All posts tagged: Single Market

UK orchestras hit by new touring tax – POLITICO

UK orchestras hit by new touring tax – POLITICO

Published by skeptic

contentonly Voiced by artificial intelligence. LONDON — British musicians have already been hit hard by Brexit, with tours to the continent bogged down in work permit applications and customs paperwork. Now things are about to get worse. A new Brexit tax hike set to hit U.K. orchestras later this year could make trips to Europe “unviable” and undermine their activities back in Britain, the trade body representing the musical ensembles is warning. From April 1 this year, U.K. orchestras crossing the Channel to play will no longer be able to claim tax relief on performances in the European Economic Area, as they are currently allowed to do. The U.K. government is making the change to bring Britain into line with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules – required because of the U.K.’s exit from the EU single market. The tax hike is just the latest in a string of blows to British musicians following the U.K.’s departure from the EU. New rules about taking instruments across borders, work visas, and “cabotage” requirements on transporting equipment by …

Macron hails Jacques Delors as Europe’s tireless ‘pathfinder’ (and jazz-loving football fan) – POLITICO

Macron hails Jacques Delors as Europe’s tireless ‘pathfinder’ (and jazz-loving football fan) – POLITICO

Published by skeptic

PARIS — In a state ceremony held over Jacques Delors’ coffin on Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to “an honest European man” and touched upon more personal aspects of the EU statesman’s life, including his Christian faith and his love of football and “loud jazz.” Placing himself firmly in the mold of the ex-president of the European Commission, Macron saluted a politician who “reconciled France with Europe” and “Europe with its future” in a homage that mixed France’s martial pomp with the mellow jazz of Coleman Hawkins’ “Body and Soul.” As Commission president, “he was everywhere, clocking up 180 trips per year, and he listened, talked, negotiated, strong-armed and invented compromises,” working tirelessly for “a more sovereign, more united and stronger Europe,” said Macron. Some of the EU’s most prominent leaders gathered in the stately courtyard of the golden-domed Invalides in Paris, where Delors’ coffin was laid beneath a tricolor, as Macron delivered his eulogy in the January sun. “Jacques Delors never tired of exploring, as our pathfinder, to reconcile, to find alternatives, …

EU single market czar outlines key reforms – POLITICO

EU single market czar outlines key reforms – POLITICO

Published by skeptic

A top European politician tasked with examining the backbone of the bloc’s economic policy has outlined proposals for key reforms he will present to EU leaders. In an interview with POLITICO, former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta, who has been assigned to report on the state of the single market in March, pointed out overhaul opportunities that include tearing up rules on state subsidies as well as potential measures to stop poorer countries from suffering a brain drain. Letta, now president of the Jacques Delors Institute — named after the former head of the European Commission and one of the architects of the internal market and single currency — will present his findings to EU leaders in the spring after a tour of European capitals. He hopes that after considering his findings, leaders will conclude that “the single market has to be considered in a different way,” leading to a conversation on the economy in the run-up to the European election in June. The single market system, designed to unify 27 individual European markets into …

The visionary legacy of Jacques Delors – POLITICO

The visionary legacy of Jacques Delors – POLITICO

Published by skeptic

Alberto Alemanno is the Jean Monnet Professor of European Union Law at HEC Paris and founder of The Good Lobby, a nonprofit committed to equalize access to power. If the European Union were a country, the passing of former Commission President Jacques Delors would have been mourned by millions across the Continent. No other EU leader would have had a better chance at attaining a state funeral than the Frenchman who led the bloc from 1985 and 1995, indisputably shaping the lives of the last two generations of Europeans. Delors’ political accomplishments expanded their daily opportunities, protecting them from the impact of shrinking nation states in an increasingly globalized world. Consciously or not, millions of Europeans are indebted to him. This is true of the 11 million Erasmus students who have so far participated in the program, and the million babies born out of that life-changing experience. Equally so for all the Europeans able to freely travel across the EU after the Schengen Agreement, as well as those able to settle within the bloc since …