I met with Philippe Bresson to explore his experience of investing in Eastern Europe. Philippe manages the BEE Family Office, formerly BRICOSTORE Holding, a 160-year-old family-owned holding company that manages a variety of assets and holdings in various business sectors. It was originally focused on the retail sector in France and internationally. In the late…
The European Commission has today approved a package on tourism and transport giving clarity on passenger rights whilst supporting both sectors to overcome the COVID-19 crisis. Commenting on the package Transport and Tourism Committee Chair Karima Delli (Greens/EFA, FR) said, “The Commission’s package on tourism and transport is a great example of addressing together the current and upcoming challenges…
George Soros has called for countries including Germany and the Netherlands to “think again” and consider his proposal that the EU should issue perpetual bonds to fund the two trillion Euros needed to tackle COVID-19 and climate change. The financier and philanthropist says these threats are the “crisis of my lifetime” that “endangers the survival…
5 months ago UK Labour lost a general election with a landslide defeat. Remarkably, under their new leader Sir Keir Starmer, they look as though they could reverse their catastrophic decline under Corbyn. In his first television broadcast responding to the Prime Minister’s statement on Sunday night about how the UK will emerge from lockdown,…
The Commission has invited Schengen Member States and Schengen Associated States to extend the temporary restriction on non-essential travel to the EU for another 30 days, until 15 June. While some EU and Schengen Associated States are taking preliminary steps towards easing the measures for fighting the spread of the pandemic, the situation remains fragile…
The EPP Group has criticised the Czech Republic for having no system in place to guarantee the avoidance of conflicts of interests in connection with EU funds and calls on Prime Minister Babiš to stay out of the negotiations on the long-term EU budget. A centralised overview of how EU money is spent is missing…
The EESC says it is making the case for investing in “human-centred policies” and for measures to curb brain drain from less affluent parts of Europe to wealthier Member States. With its share in the global population at an all-time low and another baby boom unlikely, Europe will need to take a holistic approach if…
Parliament’s president David Sassoli has urged “bravery” on the EU recovery plan following meeting with the MFF contact group “Now is the time to be courageous and ambitious with the actions backed by the EU budget. Parliament must be a key player in this process together with other institutions, so it can contribute to making…
Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, Prime Minister of Mongolia by John Grogan, Chairman of the Mongolian British Chamber of Commerce On the evening of Saturday 25th January I organised the annual Burns supper in Ulaanbaatar where the night-time temperature can drop to -40c. A piper from Glasgow dressed in a kilt and fortified by the finest Scotch whisky…
Today is the 70th Anniversary of the signing of the Schuman Declaration, which was originally presented by French foreign minister Robert Schuman on 9 May 1950. The Declaration proposed the creation of a European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) between France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, to enable these countries to pool…
