04/04 – Today’s headlines from across the EU

EUROPEAN HEADLINES

FT Europe – Fears mount in currency markets as Britain nears in-out vote on EU. Cost of insurance against plunging pound soars. Analysts view poll as key market risk.

WSJE Europe – Thousands protest in Poland over proposed abortion ban. Protesters held hangers, symbolising illegal abortion, during a rally in Warsaw, the Polish capital, on Sunday. Poland’s prime minister and the ruling party’s leader have said they back a complete ban on abortion, which is currently allowed in select cases.

INYT (IHT) – Eyes on Kremlin as migrants’ route shifts. The flow of refugees through Artic increases anxiety over EU crisis.

BBC Europe – Panama Papers: Putin associates linked to ‘money laundering’. A suspected money laundering ring involving close associates of Vladimir Putin has been uncovered in a leak of confidential documents. The billion-dollar operation was run by Bank Rossiya, which is subject to US and EU sanctions following Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

FRANCE

Le Monde – How the Orange-Bouygues merger failed. Bouygues will not sell its telecom branch to Orange. This transaction also involved SFR and Free and would have made the construction group a shareholder of Orange.

Les Echos – Fraud figures of illegal employment acknowledged. Adjustments for undeclared work reached new highs in 2015. Social contribution fraud reached €6.1 to €7.4 billion per year.

GERMANY

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) – Ongoing fighting in Nagornyj Karabakh. Armenia and Azerbaijan blame each other for the escalation of the conflict.

Sueddeutsche Zeitung – The clandestine million transactions of Putin’s inner circle. Confidential documents reveal: friends of the Russian president obviously used dummy corporations to evade a lot of money abroad. The “Panama Papers” show how leaders, dictators and sports stars conceal their assets worldwide.

ITALY

La Repubblica – Panama: the secrets accounts of Putin and the richest people of the planet. The treasuries of presidents, kings and stars like Messi and according to “L’Espresso,” 800 Italians.

Il Sole 24 Ore – Corporate taxes: new rate race in Europe. Cameron’s goal: 17% for the corporate tax. Next year IRES at 24%.

POLAND

Gazeta Wyborcza – Robbing state coffers via tax heavens. For nearly a year, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Süddeutsche Zeitung and 108 other newspapers from 76 countries have investigated clients of tax heavens from around the world. In their report, they mention heads of states, their families, politicians, sports people and billionaires, including some from Poland.

SPAIN

El Pais – PSOE leaders warn Iceta against pro-independence movement. Several regional leaders warn PSC’s Secretary against his approval of a referendum.

Expansión – Interview with Carles Puigdemont, president of Generalitat: “we will not make a leap into the void.” Four months after he took office, Carles Puigdemont, president of the Generalitat, guarantees that the process initiated by the new government of Catalonia “will respect the legislation in force.”

The Times – Border chaos threatens deal to deport migrants. Greece has “no idea” how many will be sent back. Too few officials to carry out EU plan.

The Guardian – The secret $2 billion trail of deals that lead all the way to Putin. From Panama to the Kremlin the offshore network that made Russian president and his friends fabulously wealthy.