Forty-thousand French citizens could find themselves without a bank account at the end of the year because French banks are unable to meet the US tax information reporting law known as FACTA (1), according to Laurent Mignon, the head of the French Banking Federation, FFB. In all there could be more than 300 thousand people across Europe who will have no place to park their money and collect their salaries in 2020.
I was asked by an international radio to answer a few questions on my reflections on the European elections May 26. I thought I’d share a slightly modified version with you here.
After a month of protests led by Algeria’s youth, the military rule has been brought to its knees. […]
Emmanuel Macrons says Europe can no longer rely on the US for its security. He is calling for a European defense initiative which could sideline Nato and has begun bilateral talks with potentially willing EU members. He is even ready to discuss a separate security partnership with Russia. But so far the response is cautious. Europe does not seem ready for France to lead another Grande Armée.
German tax payers will not pay other people’s debt. This is in substance what the Chancellor, Angela Merkel, told the Frankfurter Algemeine Sonntagszeitung, June 3, when she said there could be no “union of the debt.” The comment was in response to news out of Italy that the new ‘populist’ coalition wants the European Central Bank to forgive 250 billion euros in Italian debt. The problem is, when you forgive debt, someone has to pay, and in Europe, that someone is Germany; the only EU country whose economy is strong enough to prop up the euro.
by S.G. Kazolias: President Emmanuel Macron campaigned to put an end to what he called “Social Dumping” —- the practice of temporarily hiring workers from poorer EU countries at the minimum wage and paying their much lower social security in their home country. On March 1, EU delegates in Brussels agreed to revise the 1996 accord allowing this. But getting all EU countries to agree may be harder.
When the then 12 EU members approved the 1996 ‘Posted Workers’ directive, labor costs between the different countries was one to three. As the EU enlarged to 28 with the former Soviet Block countries, that differential became one to ten and employers took advantage of it. Skilled labor was brought in from countries like Bulgaria, Romania and Poland at a fraction of the cost.
In this podcast, an experiment in a new genre for me, I speak about the French president’s recent […]
Social-media platforms are increasingly under attack for the content they carry and face heavy fines in some European countries. What is under question here is the legal responsibility of a platform for the content users post as well as how much freedom is to be given to speech. It is like a return to the XVth and XVIth century when the Church tried to control philosophy and science.
Migrants continue to make their way to Europe and Europeans are showing their discontent more and more at the ballot boxes. Yet, many in Europe still argue more are welcome. The European experiment of integrating those from other cultures is a failure and more will make matters worse.
Paris: Nearly 300 thousand people in France have signed a petition over the past two weeks against the idea of creating the position of ‘First Lady’ for Brigitte Macron.
KazoDaily 