La 8e édition du Prix Kadima, prix des langues africaines et créoles, récompense trois nouveaux auteurs

EU tax commissioner Semeta highlighted major flaws with the bilateral tax agreements concluded by the UK and Germany with Switzerland at a debate in the European Parliament last night (1). The Greens welcomed his response to an oral question - which underlined problems with the applicable rates of withholding taxes, the nature of their application and the overlap with the EU-Swiss tax agreement (2) - and called on the Commission to take swift action to redress this. Commenting on the statement, Green economic and monetary affairs spokesperson Sven Giegold said:

(DUBLIN, IRELAND) Announced job losses due to company restructuring activity declined in the third quarter, according to the latest edition of the European Restructuring Monitor (ERM) quarterly. Job losses did, however, continue to outnumber job gains as they have done in every quarter since the onset of the 2008-9 recession. During the previous quarter, companies undergoing large-scale restructuring in the European Union announced nearly 60.000 job losses. 

The European Commission today adopted proposals to revise EU rules on accounting and transparency (1). The Greens welcomed the proposals as a first step to improving transparency on the payments and accountability of large corporations but regretted that the Commission did not go further both in terms of scope and the extent of transparency. Commenting on the proposals, Green finance spokesperson Sven Giegold said:

The Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, which will take place in Busan at the end of November, is expected to reaffirm, deepen and reshape the international commitments to make aid work better and promote development ahead of the crucial deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

Adopted by a large majority, the own-initiative Report drafted by Cristian Dan Preda MEP contains the European Parliament's position for the Fourth High Level Forum.