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EU raids Intel
- EU antitrust regulators on Tuesday (12 February) raided the offices of Intel and major electronics retailers as part of a probe into allegations of anti-competitive behaviour. Intel was accused by the European Commission last year of offering rebates to PC makers if they agreed not to buy chips from other suppliers. The chipmaker, which submitted its response to the Commission’s statement of objections in January, could face fines of up to 10% of its yearly global revenue if found guilty.
French budget
- EU finance ministers on Tuesday refused to give France more time to balance its budget despite signs of slowing economic growth. Andrej Bajuk, Slovenia’s finance minister, said that France would still have to meet a 2010 deadline. On Monday (11 February), the finance ministers of the eurozone urged France to adopt stricter fiscal policies to help trim its deficit.
VAT reform
- Finance ministers of the EU on Tuesday (12 February) approved new rules on value-added tax. From 2010, business-to-business supplies of services will be taxed in the country of consumption rather than in the country where the supplier is located. Electronic procedures for claiming cross-border VAT refunds will be established. The introduction of new rules on taxing telecoms and broadcast services, which will mean transfers of VAT revenue from the country of supply to the country of consumption, will be delayed to 2015.
Output down in EU
- Industrial production fell by 0.2% in both the eurozone and the EU27 in December 2007, compared to the previous month, according to seasonally adjusted figures released by the Commission’s statistics office Eurostat yesterday (13 February). Compared with the previous year, industrial production rose by 1.3% in the eurozone and by 1.2% in the EU27.
Stability programmes
- The Commission published a batch of assessments of member states’ stability programmes yesterday (13 February). On the long-term sustainability of public finances, it declared that Austria is considered to be at low risk, Portugal and Malta at medium risk, while Cyprus and Slovenia are at high risk. For countries outside the eurozone, its strongest warning was for Latvia, which was urged to reduce overheating pressures and risks to macroeconomic stability.
G7’s banking pledge
- G7 finance ministers meeting in Tokyo on Saturday (9 February) vowed to make banks and other financial market players operate in a more open and accountable fashion. Peer Steinbrück, Germany’s finance minister, warned that sub-prime losses could yet reach €275 billion. Banks have announced more than €70bn in losses and write-downs on investments in sub-prime debt.
MEPs are concerned that Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding’s moves to reduce the fees charged for sending text messages from abroad will inflame the debate on telecoms reform.
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