‘Frugal four’, including the Netherlands, present EU recovery plan

DutchNews, May 24, 2020

Photo: DutchNews.nl

The Netherlands, Austria, Denmark and Sweden have submitted their own Covid-19 recovery plan to the European Commission as debate over the EU’s strategy for offsetting the impact of coronavirus continues. 

The Netherlands and its partners, known as the ‘frugal four’, say they support the establishment of a one-off emergency fund but do not back debt sharing or a ‘significant’ increase in the EU’s next seven-year budget. 

The Netherlands has been at the forefront of a campaign not to ‘give gifts’ to southern European countries and this proposal is based on a ‘modernised’ EU budget that will make sure countries are ‘better prepared for the next crisis,’ Politico reported. 

The fund would be temporary and one-off and should not lead to ‘debt mutualisation’ Politico quoted the four countries’ position paper as saying. 

The ‘loans for loans’ approach is in line with the fundamental principles of the EU, the Financial Times said, and recipients of loans would have to display a ‘strong commitment to reforms’. 

Last Monday, Germany and France submitted their joint deal involving a €500bn recovery fund offering grants rather than loans. The move was welcomed by southern EU countries and praised as an important breakthrough. 

The Franco-German plan envisages borrowing from the market in the name of the EU and says that countries benefiting would not have to repay the cash. 

‘We are convinced that it is not only fair but also necessary to make the funds available now… that we will repay gradually through several future European budgets,’ German chancellor Angela Merkel said at a press conference. 

Solidarity 

The seriousness of the crisis meant ‘solidarity’ must be the order of the day, Merkel said. 

The plan was welcomed by EU chief Ursuala von der Leyen as constructive and as acknowledging the ‘scope and size’ of the challenges the EU faces. 

The European Commission is expected to unveil its own proposals for funding the recovery on Wednesday. Insiders suggest it is a combination of grants and loans. 

All 27 member states will have to agree to any recovery plan before it can be implemented. SER Last Thursday, Dutch government policy advisory group 

SER 

said the Netherlands must show solidarity with the EU member countries which have been hardest hit by the coronavirus crisis, in its own interest. 

Instead of a strict system of loans subject to conditions and reforms, the government should show more leniency and aim for ‘a responsible form of risk sharing’, SER’s Coronacrisis think-tank said. 

The think-tank, which includes unions, employers, advisory bodies CPB and SCP and Dutch bank DNB and was set up in March, ‘deviates from the government line’, chairwoman Mariëtte Hamer told the FD. 

It is in the Dutch interest to makes sure the southern European countries in particular do not drown in debt and find their way out of the crisis as soon as possible, Hamer said.

Related Article:

Dutch government must show more solidarity with hard-hit EU countries: SER

Austria's Kurz returns as world's youngest chancellor

Yahoo – AFP, Julia ZAPPEI, January 7, 2020

Sebastian Kurz returns in Austria as the world's youngest democratically elected
leader (AFP Photo/JOE KLAMAR)

Vienna (AFP) - The leader of Austria's conservatives Sebastian Kurz was sworn in Tuesday as the world's youngest democratically elected leader, at the head of an unlikely coalition with the Greens following the collapse of his previous alliance with the far-right.

Vowing to "protect the climate and the borders", the 33-year-old has become chancellor of the Alpine country's first government to include the Greens, an arrangement called "exotic" and "unlikely" by Austrian media.

Speaking at a handover ceremony with his predecessor Brigitte Bierlein, Kurz said it was "good to be able to continue working for Austria" and promised: "We will strive every day to give our best."

Kurz's People's Party (OeVP) and the Greens agreed last week to govern together after the last administration with the far-right fell apart in a corruption scandal. Both the OeVP and the ecologist party made key gains in September's snap polls.

President Alexander Van der Bellen reminded the new government that "citizens have great expectations of you," adding that "trust must be rebuilt".

The new government aims to please both parties by pushing for Austria to be carbon neutral by 2040 and also continuing previous strict anti-immigration measures.

Some observers think that if successful the alliance could become a model for other European countries as nations across the continent grapple with populist sentiments but also climate change.

'Best of both worlds'

Kurz -- whose conservative OeVP has been in government for more than three decades -- has defended the undertaking as combining "the best of both worlds".

Werner Kogler (C), leader of the Austrian Green party, will take the post of
vice-chancellor (AFP Photo/BARBARA GINDL)

The OeVP has 10 ministers in the new coalition, while the Greens have four with its party chief Werner Kogler, 58, taking on the vice-chancellorship.

Among the ministers being sworn in Tuesday more than half are women, including the defence minister. Many are in their 30s and 40s.

A Green politician and former activist will front an enlarged environment ministry, which includes traffic, energy and technology as well.

The Greens have also nominated an openly lesbian party veteran to hold the culture portfolio, while a Green legal expert of Bosnian origin, who arrived in Austria as a child refugee, will head the justice ministry.

No 'love marriage'

But for all that's new, it's not a "love marriage", according to analyst Johannes Huber.

"As he (Kurz) says at every opportunity, they are very different parties", which have always been rivals rather than allies on a national level until now, Huber told AFP.

And their detractors are many, including some in their own ranks.

The Far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) -- the third strongest party in parliament after the OeVP and the Social Democrats (SPOe) -- was quick to denounce Kurz's "swing to the left" and the "dangerous experiment" out of which "nothing good" can come for the country of 8.8 million people.

The world's youngest political leaders. Austria's Sebastian Kurz was sworn

in on January 7. (AFP Photo/Jonathan WALTER)

The SPOe too criticised the new government's programme, saying social questions hadn't been addressed well enough.

Kurz first became the world's youngest chancellor in a government with the FPOe from December 2017 until May last year, driving a hard line against immigration and brushing off a steady stream of racist and anti-Semitic incidents involving his far-right colleagues.

But then the FPOe leader and vice-chancellor became engulfed in a graft scandal, leading to the collapse of the coalition and snap elections.

Disappointed FPOe supporters dealt the party a setback in the polls, many shifting their votes to the OeVP which won 37.5 percent -- an increase of almost six points from 2017.

The Greens, who failed to get into parliament in a shock result in 2017, garnered 13.8 percent as climate change replaced immigration as a top voter concern.

Party officials have said they have had to make "painful" compromises to reach the agreement with the powerful conservatives.

"The Greens are very pragmatic... It is important for the party to take on responsibility on a national level," Huber said.

Kurz has promised Austrians a stable government for the next five years.

However, "the new coalition has not provided a complete answer on how they plan to finance their fiscal plans," according to analyst Katharina Koenz of Oxford Economics.

Coalition 'gambles' on making Austria carbon neutral by 2040

Yahoo – AFP, Julia ZAPPEI, January 2, 2020

People's Party (OeVP) leader Sebastian Kurz says his two-party coalition will
'protect the climate and borders' (AFP Photo/ALEX HALADA)

Vienna (AFP) - Austria's first coalition between conservatives and Greens announced Thursday that it would aim for carbon neutrality by 2040 to make the country a European "forerunner" in climate protection.

The two disparate parties have agreed to govern in what Greens leader Werner Kohler called a "gamble" after key election gains in September.

Their alliance means People's Party (Oe Vp) leader Sebastian Kur, 33, returns as chancellor after his previous coalition with the far-right broke apart earlier this year owing to a corruption scandal.

It marks the first time the Greens enter government on a national level though the Oe Vp holds on to controversial anti-immigration measures that have deeply divided Austrians.

"It's worth the gamble" to work with the conservatives, Kohler told reporters when presenting the government programme.

The carbon neutrality goal -- meaning greenhouse gas emissions are balanced with measures that absorb or eliminate carbon -- is ahead of Europe's 2050 ambition.

But the 300-page government programme also highlights security needs, the conservatives' main campaign platform.

"Migration will stay at the heart of my politics," said Kur, who has styled himself as a tough anti-immigration fighter, reiterating his view that the coalition's parties had "succeeded in uniting the best of both worlds".

'Daring experiment'

European Council President Charles Michel said 2020 began with "great news from Austria."

He tweeted: "25 years after its accession, Austria renews its commitment to the European project and is set to become a leader in the fight against climate change."

Observers say Germany and other nations could follow suit for the unlikely marriage of conservatives and ecologists as politicians seek to cater to voters' increasingly populist sentiments as well as worries about climate change.

But many have also warned that the alliance stands on thin ice as particularly the Greens have made key compromises.

A column in the left-leaning Standard on Thursday described the coalition as a "daring experiment" and a "political adventure". Tabloid Oesterreich billed the Oe Vp as "powerful as never before".

Kur announced his party would head 10 ministries, including the interior, foreign, defence and finance.

The Greens will have charge of an enlarged environment ministry, as well as hold the justice, social affairs and sports and culture portfolios with Kohler, 58, nominated as Kur’s vice-chancellor.

In September polls, the Greens gained 13.9 percent of the vote in their best-ever result as the environment replaced immigration as top concern.

The Oe Vp got 37.5 percent as disappointed voters of the scandal-tainted far-right Freedom Party (F Poe) flocked to Kur’s party.

It will now be up to the Greens' almost 280 delegates to give the final go-ahead to the agreement at a party congress on Saturday. The new government is then expected to be sworn in next week.

'50-50 survival chance'

Among a raft of proposals, the programme spells out that all energy should come from renewable resources by 2030 and for more to be invested in public transport.

Though renewable energies already account for about a third of Austria's consumption -- almost double the EU average -- the nation of 8.8 million people has been among few EU members that have seen their greenhouse gas emissions continue to increase between 1990 and 2017.

Regarding immigration and security, the coalition wants to introduce preventive detention and extend the headscarf ban for school girls -- clauses which will be hard to swallow for some Greens.

Political analyst Johannes Huber told AFP that the alliance had a "50-50 chance" of survival, depending on which topics came up in the next few years.

Standard daily columnist Eric Frey also wrote that Kur and Kohler would need a "skillfulness as few politicians before them" should tricky issues arise, such as a surge in the number of asylum seekers, worsening climate change or an economic downturn.

Opposition leaders have already criticised the new coalition, with the Social Democrats (Sope) saying the Greens have failed to make a mark, while F Poe leader Norbert Hofer said the programme contained "mainly hot air".

But both the Sope and the F Poe are weakened, with the Social Democrats suffering their worst-ever results in the September polls and the far-right tumbling after the "Ibiza-gate" graft scandal brought down their then-leader and vice-chancellor in May, causing the government to collapse.

EU states adopt 'panda bonds' in Chinese outreach

Yahoo – AFP, Juliette RABAT, June 9, 2019

European countries are reaching out to China by issuing 'panda bonds' that
raise Beijing's profile on global financial markets (AFP Photo/PHILIPPE LOPEZ)

Paris (AFP) - EU members Hungary, Poland, Portugal and soon Austria are strengthening ties with China by issuing attractive "panda bonds" that help Beijing raise its profile on international financial markets.

Italy might join the trend as well, despite EU concerns that China may be seeking a way to increase its influence on the continent.

On May 30, Portugal became the first eurozone nation to issue renminbi-denominated bonds, raising two billion renminbi (around 250 million euros, $280 million) via a three-year instrument at a rate of 4.09 per cent.

The offer attracted strong demand, and Portugal's junior finance minister Ricardo Mourinho Felix told the financial news website ECO that Lisbon's goal was "to enter a large market with strong liquidity."

Poland and Hungary have already issued bonds on the Chinese market, in 2016 and 2017-2018 respectively, and Austria and Italy -- eurozone members like Portugal -- have said they might do so as well.

The cost of borrowing on Chinese markets is much higher than in Europe however, so the reasons for such a move likely lie elsewhere.

Portugal's deepwater port in Sines could be an Atlantic gate for Beijing's 

'Belt and Road' project (AFP Photo/PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA)

Portugal, which faced problems with financing when it was bailed out by the EU and IMF in 2011-14, now can offer less than 1.0 percent to borrow money for 10 years on European markets.

But by helping China become a bigger actor on the global financial stage, governments can get into Beijing's good books, and attract investment in sectors like financial services, infrastructure and transportation.

The Portuguese port of Sines is interested in attracting Chinese investment as part of Beijing's global "Belt and Road" network, for example.

"There are also key political or reputational concerns," notes Liang Si, an Asian debt market expert at French bank BNP Paribas.

"Any kind of sovereign issuer issuing in panda bonds could be seen as a positive political gesture to further establish their ties with China, now the second biggest economy in the world."

The bonds have existed since 2005 but they took off four years ago when the Chinese central bank decided to encourage their use as Beijing launched the "Silk Road" initiative aimed at furthering China's economic and technical influence.

"Little by little, China is trying to open its market to investors and transform its money into a reserve currency," said Frederic Rollin, an investment strategy advisor at Pictet AM.

At $48 billion, the total amount of 'panda bonds' is tiny compared with the 

overall value of China's debt market (AFP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Limited financial interest

At $48 billion, the total amount of "panda bonds" issued to date palls in comparison with the overall value of China's debt market, which is around $13 trillion.

"There are few foreign issuers in the yuan market," because it is "not particularly attractive," acknowledged Frederic Gabizon from HSBC, using another name for the renmimbi currency.

His London-based bank was one of those underwriting the Portuguese issue.

Typical operations have remained small, at between $145 million and $434 million for short-term issues.

That said, "China's importance from an economic point of view is well established, and many countries therefore wish to help it develop its financial markets," Gabizon explained.

Since 2009/2010, China has begun to look for greater influence in Europe, 

says Christopher Dembik at Saxo Banque (AFP Photo/Parker Song)

Amid growing trade tension between China and the United States, Portugal has followed Greece and several Eastern European countries in joining the "Belt and Road" project. Italy has as well, becoming the first member of the Group of Seven (G7) industrialised nations to back the project.

Rome has also said it would consider issuing "panda bonds," as Austria did in late April.

That has caught the attention of big EU nations like France and Germany.

"Since 2009/2010, China has begun to look for Trojan Horses" in Europe, said Christopher Dembik at Saxo Banque.

Beijing targets "countries that often have a greater need for investments and accept in exchange, and through an implicit agreement," to support the "panda bond" market, he added.

France and Germany, which have no problem placing sovereign debt in euros, are wary of Beijing's intentions.

It is looking for the "weak underbelly for Chinese investment in Europe and to consolidate" assets already acquired in Spain and Portugal despite reservations of other EU member states, the president of Paris-based think tank Asia Centre, Jean-Francois Di Meglio, told AFP in November.

Vengaboys head back to Ibiza with ‘protest’ hit in Austria

DutchNews, May 31, 2019

The Vengaboys in 2009. Photo: Violent Music via Wikimedia Commons

Dutch band Vengaboys chart topper We’re going to Ibiza, recorded 20 years ago, has become a number one hit in Austria after being used as a protest song. 

A video of the song was put online by German comedian Jan Böhmermann in the wake of a corruption scandal which involved deputy prime minister and leader of the right-wing FPÖ Heinz-Christian Strache. 

The politician, who has since stepped down, was set up to meet who he thought was a Russian investor in Ibiza and was filmed promising government contracts in exchange for electoral support. 

Wow, Going to Ibiza is #1 in Austria #ibizavideo

Hey @janboehm Did you make this happen?!https://t.co/grujlnjsuB pic.twitter.com/3q0hMbb705

— Vengaboys (@vengaboys) 21 mei 2019

The band, founded by DJs Wessel van Diepen and Dennis van den Driesschen, are now in great demand in Austria and performed at a protest meeting in Vienna earlier this week. 

The Vengaboys song is actually a version of Typically Tropical’s Barbados, which was a hit in 1975.

Humiliating exit for Austrian far-right's 'Mr Clean'

Yahoo – AFP, Jastinder KHERA, May 18, 2019

After years of efforts to clean up the image of Austria's far-right, Heinz-Christian
Strache (L) quit Saturday over what he termed a "stupid, irresponsible mistake"
(AFP Photo/ALEX HALADA)

Vienna (AFP) - Heinz-Christian Strache, the man who successfully steered Austria's far-right back into government after years in opposition, has himself been brought down by an explosive corruption scandal.

The 49-year-old was forced to quit Saturday after German media published hidden-camera footage -- of unknown provenance -- showing him meeting the purported niece of a Russian oligarch over a boozy dinner in a luxury villa on the resort island of Ibiza.

After years of efforts to clean up the image of his Freedom Party (FPOe), founded after World War II by former Nazis, Strache has now been disgraced by what he termed a "stupid, irresponsible mistake".

In the recordings, Strache is seen promising public contracts in return for campaign help and suggesting he could help bring about staff changes in Austria's largest-circulation tabloid, the Krone Zeitung, as well as the part-privatisation of public broadcaster ORF.

For many observers, the scene seemed to confirm the stereotypes of the party that Strache had worked so hard to bury: too ready to engage in dubious practices, too close to Russia, and contemptuous of the free media.

'Mature' figure

It almost certainly marks the humiliating end of a political career which had come a long way in the three decades since Strache was detained by German police at a torch-lit protest by a group aping the Hitler Youth.

When the former dental technician, brought up single-handedly by his mother in a lower-middle-class area of Vienna, took over the FPOe in 2005 aged 35, the movement was a mess.

Joerg Haider, its controversial but magnetic leader from 1986-2000, had broken off to form his own party, the movement torn apart by its last spell in government in the early 2000s.

But "HC", his striking blue eyes matching the party colours, restored its fortunes and in elections in 2017, the FPOe won 26 percent -- double the score of the Alternative for Germany a month earlier.

This gave Strache, cutting a mature figure in new glasses, a ticket to enter talks to form a coalition with Sebastian Kurz's conservative People's Party (OeVP).

When the FPOe last entered government in 2000 under Haider, there was uproar in Europe.

This time, the reaction was more muted, with Europe more inured to populists and the FPOe seen as having moderated.

Stream of controversy

Indeed, early in Strache's leadership, FPOe posters screamed "Daham statt Islam" ("Home not Islam") but over the years they became less shrill and more subtle.

In the 2017 campaign, the main messages were "fairness" -- an elastic term encompassing everything from lower taxes to scrapping benefits for immigrants -- and opposition to "Islamisation".

Strache also moved to clean up the party's image by suspending members for anti-Semitic behaviour.

However, since the party's entry into government, it has been dogged by a steady succession of controversies.

Strache himself was forced to apologise last year to one of ORF's most prominent newscasters, Armin Wolf, after sharing a Facebook post accusing the journalist of spreading "lies" and "fake news".

Other revelations pointed to extremist sympathies in the party's base, including links to the Identitarian Movement Austria.

The appointment of the FPOe's Herbert Kickl as interior minister also sparked fears among Austria's Western partners over whether information could be leaked to Moscow.

Observers say the manner in which Strache has been brought down will raise questions over the FPOe's future and to what extent his efforts to detoxify the party have been permanently damaged.

#UPDATE Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz dramatically pulled the plug on his coalition government and announced fresh elections after an explosive camera sting claimed the scalp of his far-right deputy https://t.co/uppuyddsoT

— AFP news agency (@AFP) 18 mei 2019

'Nothing to fear' as Austrian far-right enters government

Yahoo – AFP, Simon STURDEE, December 16, 2017

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen (left) receives Sebastian Kurz a
day after his People's Party reached a coalition deal with the far-right Freedom
Party, headed by headed by Heinz-Christian Strache (right) (AFP Photo/HANS PUNZ)

Vienna (AFP) - Austria's far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) secured Saturday its return to power in a coalition with the conservatives, capping a year of successes for Europe's nationalist movements.

The anti-immigration party obtained the interior, defence and foreign ministries, but the incoming interior minister Herbert Kickl insisted that "nobody has anything to fear".

The chancellor-elect, Sebastian Kurz of the conservative People's Party (OeVP), stressed also that the new government, to be sworn in next week, was pro-EU, although it would press for Brussels to have less say in national affairs.

"We have agreed a clear pro-EU stance with the aim of boosting subsidiarity in the EU," Kurz told a news conference, favouring an EU that is "stronger in big questions and which should step back on smaller issues".

In addition, while the new government favours more Swiss-style "direct democracy", there will be no British-style referendum on Austria's EU membership, FPOe chief and future vice-chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache said.

"We stand by the European Union, we stand by the peace project of Europe. But we see various developments critically, and we will of course articulate this and seek partners," Strache told reporters.

Strache, 48, has in the past been ambivalent about EU membership, calling Brussels a "bureaucratic monster" and saying that Britain will "probably be better off" after it leaves the bloc.

'Whizz-kid'

Kurz, 31, who will become the world's youngest leader, took over the reins of the OeVP in May, and swiftly pulled the plug on its unhappy "grand coalition" with the Social Democrats.

Kurz -- dubbed "wunderwuzzi" or "whizz-kid" -- rebranded the party in turquoise as his own personal "movement" and secured first place in snap elections in October after yanking the party to the right.

The FPOe came third with 26 percent of the vote, which was double the stunning 13 percent notched up by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in elections the month before.

Both Kurz and Strache won over voters by stoking concerns about immigration following a record influx in 2015, mirroring elections elsewhere in Europe this year.

Geert Wilders' Freedom Party became the second-largest in the Netherlands, Marine Le Pen of France's National Front was in a runoff for the presidency in May and the AfD entered the Bundestag.

But the FPOe, which was last in government in the early 2000s, is rare in western Europe in having translated its ballot box success into real power. Last year it also came close to winning the largely ceremonial presidency.

Speaking at a far-right congress in Prague on Saturday, Wilders said the FPOe's entry into government was "an excellent result". Le Pen called it "very good news for Europe".

Strache's "electoral success shows that the future is of a Europe of peoples," Le Pen said. "Every election shows a form of rejection of the EU."

Tax cuts

The joint programme says that Austria will seek to stop illegal immigration and ensure that people whose asylum claims are rejected are quickly deported. Asylum is "temporary protection" only.

Those "refusing to integrate must expect sanctions" and "parallel societies" must be prevented, it says. Citizenship for people not born Austrian will only come "after a successful integration process".

There will also be a halt to people coming to Austria to claim benefits, the programme says. Monthly payments to those with asylum and subsidiary protection will be cut to 365 euros plus an "integration bonus" of 155 euros.

In addition, labour laws are to be loosened, taxes will be cut and bureaucracy slashed. Austria, the programme says, is "world champion when it comes to regulation and limiting freedom and personal responsibility".

"In my talks with Heinz-Christian Strache and the FPOe I experienced a willingness not just to work together but also to bring about real change in Austria," Kurz said, promising a "new style" of government.

German taxman goes after foreign banks

German state prosecutors are investigating nearly 60 foreign banks for "abetting tax evasion," a newspaper report has said. Self-declaring former tax-evaders are proving a particularly valuable source of information.

Deutsche Welle, 4 Oct 2016

Prosecutors in Germany's most populous state are investigating 57 foreign banks on charges of abetting tax evasion, according to the "Süddeutsche Zeitung." The banks, from Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria and Luxembourg, have all been under suspicion over the past two years, the report said on Tuesday.

The banks were brought to the investigators' attention thanks to a wave of German citizens offering voluntary declarations of their foreign bank accounts over the past six years - concentrating in particular on banks mentioned repeatedly.

The German authorities have already negotiated fines with banks in around 10 cases, according to the paper, amounting to a total of around 120 million euros ($135 million). The biggest single fine came from the Basler Kantonalbank, Switzerland, which handed over 37.1 million euros.

The Luxembourg bank BCEE has paid 14 million euros, while the Deutsche Bank in Switzerland has paid some 10 million euros. On top of that, in one particularly egregious case, a bank is believed to be negotiating a fine of around 60 million euros.

Walter-Borjans said prosecutors will
pursue every indication of tax evasion

The Austria-based Akte Walser Privatbank confirmed that it had paid its fine of 5.4 million euros, and that its policies had become tighter since the case. "Our bank changed the way it deals with foreign customers radically in 2009," a spokesman told the paper. "The requirements for the identification of customers and the transparency about the origin of the means are very strict."

BCEE did not respond to a request for comment, while a spokesman for Deutsche Bank in Switzerland told DW that it never comments on such cases.

New methods

Paying closer attention to voluntary declarations has become German prosecutors' new favorite method of tracking down tax evaders.

Instead of buying up CDs of customer data from disloyal bank employees (or other illicit sources) - a move that divided Germany's political parties when authorities spent several million euros to do so in the past - the authorities now increasingly investigate banks that repeatedly appear on voluntary declarations.

The former tax evaders are then questioned for more information about the banks. In an email to DW, however, a spokesman for the Cologne state prosecutors said they could "neither comment on or confirm" the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" report and that they did not record statistics about voluntary declarations.

Tenacious taxmen

North Rhine-Westphalia has become Germany's most vociferous tax crime prosecutor in recent years.

The NRW authorities have acquired 

CDs with account data in the past

The state has acquired 11 data storage devices since 2010, which according to a statement from early August, created a wave of voluntary declarations and fines that has brought some 6 billion euros to Germany's public coffers.

The most recent example was in August, when someone anonymously (and free of charge) sent the NRW Finance Ministry an external hard drive containing the details of some 160,000 bank accounts - 54,000 of which were German, around 50,000 Belgian, and around 42,000 French. State Finance Minister Norbert Walter-Borjans has pledged to pass on all the data the state has to the relevant foreign authorities across Europe.

The latest revelations show that German prosecutors are now paying particular attention to banks in Austria, where banking secrecy was once protected by the constitution. In 2014, the European Court of Justice ruled that this was unlawful, triggering a sharp rise in voluntary tax declarations, particularly in Bavaria - while many Austrian banks let employees go.

Last week, various German media outlets reported that the NRW tax authorities were also pursuing major multinational financial institutions, including J.P. Morgan, Barclays and HSBC, on suspicion of "devious stock trading," allowing them to avoid some 10 billion euros of tax over several years.

"Our tax investigations go after every suspicion - without regard for either individuals or credit institutions," Walter-Borjans said. He added that a number of banks had already entered into negotiations and were cooperating with authorities, though he would not go into details. He went on to urge other banks to follow suit.

Related Article:

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Big three Dutch banks have announced 40,000 job cuts since 2011

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

Hundreds of children put to work as beggars; four gangs work in NL

DutchNews, June 22, 2016

Police outside the house in
Barcelona. Photo: OM

Dutch police have identified four criminal gangs who are putting Roma children on the streets to beg and steal in the Netherlands, the public prosecution department said in a statement on Wednesday. 

The Dutch probe is part of an international investigation into the exploitation of some 300 children by criminal gangs in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria and Spain, the department said. 

The children, ranging in age from eight to 16 – come from Bosnia, Croatia and other parts of the former Yugoslavia, the NRC reports. According to police spokesman Arthur de Rijk, they have been lured away from poor families and taught to steal in groups. They are expected to ‘earn’ up to €1,000 a day, he told the paper. 

Raids

Some of the children were found in Spain last week and brought back to the Netherlands where they are now in the hands of social services. 

They were found in police raids in Barcelona, where six children, ranging in age from under one to 15, were found living in a filthy home with a 49-year-old man and a 46-year-old woman, said to be from eastern Europe. Four of the children were already on a Dutch watch list.

‘They had been put under the supervision of Dutch social services earlier and so we are responsible for them,’ a prosecution department spokeswoman said. Eight other Roma children who are known to the Dutch authorities are still missing. 

Amsterdam 

The children, put to work in groups, were stealing up to €1,000 a day, police said. The money was passed on to criminal families who spent it on fast cars, luxury homes and gambling, according to Dutch media reports. 

The investigation began a year ago after police noticed they had been repeatedly arresting the same children pick-pocketing at Amsterdam’s central station.

‘We started to look into where the children lived,’ Arthur de Rijk said. ‘Their parents never came to pick them up. It was always other family members but they never had ID. Something was not right.’ 

DNA

In one case, dna tests showed the woman who came to fetch two children was not their mother, as she claimed to be. Various children were placed in care but encouraged to run away by their ‘families’. 

The two adults arrested in Barcelona will be extradited to the Netherlands to face charges. Five of the children have been placed in a secure unit to stop them running away. A sixth remains in Spain where she has to serve a youth detention sentence.