Economy
The hidden agenda behind the Recovery and Resilience Facility
Member countries will be continuously assessed for meeting targets and reforms in order to receive their share of the recovery fund. If European governments do not comply with the agreed recovery plan, the purse strings will be tightened.
How VAT hinders effective redistribution of wealth
VAT is a regressive tax, putting more burden to the poor than to the rich. Indeed, VAT applies the same rate to everyone regardless of their level of wealth – but the richer you are, the lower the proportion of your revenue goes to consumption. VAT cancels out one-third of the effects of fiscal redistribution.
If Brussels wants to reduce fertilisers and pesticides
With its "farm to table" strategy, the European Commission aims to reduce the use of pesticides and fertilisers and at the same time increase organic production by 2030. But how?
Saving culture from the pandemic
Eurostat data from 2019 show that in Europe, on average, 32 percent of workers employed in the Cultural and Creative Industry were self-employed. In some countries this percentage reaches almost 50%. The EU is pumping money into the CCI, but that won't be enough for a sector that structurally hinges on precarious working relationships.
A cultural pandemic: How Covid-19 hit Europe’s creative sector
Due to COVID-19, the economic losses of the European Cultural and Creative Industry (CCI) businesses will add up to billions of Euros. The EU stepped in with a top-up of its flagship Creative Europe programme. But pumping more money into the system won’t do. In many EU countries, the crisis has highlighted structural inequalities within the sector. And workers have started to mobilise.
United Kingdom: foreign workers flee the country in large numbers
Due to Brexit and multiple lockdowns, hundreds of thousands of expats have left Britain in 2020.
Germany stands in the way of the European stimulus package
The European recovery plan is in a bad state. Already criticized for its slow implementation, the European Union now faces another issue with Germany, as the German Constitutional Court suspended on March 25 the ratification process of the "Next generation EU" plan at the national level.
Climate change cost Europeans €446 billions over the last 40 years
Climate change-related extreme events have seriously damaged the countries of the European Economic Area, accounting for loss of almost 3 percent of GDP for each country per year, according to a new report by the European Environment Agency.
Is Amazon destroying more jobs than it creates?
A study has revealed the negative impact of e-commerce on employment, counting the number of jobs created and destroyed.
