Europe

How to buy EU citizenship

"The touts were easy to spot, having practically set up stall outside government ministries and the Romanian consulate. They wore pouches around the waist and carried business cards in their hands. At the gates of official buildings they huddled together, drinking coffee or speaking intently into mobile phones. For €700, all the essential citizenship documents could be arranged within 15 months. Payment of €1,000 guaranteed the documents within 10 months. Meanwhile in Chisinau, several Moldovans said they had used their new nationality to take jobs in the EU. All said they had migrated in order to support families struggling in dire poverty." Continue reading →

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Geneva car show opens amid industry gloom

"Switzerland, the host of what is one of the auto industry's biggest events, is a rare bright spot on the crisis-hit continent. The Swiss, who do not belong to the EU, saw new car registrations jump 2.4 percent last year from an already record year in 2011, with 431,000 new registrations. For the neighbouring EU nations, however, the end of the tunnel remains out of sight and most experts refuse to guess when, if ever, the market will come roaring back and hit its pre-crisis 2007 level of 16 million cars sold." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGeneva car show opens amid industry gloom

Former Greek defense minister gets eight years and €500,000 fine over €100,000 in asset non-declarations

"This has scary parallels with FATCA and FBAR requirements. The United States debt situation is Greece on steroids. I won’t defend Mr. Tsochatzopoulos. However, the fine for hiding 100,000 Euro in assets (aggregated over three years!) of € 500,000 Euro, is clearly exorbitant. But then to also sentence him to eight years in prison without possibility of appeal shows that the Greek courts are seething with froth at their mouths that shows that this cradle of civilization has gone back to barbaric times when petty rulers could simply seize the property of any citizens only because his thugs were powerful." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFormer Greek defense minister gets eight years and €500,000 fine over €100,000 in asset non-declarations

Nigel Farage’s ‘Fruitcakes, Loonies & Closet Racists’ Libertarian UKIP knocks down Tories into third

"The British Conservative party has for the first time been pushed into third place in a by-election in the town of Eastleigh, by a party David Cameron dubbed 'fruitcakes and loonies and closet racists.' The UKIP (the UK Independence Party) strongly opposes immigration, and advocates for the UK to leave the European Union. In the Eastleigh vote, the Lib Dem Party polled at 13,342 votes, UKIP at 11,571, the Conservatives at 10,559 and Labour at 4,088. UKIP took almost 28 percent of the vote, one of their best-ever results in a British parliamentary election." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNigel Farage’s ‘Fruitcakes, Loonies & Closet Racists’ Libertarian UKIP knocks down Tories into third

Removal of Berlin Wall temporarily halted due to protests

"A property developer in Germany at the centre of running protests over part of the once-detested Berlin Wall being knocked down said on Monday that the dismantling had been temporarily halted. While dozens of protestors again gathered at the Wall’s longest surviving stretch, Maik Uwe Hinkel, the head of the company Living Bauhaus, said in a German newspaper that he was open to compromise. Since 1990, the outdoor gallery has been covered in brightly coloured graffiti murals, including the famous 'Fraternal Kiss' depicting Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and his East German counterpart Erich Honecker." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRemoval of Berlin Wall temporarily halted due to protests

Cash airlift helped avert Greek bank run during debt crisis

"Greece's central bank had billions of euros of banknotes shipped in from other central banks to avert a bank run during the country's debt crisis as depositors withdrew their money. Fears the debt-laden country might ditch the euro and return to the drachma led Greeks to pull out billions of euros of savings in the last three years, stashing their cash under mattresses or in safe deposit boxes. To meet the high demand for cash, the Bank of Greece had loads of banknotes secretly airshipped from abroad, feeding it to banks throughout the country to avoid shortages that could have intensified worries and set off a bank run." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCash airlift helped avert Greek bank run during debt crisis

Austerity’s End Could Bring Additional German Turmoil

"Is Brussels backing away from austerity? If the top Eurocrats that have pushed so hard for it are now finding it impossible to implement, then we begin to ask underlying questions once more: Who pays for European insolvency? The obvious answer is the Germans. And this confirms what we have been arguing for the past several years. The Germans are not so much the 'leaders' of Europe as they are the victims of it. Ms. Merkel may not want a Euro-crisis before German elections but she may get another one after them." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAusterity’s End Could Bring Additional German Turmoil

Two-Tier ‘Privileged Flyer’ Program Advances in EU

"We have in various articles catalogued US programs that allow one to be "pre-approved" and thus avoid the long lines of those who are yet, apparently, to be considered potential terrorists. Eventually, such system will turn into something more difficult, of course – as the emphasis shifts from the approved to the non-approved. In other words, eventually those who are not approved to travel may have trouble taking advantage of modern travel conveniences such as planes, trains, buses and eventually automobiles. Now in a press release, we are informed the EU is taking steps to harmonize its travel program with the US's and other powers." Continue reading →

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Upcoming European Financial Trading Tax: “All Markets, All Actors, All Products”

"The tax would be owed no matter where the trade took place, as long as a European security or European institution was involved. If a French bank bought shares in an American company on the New York Stock Exchange, the tax would be owed. To get out of the tax, a financial institution would have to do more than simply move its headquarters out of the 11 countries that now plan to impose the tax. It would also have to forgo serving clients in any of those countries and trading in securities or derivatives from any of the countries. Officials are confident that no major institution will be willing to forsake such large markets as France, Germany, Italy and Spain." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUpcoming European Financial Trading Tax: “All Markets, All Actors, All Products”

Debt crisis: France puts brakes on austerity

"Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said on Friday that France would ask its EU partners and the European Commission for an extra year to cut its public deficit below a targeted 3 percent of GDP, and would outline new savings measures soon. Mr Hollande said his government had brought down the deficit to 4.5 percent in 2012. The European Commission expects a French 2013 deficit of 3.7 percent of GDP. Spending cuts in 2014 would be made in the state budget, local budgets and the social security budget, Hollande said. Mr Hollande said France would continue to try and boost growth through public investment." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDebt crisis: France puts brakes on austerity