EUROPEAN Union (EU) heads of states and governments have urged their ministers to agree important pieces of draft EU legislation that could potentially curb tax evasion in the bloc.

Meeting during a European Council meeting in Brussels last week (May 22), leaders were under pressure to act from media reports revealing how much untaxed incomes politicians, companies and rich business owners have stashed in tax havens.…

the wall for multinationals using current international tax laws to reduce their fiscal exposure. Speaking at the eighth meeting of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development) Forum on Tax Administration, hosted by Russia’s federal tax service from May 16-17, experts noted that public anger was building over cases such as the low level of taxes paid by Google, Amazon and UK energy company NPower.…

THE EUROPEAN Union’s (EU) long term budget for 2014-2020 (called the multiannual financial framework (MFF) in Brussels’ famously complex jargon) is currently in limbo following a vote by the European Parliament last month (March) to reject the deal. The political deadlock is not likely to last, nor are the actual figures, agreed by EU heads of government in February, likely to be much changed, though.

SUMMER 2013 marks an important milestone in the evolution of the European Union (EU) regulatory framework and financial support for Trans-European Energy Networks (TEN-E) that will contribute towards the European Commission’s goal of a single-energy market for gas and electricity. Oil and carbon dioxide (CO2) transport from carbon capture and storage systems also figure in the picture.…

THE ECONOMIC and social chaos that has riven Greece in the past few years appears at last to be subsiding, but one part of the healing process is accepting want went wrong in the first place – and new revelations do not make encouraging reading.…

IRELAND has the most higher education graduates per head of population in all 27 countries of the European Union (EU), a report from EU statistical agency Eurostat has revealed.

Looking at the proportion of people aged 30-34 who had completed tertiary education, Eurostat said in 2012, 51.1% of Ireland residents had degrees.…

TRANSLITERATION and translation have become inescapable challenges for financial institutions and other companies striving to comply with international sanctions.

Precise identification of a sanctions target named in a foreign language is often difficult, but is essential for efficient screening of transactions that should be controlled or blocked in line with blacklists issued by national authorities (and the European Union (EU)), and those based on the comprehensive list issued by the United Nations (UN) Security Council.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has welcomed Thailand lifting its longstanding ban on bovine product imports from European Union (EU) member states, but has complained that Bangkok is insisting on expensive inspections for approved exporters.

Live cattle, beef, veal and other bovine products from Austria, Belgium, Britain, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, and Slovenia and Spain have been prevented from entering Thailand since 2001 over concerns about BSE.…

THE FAILURE of nine European Union (EU) member states to properly protect the welfare pregnant sows – breaking an EU law agreed 12 years ago – has caused the European Commission to threaten legal action over the issue.

It has given the governments of Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Poland and Portugal two months to say how they will resolve the problem or face a possible case at the European Court of Justice (ECJ).…

THE EUROPEAN Commission will ask all 27 European Union (EU) member countries to test representative samples of beef meet products to see if they contain any horsemeat, following the recent frozen food scandal.

“The idea is to have the DNA testing over the month of March and to publish the results on April 15,” EU health and consumer policy commissioner Tonio Borg said during a press conference in Brussels last night (Wednesday) after an emergency meeting with agriculture ministers of the seven EU countries affected by the horsemeat scam – the UK, Ireland, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Sweden and France.…