Salvini-led government would prioritise tax cuts over deficit
An Italian government led by Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini's Lega party would pursue an ambitious tax cut programme, according to the party's economic spokesman, Claudio Borghi.
“We need to pursue a tax cut and...
Markets signal global recession
Markets in Europe fell on Thursday, following a sell-off in Asian and US stock exchanges on Wednesday. The market downturn was triggered by negative growth data in the UK and Germany, culminating with Chinese...
Germany forced to rethink export-led growth model
Germany’s export-led economic model is called into question, forcing the government to rethink its fiscal policy.
Slumping exports have brought Germany on the brink of recession, according to data released on Wednesday. The overall output...
EU’s Budget Commissioner opens consulting firm in Hamburg
European Budget Commissioner Günther Oettinger will become an independent business and political consultant in Hamburg after the end of his term in office.
Oettinger and his partner, the Hamburg event manager Friederike Beyer, will jointly run the firm together and...
Finnish presidency sets August 26 as MFF deadline for budget priorities
Informing the EU affairs ministers about plans for work on a multi-annual financial framework (MFF) for 2021-2027, the Finnish presidency has set a deadline for the other 27 members of the European Union to...
Italian business confidence rebounds
The HIS Markit global survey published on Monday suggests that Italy's business confidence got a boost in the second quarter of 2019, even as the Eurozone's economic fundamentals are worse.
Overall, the Italian economy saw negative...
OECD warns Europe to prepare for economic shock
The OECD’s chief economist, Laurence Boone, expects Northern Europe to experience an economic shock, probably by the end of the summer.
Chastising countries with a fiscal surplus policy, especially Germany and the Netherlands, the chief...
Italy to challenge Lagarde’s nomination and fiscal compact
Italy could challenge the choice of Christine Lagarde for the Presidency of the European Central Bank (ECB) while also calling into question the fiscal compact, which frames budgetary policy within the Eurozone.
In an interview...
The UK less prepared for recession than a decade ago
Britain is facing the highest risk of a damaging recession in 12 years, according to the UK’s Resolution Foundation.
According to the Foundations projection model, the chances of a recession in the UK had increased...
Towards Franco-American collision as French Senate introduces tax on digital behemoths
The French Senate endorsed on Thursday a law that will impose a 3% tax on mostly US-based digital behemoths; the tax has already been endorsed by the National Assembly.
The so-called GAFA tax (Google, Apple,...
EU finds compromise to maintain status quo
The heads of state, key political actors and Brussels-watchers alike will tell anyone who cared enough to follow the European Union’s top jobs saga (that is, not the citizens of Europe). A pat on...
Ireland sits on a pile of debt bigger than the 2000s
Ireland sits on a €205bn "mountain of debt" that is four times bigger than it was in the 2000s, the Chief Executive of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) Conor O'Kelly told a parliamentary...
Italy avoids EU Excessive Deficit sanctions over high debt
The European Commission has dropped its threat of taking disciplinary action against Italy after the Italian government tabled a substantial remedy package.
Speaking on behalf of the European Commission, Pierre Moscovici told reporters in Brussels that an...
Ireland’s external debt increases Brexit vulnerability
Ireland’s exposure to international creditors makes the country more vulnerable to a no-deal Brexit shock, the chief of the national debt office Conor O’Kelly told reporters on Monday.
The UK is Ireland’s biggest trading partner...
Hammond says new PM cannot make promises they aren’t able to keep
British Chancellor Philip Hammond has warned that whoever succeeds Theresa May as the country's prime minister must limit their promises within the bounds of accepted fiscal responsibility and called on the top candidates to "be honest" as...
Brussels tones down budget standoff with Rome
The European Union will allow Italy to increase its deficit if it helped the country’s economy,” Italy’s deputy prime minister Luigi Di Maio said on Tuesday.
The comments by the leader of the 5-Star Movement...
Commission approves annual report on 2018 EU budget implementation
The European Commission’s annual management and performance report (AMPE) for the EU Budget has been approved by the College of Commissioners.
The priority for the 2018 budget was to build on the economic recovery, in...
Signs of recession reignite debate over Eurozone budget
Industrial output in the Eurozone dropped in April by 0.5%, with car production leading the negative trend and manufacturing output seeing a steady decline since the last half of 2018 when production in the...
OECD calls on EU governments to boost public spending
European governments should increase spending to “reignite” global growth, according to an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report.
The organisation, better known as the OECD, raised concerns about the stagnation of global trade amid multilateral...
The Netherlands raise new concerns about the Italian budget
Italy’s public finances have reemerged as part of the political debate following the publication of the European Commission’s Spring Forecasts where the Italian 2019 deficit is projected to reach 3.5% of GDP, a significant deviation...
Juncker says several core EU members actively resist Eurozone integration
The Netherlands, Austria, and Germany prevent deepening Eurozone integration, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told German newspaper Handelsblatt, published on 3 May.
Juncker was making reference to what he suggested was an obstructionist agenda by countries...
Digital taxes to bolster Spain’s revenue
Spanish tax revenues will increase by €5.6 billion in 2020 as the country moves to introduce a digital services and financial transactions tax, the government announced.
The newly re-elected Socialist government submitted its new four-year...
Macron meets Yellow Vest demands with tax cut promises
French President Emmanuel Macron has promised tax cuts as part of a round of economic and political reforms aimed at appeasing the Yellow Vest, or Gilet Jaunes, movement that has staged violent and deeply destructive...
EU Parliament approves €160 bln for future science and technology programmes
In their last meeting before the May 23-26 elections, EU Parliament deputies have taken a series of decisions on the bloc’s signature research programmes and gave the green light to Horizon Europe - research funding platform...
Germany moves closer to a recession
Germany appears to be hovering close to a recession as the German government halved its 2019 growth projections to just 0.5% on Wednesday, though it still expects an economic rebound in 2020 of 1.5%.
The...
France calls on Northern Europe to increase public spending
France's Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire called on “wealthier economies” in northern Europe to increase budget spending to revive Eurozone growth.
“There are many countries in the Eurozone that have the means to invest more,”...
France to surpass budget deficit limit
France will surpass the 3% Deficit ceiling set by the Fiscal Compact, following updated growth and revenue forecasts, the Finance Ministry said.
President Emmanuel Macron’s government has decided to make a one-off payroll tax credit...
Irish unemployment at 11-year low
According to Ireland’s national statistical service (CSO), the country’s unemployment rate fell to an 11-year low of 5.4% in March, with youth unemployment standing at 13,4%, numbers that are significantly lower than the Eurozone average...
OECD projects rising debt levels for Italy
Italy’s public finances are expected to deteriorate if the current fiscal policy continues, according to a report published on Monday by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
By 2030, the OECD expects...
Erdogan suffers major defeat as Turkey’s political landscape shifts
Turkey woke up to a vastly different political landscape on 1 April after the country's longtime Islamist leader, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, suffered his first major electoral defeat since first coming to power 17 years...
Macron’s Eurozone budget plan demoted to a modest fund
The French plan for a Eurozone budget has been demoted to a €22 billion seven-year fund, which is not likely to have systemic significance.
President Emmanuel Macron campaigned on a promise of political consolidation in...
Italy insists its deficit is under control
While the Italian Confederation of Industry (CSC) reviewed GDP growth projections to zero, the country's economy minister, Giovanni Tria, insists that Italy’s deficit is “under control.”
Addressing a conference in China, Tria admitted that the Italian government...
Portugal achieves smallest budget deficit in half a century
Portugal’s budget deficit fell to 0.5% of GDP in 2018, the lowest in half a century, according to data released by Portugal’s National Statistics Institute on 26 March.
Portugal went from an 11.2% deficit in...
Public opinion in OECD countries firmly against tax avoidance
-In all but four countries surveyed – Canada, Denmark, Norway, and the Netherlands – the dominant view is that governments ignore their views. This is not merely among blue-collar households; the feeling of injustice...
Italy avoids Fitch downgrade
Credit rating agency Fitch has opted to hold recession-hit Italy’s credit rating at BBB, a move that provided a major boost for Italian banks' stock value, all of whom are major holders of the country’s...
Partial political agreement reached for European Defence Fund
Since 2014, Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, has been committed to re-enforcing the security of EU citizens. His proclamation five years ago was followed in 2016 by the creation of the Commission's European...
Salvini’s Lega wins key vote in central Italy
The Eurosceptic Lega party won key local elections against its coalition partner, the 5-Star Movement, in a regional in Abruzzo, a mountainous region in central Italy on February 10.
Lega, or League in English, took part in the Abruzzo...