Chancellor Merkel says Germany is likely to buy data on possible tax-evaders that media say an informant has offered to sell authorities. The case could spark a fresh tax row between Germany and Switzerland. 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday that she was in favor of acquiring the information on citizens who had allegedly sheltered millions in secret Swiss bank accounts.

 

"Like every reasonable person, I support doing everything we can to clamp down on tax evasion," Merkel told reporters. "If these data are relevant we should aim to get hold of them."

 

German media reported over the weekend that an informant had offered data of up to 1,500 possible tax evaders with accounts in Switzerland which could lead to 100 million euros for state coffers. 

France's profit-making oil giant Total has postponed until late June a decision on the future of a refinery near Dunkirk, in northern France, pledging to guarantee the jobs of 370 workers there. AFP - French oil giant Total said Monday it had postponed until late June a decision on the future of a refinery in northern France and pledged to guarantee the jobs of 370 people employed there.
  
The announcement was made during a meeting of the company's workers' committee that drew 1,000 demonstrators, according to trade unions and 500 according to police.
  
Total came under sharp attack from political leaders last March when it announced plans to cut 555 jobs in France after turning a profit of 13.9 billion euros (19 billion dollars) in 2008.

Many countries have started to see a rebound from last year's economic recession. But will it last? Economists at the World Economic Forum in Davos warn that paying down massive public debt will be "very, very painful." Deep spending cuts and significant tax hikes may be unavoidable.

For those now in their 30s, Kenneth Rogoff has bad news. "It will be terrible for you," the Harvard University economics professor told a young German at the World Economic Forum in Davos. "Germany's debt is exploding, the population is aging," he said. "And to be honest, I think your country is going to have average growth of just 1 percent in the coming years."

Rogoff went on to say that, should Germany wish to begin making inroads into its mountain of debt, there is no way around strict savings measures and significant tax increases. "It will be very, very painful," Rogoff said, adding that it will take at least a decade, and possibly many more, for Germany to pay down its debt.

He wasn't the only one in Davos with a dark vision of the future. Many countries could be stricken with the "Japan illness," Robert Shiller, a behavioral economist at Yale University, told SPIEGEL ONLINE. Following a financial crisis in the 1980s, Japan's economy remained in the doldrums for years as trust in the economy's ability to recover evaporated. Few were willing to take risks, sapping the Japanese economy of its life blood, said Shiller. "Such a situation could take hold in many regions of the world."

Zero Hedge recently highlighted the ever increasing Federal outlays on unemployment insurance, leading to questions on whether the true unemployment rate, as indicated by actual cash outlays, may be materially higher than indicated in increasingly dubious governmental reports. One proposed alternative has been that the Federal government is directly subsidizing standalone states' depleted unemployment insurance trust funds. Using data provided by ProPublica we have been able to confirm that indeed standalone states are for the most part now bankrupt and have no reserves left in their coffers when it comes to funding ever increasing insurance benefits. As ProPublica indicates, there are now 26 states which have depleted their trust funds, among these are the usual suspects including California, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, which now rely exclusively on borrowings from the Federal government to prevent the cessation of insurance payments to recently unemployed workers. Currently all states collectively posses $10.7 billion in trust fund assets(with the bulk held by less impacted states such as Washington ($2.6 billion), Louisiana ($1.1 billion) and Oregon ($1.1 billion). On the other hand, 26 states currently rely exclusively on the Federal Government, and have borrowed a combined $30 billion through December to fund payments. ProPublica estimates that another 8 states will be insolvent within 6 months, as their trust funds also approach 0.

The main features of the concluded negotiations are as follows:
Concessions granted by Norway to the EU:

• Additional full liberalisation representing roughly some 20% of the EU exports to Norway, or €250 million.
  
• New tariff quotas, in the meat sector (600 t for swine meat, 600 t for poultry and 900 t for bovine meat))
  
• Additional tariff quotas concerning cheese (2700 t) cereals (durum wheat 5000 tons, maize 10000 tons, rye 1000 tons), fruits and vegetables (strawberries 300 tons, potatoes 3000 tons, lettuce 400 tons), meat products (sausages 200 tons, ham 200 tons, bacon crisp 100 tons) and juices (apple 1000 tons, bilberry 200 tons, blackcurrant 150 tons). The trade value is estimated at around €50 million.
  
• Tariff reductions applying for some ornamental plants and flowers, namely begonias, roses, tulips and lilies. The trade concerned by these concessions is of €3.5 million.
  

Concessions granted by the EU to Norway:

• Full liberalisation on products on which Norway offers full liberalisation;
  
• Additional Tariff quotas for cheese (3 200 t), fresh raspberries (400 t), potato chips (200 tons) and pet food (13 000 t).

The Commission's examination of the proposed transaction showed that the horizontal overlaps between the activities of Deutsche Bank and Sal. Oppenheim, such as the distribution of mutual funds and the provision of private banking services, are limited and that, for all products and services concerned, the merged entity would continue to face effective competition.

The Commission examined the effects of the proposed transaction on the provision of broadband internet access as well as on mobile and fixed telephony. The Commission found that in view of their different business focusses, Telefónica and Hansenet are not major competitors for each other in any of the relevant markets. Moreover, both the horizontal and the vertical relationships between the activities of Hansenet and Telefonica in Germany are limited and the combined firm would continue to face a number of strong, effective competitors, including the incumbent operator Deutsche Telekom.

Nous faisions de grands progrès en termes de taux d'emploi et ensuite la crise a frappé de plein fouet, détruisant une grande partie de nos efforts. Ce fut un coup dur. Mais grâce à notre travail ensemble, grâce à notre dialogue avec les partenaires sociaux, notre réponse a été forte, efficace et coordonnée.

Oui, les taux de chômage ont augmenté, et dans certains pays, beaucoup. Mais beaucoup moins qu'aux Etats Unis, et beaucoup moins que ce que les experts craignaient au début. La crise a démontré l'importance et les bienfaits du modèle social européen et de nos systèmes de protection sociale - c'est une leçon essentielle à retenir.

Les mesures prises ont aidé à maintenir les gens dans leur emploi. Les mois à venir seront durs, nous continuerons à voir le chômage augmenter - il y a toujours un laps de temps entre la reprise économique et la reprise de l'emploi. Notre grand défi est de continuer à aider les travailleurs pendant cette période, surtout les jeunes et les vulnérables, mais aussi de s'assurer que notre reprise économique ne soit pas une croissance sans création d'emplois. Dans ce contexte là, une stratégie Europe 2020 réaliste mais ambitieuse est essentielle.

The European Commission can confirm that it is assessing the effectiveness of proposed commitments received from British Airways, American Airlines and Iberia to alleviate the Commission's concerns regarding potential anticompetitive agreements under Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU, formerly Article 81 EC Treaty). The agreements relate to passenger transport on certain long-haul routes. As part of this assessment process, and before deciding whether the proposed commitments will be suitable to remedy the Commission's concerns and for a public market test, the Commission is sending the proposed commitments first to a number of key market players for comments.

In April 2009 the Commission opened proceedings in relation to its concerns about agreements between British Airways, American Airlines and Iberia (see MEMO/09/168 ). Pursuant to these agreements, the parties intend to jointly manage schedules, capacity and pricing, as well as share revenues on transatlantic routes between North America and Europe.

British Airways, American Airlines and Iberia offered commitments in order to alleviate the Commission's concerns. This proposal requires further investigation before the Commission reaches any conclusion as to the next steps.