Speculation over an end to bond purchases by the US Federal Reserve, weak economic data from China and the collapse of Japan's Nikkei index sent European stock markets spiralling downwards on Thursday. That shows that only the US has taken the right course, the liberal daily Corriere del Ticino: "While the major risks of the new Japanese government are taking their toll on financial markets and Europe continues to discuss the pros and cons of austerity, the US is considering a step by step reduction in its use of the money press, because there are - albeit tentative - signs of recovery. ... The blend of economic policy measures has allowed the US to stop the recession and chart a course for recovery. This recovery, in turn, has bolstered the state treasury. The example of the US shows that growth is the best medicine to revive the state budget." (24/05/2013)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Mercado de finanzas, » , » Europa, » EE.UU., » Japón
Todos los textos disponible de » Alfonso Tuor

According to figures released by the Greek Finance Ministry, the country's public debt amounted to 309 billion euros at the end of March. This is roughly one billion euros less than in March 2010, shortly before Greece applied for the bailout mechanism. The haircut, the austerity memoranda and the suffering of the Greek people have been in vain, the conservative daily Kathimerini worries: "The only thing that's changed with the implementation of the bailout plans are our creditors. Instead of international banks and other bond owners, the Greek government is now indebted to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), the European Central Bank (ECB) and the EU partners. The Greek debt level remains very high, despite the haircut that ruined our health insurance system, our banks and above all our savers, who had put their trust in Greek bonds." (23/05/2013)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de la UE, » Política financiera, » Grecia, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Zeza Zikou

The Turkish Trade Minister Zafer Çağlayan travelled to Washington last week for talks on a bilateral trade agreement. Because a customs union has existed between the EU and Turkey since 1996, American goods could enter Turkey duty free in the event that a free trade deal is signed between the US and the EU. The pro-government daily Sabah calls for a broad diplomatic initiative: "For Turkey, which has now signed 19 free trade agreements, an agreement with the US will present a difficult challenge for trade diplomacy. At a time when the customs union with the EU is also starting to result in losses, Turkey needs a success with the US. If we don't achieve that, US goods will enter Turkey duty free and the losses will amount to billions of dollars. For that reason not only Çağlayan and his team but also all the Turkish interest groups must engage in trade diplomacy." (23/05/2013)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Relaciones internacionales, » Comercio, » Europa, » EE.UU., » Turquía
Todos los textos disponible de » Şeref Oğuz

In November the Swiss '1:12 Initiative for Fair Pay' wants a referendum to be held in the country on limiting the pay of Swiss top managers to twelve times the amount the employee with the lowest salary in the company receives. The bosses are now in a panic, the left-leaning daily Avgi writes: "Today in some companies a top manager earns around 720 times what an employee in his office makes. The 1:12 Initiative is striking fear in the hearts of Swiss managers. The bosses of Nestlé, Novartis, Lindt, Glencore are aghast, and so far the bankers have refused to comment. That's because they rightly fear the Swiss will vote in favour of the initiative - just like three months ago, when 68 percent of voters agreed with the 'fat cat initiative' according to which top managers may no longer single-handedly determine their own salaries or bonuses." (22/05/2013)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política interior, » Asuntos de trabajo, » Mercado laboral, » Suiza
Todos los textos disponible de » Kaki Balli

Investigators of the EU Commission carried out raids last week on several oil companies suspected of price fixing. The business paper Kauppalehti demands a clampdown: "The price cartel has presumably existed since 2002. If over 80 million barrels of oil are produced daily, a mark-up of just a couple of cents means several million dollars in additional revenues each day. The Commission can sentence the companies to huge fines, but that alone is not enough. The entire corrupt pricing mechanism must be revamped. And it must be seen to that such unfair practices aren't reintroduced later on. Those who pay for this fraud, the consumers, needn't count on getting compensation. But it would be some consolation to know that they don't pump additional euros into the cartel gamblers' pockets every time they tank up on petrol." (22/05/2013)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Energía, » Empresa, » Consumidor, » Europa, » Global
Todos los textos disponible de » Jari Saario

US Internet giant Yahoo has sold its blogging platform Tumblr for around 1.1 billion dollars. A risky game, the business daily De Tijd warns: "Just a year ago there were high expectations of a quick profit when Facebook made its stock market debut. ... But they were disappointed. Facebook was the biggest IPO flop ever, losing 32 billion in value. ... And now Tumblr: What are its earnings? Has the company actually turned a profit yet? But then they say such things don't matter with this kind of company. ... Around the year 2000, before the dotcom bubble burst, we heard exactly the same arguments about startups. Evaluations on the basis of a healthy price-earnings ratio were seen as 'old economy'. ... Much has changed since then. Some companies have become true global players. But many other things haven't changed: at the end of the day companies need a stable business model. And the burning of cash can't go on." (21/05/2013)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Medios de comunicación online, » Empresa, » EE.UU.
Todos los textos disponible de » Isabel Albers

Estonia and Finland are vying to be chosen as the location for a new regional terminal for liquified natural gas (LNG) which is to be built in one of the two countries with the help of substantial EU subsidies. On Monday the economics ministers of the two states were unable to reach an agreement on the subject, but announced that they would accept the decision of the European Commission. The liberal daily Postimees voices its understanding for this position: "The construction of the LNG terminal is an investment worth hundreds of millions of euros. And naturally the choice of location will determine which companies get most of the orders. The Finnish government doesn't want to relinquish such a deal to Estonia without further ado. It prefers to hand over the responsibility to the arbitrators, so as not to have to pay the political consequences itself." (21/05/2013)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Energía, » Economía, » Estonia, » Finlandia

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras ended a five-day visit to China on Sunday with the announcement that Greece should be the gate between China and Europe. The online portal TVXS fears that Samaras is just trying to sell off Greek state property: "After having destroyed Greece's productivity, we are now looking for buyers from China. But whose assets are the buyers to purchase? Apparently those of the state. So we organised a trip to sell our geopolitical position and our infrastructure. This is provided for in the purportedly unimportant agreements that were signed in passing during Samaras' visit. The fact that the prime minister and his government are portraying the sale of Greece's infrastructure as a triumph only illustrates the impasse in which he finds himself." (20/05/2013)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Relaciones internacionales, » Comercio, » Economía, » Grecia, » China
Todos los textos disponible de » Eleanna Ioannidou

The base interest rate has been at a historic low of 0.5 percent since the beginning of May. This means an aggressive redistribution of wealth and income, the conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung angrily comments: "Thanks to the ECB, savers are getting a yield of just half a percent. But even that is being eaten away by inflation, and on top of everything else rising prices are nibbling away at capital. ... The politicians and central banks are perfectly willing to accept this cold-blooded expropriation of the savers and life insurance policy holders because they want to help over-indebted states through the zero-interest policy. So while those who are putting away money to make provisions for their old age are forced to watch their promised pensions melt away like snow in the sun, debtor states are happily taking out new loans because the money is so cheap. ... In future the ECB will make sure that in the Eurozone money is redistributed from the creditors to the debtors." (17/05/2013)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Política de la UE, » Economía política, » Alemania, » Europa
Todos los textos disponible de » Holger Steltzner

A British parliamentary committee on Thursday questioned Google's head of operations in Northern Europe, Matt Brittin, regarding the company's controversial tax-avoidance strategies. Other international companies are also facing accusations of bamboozling tax authorities. The conservative daily The Times calls for new rules in the fight against international tax avoidance: "There is growing public anger at the disclosure of how little corporation tax companies such as Google and Amazon pay on their large and very successful businesses in Britain. And rightly so. ... Part of the problem is that international rules governing cross-border taxation have not kept up with technological change. This means it is possible for multinationals to structure themselves in a way that allows them to make absurd claims about where they do their online business for tax purposes." (16/05/2013)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Empresa, » Economía política, » Impuestos, » Gran Bretaña, » Europa
Cobertura de debates » Europe fights tax evasion