Paris vies to overtake London as finance hub post-Brexit

PARIS - British Prime Minister David Cameron once gleefully offered to "roll out the red carpet" for French executives wanting to escape staggering wealth taxes.

Now, with London's red carpet fraying after the Brexit vote to leave the European Union, Paris is stepping in to welcome bankers, investors and businesses who may want to escape the uncertainty hanging over the City's role as a global finance hub.

"In this new environment which is taking shape, we want France to be attractive," Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Wednesday.

As competition grows among Europe's capitals to benefit from the financial fallout of Brexit, Valls unveiled a series of measures to boost the allure of Paris.

Notably, he confirmed plans to cut France's corporate tax rate to 28 percent from 33 percent, a move previously announced by President Francois Hollande.

Britain's vote to leave the European Union "created shockwaves, for all European citizens but also, in a very concrete manner, many businesses settled in the United Kingdom," Valls said.

Valls said he wanted to improve the tax and legal framework to "welcome even more companies (and) make Paris the capital of smart finance."

The prime minister announced a tweak to a system allowing foreign employees to benefit from tax reductions, making it applicable for eight years instead of five.

Beyond these fiscal measures, the government also plans to put in place a "single entry point" to facilitate administrative matters for foreign companies seeking to set up shop in France -- where red tape can be a nightmare to navigate.

This service will help companies with questions about real estate, residency permits, schools and other issues.

Valls said France would open "as many international sections as needed in schools" to allow children of foreign employees to be taught in their mother tongue.

The Brexit vote has several European capitals clamoring to take London's spot as a major finance center, such as Frankfurt, Luxembourg and Dublin.

France is traditionally perceived as "anti-business", with its inflexible and hard-to-understand labor code.

According to the World Bank's 2016 "Ease of Doing Business" report, France ranks 27th out of 189 countries, while Britain comes in sixth.

'Supertax'

The Socialist government came into power in 2012 promising as 75 percent "supertax" on top earners -- which sent the rich fleeing -- and became another symbol of France's opposition to big business.

However the measure was slowly watered down and quietly dropped in 2015, as it failed to do much to boost a stagnating economy.

Hollande has since steered his government on a wildly different path to stimulate the economy, with a series of economic and labour reforms that have enraged the left flank of his party, which now accuses him of being too pro-business.

As an indication of how difficult the reforms have been, Valls had to force both sets of reforms through parliament without a vote using a special constitutional measure.

source: interaksyon.com

FOCUS | Buyer's remorse as Brexit sinks in

LONDON - As the markets crashed, sterling hit a 31-year low and Prime Minister David Cameron resigned, it dawned on some of those who voted for Britain to leave the EU that they may have got it wrong.

"It's a bit too soon to know what's going to happen but I have the feeling I made a mistake," 32-year-old Pam McVey told AFP as she celebrated London's Gay Pride this weekend.

As the early implications of Thursday's historic referendum became clear, there was a buzz on social media as people shared the regrets of some of the 52 percent of Britons who voted to quit the 28-nation alliance.

"I'm a bit shocked, to be honest. I didn't think that was going to happen," said Adam, a young man interviewed on the BBC in a widely shared clip.

"My vote, I didn't think it was going to matter too much because I thought we were going to remain.

"The David Cameron resignation has blown me away to be honest. I think the period of uncertainty that we're going to have for the next couple of months, that's just been magnified now. So yeah, I'm quite worried."

Few people have had the courage to admit that they were wrong, but the hashtags #regrexit and #BrexitRegret or #Bregret were trending on Twitter -- used mostly to mock those who regretted their choice.

"We're the girl who got drunk & dumped her loving, stable boyfriend because he was a bit boring and now realises she's ruined her life," tweeted Leila Molana-Allen.

'What is the EU?'

Others had regrets that they had not voted in a referendum that will have far-reaching consequences.

"I didn't know we could vote," said Bianca Kostic-London, a 30-year-old Australian who would have been eligible because she is a citizen of the Commonwealth.

She cried when she realized. "I said it was my fault," she said, hand on her chest. "I did feel very bad and disappointed."

Research during the campaign revealed how many Britons were misinformed about the EU, particularly on immigration and economic issues -- the main focuses of the battle for votes in the run-up to the referendum.

It seemed that many did not seek to address this problem until it was too late.

Google Trends revealed that the second top search in Britain on Friday, as the results rolled in, was "What is the EU?"

For some of the regions who voted to leave, the result also prompted an urgent call for reassurance that the government in London would match any EU funds they might lose when Britain finally breaks with the bloc.

The leader of Cornwall council said he was seeking "urgent steps" to ensure the impoverished county in southwest England would be protected.

"We will be insisting that Cornwall receives investment equal to that provided by the EU program which has averaged £60 million ($82 million, 73 million) per year over the last 10 years," said John Pollard.

Similar appeals came from Yorkshire in northern England, and from the first minister of Wales, Carwyn Jones, who had advocated a vote to "Remain" but whose countrymen and women chose to leave.

Wales and its three million population has benefited from more than £4 billion since 2000 from EU structural funds.

"Hi I'm Welsh. My community depends on EU funding and I voted out. FUCK #eufuckup" @eufuckup," wrote one social media user on twitter.

Others defended their decision, right or wrong. "I voted leave. if it turns out that it was the wrong decision in the future, I have the right to regret it," wrote one.

source: interaksyon.com

ANALYSIS | Can the EU survive Brexit?

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Britain's vote to become the first country to leave the EU, as projected by national media, is a shattering blow that threatens the survival of the post-war European project, officials and analysts said.

The loss of one of its biggest members will at the very least force major changes on an embattled bloc already struggling to deal with growing populism, a migration crisis and economic woes.

In the long-run, "Brexit" may lead to other countries holding referendums, a far looser union, and possibly even the disintegration of a grouping set up 60 years ago to bring security and prosperity after World War II.

EU President Donald Tusk warned in the run-up to the vote that Brexit could lead to the "destruction of not only the EU but also of Western political civilization."

With Europe facing a resurgent Russia and the threat of terrorism, Tusk said "our enemies ... will open a bottle of champagne if the result of referendum is negative for us."

In a less doom-laden assessment, European Commission Chief Jean-Claude Juncker said last week that the EU was not "in danger of death" from a Brexit but that it would have to learn lessons.

'Very serious blow'

Chris Bickerton, a lecturer at Britain's Cambridge University and author of "The European Union: A Citizen's Guide," said it was a "very serious blow" but not terminal, given the "core role" of the EU in much of European political life.

But he added that it would probably drift towards a "looser, ad hoc" union.

"I don't think it would suddenly disappear but over the longer term, we might see it slowly decline and become something different," he told AFP.

The next steps for the EU would be difficult, he added.

"We are very much in uncharted territory," he said. "I don't think anyone really thought Brexit was really likely, certainly not when they were negotiating with Cameron, otherwise they would have done a very different deal."

In the immediate aftermath of the British vote, seven years of potentially bitter divorce negotiations between Brussels and London loom.

The remaining EU countries will likely be keen to move ahead. France and Germany, the main EU heavyweights, have already been working on a joint plan for the future.

But with Berlin and Paris at loggerheads over future integration of the eurozone, any plan is likely to be a modest affair that deals only with issues such as security and defense.

Even without Britain in the club, the drift away from "ever closer union" and federalism is likely to increase, with growing talk of a "two-speed Europe" that allows states opt-outs from key rules.

One major step could be making membership of the euro non-compulsory, which would help Poland, which appears to have no intention of joining the single currency but is officially meant to.

Domino effect?
The main fear in many European capitals is that either way, the result could trigger a domino effect of referendums in other countries.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen on Tuesday urged all EU states to follow Britain's example, and eurosxeptics in the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden have made similar calls for referendums.

Vivien Pertusot, Brussels-based analyst with the French Institute of International Relations, said the EU was likely to survive but be weakened.

"Institutions rarely die," he told AFP. "Maybe there will not be disintegration, but a loss of relevance. The EU will lose, bit by bit, its centrality for all the most political projects."

The danger for the EU is that even after it makes changes following the British referendum, it will still not be able to quell the forces of history tearing it apart.

"The EU is in a negative spiral," Janis Emmanouilidis, director of studies at Brussels-based think tank European Policy Centre, told AFP.

The question of what could replace the EU if it does collapse is even more vexed.

"It might sound as if yes, this story has ended, a new one has begun, but that's not easy. Especially after the experience of failure," said Emmanouilidis.

source: interaksyon.com

Tens of thousands in London march against austerity, Cameron over Panama Papers

LONDON, United Kingdom - Tens of thousands of people marched through London on Saturday in protest against government spending cuts, with some activists demanding Prime Minister David Cameron's resignation over his family's offshore finances.

Demonstrators converged on Trafalgar Square calling for more investment in the health service, housing, education, and public sector pay, while some held up banners saying "Ditch Dodgy Dave" and "Cameron Must Go -- Tories Out!"

The protest, which also included demands to protect Britain's troubled steel industry, was planned long before Cameron's admission last week that he once held shares in his late father's offshore investment fund.

But The People's Assembly, which helped organize the trade union-backed march, said the revelations sparked by the so-called Panama Papers "prove that this is a government for the privileged few."

Cameron took the unprecedented step of releasing a summary of his tax returns for the past six years, but a new poll published late Saturday found 52 percent of voters believe he has not been "honest and open" about his finances.

A further 44 percent said his handling of his financial affairs was "morally repugnant," according to the ComRes survey for the Independent and the Sunday Mirror newspaper.

"For somebody in that position, you have a duty of care to the people of the country to be very open, very transparent," demonstrator Sarah Henney told AFP.

"Just because something is legal doesn't always make it right."

Opposition Labor finance spokesman John McDonnell was among a number of political figures who addressed the protesters, and he called for an end to the spending cuts introduced after the global financial crisis.

He later told the Press Association news agency: "I think Cameron should go, but I think he should take his party with him.

"His government is now bankrupt in terms of political ideas, and bankrupt in terms of what they have done with the economy as well."

Cameron, who was re-elected last year with a parliamentary majority, said he sold his shares in his late father's offshore investment fund before taking office, and denied the fund had been established to avoid tax.

But the row put the premier under pressure at a difficult time, as he seeks to manage an increasingly bitter fight within his Conservative party over the upcoming referendum on EU membership.

Some 128 of the 330 Conservative lawmakers in parliament and several of Cameron's own ministers are campaigning against him in favor of leaving the European Union ahead of the June 23 vote.

Veteran Tory MP Ken Clarke warned Saturday that if Cameron loses the referendum, he will be forced out of office.

source: interaksyon.com

EU summit tackles climate change, Ebola

BRUSSELS - European Union leaders meet at a summit in Brussels Thursday aimed at clinching a high-stakes deal on combating climate change and boosting efforts to fight the deadly Ebola virus.

The heads of state and government from the 28-member EU will also search during the two-day meeting for ways to foster economic growth and jobs amid fears of a triple-dip recession.

The main focus on Thursday will be on an ambitious package of climate change targets for 2030, but the leaders face 11th-hour differences over how member states share the burden.

Draft conclusions for the summit seen by AFP call for cutting greenhouse gases by 40 percent over 1990 levels, making renewables account for 27 percent of energy use and setting an energy savings target of 30 percent.

But there are objections all round the table, especially from coal-reliant Poland, which says the cost of updating its power plants is too high, and from Portugal, which wants closer cross-border energy infrastructure.

"There are still difficult issues which need to be resolved. We will see if we manage to do that," a German government source told reporters on condition of anonymity.

But other European sources were more upbeat.

"There is no agreement yet but I think the differences of opinion have been narrowed down to a couple of outstanding issues which will be settled by the leaders on Thursday night," said one source.

Ebola fight

Agreement is likely to be simpler on action to tackle the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, which has claimed nearly 4,900 lives, and prevent it from becoming a global threat, although money will again be an issue.

EU foreign and health ministers met on the subject over the past week.

"Our leaders will discuss the question on what more can be done to scale up our financial support and our medical care and equipment on the ground," an EU source told reporters.

EU member states and the European Commission have already pledged nearly 600 million euros ($750 million) to fight Ebola.

British Prime Minister David Cameron is expected to call on fellow EU leaders to boost that amount to one billion euros, British government sources said.

A Spanish nurse who was the first person to catch Ebola outside Africa has been cured of the deadly virus, doctors confirmed Tuesday, easing fears of it spreading in Europe.

The leaders will also discuss Ukraine although any progress is unlikely as an EU review on the ceasefire between Kiev and pro-Moscow rebels is not due until next Tuesday.

They may also discuss the threat from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, particularly the threat of foreign fighters returning to carry out attacks at home.

The EU economic talks on Friday will be joined by European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi. A eurozone summit will also be held Friday.

The climate debate is likely to be the toughest, coming against a backdrop of energy security worries in the EU, which is at odds with its biggest gas supplier Russia over the crisis in Ukraine.

EU sources said poorer fossil-fuel dependent states like Poland and others in eastern Europe are at loggerheads with richer northern nations over "who pays and how much" for modernizing power plants and cutting emissions.

Meanwhile, countries like Spain and Portugal are at odds with France over their desire to build more cross-border cables to export surplus electricity produced by wind power.

The EU wants to have an agreement on the climate change targets, among the world's toughest, in place ahead of a summit in Paris in 2015 at which a new UN-backed global treaty on climate change is to be agreed.

Climate negotiators have been meeting this week in Luxembourg and are likely to stay down to the wire, a Polish diplomat said.

"The balloon of expectation is pumped up so high that if we don't have a deal (at the summit) it will be perceived in a bad way," the diplomat said.

source: interaksyon.com

Horse lasagna, anyone? Europeans gag as food scandal spreads

LONDON - Britain's horsemeat lasagna food scare spread to several other European countries on Friday as officials said they suspected criminal activity was behind the growing scandal.

Swedish food giant Findus withdrew various frozen meals from France and Sweden, a day after withdrawing frozen beef lasagna from sale in Britain that was found to contain up to 100 perecent equine flesh.

The British supermarket chain Aldi meanwhile announced on Friday that two ready meal ranges contained similar quantities of the meat.

The meals were all produced in Luxembourg for French supplier Comigel and the company said the horsemeant orginated in a Romanian abbatoir.

Britain Prime Minister David Cameron called the scandal "completely unacceptable" and police said officers had met with Britain's Food Standards Agency (FSA) to discuss the matter.

British environment minister Owen Paterson said he would hold a "horsemeat summit" with the FSA and retailers to tackle the problem.

"I've got a nasty feeling it's actually a criminal conspiracy and that's why it's quite right for the FSA to engage the Metropolitan Police, who are working with other police forces across the mainland of Europe," Paterson told the BBC.

He said there was no risk to human health from the meals and said he would eat them himself.

On Thursday the FSA announced that 11 of 18 samples of Findus beef lasagna were found to contain between 60 and 100 percent horsemeat.

A Findus spokesman was quoted as telling the Guardian newspaper that it was told by Comigel about the horsemeat on Saturday but did not issue a product recall then, saying it was "a question of logistics."

Aldi announced on Friday that tests on its Today's Special brand of frozen beef lasagna and frozen spaghetti bolognese found they too contained between 30 percent and 100 percent horse meat.

The company said it felt "angry and let down" by Comigel.

Scotland Yard said it had "met with the Food Standards Agency at their request and will continue to liaise with them" but added that there was "no investigation at this time."

Comigel director Erich Lehagre told AFP the horsemeat originated in a Romanian abattoir and was provided to Comigel via a meat-processing company called Spanghero, based in southwestern France.

The meals were then produced in Luxembourg by a supplier called Tavola.

Speaking in Brussels after a European Union summit, Cameron described the situation as "very shocking".

"People will be very angry to find out they have been eating horse when they thought they were eating beef. This isn't really about food safety -- it's about effective food labelling," Cameron said.

The FSA said it had ordered further tests on the suspect lasagna for the veterinary drug phenylbutazone, which can cause a serious blood disorder to humans in rare cases.

All Findus frozen beef lasagnas have been recalled from Swedish stores while in France, the company is withdrawing three products -- lasagna, cottage pie and moussaka.

It is the latest horsemeat-related scare to his Europe after equine DNA was found two weeks ago in beefburgers in Britain and Ireland, countries where horsemeat consumption is generally taboo.

Millions of beefburgers have been removed from sale.

The consumption of horsemeat is more common in other parts of Europe including France, as well as in central Asia, China and Latin America.

Comigel said earlier that it had withdrawn all products from a meat supplier that had provided it with horsemeat instead of beef, but insisted that veterinary services in France and Luxembourg had said the horsemeat in question "does not raise any public health issue".

Comigel supplies frozen meals to supermarket chains and other clients in 16 countries, with Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium and Scandinavia the main markets and Findus among the brands it has contracts with.

Luxembourg company Tavola, which makes the products for Comigel, imported the meat from France but it was "fraudulently labelled" beef, the country's director of veterinary services Felix Wildschutz told AFP.

France's anti-fraud watchdog said it was trying to trace the origin of the horsemeat fraud.

A spokesman for Findus UK told AFP that Comigel has supplied them with beef lasagna since 2011.

source: interaksyon.com

Obama lauds hosting of ‘extremely successful’ Olympic Games

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama congratulated British Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday for hosting an “extremely successful” Olympic Games in London.

The warm statement was a sharp contrast to the barbed comments Obama’s Republican rival in the November elections, Mitt Romney, made about the Games during a visit to the British capital to attend the opening ceremony.

Obama called Cameron “to congratulate him and the people of the United Kingdom and London on an extremely successful Olympic Games, which speaks to the character and spirit of our close ally,” the White House said in a statement as the games came to a close.

The Americans cemented their place on top of the medal table at the end of the Games — with a total of 104 medals, including 46 gold medals — ahead of China’s 38 gold medals, while Britain finished third in the standings with 29 gold medals.

Obama and Cameron “commended the exceptional performances by both the Olympic teams of the United States and Great Britain and noted how proud we all are of them,” the statement said.

“The president thanked the prime minister for hosting so many US athletes and fans and for the extremely warm welcome shown to First Lady Michelle Obama.”

Romney kicked up a small diplomatic storm with his remarks about London’s Olympic preparations after arriving in Britain on the first stop of an international tour designed to showcase his diplomatic skills.

Within hours of landing, NBC television broadcast an interview in which the Republican said it was “hard to know just how well” the Olympics would turn out and that there were “a few things that were disconcerting.”

He even questioned the British Olympic spirit, adding: “Do they come together and celebrate the Olympic moment? That’s something which we only find out once the Games actually begin.”

Cameron duly responded with what appeared to be a veiled attempt to belittle one of Romney’s crowning achievements, his rescue of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City from financial ruin.

“We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world,” the British prime minister said. “Of course it’s easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere.”

source: interaksyon.com

Britain's Cameron to testify at press ethics inquiry

LONDON - British Prime Minister David Cameron is to appear next week before an inquiry into press ethics sparked by the phone-hacking scandal at Rupert Murdoch's newspapers, the inquiry said Friday.

Cameron, whose government has been under fire over a series of revelations about its closeness to Murdoch's media empire, will give evidence on Thursday June 14, according to a witness list published on the Leveson Inquiry website.

The inquiry is set to hear from several political heavyweights during the week. Finance minister George Osborne is to testify on Monday, as will former prime minister Gordon Brown.

Another ex-premier, John Major, will appear Tuesday along with opposition Labor leader Ed Miliband, while deputy prime minister Nick Clegg and Scottish first minister Alex Salmond are scheduled for Wednesday.

Cameron has stood by his culture minister Jeremy Hunt amid calls for him to resign after the inquiry revealed leaks from his department to Murdoch's News Corp.

The prime minister is also a personal friend of former top Murdoch aide Rebekah Brooks, who has been arrested over the phone-hacking scandal and charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

source: interaksyon.com