Almost a month after the April 27 general elections, Iceland’s new government took office on May 23. None of the nine members of the country’s new cabinet, which is made up of a coalition of 38-year-old Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson’s Progress Party and the Independence Party led by Bjarni Benediktsson, have previous ministerial experience.

In an interview with Morgunblaðið, Benediktsson, the new Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, confirmed that he intends to cut income taxes in the summer in order “to relaunch the economy.”

The day before he took office, Benediktsson announced that “Iceland’s accession to the European Union would immediately be suspended.”

For the first time in 22 years, the conservative Civic Democratic Party (ODS) has lost control of Prague. On May 23, the municipal council dismissed Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda and two representatives of his party, while two others resigned.

Svoboda, who was renowned for his pledge to fight corruption in the city, was let down by the centre-right TOP 09 party, with which he had formed a coalition. Is it a “betrayal” by TOP 09, who, with the help of the social democrats and a communist, liquidated a functioning coalition, or is it the result of conflicts within the ODS, wonders Lidové noviny.

The daily remarks that “the affair has also had an impact on the [national] centre-right coalition government.” Prime Minister Petr Nečas has claimed that his partner, vice-president of TOP 09 and Minister of Finance Finances Miroslav Kalousek is responsible for the “Prague crisis”.

The UK domestic security service MI5 carried out preliminary assessments eight years earlier of the two men who stabbed a soldier to death outside a London army barracks, but judged they were “peripheral figures” and did not warrant a full-scale investigation, reports The Guardian.

Police identified the victim as 25-year-old father-of-one Lee Rigby, who served a six month tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2009.

Detectives named one of the suspects as Michael Olumide Adebolajo and raided two London properties, arresting a 29-year-old man and woman for conspiracy to murder, “suggesting there may have been a wider conspiracy to carry out the attack,” adds the newspaper.

“Greece, Cyprus and now Croatia. Indebted, corrupt and haunted by high unemployment: that is Croatia,” announces an alarmed Bild

The tabloid seriously doubts that the “EU will be doing itself a service” by making Croatia its 28th member on July 1.

“Brussels has already shelled out a billion to assist the Zagreb government's accession,” points out the newspaper, which announces that ”the euros will flow even more readily after accession, because the Croats are hoping to cash in on €3bn in EU funds.”

Notwithstanding the “very nice atmosphere at the European summit on tax evasion and avoidance” on May 22, the event has left us with “few reasons to celebrate” —

Determined words were not able to hide the fact that member states are mainly passing the buck. Ireland believes that it has nothing to ashamed of in the Apple [tax optimisation] affair, and Luxembourg and Austria do not want to exchange their banking information if Switzerland refuses to do the same.

At the same time, Herman Van Rompuy’s declaration on the joint “fight against despicable practices” was “not greeted with much enthusiasm,” points out De Morgen.

Two men were shot and wounded by police in south-east London on May 22 after they rammed an off-duty soldier with a car in broad daylight outside an army barracks before stabbing him to death in front of dozens of horrified bystanders.

The pair told stunned witnesses to take photographs and videos of them during the terrifying attack outside the Royal Artillery barracks in Woolwich, and claimed their actions were a response to British forces’ killing of Muslims.

Following the murder, more than 100 members of a far-right group clashed with police after a series of attacks on mosques in the south of England, while Prime Minister David Cameron was today due to hold a meeting with advisors as security was tightened around UK military bases.

At his meeting with the German Chancellor on the occasion of the May 22 European Council, “the Hungarian Prime Minister will have had to contend with a few tense moments”, remarks Népzsabadság.

Is he intending to apologise for affirming that “the Germans have already sent in the cavalry, to be precise in the form of tanks, [which was] not a good idea at the time, and did not work”? wonders the daily.

This was how Orbán responded to Angela Merkel’s remarks on recent legislative changes that have undermined the rule of law and democracy in Hungary. The Chancellor’s exact words were: “We will do everything to encourage a return to the right path, without going as far as to send in the cavalry.” According to diplomatic sources cited by Népzsabadság, Orbán is unlikely to present an apology, “if it is not specifically demanded by the German Chancellor.”

The Greek government has launched a redundancy plan for several thousand civil servants, a measure stipulated by the latest memorandum signed with the IMF-EU-ECB troika.

The first to be shown the door will be those who lost a court appeal when they were laid off by the terms of a previous memorandum signed in 2010. By the end of June, 3,000 people will have their jobs cut, and 12,500 will have been short-listed for redundancy, explains To Ethnos.

The daily adds that under the terms of the government’s agreement with the troika, 150,000 to 200,000 civil servants will be laid off between now and 2015.

If the 27 EU member states give their unanimous approval, European elections will be held between 22 and 25 May, 2014, and not in June 2014 as initially planned.

On May 21, the European Parliament endorsed the change to the electoral calendar, on the basis that “the turnout will be higher in the month of May than during the holidays in June,” explains De Morgen.

As a result, points out the daily, Belgian elections will also be pushed forward by a month, because under the terms of the “sixth [Belgian] state reform, European regional and federal elections must all be held at the same time.”

“European leaders want to jump the gun on the Lisbon Treaty,” announces Spiegel Online.

Citing diplomatic sources, the German news weekly’s website reports that the EU’s 27 government leaders will not agree to reduce the number of European commissioners — a change stipulated by the Lisbon Treaty.

As it stands, every EU member state has the right to designate a commissioner, and national leaders want this rule to apply to the next commission to take office following European elections in 2014.

According to Spiegel Online, their decision will be announced at the next European Council meeting on May 22 in Brussels. Continuing with 27 EU commissioners will require a unanimous decision, but no country has announced it will oppose the measure, notes the news website, which explains the logic of the council’s position:

If the number of commissioners was limited to 19, some EU member states would be absent from the Brussels Commission for the entire duration of the legislature.

“Each commissioner costs approximately €1.5m to €2m per year,” remarks Spiegel Online, which argues that in a time of austerity, “it will be hard to justify the financial implications of this decision to taxpayers.”

The leader of the Christian Democratic and Christian Social Union parliamentary group wants to outlaw symbols of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), the former communist East Germany, reports Berliner Morgenpost.

Volker Kauder wants to avoid further “provocations”, following a May 9 parade of former soldiers of the National People’s Army (NVA), in which armed men, wearing Stasi and NVA uniforms and carrying flags of the GDR gathered around the Soviet War Memorial in Berlin's Treptow Park.

Kauder’s proposal is supported by liberals in the ruling coalition. The deputy president of the liberal parliamentary group, Martin Lindner, also wants to introduce a law to outlaw symbols of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany.

Gigi Becali, an MP for the ruling National Liberal Party and owner of the football club Steaua Bucarest, has been definitively found guilty by the High Court of Appeals and Justice, which, on May 20, sentenced him to three years in prison for his part in a corrupt business deal that took place in 1997.

Becali was charged with unlawful profiteering in the deal, which involved the exchange of 30 hectares of land with the Romanian Ministry of Defence.

For România liberă —

Becali is finally having to pay for the greatest ever swindle of the state. […] In the case, which was led by prosecutors from the National Anticorruption Directorate, two other public figures (the minister of defence of the period, and a former chief of general staff) were also sentenced to two years in prison.

A spokesman for José Manuel Barroso has rejected allegations from two Green MEPs to the effect that the Commission President forced former health commissioner John Dalli to step down from his post without waiting for the results of a corruption investigation by the European Anti-Fraud Office.

The spokesman pointed out that Barroso demanded Dalli’s resignation because he believed that his Maltese colleague’s “position had become politically untenable”.

Dalli was allegedly aware that a close associate, Silvio Zammit, had demanded money from the Swedish tobacco lobby in exchange for favours from the former health commissioner.

The Democratic Party (PD) is preparing a law that would limit public funding to political parties and exclude unconventional organisations like Beppe Grillo’s Five Star Movement. Grillo reacted angrily to the proposal and called for a boycott of the next election if it is signed into law.

Grillo also called on PD dissidents to support a motion, to be voted Tuesday, that would bar People of Freedom (PDL) leader Silvio Berlusconi from running as a candidate on the grounds that he owns a TV network. If the motion were to pass, it would likely result in the collapse of the PD-PDL coalition government.

According to Corriere della Sera, the coalition government of Enrico Letta could prove even shorter-lived than predicted, and new elections could be called as soon as parties reach a deal on the new electoral law.

France is to buy two American Reaper surveillance drones to be deployed in the war in Mali before the end of this year, announces Libération.

The daily, which points out that France is planning to acquire 12 surveillance drones over the next few years, explains that —

Above and beyond the acquisition of the two Reapers, more of these aircraft will have to be bought in the medium term. [...] France especially wants its assembly lines to produce the drone of the future, a kind of armed Rafale without a pilot, between now and 2035. “In a collaborative programme with the British, we have both invested €20m,” says the Ministry of Defence. Doubtless this one of the final opportunities to avoid definitive dependence on the American ally.

Libération notes that French Defence Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drien, has spoken of “possible European collaboration” and is hoping to “bring the British and the Germans, ‘who have similar needs’, into the loop.” However, “this process appears to be deadlocked,” in the wake of a recent move by Le Drien’s German counterpart, Thomas de Maizière.

He cancelled the purchase of four Euro Hawk drones, built by EADS and American company Northrop Grumman. His decision was announced in the wake of revelations in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that “the Ministry of Defence had continued with the EuroHawk programme, whose costs ran to several billion euros, even though it was fully aware that it would not be authorised to use the aircraft in German and European airspace,” because of its lack of an anti-collision system.

“The embarrassing truth does not only concern the current Minister of Defence,” remarks *FAZ. But also —

… his predecessors Guttenberg (CSU), Jung (CDU) and Struck (SPD). All of whom failed to pose the crucial question: How can a drone be authorised to fly in civil airspace, if it is not equipped with reliable anti-collision system?

A group of UK business leaders have signed a letter to The Independent accusing Eurosceptic politicians of putting “politics before economics” in calling for Britain to withdraw from the EU.

The signatories, including airline and music tycoon Richard Branson, demand Prime Minister David Cameron “strengthen and deepen” involvement in the European single market.

“The letter, which is signed by senior figures including the current and next presidents of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) as well as the chairmen of BT, Deloitte, Lloyds and Centrica, is the first co-ordinated response from the business community to increasing anti-European political rhetoric,” writes the daily.

The Portuguese are not happy with the intervention of the troika in Portugal, according to a survey carried out by Eurosondagem for the European Institute, part of the Law Faculty at Lisbon University, and which will be released on May 20.

Almost half of Portuguese people feel the agreement between the government and the troika should not have been signed, compared to only 12 per cent who back the deal. A total of 82.5 per cent want to renegotiate or terminate the troika agreement.

President Aníbal Cavaco Silva will receive the members of the Council of State – the political body that advises the president – on May 20, for talks about the country’s likely condition once the troika has left Portugal, and for preparations ahead of the European Council meeting due to take place in June.

The movement Que se lixe a troika (Fuck the troika) called a protest today in front of the Presidential palace, to call for Cavaco Silva to "finally assume his position, respect the constitution and dismiss the government, which is ravaging Portuguese life."

Mayor of Zagreb Milan Bandić has emerged as the major winner in the first round of municipal elections, which took place in Croatia on May 19, reports Večernji list.

Support for the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which leads the ruling coalition, declined throughout the country, while the nationalist Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) succeeded in gaining ground.

With 47.3 per cent of first round votes, the populist and former SDP MP, Bandić, is in a good position to obtain a fifth mandate in Zagreb City Hall.

Plans to legalise gay marriage must overcome a new hurdle with some MPs seeking to derail the bill by adding an amendment to the existing law allowing gay couples the right to form civil partnerships, to be extended to also include heterosexual couples.

The Marriage Bill, which was approved by MPs when it was first debated in February, will return to the House of Commons for its report stage today after being debated by the UK parliament’s upper chamber, the House of Lords.

Should the amendment extending civil partnership rights to heterosexual couples be passed, the government claims this would delay the law’s introduction by two years and cost an extra £4bn (€4.7bn).

“At last a French proposition for Europe!” announces Le Monde, which welcomes the new European attitude outlined by the French President during his May 16 statement —

François Hollande’s address to Europeans and Germany at his press conference, finally put an end to the dodging and obstruction of European policy that have marked his tenure since his election. […] In affirming that France should be the "link" between northern and southern Europe, the head of state has given up on the idea of rallying Latin countries to oppose a Germanic Europe.

The daily also argues that in calling for united “economic government” in the Eurozone —

François Hollande is taking Angela Merkel, who proposed a political union a year ago, at her word. At the time, he was critical of an empty proposition. Today he has given it "substance". Taking Germany at its word is the right strategy. At last, France is once again bringing a proposition to the European table. However, it will only be credible if Mr Hollande sets his French house in order.

In Germany, where François Hollande’s remarks have been received with much less enthusiasm, Die Welt points out that the “so-called offensive is mainly composed of measures that were already presented by his predecessor,” whether they be —

… the European economic government that was called for by Sarkozy before the European Parliament in Strasbourg in 2008, or the idea of issuing bonds, which for tactical reasons Hollande is no longer calling Eurobonds, in the hope that the stubborn Germans will one day accept them.

With regard to his address to Germany, Die Welt remarks that Hollande’s attitude consists of “moaning about German austerity not only as a statement of his ideological position, but also as a tactical measure.” For the newspaper —

… in presenting himself as someone who is willing to do battle with the spectre of a Merkel style austerity diktat, he is trying to obtain room for manoeuvre that, in a best case scenario, will enable him to push through unpopular reforms. It follows that Angela Merkel will have to continue to allow him use her as a European punching-ball for some time to come.

The Bundestag committee of inquiry into the National Socialist Underground (NSU) has highlighted what it describes as a “total failure” of German security services.

Tagesspiegel explains that in its final report, due to be presented to the Bundestag in August but released on May 16, the committee deplores “a police and secret service investigation marked by blind prejudice,” and “a massive underestimation of the danger of right-wing extremism by regional and federal authorities which failed to exchange sufficient information.”

Numerous experts, including police trainers, have called for centralised coordination of initiatives to combat right-wing extremists, as well as counselling programmes for those who have left extreme right circles.

Miguel Blesa, the former chairman of Caja Madrid, the main savings bank in Spain’s largest nationalised banking operation, Bankia group, was taken into provisional custody on May 16 in Madrid.

Blesa is charged with “dishonest management, falsifying official documents, and misappropriation and abuse of corporate assets” in connection with Caja Madrid’s purchase of the City National Bank of Florida in 2008. According to El Periódico, the deal resulted in €500m of losses for Caja Madrid.

The judge took the view that the former banker represented a “flight risk” and ordered him to post bail of €2.5m if he wants to be released from custody.

French President François Hollande confirmed at a press conference on May 16, that the course set for the second year of his mandate would give priority to economic recovery and employment. For La Tribune, “François Hollande is more social-democratic than ever.”

"François Hollande has made European policy ‘the number one objective‘ for his year II,” notes the business news website, which explains that “this policy will be based on four pillars: a new European governmental authority, a plan to help young people enter the workforce, a European energy community and a step towards budgetary integration.” All of this amounts to —

… a clear affirmation that Germany, in spite of its economic power, does not control the leadership of Europe. In other words, without France, there will be no progress on European integration. Obviously, François Hollande wants to be the man who relaunches Europe...

Conservative Party officials have begun contingency planning in case Nick Clegg, the leader of coalition partner, the Liberal Democrats, is unable to stop his party from withdrawing from the government ahead of the end of its term in 2015.

One scenario would see Prime Minister David Cameron leading a minority government but with some limited support from the Lib Dems, explains The Times.

The news comes at the end of a tough week for the coalition, with the mostly pro-European Liberal Democrats at odds with a vocal anti-European element within the Conservatives, as the matter of Britain’s European membership dominated the week’s headlines.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Social Democrat candidate for the chancellor’s office Peer Steinbrück crossed swords in Berlin at a forum on Europe on May 16 over the issue of possible sanctions against Hungary, which has been accused of violating the principles of EU law.

Steinbrück, reports Népszava, raised the question of the exclusion of Hungary from the EU and asked Merkel to exert more pressure on Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, both personally and within the framework of the European People’s Party, of which they are both members.

The chancellor voiced her agreement with the European Commission on the need to modify the contested Hungarian legislation and remarked that she preferred persuasion to threats. She also pointed out that she is demanding “changes to laws or constitutional amendments, if they do not comply with EU treaties.”

As part of the public sector reform package presented by the Victor Ponta government, 14,000 civil servants (including 4,000 postal workers and 2,500 energy company employees) will be laid off between now and 2018.

The redundancy plan is one of the measures demanded by the International Monetary Fund in exchange for financial aid, points out România Liberă, which adds that this will “herald the end of the government’s honeymoon with the Romanian people.”

At the demography summit held in Berlin on May 14, Angela Merkel asked her government to facilitate the mobility of workers within the EU.

“Because we will have six million fewer workers in 2025, we should be open to young people who want to come to our country,” said the chancellor.

Germany offers good conditions for immigrants but suffers from a reputation of being a standoffish country, explains Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. German Interior Minister Hans Peter Friedrich is mainly counting on an influx of skilled workers from the countries of southern Europe.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has proposed an “asymmetric deficit distribution” among the country’s regions, asking for "generosity” to allow Catalonia a 2013 deficit level higher than the 0.7 per cent of GDP currently set for each Spanish region.

But Rajoy is now facing a rebellion in his own People’s Party (PP), as leaders of three regions ruled by the PP – Extremadura, Madrid and Aragon, which complied with 2012 deficit targets – condemned the proposal, saying it would amount to “preferential treatment” for Catalonia.

Other PP-controlled regions are also likely to object to the special status granted to Catalonia.

“The New Sick Man of Europe: the European Union”: this was the title chosen by the Pew Research Center — an American thinktank which surveys and compares public opinion in 40 countries every year — for its study conducted last March, which surveyed 7,600 people in eight EU countries (France, Germany, Britian, Poland, the Czech Republic, Spain, Italy, and Greece).

The findings, remarks Libération, retrace “the blighted love story” between Europe and its citizens. “In 2012-13, support for the EU fell from a median of 60 per cent to a median of 45 per cent” — a slump that leads us to conclude that “the popularity of the European Union has reached a record low [...] in most European countries.”

“However”, argues the daily’s deputy editor, in spite of “these sombre results[…], there are several good reasons to sustain hope in the solidity of the [European] edifice” —

… Europeans have shown themselves to be paradoxically fond of the euro. [...] Some 63 per cent of French respondents want to keep the European currency, which is also favoured by 69 per cent of Greeks, 67 per cent of Spaniards, 64 per cent of Italians and even 66 per cent of Germans.

“The Germans are distinguished by the solidity of their faith in Europe,” explains Libération, with 60 per cent of the population on the other side of the Rhine in favour of the EU.

It is a far cry from the bitterness in Metropolitan France, where only 41 per cent of residents have a positive view of the EU. For “the first time, attitudes in France are similar to those in Greece,” remarks one of the authors of the report, Bruce Stokes.

German daily Die Welt notes that a “growing divergence of opinion on the EU” has notably emerged between France and Germany. At the same time, the newspaper remarks that —

… the French have less confidence in EU institutions than the Italians and the Spanish. [...] Confidence in national governments has also declined in France and the crisis stricken countries of southern Europe. In contrast, Chancellor Angela Merkel benefits from a positive image. Notwithstanding the harsh criticism of her austerity policies in numerous European states, 74 per cent of German respondents believe that she is doing a good job of managing the crisis.

Milan prosecutors announced on May 13 that they are seeking a six year jail sentence and lifelong ban on holding public office for former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi over charges of bribery and underage prostitution.

They believe “there’s no doubt that Karima El Mahroug [the 17-year-old Moroccan girl who Berlusconi claimed was the niece of Hosni Mubarak in order to avoid her being jailed for theft] had sex with Berlusconi.” The politician, who is alleged to have paid Ms El Mahroug more than €4.5m for sex in 2010, said the claims are the product of “lies and hate”. The court is expected to announce its verdict on June 24.

Berlusconi’s supporters staged a demonstration last week against “communist judges” after he lost his appeal against a conviction for tax fraud, which has jeopardised the unity of the coalition government with Democratic Party (PD).

UK Prime Minister David Cameron will take the “highly unusual” step of publishing draft legislation on May 14, committing the government to hold a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU by 2017.

The move comes after the PM came under huge pressure from Conservative MPs to write his January pledge to give the British people a vote on the country’s relationship with the EU into law, after it did not feature in last week’s Queen’s Speech.

The plan was revealed late on Monday on the sidelines of Cameron’s meeting with Barack Obama, in which the US president backed the PM’s efforts to renegotiate Britain’s EU relationship.

It also comes ahead of a parliamentary vote called by Conservative MPs criticising the fact the referendum did not feature in the Queen’s speech.

“It is in the small Swiss town of Bellinzona on the Italian border that a trial will begin today [May 13] that could have historic implications for both the Czech Republic and Switzerland,” writes Hospodářské noviny.

Four executives (three Czechs and one Belgian) of the Czech mining company MUS are facing corruption and money laundering charges relating to the alleged misappropriation of corporate assets between 1997 and 2003, and the acquisition of 97 per cent of the company’s shares.

The trial, which is set to run for two months, has come at a time when Switzerland is eager to present itself as a more transparent country, remarks the business daily.

In the May 12 general election, the conservative Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (Gerb) led by outgoing Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, which won 30.1 per cent of the vote, was awarded 98 of the 240 seats in the country’s parliament. The Bulgarian Socialist Party led by Sergei Stanishev obtained 26.1 per cent and was given 86 seats. The two other parties with scores above the 4 per cent threshold are the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (33 seats), which represents the country’s Muslim minority, and the ultra-nationalist Ataka (23 seats).

Barely more than three months after the fall of the government in the wake of a wave of anti-poverty demonstrations, the country has once again been plunged into political deadlock, points out Standart, which remarks that in a situation where none of the parties received enough votes to govern alone and all of the parties have ruled out an alliance with Gerb, “the formation of a new government will be a difficult puzzle."

For its part, the daily Troud wonders about the possibility of "Everyone against the Gerb," a scenario that has already been alluded to by the socialists, but one which would rely on their party forming a coalition with Ataka as well as the Movement of Rights and Freedoms.

In an interview with Népszabadság, Green MEP Rui Tavares, the author of a draft report on fundamental rights in Hungary, which was published on May 2, advocates the establishment of monitoring and alert mechanisms.

The goal, emphasises the daily, is to avoid recourse to the “nuclear weapon” of Article 7 of the Lisbon Treaty, which stipulates that in the event of serious violation of European values, member states may have their voting rights suspended.

Rui Tavares rejects accusations of bias and claims he is “open” to discussion of the draft report, which has been strongly criticised by the Viktor Orbán government and the conservative Hungarian press.

Education Minister Michael Gove and Defence Secretary Philip Hammond have publically stated they would vote to leave the EU, should a referendum be held now, dealing a damaging blow to Prime Minister David Cameron.

These comments follow similar calls for a British withdrawal made last week by senior party figure and former chancellor Nigel Lawson, and contrast with the PM’s EU plan.

“Dozens of Conservative MPs,” reports The Guardian, are preparing to take part in a vote later this week, complaining at the fact that the Queen’s May 8 speech, outlining the government’s planned legal reforms, contained no pledge to hold an in-out poll on Britain’s EU membership.

On May 8, the National Court of Spain rejected a request submitted by Bern to extradite Hervé Falciani with what amounts to a “very harsh ruling for Switzerland and the bank HSBC," notes El Mundo. The court took the view that none of the charges faced by Falciani, and in particular the theft of banking secrets and economic espionage, “were considered offences in Spain". The daily remarks that —

… the man who informed on tax evaders can continue touring countries concerned by the intricacies of the enormous quantities of data he amassed over several years he spent working as computer technician for HSBC in Geneva.

With regard to his next port of call, El Mundo points out that —

Falciani is now free to travel to the United States, which is ready to welcome him with open arms.

“Spain has proudly given the finger to Switzerland,” writes Libération, in a report that remarks on the poisonous impact that Falciani’s delivery of 130,000 HSBC records to French authorities has had on Franco-Swiss diplomatic relations.

Also in France, news website Mediapart notes that Falciani’s lawyer “is counting on the Spanish decision to encourage the European Union to assume its responsibilities”. Lawyer William Bourdon believes —

… it is a decision that looks to the future, which should pave the way for a common European legislation: that is to say a law which encourages and protects those who serve the general interest by disclosing secrets, and thereby reduce the capacity of banks to act as accomplices to tax evasion and havens for dirty money.

According to Le Soir, between January and April of this year, the fiscal rulings office registered 1,715 adjustment declarations for money that had hitherto escaped the attention of tax authorities.

According to the Belgian daily, the influx of previously undeclared funds has likely been prompted by “the government’s announcement of an imminent tax amnesty”. The operation, which could take place as soon as July, “will likely be followed by an increase in charges for adjustments.”

For the newspaper, this prospect has led —

large numbers of “sly foxes” to take advantage of the permanent adjustment mechanism, which has been in operation since 2006, to bring back their shekels from tax oblivion.

The Milan court of appeal decided on Wednesday, May 8, to uphold Silvio Berlusconi’s four-year jail sentence and five-year ban on holding public office for his conviction on charges of manipulating television right payments in order to avoid taxes.

The verdict, condemned by Berlusconi’s People of Freedom Party (PDL) as another chapter in the “perennial persecution” against the former prime minister, is not expected to have any real consequences, since the offence expires in 2014 and the case still has to be heard at another level of justice.

Nonetheless, PDL called for a demonstration against “leftist judges” to be held on Saturday, May 11, in Brescia. The court’s decision, along with another trial for underage prostitution that Berlusconi will be facing in the coming weeks, also threaten the fledgling coalition government of PDL and the Democratic party.

The British government’s tax and revenue department has started acting on leaked data about wealthy individuals concealing billions of pounds in secret offshore bank accounts.

Chancellor George Osborne sent a blunt message to the tax evaders and to 200 accountants and advisors working on their behalf: “The message is simple: if you evade tax, we’re coming after you.” The tax department added that "criminal prosecution or significant penalties" would befall those who do not voluntarily disclose their tax irregularities.

The Guardian reports the department’s data on the wealthy tax evaders is the same information the daily accessed in its Offshore Leaks investigation into tax havens, published in March.

“The EU has issued a warning about increasing numbers of young people travelling to fight in Syria,” announces El Mundo, which reports on recent declarations by the European counter-terrorism co-ordinator, an organisation which answers to the European Council.

In the absence of common statistics for all of the EU, the warning is based on data from King’s College London’s International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR), which estimates that between 7 and 11 per cent of the foreign fighters who have joined groups combating the Bashar al-Assad regime are from the European Union —

This figure represents close to 500 young people, who have been recruited by the jihadi cells that are present in several European countries, particularly in France, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

“Recruitment has intensified over recent months,” and the alert level in The Netherlands has been raised in response to fears of a possible terrorist attack, continues El Mundo. The newspaper further reports that the issue will be on the agenda for discussion at the EU interior ministers’ meeting, scheduled for May 8, which is expected to adopt measures to help member states counter this growing threat.

At a press conference in Valletta on May 7, MEPs José Bové and Bart Staes presented a leaked report by the supervisory committee of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) on the investigation of former European Health Commissioner, John Dalli. It was on the basis of the investigation that Commission President José Manuel Barroso obliged Dalli to resign last October. Published on May 7, by news website Malta Today, the report questions some of the methods used by OLAF in the course of its enquiries.

Quoting part of a statement by Bové and Staes, the newspaper says —

EC President Jose Manuel Barroso should shoulder responsibility [for the scandal] because “he ruined Malta’s image along with Mr Dalli’s reputation”.

The two MEPs also criticised the Commission President for his failure —

… to see that the OLAF supervisory committee was informed of the case immediately and […] [the fact that he] allowed the report to be handed to the relevant authorities without adopting the five-day time-frame rule which enables the supervisory committee to verify whether the procedures were followed correctly in terms of the investigation.

A court in Palma, Majorca, has provisionally dropped charges against Princess Cristina relating to her alleged complicity in a corruption case involving her husband, Iñaki Urdangarin.

The court ruled that arguments offered by the prosecution were "insufficient", but nonetheless recommended that it pursue further enquiries to clear up any "doubt or uncertainty" about the possibility of money laundering via the company, Aizoon, which is co-owned by the princess and her husband, who remains under investigation.

A new YouGov poll commissioned by The Times found 42 per cent of respondents want a relationship with Europe based on free trade, while 21 per cent want a complete British withdrawal.

The survey is just the latest sign of the difficulties UK Prime Minister David Cameron faces in winning support for Britain’s continued relationship with the EU, ahead of a referendum on the matter due before 2017. The PM has vowed to negotiate a new deal with Europe.

The poll found that 46 per cent of people questioned said they would elect to leave the EU if there was an in-out referendum now, compared to 35 per cent who would choose to stay.

According to the daily —

Should Mr Cameron fail to negotiate a new relationship with Brussels more akin to a common market, MPs warned that he would find a significant number of his parliamentary party turning against him in his promised referendum.