25/01 – Today’s headlines from across the EU

EUROPEAN HEADLINES

FT Europe – Johnson and Tyco revive tax storm with $20 billion tie-up. US group shifts domicile to Ireland. Push to seal deal before law change.

WSJE – Iran forges deals in Europe. President Rouhani is expected to seal post-sanctions contracts worth billions on visit.

INYT – As fighting persists, Syria talks are set. Attendees uncertain as U.N. envoy seeks to gather all parties Friday.

BBC Europe –Denmark to vote on controversial migrant assets bill. The Danish parliament will vote on Tuesday on a highly controversial proposal to confiscate asylum seekers’ valuables to pay for their upkeep. The proposal drew sharp criticism at home and abroad when it was announced earlier this month.

FRANCE

Le Monde – Badinter puts the workers’ rights back into the heart of the Labour law. The committee presided by the former Justice Minister presents its “essential principles” for the upcoming Labour law, to be reformed before 2018.

Les Echos – 35-hour week: Valls’ action in favour of SMEs. Matignon plans to facilitate the transition to working hour’s packages for small firms with fewer than 20 employees. The reform on overtime remains unclear. Referendum votes of employees are to be promoted in order to approve collective agreements.

GERMANY

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) – The EU urges Athens to better manage its external borders. Threat of expulsion from Schengen. Reluctance towards Ms Klöckner’s “Plan A2.”

Sueddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) – Deep gap between rich and poor. In Germany, more than half of the assets belong to ten percent of the population. Although the trend has stopped, the bottom 50 percent of the society are getting poorer.

ITALY

La Repubblica – Schengen divides Europe. Six countries are asking for the reintroduction of border controls over the next two years.

Il Sole 24 Ore – Markets stop rallying, stocks and oil still on the downturn. European stock markets remained in negative territory while waiting for the Federal Reserve’s meeting. Milan recorded one of the worst performances in Europe, with -2.03%.

POLAND

Gazeta Wyborcza – Do not fiddle with the banks. Moody’s rating agency warns that taxes to be imposed on banks by the Polish Government can threaten their stability and be harmful for the economy. Head of NBP central bank Marek Belka already warned against the banking crisis.

SPAIN

El País – Iglesias will have to refer to the party’s base and Sanchez to the leaders. Podemos warns that any pact will have to be approved by its members. The PSOE’s “number two” states that its federal committee will have the last word. The PP and Ciudadanos initiate negotiations to agree on a government.

Expansion – VidaCaixa overtakes Mapfre as leader in insurance business. The company grew by 30% and reached a volume of premiums of €7.2 billion.

The Tmes – UK failed to challenge Google over tax loophole. Google is negotiating a tax settlement with France worth three times the amount it paid to Britain despite the internet giant doing more business and employing thousands more people in this country.

The Guardian – Cuts blamed as mental health death toll soars. A sudden spike in the number of mental health patients dying unexpectedly in NHS care has prompted calls for a wide-ranging investigation into “threadbare” services that are “struggling to cope.”