EU: Exxon Mobil tries to block EU windfall profit legislation against energy companies.

Exxon Mobil is suing the European Union in an attempt to force the bloc to scrap its new windfall tax on oil companies, according to reports on Wednesday. 

The US oil giant argues Brussels has gone beyond its legal authority by imposing the levy. 

Oil companies posted record profits this year, benefiting from  soaringp energy prices that have helped trigger a cost of living crisis across Europe. 

The windfall tax on profits is "counter-productive," discourages investment and undermines investor confidence, Exxon spokesperson Casey Norton said on Wednesday. 

He warned that the oil company will factor the tax into future decisions on whether to channel multi-billion-euro investments into Europe’s energy supply and transition. 

"Whether we invest here primarily depends on how attractive and globally competitive Europe will be," Norton said.

NOTE EU-Digest:  "Poor babies, what BS ! "

Read more at: https://www.euronews.com

USA: The other public health crisis: Gun violence spikes in the U.S. amid pandemic

More than 12,000 shooting deaths have been recorded in the U.S. so far this year and the political establishment in the US can still not come up legislating strong gun control laws.Scandalous.

Read more at: The other public health crisis: Gun violence spikes in the U.S. amid pandemic | CBC News

USA - Gun Control Legislation: "How many more killings and School Shootings will it take for Mitch McConnell to start debating Gun Control Legislation in the Senate after another 3 students killed in todays California school shooting ?

Stop sitting on your hands McCinnell

Two 14-year-old boys and a 16-year-old girl are dead and two other students are injured after a classmate opened fire at a high school in Southern California Thursday morning, sheriff's officials said.

Detectives reviewed video from the scene which showed the gunman in the quad of Saugus High School in Santa Clarita when he took a gun from his backpack, shot five people and then shot himself in the head, authorities said. The early morning school shooting was on the suspect's birthday, authorities said.  

Read more: 3 students killed in California school shooting, 16-year-old suspect in hospital in 'grave condition' - ABC News

Britain: Brexit - MPs' vote on deal ruled out by Speaker John Bercow

The Commons Speaker has refused a government request to hold a "yes" or "no" vote on its Brexit deal. John Bercow said a motion on the deal had been brought before MPs on Saturday, and it would be "repetitive and disorderly" to debate it again.

Saturday's sitting saw MPs vote to withhold approval of Boris Johnson's deal until it has been passed into law.

The government said it was disappointed, but would go ahead with introducing the necessary legislation.

The prime minister's official spokesman added: "The Speaker has yet again denied us a chance to deliver on the will of British people."

The UK is due to leave the EU in 10 days, and while Mr Johnson and fellow EU leaders have agreed a new deal to allow that to happen, it cannot come into force until it is approved by both the UK and European parliaments.

Read more at: Brexit: MPs' vote on deal ruled out by Speaker John Bercow - BBC News

Polish judicial reforms broke EU law, court says - by Andrew Rettman

Poland has lost a flagship court case over its judicial meddling brought against it by the European Commission, putting its nationalist rulers on the back foot.

"Polish legislation concerning the lowering of the retirement age of judges of the Supreme Court [SC] is contrary to EU law," the EU court in Luxembourg said on Monday (24 June).

Read more at: Polish judicial reforms broke EU law, court says

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Trans Fats: Canada: farewell to trans fats ?

Farewell Trans Fats? Canada Trans Fats banished from store shelves

For the complete CBC news report click here

Netherlands population getting more diverse; To hit 18 million by 2031 - by Janene Pieters

The Dutch population will continue to grow in the coming decades to over 18.4 million people by 2060, according to the latest prognosis by Statistics Netherlands. The 18 millionth inhabitant is expected in 2031. By 2040 almost a quarter of the Dutch population will be elderly, and by 2060 just over a third will have their roots in the outside world, according to the stats office.

The population of the Netherlands is growing because more people move to the Netherlands than move away, and because of the increasing lifespan. "In the coming years, more children will also be born, but that will not be sufficient in the long run to compensate for the increasing number of deaths", Statistics Netherlands writes. According to the current forecast, from the end of the 2030s more residents will die each year than are born.

Over the past two decades, the Dutch population grew by 1.5 million people. 86 percent of this increase involve people with a migration background. People immigrating to the Netherlands for work or study increased sharply over the past en years. And more recently, the Netherlands also saw a mass increase in asylum migrants. Though immigration from tradition countries of origin like Morocco, Turkey and Suriname decreased.

In the coming decades, the number of Netherlands residents with a migration background will increase, while the residents with a Dutch background will decrease, Statistics Netherlands expects.

This year 23 percent of the population have a migration background, by 2060 this will increase to 34 percent. "Both now and in the future, more than half of those with a migration background were born in the Netherlands, with at least one parent born abroad."

The number of elderly residents will also increase in the coming decades, due to the high birth rates immediately after the Second World War and in the 1950s and '60s. Another factor is that lifespan increased over the paEU-Digestst years and continues to rise. According to the prognosis, the proportion of the population aged 65 and older will increase from 18 percent in 2017 to 24 percent in 2040.

According to Statistics Netherlands, this prognosis has a level of uncertainty. Migration fluctuates from year to year, which means there is great uncertainty in the prognosis of immigration and emigration on the short term. Birth and mortality rates are easier to predict in the short term, but uncertainty increases in the long term. Taking these uncertainties into account, the Dutch population will be between 17.2 million and 19.7 million people in 2060.

Note  EU -Digest: Bottom line: the Netherlands needs more immigrants, obviously this immigration stream needs to be far better controlled and administered than it is presently done. New citizens should also be required to swear their alliance to the Netherlands/EU during a special Public ceremony in presided over by a Judge, when inducted as citizens of the Netherlands/EU and agree not to serve in any other military force, except that of the Netherlands or the common EU defense force.

Read more: Netherlands population getting more diverse; To hit 18 million by 2031 | NL Times

USA: In Dallas, yet another shooting that won't move the needle on gun control - by Lucia Graves

Less than a month after the tragedy in Orlando, a familiar cycle is setting in.

On Wednesday, Americans went to bed thinking about one shooting. On Thursday morning, we woke up to another, watching an innocent victim die on a video taken by his girlfriend. On Thursday night, we fell asleep to the horrors of a third.

Such events used to feel like an aberration. And while the killing of blameless cops reporting for duty at a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest in Dallas on Thursday night is a new, heinous twist, the outcome – the gunning down of innocents – has become the status quo.

The trouble is, ending America’s scourge of mass shootings and the deep-seated bias in police killings will require many things that our country is not good at. It will require persistence and cooperation, empathy and bipartisanship. It will require policy reform and, specifically, gun control. It will require us to walk a line between numb detachment and murderous rage.

So far, we haven’t found the line.

President Obama sure tries. Overseas for a Nato summit in Warsaw on Thursday, he had just given extended remarks on the police killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, when the ambush-style attack in Dallas forced him to take up the topic of gun violence yet again.

He proceeded to say the obvious things that somehow, sadly, still need to be said, that “there is no possible justification for these kinds of attacks or any violence against law enforcement”, and that their deaths are a reminder of the sacrifices they make for our safety.

And then he said the same thing he’s been saying since he took office seven years ago, that easy access to powerful weapons is a big part of the problem. He’s tried just about everything on that front: soaring speeches, executive actions, congressional entreaties, even leading a black congregation in a soulful rendition of Amazing Grace.

But nothing’s worked. Washington hasn’t budged. If anything, Republicans have dug in their heels.

House Democrats’ sit-in for a vote on gun control last month was dismissed by their Republican counterparts as a “publicity stunt” and “not becoming US Congress”.

And this week Republican leadership put its focus on ways to punish Democrats for their actions.

Hours before the shooting in Dallas, GOP lawmakers delayed gun control votes indefinitely.

Read more: In Dallas, yet another shooting that won't move the needle on gun control | Lucia Graves | Opinion | The Guardian

Tax Havens: Europe Will Force Big Companies to Disclose How They Use Tax Havens

The European Commission will propose rules on Tuesday to force major companies to publish details of where they make profits and where they pay tax, as it moves to clamp down on tax avoidance following the Panama Papers revelations.

Companies will have to disclose activities in tax havens, an amendment which has been added to earlier proposals, but campaigners say the measure may be toothless as European Union (EU) states have no common view of what constitutes a tax haven.

The commission wants to apply the measure to all firms with global annual turnover above 750 million euros ($856 million), meaning US companies such as Google and Facebook — which have faced criticism for their complicated tax avoidance mechanisms — will be subject to them.

The original plan had been for big companies to show only how much they paid in each EU state, with the rest of the world treated as a single item. Now, EU officials say, the draft will propose that they also list how much of their money outside the EU flows through each state classed by EU governments as a tax haven.

The problem, transparency campaigners say, is that there is no agreement among EU member states on the definition of a tax haven.

Read more: Europe Will Force Big Companies to Disclose How They Use Tax Havens | VICE News

EU Migrant Crises: The economics behind Europe’s migrant crisis - by Mohamed A. El-Erian

Fleeing economic and social miseries of home countries

As our Eurostar train zipped from London through the Chunnel to Paris, I couldn't help thinking about the thousands of migrants languishing on both sides of the English Channel. Once again, national and regional political systems are struggling to cope with a mounting human tragedy whose spillover effects involve disruptions to commerce, and all this is stoking a political crisis. 

The economics of the Channel migrant crisis are quite clear, being basically about supply, demand and regulatory failures. They also shed light on the potential solutions, though they will take time to materialize.

The supply of migrants to Europe is fueled by waves of people fleeing the economic and social misery of their home countries — and, in some case, political oppression, persecution and violence.

They do so in hopes of a better future for themselves and their children. The temptation for some to try and make it all the way to the U.K., often after a perilous sea crossing and a fraught trip through western Europe, is amplified by the attractiveness of an economy with low unemployment, comprehensive social services and a country where many already know the language. 

Although the supply of migrants has increased, the demand for migrant labour has gone the other way. Tougher laws have made it harder and more dangerous for employers to hire undocumented workers. And with a European unemployment rate of more than 10 per cent, the demand is further damped. 

This imbalance in supply and demand isn't one that can be sorted out by the markets' normal equilibrating mechanism. The market-clearing wage — that is, the price that would lower the migration incentive while facilitating the absorption of those still inclined to risk life and limb — is well below the minimum wage prevailing in Europe; and any meaningful reduction in the wage would involve significant and unacceptable social disruptions to local populations in Europe.

Read more: The economics behind Europe’s migrant crisis: MIGRANTS

Terrorism: France to stop citizens joining Syria war - EU member state Governments and EU parliament must also act

ISIS in Syria and Iraq

Aljazeera reported that France has unveiled steps to stop its citizens from joining the Syrian civil war and prevent young French Muslims from posing a threat to their home country.

France, which has been a staunch opponent of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, estimates the number of its nationals directly involved in the Syrian conflict is about 500, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in a radio interview.

President Francois Hollande has prioritized the crackdown on groups and individuals planning domestic attacks since a Toulouse-based al Qaeda-inspired gunman, Mohamed Merah, shot dead seven people in March 2012.

But with the Syrian conflict entering its fourth year, the government has increasingly come under fire for failing to stop its nationals - some of whom are as young as 15 - from heading to Syria.

"France will take all measures to dissuade, prevent and punish those who are tempted to fight where they have no reason to be," Hollande told reporters on Tuesday.

The Dutch Government also reported recently that two Dutch Muslim nationals, who are part of a group of at least 150 other Dutch citizens, who have joined radical Muslim groups like ISIS, Al Qaeda and others  in Syria,  blew themselves up in suicide attacks in Syria and Iraq.

As ISIS’s name suggests, the interests of the group and its current leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi go beyond Syria. Its members believe that the world's Muslims should live under one Islamic state ruled by sharia law. 

War and instability in Syria and Iraq have given it an opportunity to attempt to build a proto-state in the adjacent Sunni-majority areas of these two countries, before spreading further. 

Its 7,000 or so fighters in Syria have expended as much energy on consolidating the group’s rule in towns and cities behind rebel lines as fighting the regime. ISIS is willing to use ruthless tactics to assert its authority. 

Once in control of an area it has told women to cover up and kidnapped journalists, aid workers and Syrian activists. Beheadings and suicide bombings are now a regular feature of ISIS There are also many other EU Muslim citizen, including Germany and Britain, who have voluntarily joined radical Muslim groups like ISIS in  the Syrian conflict.

Many people fear that "rebel fighters" returning home to Europe will have become so radicalized that they could become a danger to their local societies.

There seems to be an urgent need for EU member state Governments and the EU Parliament to legislate laws which forbid and punish anyEuropean citizen for joining external conflicts or radical fighting Units.

EU-Digest

European Commission: Gender balance in decision-making positions required

On the occasion of International Women's Day 2014, the European Commission published a factsheet on gender balance on corporate boards, showing that  the glass ceiling is cracking following political and regulatory pressure from the European Commission.

Across the EU, women are underrepresented in positions of responsibility in all fields. The reasons for the under-representation of women in power and decision-making are multifaceted and complex. Particularly at the highest levels, women are still largely outnumbered by men in leadership positions in politics and business, as well as in other fields. In the European Parliament, three in ten members are women (2009-2014).

The situation is worst in business with, on average, one in six women members of boards in Europe's largest publicly quoted companies and only 4% of board chairpersons.

Read more:Gender balance in decision-making positions - Justice

European Car Industry: Electric cars must make noise, rules European Commission

VW e-Up

New electric and hybrid cars will have to emit engine-like noises by 2019. That's according to a mandate from the European Commission, which wants all new electric vehicles to increase their noise in order to drive down accidents involving deaf or blind pedestrians.

That means models like the VW e-Up, where a sound symposer is currently optional, will have to offer the system as standard across Europe, although Volkswagen officials told Autocar that implementing the new ruling would be "no problem". Other manufacturers including Renault have welcomed the plan. The firm's Zoe EV already comes equipped with sound symposers. However, the Twizy currently doesn't.

Elsewhere, Vauxhall said the sound system equipped on its Ampera had been "designed with blind people in mind", while Nissan had developed the sounds in its Leaf model "in response to public concern about the quietness of EVs and hybrids". The Leaf's sound symposer works at speeds below 25mph and can also be turned off by the driver, something which wouldn't be allowed under the new rules.

The European Council is expected to give the legislation a green light in the coming months, with the plan already meeting with the approval of the European Parliament.

Read more: Electric cars must make noise, rules European Commission | Autocar

Netherlands clamps down on marijuana as the US liberalizes it - by Mike Corder

"Weed Pass" needed to get into a Dutch coffee shop"

A young man at a bus stop hisses at a passerby: "What you looking for ... marijuana?" It's a scene of street peddling that the Netherlands hoped to stamp out in the 1970s when it launched a policy of tolerating "coffee shops" where people could buy and smoke pot freely.

But Maastricht's street dealers are back, local residents complain. And the reason is a crackdown on coffee shops triggered by another problem: Pot tourists who crossed the border to visit the cafés and made a nuisance of themselves by snarling traffic, dumping litter and even urinating in the streets.

This exchange of one drug problem for another has become a headache for Maastricht - and may give reason for pause in the U.S. states of Washington and Colorado that recently allowed the sale of marijuana for the first time. The Netherlands, the world pioneer in pot liberalization, has recently taken a harder line toward marijuana, with mixed results seen particularly in border towns such as Maastricht.

The central government clampdown has involved barring people who live outside the Netherlands from coffee shops, and shuttering shops that are deemed to be too close to schools. There was even a short-lived policy that said smokers had to apply for a "Weed Pass" to get into a coffee shop. The new rules were rolled out across the country between the middle of 2012 and the beginning of last year.

Amsterdam, with about 200 licensed coffee shops, one-third of the nationwide total, still lets foreigners visit them, although it is closing coffee shops that are near schools.

One city that has embraced the crackdown wholeheartedly is Maastricht, in the southern province of Limburg close to the Dutch borders with Belgium and Germany.

Its mayor, Onno Hoes, says he enforced the legislation to halt a daily influx of thousands of foreigners who crossed the borders to stock up on pot at its 14 coffee shops. That effort to end so-called "drug tourism" has been successful, local residents say, but the flip side has been a rise in street dealers.

Read more: Netherlands clamps down on marijuana

Tobacco Industry: European Parliament Approves Tough Rules on Electronic Cigarettes

The European Parliament on Wednesday approved rules for the region’s fast-growing market for electronic cigarettes, regulations that could help set a benchmark for standards around the world.

Beginning in mid-2016, advertising for e-cigarettes would be banned in the 28 nations of the European Union, as it already is for ordinary tobacco products. E-cigarettes would also be required to carry graphic health warnings and must be childproof. The amount of nicotine would be limited to 20 milligrams per milliliter, similar to ordinary cigarettes.

Governments across the globe are grappling with how to regulate e-cigarettes, which turn nicotine-infused propylene glycol into an inhalable vapor. As sales of e-cigarettes have ballooned, the debate over the public health implications has intensified.

The Food and Drug Administration in the United States is soon expected to issue regulations for the devices; some American cities have already acted independently to ban e-cigarettes in public places.  

In Europe, the tobacco legislation just needs the final approval of member states — something that appears all but certain. It is expected by April.

Read more: European Parliament Approves Tough Rules on Electronic Cigarettes - NYTimes.com

European cybercop - by Jonathan Ames

The EU believes strict regulation is the path to online security, and accountants are already lining up to seize the advice work

As action heroes go, the sombre-suited members of the European Commission and their hordes of faceless Eurocrats aren’t a patch on a pumped, bloodied Bruce Willis in his sweat-soaked vest.

But the commission’s president, plucky Portuguese José Barroso, and his band of 28 fellow commissioners have cast themselves in the roles of cyber policemen to rival the follicly challenged American and his bid to save humanity in Die Hard 4.0.

Film buffs will know that Willis has to do battle with a mastermind cyber criminal who first wants to hack into the US national security systems before doing all sorts of nasty things and then, of course, taking over the world. Winning the day involves two hours of shouting, gunfire, explosions and cheeky dialogue.

Typically, the European Commission’s version is somewhat more prosaic. It involves a directive – the draft Network and Information Security Directive, to be precise.

But from where they sit in Brussels, that 48 pages of prospective legislation is no less important or indeed less impressive than detective John McClane seeing off the hacker’s henchmen by launching a police cruiser at a looming helicopter. It’s just a matter of perspective and, Europe being Europe, taste.

Also, Europe being Europe, the directive is not exactly straightforward. Confusion reigns over what it will look like in final draft, which business sectors will be affected, whether it is necessary or is just another example of Brussels legislating simply because it can and, indeed, whether it will ever come to pass in light of the forthcoming European Parliament elections.

What is relatively certain is that cyber security is an area that ultimately will be legislated for in Europe. And some suggest the global accountancy practices are already aiming to steal a march on law firms to advise multinational corporations on how to cope.

Should the legal profession battle the accountants for market share in advising on the directive?
As one lawyer comments: “We don’t go through a single day without there being a headline about cyber security, so clearly something needs to happen.”

That suggests the directive, whether in present or subsequent form, represents an opportunity. But first, lawyers must get a grip on what the draft legislation will cover. And doing so requires patience.

Read more: European cybercop | Analysis | The Lawyer

The Netherlands: While Dutch Taxpayers suffer Yahoo, Dell Swell Netherlands’ euro 9.5 Trillion Tax Haven - Jesse Drucke

Inside Reindert Dooves’s home, a 17th- century, three-story converted warehouse along the Zaan canal in suburban Amsterdam, a 21st-century Internet giant is avoiding taxes.

The bookkeeper’s home office doubles as the headquarters for a Yahoo, Inc offshore unit. Through this sun-filled, white- walled room, Yahoo has taken advantage of the law to quietly funnel hundreds of millions of dollars in global profits to island subsidiaries, cutting its worldwide tax bill.

The Yahoo arrangement illustrates that the the Netherlands in the heart of a continent better known for social welfare than corporate welfare, has emerged as one of the most important tax havens for multinational companies. Now, as a deficit-strapped Europe raises retirement ages and taxes on the working class, the Netherlands’ role as a euro 9.5 trillion ($13 trillion) relay station on the global tax-avoiding network is prompting a backlash.

The Dutch Parliament has debated the fairness of its tax system this year as lawmaker from several parties, including members of the country’s governing coalition, say they want to remove a stain on the nation’s reputation.

The European Commission, the European Union’s executive body, declared a war on tax avoidance and evasion, which it said costs the EU 1 trillion euros a year. The commission advised member states -- including the Netherlands -- to create tax-haven blacklists and adopt anti-abuse rules. It also recommended reforms that could undermine the lure of the Netherlands, and hurt a spinoff industry that has mushroomed in and around Amsterdam to abet tax avoidance.

Attracted by the Netherlands’ lenient policies and extensive network of tax treaties, companies such as Yahoo,Google Inc, Merck & Co. and Dell Inc. have moved profits through the country. Using techniques with nicknames such as the “Dutch Sandwich,” multinational companies routed 10.2 trillion euros in 2010 through 14,300 Dutch “special financial units,” according to the Dutch Central Bank. Such units often only exist on paper, as is allowed by law.

Unfortunately so far, all the politicians have done is talk and more talk. The question one would ask now is do Governments really want to change their tax structures or is it all political hogwash?

EU-Digest

USA: Wall Street:Poll:68% Say US Government Not Tough Enough on Wall Street Crime

Several employees of disgraced financier Bernard Madoff are going on trial this week for their part in orchestrating one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in history, but many Americans still believe others in the financial industry are getting away with too much.

Just 14% of American Adults believe the federal government has been aggressive enough in pursuing possible criminal behavior on Wall Street, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Sixty-eight percent (68%) don’t think the federal government has been aggressive enough in this area. Eighteen percent (18%) are undecided.

Read more: 68% Say Government Not Tough Enough on Wall Street Crime - Rasmussen Reports™

Food Safety: Labeling genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Maine approved by legislature.

Thanks to thousands of Mainers speaking up, both their House and Senate voted to pass LD 718, which will label genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Maine.

The Maine House of Representatives in favor of the bill. The Maine Senate voted The bipartisan support for this issue has been incredible!

The success of this bill is now in the hands of the Maine governor LePage who must legalize the bill by signing it.

 EU-Digest 

The Netherlands: the place to be for foreign investors - but how long can this still last ?

the Netherlands-  "Still waters run deep"

The United States is the largest foreign investor in the Netherlands – ahead of the UK and Luxembourg – and  the Netherlands is the third largest foreign investor in the United States, after the UK and Japan.

The Netherlands is also a major and active center for international headquarters and holding companies.  At the same time there is a growing number of important and large Dutch corporations that have a global reach.

Dutch business culture can claim a long global trading tradition. Hundreds of years ago the Dutch were an impressive colonial power, especially in terms of trade and the Dutch were the first Europeans to develop formal trade with Japan, in 1609.

Today the Netherlands continues to boast an open economy with a very competitive tax system for international business. Add to that its strategic location – the Netherlands can truly call itself the gateway to Europe – in addition it has a focused Government policy to attract foreign investments.

Another incentive for business is a system of tax rulings that allows companies to map out long-term tax plans. The Dutch Revenue Service has a team that is specifically mandated to accommodate foreign investors and to issue tax rulings. These tax rulings cover all relevant taxes in the Netherlands.

In general the Dutch Revenue Service is very accessible, and rulings can usually be obtained in a relatively short period, even within weeks when necessary.  For instance, investors who decide to establish operations in the Netherlands can get certainty on the transfer pricing, the availability of certain tax breaks and the exemptions for foreign source income very quickly.

But for how long can this dream still last?  As Europe, the US, and other countries continue to face sluggish economies in the midst of extraordianarily high corporate profits, substantial accumulation of new wealth in the hands of even fewer people, and inordinate influence of corporatist approaches on democratic governance, a public backlash is growing and legislatures are beginning to notice.

Unfortunately many of the Dutch companies created by Multi-National Enterprises (MNEs) like Yahoo, Google, Merck, and Dell are so-called "sham companies" that “only exist on paper”.  In 2010 around $10.2 trillion dollars went through 14,300 of those sham companies.  The well know Merck pharmaceutical company has 54 subsidiaries in the Netherlands and routed more than 7 billion euros in royalties between 2002 and 2010 through an Amsterdam subsidiary that has no employees.

Indeed, the Netherlands, in the heart of a continent better known for social welfare than corporate welfare, has emerged as one of the most important tax havens for multinational companies.

This can not go on forever. The Dutch Labour Party (PVDA) and the  People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), which are in power now have said they are “fed up with these so-called PO Box companies". Reality is that so far they have done very little to "rock the boat".  The "groundswell", however, from a variety of sources in the Netherlands and around the EU  in calling for action is growing.

They are accusing the Dutch Government for on one hand imposing harsh austerity measures on the local population, while on the other hand providing multinationals with "legal loopholes" to avoid taxes.

How long this can still last is anyone's guess. 

EU-Digest