Search Results for: Belgium

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) body that represents local and regional authorities has called on the European Commission to review its state aid guidelines to allow its members to help low cost airlines work from regional airports, because of the economic development they promote.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE NETHERLANDS, Ireland and Belgium are facing legal action by the European Commission over their alleged failure to implement a series of utility-related European Union (EU) directives. The announcements come before Brussels’ long summer break, when member states are often sent legal notices.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
REQUIREMENTS on national telecommunications regulators within the European Union (EU) to analyse a list of specific markets to see if controls are required on a dominant operator are to be frozen for 18 months. The European Commission had been due to review this so-called ‘ex ante’ recommendation last month, but has postponed this until December 2005.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITAIN’S tax burden as a proportion of GDP fell sharply in 2002 to 35.8% from 37.3% in 2001, confirming the UK as among the lightest taxed jurisdictions in the European Union (EU). The contrast is especially marked with its key competitors Germany (40.2% in 2002), France (44.2%), and Italy (41.7%), according to the latest available comparative figures from EU statistical agency Eurostat.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ACCORDING to popular prejudice, Britons are work obsessed and driven, spending too many evenings in the office, while the French are lazy clock watchers, with an eye on that two hour lunch break – but this could be pure myth according to a European Union (EU) study.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
NATIONAL work accident statistics are keenly examined by occupational health practitioners, but they do not enable the safety of British workplaces to be compared against other European countries; that is where Eurostat, the European Union’s (EU) statistical agency comes in.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
GOVERNMENTS should avoid forcing national telecommunications utilities to make broadband services available to rural and remote areas, but rather rely on boosting competition in the sector, an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report has claimed. Indeed, making such demands “would reduce competition and innovation.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE GREEKS may be European football champions, but they are bottom of the league for tax honesty, said a European Commission report, with more than 20% of work by value being undeclared. ‘Undeclared work in an enlarged Union’ shows Britain is much more honest, with only 2% of its GDP concealed from the tax authorities, second only to Austria (1.5%).…

Keith Nuthall
THE GREEKS may be champions in European football, but they are bottom of the league for tax honesty, a European Commission report has concluded, with more than 20% of work by value being undeclared. The paper ‘Undeclared work in an enlarged Union’ shows that Britain is much more honest, with only 2% of its GDP being concealed from the tax authorities, second only to Austria (1.5%).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
SWITZERLAND has struck a deal with the European Union (EU) over the controversial savings tax issue, agreeing to levy a flat tax on EU citizens holding accounts in the country. The decision means the Swiss have joined Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco and San Marino in imposing withholding taxes rather than change their laws on banking secrecy.…