The Commission is seeking examples of cross-border companies that escape taxes by exploiting mismatches between national tax systems. Anonymous responses will be accepted. The deadline is 30 May. Factual examples and possible ways to tackle double non-taxation cases Title: Consultation on factual examples and possible ways to tackle double non-taxation cases Policy fields: Taxation Target groups: The Commission would like to draw on the expertise and experience of all parties interested in commenting on double non-taxation issues and possible solutions. All stakeholders – individual...

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The Commission wants to introduce common standards for central securities depositories responsible for settlements. It also seeks to speed up the process and minimise settlement failures. More about the proposal can be found here.

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EU 09/03/2012 The disbursement of the European Financial Stability Facility bonds can now proceed as planned following Greece’s implementation of all agreed prior actions. In early 2010, rising government deficits and debt levels set off a crisis of confidence in European sovereign bonds and in the euro. The market turmoil centred on Greece, which had a budget deficit in 2009 far higher than the country had forecast. To reassure investors, the EU and IMF put together a €110bn bailout package for...

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Monetary policy decisions At the 3/9/12 meeting the Governing Council of the ECB decided that the interest rate on the main refinancing operations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facility and the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 1.00%, 1.75% and 0.25% respectively. More info click here.

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Today we celebrate International Women's Day. “International Women's Day (IWD), originally called International Working Women’s Day, is marked on March 8 every year. In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation and love towards women to a celebration for women's economic, political and social achievements. Started as a Socialist political event, the holiday blended in the culture of many countries, primarily Eastern Europe, Russia, and the former Soviet bloc. In many regions, the day...

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By Steve Zwick; Published March 02, 2012 in Greenbiz.com. The United States has famously failed to develop a strategy for slowing and adapting to climate change, but that hasn't stopped the U.S. states of Oklahoma, California, and Oregon from creating frameworks to support greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions trading. All three are among more than 20 national and sub-national governmental agencies around the world that have incorporated voluntary climate-change solutions into their formal strategies -- creating in the process a means...

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Paris 05/March/2012 Governments must act today to ensure that the infrastructure needed in 2020-2030 will be planned, developed and operational in time, according to a new OECD report. Strategic Transport Infrastructure Needs to 2030 says that air passenger traffic could double, air freight could triple, and port handing of maritime containers worldwide could quadruple by 2030. But the report notes that most of the current gateway and corridor infrastructure could not handle even a 50% increase in demand. The OECD estimates USD...

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Brussels, 1 March 2012 Serbia is granted EU candidate status -- The European Council today agreed to grant Serbia the status of candidate country, following a recommendation by the General Affairs Council on 28 February. It endorsed the Council's conclusions, which confirmed that Serbia has continued to show credible commitment and achieved further progress in the implementation of agreements reached in the dialogue with Kosovo, including on integrated border management. The Council noted that an agreement has been reached on...

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