The Italian public railroad company Trenitalia will be challenged form 2011 by the private NTV (Nuovo Transporto Viaggiatori). NTV is managed by Luca di Montezemelo, also on the head of…
The demonstrations against the “reforms” in France have been less vigorous than expected. There is an evident explanation for this – neither the austerity plan, nor the pension reform engaged…
As a long-standing critic of the concept of a single European currency, I have not rejoiced at the current problems in the eurozone that threaten the very survival of the euro. Before discussing the events surrounding the Greek debt crisis further, I must provide at least a working definition of what the word “collapse” means. In the context of the euro, there are at least two interpretations that come to mind. The first one suggests that the eurozone project or the project establishing a common European currency has collapsed already by failing to bring about positive effects that had been expected of it.
According to Eurostat, the public expenditure in Romania in 2009 was 40.4% of the Gross Domestic Product. This means nothing else but the fact that 40.4% of the wealth was spent by someone else, not by the people who actually produced it. On average, they could dispose only 59.6% of the results generated by their efforts. This implies that romanians worked 147 days for the state. Consequently, 28th of May is the Tax Freedom Day for the Romanian taxpayers.
After weeks of internal discussions, the French government is unveiling its proposals to reform the pension system. One of the key measures is to push back the legal age of…
The French ministers decided not to follow the example of their Spanish colleagues and keep their salary at the current level (about 14 000 €). They considered that to cut…
This is a statement of the former minister of finances Thierry Breton. According to him, in 2013 France will exceed the amount of bonds emitted by Germany. The debt in the euro zone will become therefore mostly “latin”, with France, Italy, Spain and Portugal becoming the main debtor nations. They have, adds Thierry Breton, built their national (cheap) debt on the solidity of the German bonds but this era is coming to an end. Nowadays, the totality of the income tax revenues in France is going to the payment of the interest of the public debt.
As voices are heard everyday to “regulate” and “discipline” the finance industry, Lawrence H. White, Professor at George Mason University, Virginia and top scholar in money and banking, bring to our attention this very relevant quote from William Graham Sumner (1840-1910), Yale Professor, historian and sociologist.
IREF is presenting for the third consecutive year a unique report on taxation in Europe. You can find here expert analysis of the fiscal policy in 22 european countries, the most recent data and forecast for future developments. Summary by Professor Pierre Garello.
The disaster everyone feared for several months finally occurred yesterday – Greece’s credit rating was reduced to junk status and financial markets slumped. Moreover, Portugal’s debt has also been downgraded, Spanish stocks plunged more than four percentage points and in Italy it was difficult to sell government bonds.