Author: Euronews

The prospect of a radical rightward shift in the summer’s Europe-wide polls has centrist and left-wing legislators pushing hard to get policy through. ADVERTISEMENTWith the European elections less than six months away, the European Parliament is set to add more voting sessions to its monthly plenaries in order to push through more legislation before Europeans go to the polls. The EU elections will be held 6-9 June this year, and the current EU Parliament’s last plenary session in Strasbourg will be 22-25 April. Adding extra voting sessions means the current parliament can speed up discussions with the Council of the…

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent in any way the editorial position of Euronews. Will the minimum tax raise hundreds of billions in revenue and end tax competition? At best, it’s uncertain; at worst, it’s unlikely, Daniel Bunn writes. ADVERTISEMENTImplementation of the global minimum tax is looming, and governments and businesses are starting to see it for what it is: a weak, if not empty, promise. Starting 1 January, several dozen jurisdictions will begin levying top-up taxes on large multinational companies that pay an effective tax rate of less than 15%. But will…

The European Union on Wednesday added Russian company PJSC Alrosa, the world’s biggest diamond producer, and its CEO Pavel Alekseevich Marinychev to its sanctions list. ADVERTISEMENTPJSC Alrosa, which is owned by the Russian state, accounts for over 90% of all Russian diamond production, representing a highly valuable revenue stream for the Kremlin.The EU said Wednesday that Alrosa and its CEO Marinychev had been added to the list of sanctioned persons and entities for “actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.””The company constitutes an important part of an economic sector that is providing substantial revenue to…

Turkey’s inflation jumped to its highest level since November 2022, driven by higher housing and utilities prices ADVERTISEMENTTurkey’s year-on-year inflation report for December 2023 came out today (3 January), clocking in at 64.8%, the highest since November 2022 and a step up from the last month’s 62%. However, this was below analyst estimates of 65.1%. Core inflation also hit 70.6%, the highest since 2004, up from 69.9% in the previous month.This was mainly due to increases in transportation prices, which rose 77% in December, up from 70% in November, as well as housing and utilities prices, which rose to 40.4%…

Once a key partner for the European Union in fighting irregular migration, July’s coup d’état in Niger has put that partnership at risk, with the military junta repealing a key anti-trafficking law in response to EU sanctions. ADVERTISEMENTAn anti-trafficking law, passed in 2015 but repealed last November just months after the junta’s military takeover, had hugely reduced migrant traffic through the city of Agadez – Niger’s fifth largest city – into the Sahara desert.In July last year, Niger’s presidential guard detained the president, Mohamed Bazoum, citing a “deteriorating security situation and bad governance.” Neighbouring countries Mali and Burkina Faso – which…

Euronews Business looks at LexisNexis Risk’s assessment of the top trends for financial crime compliance that are likely to emerge this year ADVERTISEMENTFinancial crime compliance has become all the more important amid geopolitical upheaval caused by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas conflicts. This has led to increased worries and speculation about the rise of money laundering rings and other financial crime rackets used to fund these wars.The rise of cybercrime has also been a concerning feature of both conflicts, especially related to hacking and spreading disinformation. Cybercrime is expected to soar to cost the world about $9.5 trillion (€8.67 trillion)…

The Middle East could see a violent spillover of conflict unless a peaceful solution to the war in Gaza is found, the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell warned on Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENTSpeaking at a diplomatic seminar in Lisbon organised by Portugal’s foreign ministry, Borrell said that “the seeds of hate are being sown.””If this tragedy doesn’t end soon, I fear that all of the Middle East will see itself engulfed in flames,” he added.His stark warning comes a day after Saleh al-Arouri, a senior Hamas official and the organisation’s second-in-command, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Lebanese capital Beirut.Israel has…

The Economist rated Greece as the top-performing economy in 2023. Euronews Business breaks down the study and considers how the rest of Europe performed last year. ADVERTISEMENTGreece led The Economist’s annual ranking of rich-world economies in 2023.The study gathers data on five indicators: “core” inflation – which excludes volatile components such as energy and food; GDP; employment, and stock market performance for 35 global mostly rich countries.For the second year in a row, Greece has achieved remarkable results. With a GDP growth rate at 1.2%, Greece stands out among other countries for its sharp growth in the real value of…

European Union allies have been reluctant to back a United States-led naval operation to safeguard ships from attacks by Houthi militants in the Red Sea. ADVERTISEMENTOperation Prosperity Guardian (OPG), launched by the US in December, aims to protect international commercial ships from a recent raft of drone and rocket attacks by the Houthis, an Iran-backed rebel group that controls a part of Yemen’s territory.The Houthi-led attacks, which started after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, threaten to severely disrupt trade flows to Europe and have forced major shipping firms to avoid the area.The Houthis have declared support for Hamas and…

ADVERTISEMENTEuropean stocks have hit their highest level in nearly two years, up 0.5% on the day at 0829 GMT, as traders speculated on potential rate cuts by central banks in 2024.Bank stocks in the Eurozone (.SX7E) surged to their highest levels since 2018. The FTSE 100 in London (.FTSE) saw a 0.2% increase, Germany’s DAX (.GDAXI) rose by 0.8% while the MSCI World Equity index (.MIWD00000PUS) was steady, down by less than 0.1% on the day. “There is a feeling that (monetary) easing is coming and it seems like there is more to go in the rally in the short term,” Jan…