European Institute

Transparency proposal would shame tax-dodging multinationals

Rigorous disclosure requirements are the latest in the European Union’s accelerating efforts to tax revenue that may be escaping levies through multinationals’ maneuvers, which range from offshore vehicles to company-specific deals with host countries in Europe and elsewhere. EU officials announced the effort (April 12) against a backdrop of outrage worldwide after a Panamanian firm’s 11.5-million papers were leaked, revealing how lawyers helped heads of state and wealthy individuals escape tax liabilities.

With the European Central Bank poised to ramp up lending to banks as early as December 3 and again jolt Europe’s languishing economy, economists and policymakers are increasingly divided over whether the long-term costs of quantitative easing – “QE” – may be more detrimental than the immediate benefits.

All politics is local, or so goes the adage of former U.S. House Speaker Tip O’Neill. Elections in Europe this past month are testament to this wisdom, in part. But other forces are also at play. Europe’s refugee crisis and the EU’s chronic economic and monetary challenges were prominent in voters’ minds when casting ballots in Austria, Greece, Poland, Portugal and Switzerland.

--The motherland’s obligation to protect Russian speakers abroad.
--Use of energy exports for geopolitical gain.
-- Propaganda laced with lies to promote nationalist fervor.
--Nostalgia for the territorial grandeur of yore.
--Transgressions against weak neighbors.
--Blaming outsiders – read: Americans – for the tensions.

No mystery as to the sum of these parts: Vladimir Putin’s brutal abuse against Ukraine ever since Ukrainians ousted his ally from power in Kiev. With some variation, Moscow’s earlier bullying of Georgia also fits. Throw in feints that prompt angst among several one-time constituents of the USSR, and the Russian president’s status as Europe’s mischief maker extraordinaire is secure.

Anwar al-Assi, paramount sheikh of the Obeidi tribe, was among the many personalities Emma Sky cultivated during her three duty tours.  In their final conversation, as she departs in August 2010, he asks: “Do you leave Iraq with a clear conscience?”

UPDATE on Migrant Crisis-- September 15, 2015

Unanimous agreement among EU interior ministers proved elusive at the September 14 meeting to discuss a plan to relocate 120,000 refugees more evenly among member states. Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia declined to give their blessing to the EU Commission’s September 9 proposal, much to the chagrin of Austria and Germany into whose territory thousands of refugees stream each day. While the proposal can be adopted by a qualified majority vote in Council, given the gravity of the refugee crisis, unanimous backing is being sought, although the United Kingdom is exercising its opt-out. Ministers will reconvene on October 8 to try to narrow their differences and, if they fail, EU heads of state and government will attempt to do so at the October 15-16 European Council. Ministers did, however, formally adopt a proposal, first tabled by the Commission in May, to relocate 40,000 refugees who arrived in Greece and Italy.

In forums across Germany and Europe and in Washington, along with a new batch of books, former officials, analysts and authors are taking stock 25 years later of the most important and dramatic event of the late 20th century --- the end of the Berlin Wall. 

After a week of shuttered banks and dueling rallies that drew tens of thousands of people, Greece’s voters resoundingly turned down a bailout package the ruling government vociferously opposed.  The landslide “no” vote on Sunday triggered many difficult questions for the country, leaders of EU countries, Brussels, and creditors — from the urgent, practical matters focused on reopening Greek banks Tuesday to the political consequences surrounding Greece’s future within the European Union.

Washington, DC, our nation’s capital and the center of governmental angst in fair times and foul, is going through its most profound trauma in years, a collective PTSD. For most of Washington’s political class, even on the Republican side of the aisle that divides the city, “this wasn’t supposed to happen.” Hillary Clinton was to be president and Donald Trump an also-ran, a showman who provided entertainment, though all-too-often holding up a mirror to the foibles and hypocrisies of those who do politics for a living.

When Angela Merkel spoke before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on May 2 after her meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House, two issues were foremost in the conversation. The day’s hot topic was the worsening turmoil in Ukraine with Merkel fielding questions on whether the EU and US should impose further economic sanctions against Russia for its’ role in the crisis.

Although all eyes have been on Ukraine, many of the issues raised there are present in another former soviet republic—Georgia. Both Georgia and Ukraine border Russia and seek stronger ties with the West. In 2008 and 2014, Georgia and Ukraine respectively began experiencing increasing political and economic pressures from Russia in an attempt to prevent the states from leaving its sphere of influence. The pretext for intervention in both cases was the protection of Russian citizens and Russian speakers. Interestingly, both crises happened in the backdrop of the successful Olympic Games.

INTRODUCTION:
Vladimir Putin’s supposed orchestration of events in Ukraine has been taken by many as ominous evidence of his power and cunning.  In actuality, however,  his handling of Ukraine is a disaster for Russia’s interests.

A new hero has been added to the Pantheon of spies on  Russia who detested the  Soviet system and volunteered to serve the  United States. Adolf (nickname Adik) Tolkachev was a Russian scientist whose  wife’s  father and mother were “eradicated” by Stalin in  the 1937 purges. His burning anger against the Soviet system simmered for years until, influenced  by the bravery of H-bomb inventor Alexander Sakharov and novelist Alexander Solzhenitsyn speaking out against the abuses of Soviet life, he  sought revenge by “walking in” to work for the CIA Moscow Station.

British diplomats and politicians have always been admired for their ability to cultivate ambiguity. It is a French politician, François Mitterrand, a master in the field in his own right, who used to say,  “Getting out of ambiguity is always at your own expense.” Ambiguity had afforded the United Kingdom the possibility to secure a comfortable position, half inside the EU by obtaining numerous exceptions to regular European rules and policies, and getting access to the European Market without paying the full price for it.

French public reaction to the jihadist massacre in Paris on Black Friday, November 13th , as well as growing frustration with the political establishment’s inability to energize the economy and job creation, contributed to the Front National’s (FN) strong showing in the first round of regional elections on December 6th. Based on a 50% participation rate in the regions, recently consolidated from 21 to 13 by the Socialist government, the FN could technically claim to be France’s largest political party. It won 28% of the vote, vs. 27% for the center-right Republicans and 23% for the governing Socialist Party, its lowest score in many years.

George Steiner’s “Idea of Europe” ^[1] challenges us. It is a small book, almost a pamphlet. But it is a monument of culture and a challenging and erudite meditation on the idea of Europe and what makes it distinctive. Particularly what makes Europe different from America.

It should probably be compulsory reading for all students in Europe and in the U.S. The Overlook Press, in New York, should be thanked for the initiative of publishing under this title, the Tenth Nexus Lecture of the Intellectual Summit, delivered in 2003, and already a classic.

Anyone who has had the opportunity to listen to George Steiner’s lectures at the University of Geneva, Oxford or Harvard University, or the University of Cambridge (England), where he now lives, never forgets it. He deals with huge topics in a way that makes them simpler than you would think, more important than you had thought, and as poetic as you would wish.

The European Union and United States both want to lead on “5G” – the Fifth Generation of mobile technology. Indeed, the European Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society Günther H. Oettinger has said that 5G will be the backbone of Europe’s Digital Single Market.^[1]

Greece currently hosts some 60,000 asylum-seekers – 10,000 on just three islands: Lesbos, Chios and Kos. Most will have to spend the winter in Greece, as asylum to their desired, northern European destinations is slow to be granted. To be sure, the number of new arrivals has dropped significantly after the EU-Turkey agreement, with more migrants diverting to the precarious mid-Mediterranean route from Libya to Italy. Yannis Mouzalas, the Greek Deputy Minister for Migration Policy, says that since the signing on March 19, new arrivals average 70-100 daily, which “proves the importance of the agreement with Turkey.” Without the agreement, he estimated that there would have been as many as 180,000 people arriving in the Greek islands during the same period. Lately, however, Greek officials are watching nervously as the number of asylum-seekers in the Aegean islands is rising once again—up by 76% since the July 15 failed coup in Turkey.