EU strikes €500bn relief deal for countries hit hardest by pandemic

Posted on April 9, 2020 by Admin

Compromise reached after Netherlands relents on ‘economic surveillance’ of beneficiary nations

A messy compromise to unlock €500bn (£438bn) of EU support for countries hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic has been struck after Italy’s prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, warned that the existence of the bloc was at stake.

EU finance ministers on a video conference call struck a deal late on Thursday after the Netherlands shifted on a demand for “economic surveillance” of countries benefiting from €240bn of credit lines via the European stability mechanism, a bailout fund for struggling member states.

Greece feeds economic recovery with tax law to lure investors

Posted on November 7, 2019 by Admin

Mitsotakis government seeks foreign capital from new residents in prosperity drive

Not so long ago the idea of Greece announcing tax relief measures to entice the global rich would have been regarded as a joke. With the EU’s weakest economy, and a leftist government in power, the world’s wealthy were keen to keep their distance.

But in a marked departure of policy, the centre-right administration led by Kyriakos Mitsotakis has offered an array of incentives to attract the rich.

German recession fears rise as industrial output tumbles – business live

Posted on September 6, 2019 by Admin

Rolling coverage of business, economics and markets as factories in Europe’s largest economy stutter

10.18am BST

Eurozone growth came in unchanged on its third estimate: 0.2% growth in the second quarter of the year.

A minor beat on the headline year-on-year growth rate, remaining at 1.2% against 1.1% expectations, but otherwise no shocks.

9.59am BST

Labour has confirmed that it will not vote for an election on Monday even if a bill intended to stop a no-deal Brexit passes before then.

If we vote to have a general election, then no matter what it is that Boris Johnson promises, it is up to him to advise the Queen when the general election should be. And given that he has shown himself to be a manifest liar, and someone who has said that he will die in a ditch rather than stop no deal, and indeed his adviser, [Dominic] Cummings, has been swearing and shouting at MPs saying they are leaving on 31 [October] no matter what, our first priority has to be that we must stop no deal and we must make sure that that is going to happen.

Riven with tensions, Europe is in for a stormy and fractious autumn

Posted on June 29, 2019 by Admin

As the bloc struggles to agree its future strategy, leaders remain unelected, and its budget and emissions targets are up in the air

Angela Merkel has the shakes. Emmanuel Macron has the collywobbles. And still Europe has no idea who will be in charge as it contemplates a stormy autumn strewn with political booby traps. In Britain, the Brexit deadline of 31 October is the only date that matters. But the EU, fragmented, disputatious and wounded to an extent unusual even by its fractious standards, is taking one day at a time.

Sunday’s special summit is a case in point. It was convened by an exasperated Donald Tusk, the outgoing European council president, after this month’s regular heads-of-government meeting failed to agree on his successor or who will fill other key posts, including European commission president and president of the European central bank. Now they are having another try.