December 2013: Hankering to be European? Just pay up! Banking union; difficult to believe it but we are almost there! Lucky Latvia joins the € zone. TTIP negotiations and now preparations. Scroll down, grab your essential EU Insider news…
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EU citizenship: yours for $900,000
Our dear Maltese friends (420,000 of them) passed a law permitting the sale of Maltese (aka European) passports. There is a revenue objective of $413M p.a. when the scheme is up and running. The maths tells me that every year we can look forward to 460 very rich (not here for our welfare) new European citizens (must be business). How about you? |
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European banking union: at last!So, what is at stake here? The answer is a lot. The big one being national sovereignty, control and of course moolah, lots of it. As usual, the guiding fist is in Berlin. The principle is to get to a “single resolution mechanism” (get used to it), that determines which banks to close, who will pay and when the funds can be accessed. The issues are so detailed if you want to know what’s going on read this excellent FT special... |
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Euro zone: 18 members as lucky Latvia joinsRemember 1999? There were just 12 EU Member States using the EU's single currency. 14 years later and having satisfied the economic convergence criteria, lucky Latvia will become #18 (January 2014). Useful that the European bank will be there (see previous article). |
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TTIP: negociations and preparations
Lots going on in this TTIP space at the moment. Round #3 of the negotiations and we are back on track in Washington DC, triggering vigorous debates and roadshows from Dublin to Dubrovnik. Trade federations and business associations are getting in on the act, providing members with information and guidance. I strongly recommend watching this excellent video of Vale de Almeida (EU Ambassador to the US) presenting on the subject... |
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Happy New Year! We at IBT Partners wish you a successful year of International Business and Trade in 2014! John
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PS. Join our "Export - US to Europe" LinkedIn Group? The leading online community of professionals, of all industries and organizational sizes. You’ll be in good US to EU company...
PPS. All credits are due to: Bank of England, BBC, Bruegel, Business Europe, DW Germany, Economist, European Central Bank, European Commission, European Delegation to the US, Eurostats, France 24, FT, Handelsblatt, International New York Times, Les Echos, Spiegel, US Commercial Services and IBT Partners. |
