave the European Union, says Jacques Delors
28 Dec 2012
Cameron 'could unravel Europe'
27 Dec 2012
Clegg warns Cameron not to back out of Europe
27 Dec 2012
Most voters 'now want Britain to leave EU'
27 Dec 2012
Osborne wants 'single market' role in EU
23 Dec 2012
Britain should have Bill of Rights, says human rights panel
18 Dec 2012
Mr Cameron is under pressure from back-bench Tory MPs to show that he has won a new political “settlement” that claws back or “repatriates” powers from the EU. Opting out of the justice measures provide him with an opportunity to declare a victory and will avoid Conservative splits over giving the EU courts ultimate power over extradition cases and cross-border police operations.
Reflecting hardening attitudes in Europe, Mrs Reding, the centre-Right commissioner from Luxembourg, rejected any possibility of Britain “repatriating” powers from the EU.
“You have to make up your mind, either you belong to it or you don’t belong. There is no cherry picking,” she said. “That status quo cannot be undone. We will certainly advance to make it more coherent and stronger.”
Mrs Reding, the longest serving EU commissioner, said that British police and law enforcement agencies were of the “same opinion” over any move to opt out of justice measures.
“It is the British police that made an outcry of horror when they heard the British Government wants to opt out of certain instruments that are essential for Britain to defend itself,” she said.
The European Arrest Warrant (EAW) was opposed by Mr Cameron when the legislation enacting it into British law passed through the Commons 10 years ago. Under the warrants, Britons are automatically deported to the EU countries demanding their arrest, even for crimes that are not an offence in Britain.
Ministers are split on whether Britain should leave the EAW system, which was used to return Osman Hussein, the July 21, 2005, bomber, from Italy.
Senior police officers and the Liberal Democrats oppose leaving the system, but most Tories want to pull out unless the EU arrest warrant is reformed.
Mrs Reding, who is responsible for the EAW, is not sympathetic to reform and noted that the measure was introduced at the demand of Jack Straw, the former Labour home secretary, in 2001.
“I am not planning to change it,” she said. “We do not need to change it. What I have done is build a new system around it which protects the rights of suspects.”
Mrs Reding argued that 19.3 million Britons travelled to France every year and 12 million to Spain and one million lived abroad, meaning that EU agreement on justice protections was important.
“The UK needs this because its citizens do. The whole discussion of opting in or opting out is against the interests and rights of British citizens,” she said
“You have to make up your mind, either you belong to it or you don’t belong. There is no cherry picking,” she said. “That status quo cannot be undone. We will certainly advance to make it more coherent and stronger.”
Mrs Reding, the longest serving EU commissioner, said that British police and law enforcement agencies were of the “same opinion” over any move to opt out of justice measures.
“It is the British police that made an outcry of horror when they heard the British Government wants to opt out of certain instruments that are essential for Britain to defend itself,” she said.
The European Arrest Warrant (EAW) was opposed by Mr Cameron when the legislation enacting it into British law passed through the Commons 10 years ago. Under the warrants, Britons are automatically deported to the EU countries demanding their arrest, even for crimes that are not an offence in Britain.
Ministers are split on whether Britain should leave the EAW system, which was used to return Osman Hussein, the July 21, 2005, bomber, from Italy.
Senior police officers and the Liberal Democrats oppose leaving the system, but most Tories want to pull out unless the EU arrest warrant is reformed.
Mrs Reding, who is responsible for the EAW, is not sympathetic to reform and noted that the measure was introduced at the demand of Jack Straw, the former Labour home secretary, in 2001.
“I am not planning to change it,” she said. “We do not need to change it. What I have done is build a new system around it which protects the rights of suspects.”
Mrs Reding argued that 19.3 million Britons travelled to France every year and 12 million to Spain and one million lived abroad, meaning that EU agreement on justice protections was important.
“The UK needs this because its citizens do. The whole discussion of opting in or opting out is against the interests and rights of British citizens,” she said
==================================
What a Bl***y cheek this Woman has.!!!!! Is Belgium vetting everyone travelling to London on the tunnel crossing...NO?
How many times has the EU turned down a request for extradition or overturned our Court rulings ?
What about the non EU Countries ? if they have to show passports Britain can do the same.
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