“The EU Runs a Large Trade Surplus with Itself – One Reason Is Apparently Large-Scale VAT Fraud” Courtesy of IfW Kiel The EU runs a trade surplus with itself of EUR 307 billion—a figure that should be zero if all transactions were properly reported and recorded. Measurement errors alone cannot account for this […]
Tag: Europe
Canada should move swiftly on UK trade deal
“Missing a Post-Brexit Trade Opportunity” Courtesy of Frontier Centre for Public Policy Brexit uncertainty is no more, following the election of Boris Johnson as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom with the largest Conservative majority since 1987. Johnson’s Withdrawal Agreement will be passed in the House of Commons and the United Kingdom […]
Can Europe use trade to enforce Green Deal globally?
EU trade policy: Global enforcer for the European Green Deal By Johan Bjerkem, courtesy of EPC Stuck in a trade war between the US and China and in light of a dwindling World Trade Organization (WTO), the EU’s trade policy is in need of a new, positive and constructive agenda. The EU cannot afford […]
What can Europe do in North Africa?
“Tunisia: Should the EU do more?” Courtesy of CEPS At a time of fresh Arab uprisings (in Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon), the country that first sparked a wave of protests in 2011 went to the polls to elect a new president and a new parliament. In free and fair elections that were perceived as […]
Europe is still hostage to Russian energy power politics
“The looming third European gas crisis” By Dr. Alan Riley, courtesy of European Policy Centre At 10 am Moscow time (8 am Brussels time) on 1 January 2020, the Russian-Ukrainian gas transit contract is set to expire. The transit route through Ukraine is one of the principal gas routes into the EU. In 2018, […]
The European Green Deal Is Every Bit as Bad as Expected
By Bill Wirtz, courtesy of the Austrian Economics Center The European Commission has unveiled its “European Green Deal,” after taking hints on denomination from its American counterpart, the “Green New Deal.” While the legislation introduced in the U.S. Congress remains fiction under a Republican executive and Senate, the Brussels initiative will become law unless […]
EU hopes to lead world’s environmental-economic transformation
“Europe’s Apollo 11 will not be about the moon” By Simone Tagliapietra, courtesy of the Bruegel Institute “This is Europe’s ‘man on the moon’ moment.” These are the bold words used by European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen 11 days into her job as she presented her plan for a ‘European Green Deal’ […]
Tech tax: a moderate European perspective
“Taxing the digital economy — Time for pragmatism” Courtesy of CEPS Globalisation and digitalisation, together with concerns over corporate tax avoidance, have sparked an international debate about whether tax rules are fit for purpose. The issue of taxing the digital economy figures ever more prominently on policy agendas around the world, while the OECD is […]
What’s up with EU budget rebates?
“Who pays for the EU budget rebates and why?” By Zsolt Darvas, courtesy of Bruegel Institute The question of ‘rebates’, or revenue corrections, is one of the hot topics of the discussion about the next seven-year EU Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). Since the mid-1980s, a complex system of corrections has been built up. […]
Whither the EU? (Wither the EU?)
“What Next, EU?” By Dr. Rudolf Pozgay, courtesy of the Austrian Economics Center 1.Introduction The amount of economic and social challenges that the European Union has faced to date have given rise to the idea that EU reform is required. An example of such efforts is Juncker’s “White book” with five possible […]