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Scoop.it!
The EU's second highest court says the tech giant will not have to pay a record sum in back taxes. 
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Scoop.it!
A giant fund worth €750bn (£670bn; $825bn) is proposed, some of it raised on capital markets.
Graham Watson's insight:
Is this a watershed moment for the EU, with the announcement of a 750 billion Euro recovery fund for the 27 member states? Does this spell a tacit acceptance that the only way to tackle the coronavirus pandemic is going to be fiscal transfers?
Well, probably not actually. However, in seeking money via international capital markets, the EU, are seeming to accept the need for intervention to kickstart investment, without the mutualisation of debt so feared by wealthier member states.
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From
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The European Commission predicts a decline in economic activity this year of 7.5%.
Graham Watson's insight:
The European Commission is anticipating a sort of Wencelas-type recession "deep and crisp, uneven" perhaps.
However, a 7.5% drop in economic activity over the year doesn't make for great reading, with the effects likely to be uneven and most heavily concentrated on those economies that are dependent upon tourism. More trouble ahead for the Mediterranean nations, I fear.
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Gloomy forecast comes 10 days before EU leaders meet to discuss €750bn recovery plan
Graham Watson's insight:
We're all in this together. In the sense that all EU economies expect to experience a recession this year - however, in terms of who is most affected, I suspect we're not all in this together...
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Business activity across Europe almost ground to a halt last month as government-imposed lockdowns to stop the spread of the coronavirus forced factories, shops and restaurants to close and many leisure activities to cease, a survey showed.
Graham Watson's insight:
Reuters looks at the extent of the EU-wide recession, with the European Commission expecting all member states to experience a recession this year.
The extent of that recession will vary from country to country but will reflect differences in their level of dependence upon tourism.
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Tax avoidance? Nothing for you to see here, officer.
The EU's second highest court have ruled that the tech giant isn't going to have to pay over 13 billion euros in back taxes to the Irish government. This ruling overturns an earlier judgment in favour of the European Commission. Remarkably, the Irish government sided with Apple, and were happy to turn down the taxes, which are equivalent to two-thirds of its healthcare budget.
Apple claims that it is happy to pay taxes, but the amount that it pays is equivalent to 0.05% of its revenues, something it justifies by the fact that the supposed Irish head office exists only on paper. Ethical business practices?