Jean-Claude Juncker must wake up: Only Treaty change will keep Britain in the EU April 15, 2015 A common theme in all the party manifestos this week has been a commitment to EU reform – aside from Ukip, which would like Britain to leave immediately. And many of the reforms proposed are familiar: overhauling the disastrous Common Agricultural Policy, ending the EU Parliament’s travelling circus, and completing the Single Market have been [...]
Jean-Claude Juncker rules out major EU reform to prevent Brexit March 17, 2015 EU Commission President Jean-Claude Junker hopes to keep what he calls "down to earth Britain" in the EU but has dashed any hopes of major treaty change. Juncker ruled out a major reform of the European treaties to satisfy British demands for reform. Speaking at a conference he insisted he was "in favour of a [...]
Two cheers for Jean-Claude Juncker: The process of EU reform is already underway March 1, 2015 The business view of Britain’s membership of the European Union is clear: the UK needs to be in the EU and to be fully engaged. While this view is not unanimous – there are those businesses that legitimately have a different perspective, either because of the nature of the business or the priorities of the [...]
Tax competition is good for Europe: Don’t let Jean-Claude Juncker muddy the waters January 21, 2015 At the end of last week, the European Commission disclosed a preliminary finding that Amazon’s tax arrangements in Luxembourg could have constituted “state aid”. While Amazon has said that it had received no special treatment, this is not good news for the Duchy’s former Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, now president of the Commission. Yet the [...]
Jean-Claude Juncker says he should have changed Luxembourg’s tax laws November 27, 2014 Jean Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission, has responded to criticisms of Luxembourg’s tax system while he was in government. The former Prime Minister said he wished his government had legislated to to give it more control of tax deals by international companies. He said the tax structure was a way to diversify [...]
City will snub Juncker’s masterplan, MEP warns November 26, 2014 A LONDON MEP has warned European president Jean-Claude Juncker that the City will snub his £250bn investment plan because investors are wary of government infrastructure projects. The claim follow’s Juncker’s announcement yesterday that the £250bn fund will be used to generate 15 times more investment from private companies, in a bid to kick-start Europe’s flagging [...]
Jean-Claude Juncker’s €300bn plan forges path for fiscal union October 27, 2014 A €300m (£236m) investment programme proposed by incoming EU president Jean-Claude Juncker will form the basis of the bloc's fiscal union, a senior EU politician has said. In an interview with EUobserver, Laszlo Andor, the EU's commissioner for employment, social affairs and inclusion, said Juncker's effort to create an investment programme "is an attempt to [...]
TechCrunch Disrupt: Neelie Kroes dodges Jean-Claude Juncker question as AOL’s Tim Armstrong denies Yahoo merger October 20, 2014 European Union digital commissioner Neelie Kroes performed some masterful sidestepping at TechCrunch’s Disrupt conference in Old Billingsgate. The outgoing head enjoyed a grilling from TechCrunch’s editor-at-large Mike Butcher on stage including a cheeky question about her boss, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and his rumoured appreciation of fine wine. Butcher jokingly asked if Juncker liked [...]
No change in the gender split and none of the most populous six countries gets a vice presidency: Who’s who in Juncker’s commission September 11, 2014 Back in 2012, the European Commission decided it would tackle gender inequality and "break the glass ceiling that continues to bar female talent from top positions in Europe’s biggest companies." The target it set was 40 per cent, despite the fact that at the time the gender split was 19-9 in its own executive – [...]
Juncker’s new EU financial services tsar would be disastrous for the City August 4, 2014 The prevailing winds of politics have not been kind to the City or the wider financial world of late. Politicians, often with one eye on the next election and tempted to kowtow to “banker bashing” sentiments, have paraded their credentials by legislating against the unruly financiers who “caused the financial crisis”. But if you think [...]