Europe

The European Union agreed Tuesday on new rules allowing subscribers of online services, as Netflix or Amazon Prime, in one E.U. country access to them while traveling in another.

The new “portability” ruling is the first step of regulation under a drive by the European Commission to introduce a single digital market in Europe. Announced in May 2015 on the cusp of the Cannes Film Festival, the proposed Digital Single Market was met with full-throated opposition from Europe’s movie and TV industry, which viewed it as a threat to its territory-by-territory licensing of movies and TV shows.

The statistical office of the European Union has taken a survey of 440 comparable foods across Europe to create an index of food, beverage, and tobacco prices categorized by nation. According to purchasing power, their 2015 data concludes that Switzerland has Europe’s most expensive food and drinks. They’re followed closely by Norway, Denmark, and Iceland.
For fruit and vegetables, including potatoes, Switzerland is the most expensive country in the EU, then Denmark and Ireland.

The European Union reached a deal early Wednesday morning that should pave the way for consumers to use their mobile phones throughout the 28-country region without paying roaming fees.

Three-way negotiations between the European Parliament, Council and Commission ended just after midnight with a pact on the pace of slashing rates telecom companies charge each other, according to the office of Parliament’s rapporteur Miapetra Kumpula-Natri, a Finnish member of the Socialists & Democrats, who tweeted "Goodbye roaming,".

Benoit Hamon secured the French Socialist Party’s presidential nomination on Sunday, beating rival Manuel Valls. Initial results gave Hamon 58 percent of the vote and Valls only 42.

Hamon was the more left-wing choice of the two politicians. He supports a universal basic income and wants to reduce the traditional work week to 35 hours. He has also spoken in support of legalizing cannabis and increased investment in renewable energy. Valls, on the other hand, has called himself a more "Clintonite" leftist with a strong belief in pragmatism and individual responsibility.

Despite some concerns around the start of last year, and the political shocks that unfolded over the course of the past 12 months, 2016 actually turned out to be quite a good year for investors, with most asset classes rising in value. But what can we expect over 2017, and how should investors approach the coming year? In this short outlook document we outline what we expect over the year ahead and set out what we believe could be the best-performing asset classes in each of our main scenarios.

Johann Schneider-Ammann, Switzerland’s economy minister said Sunday he wants to have “background” talks with Britain so that a trade deal can be in place as soon as the UK leaves the EU.

“My objective is clear. Not one day should pass after Britain’s exit (from the EU) without new regulations in place,” he told Blick daily.
“It should be at least as good” as the present deal, he said.

The paper said Britain’s International Trade Secretary Liam Fox declared during the recent World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting that he was very interested in a trade agreement with Switzerland.

Credit Suisse is exploring options for expanding in Dublin, as the UK moves closer to exiting the European Union, according to a report from Bloomberg.

It is believed Dublin is emerging as a favoured location for the bank’s so-called back-office jobs. The Zurich-based bank is also understood to be considering cities including Frankfurt as it develops plans for moving jobs to adapt to Brexit, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Credit Suisse board member Noreen Doyle said in Dublin earlier this week that the bank is in the "early stages" of examining alternatives to the UK as it plans for Brexit’s implications.

The European Environment Agency says the continent is facing rising sea levels and more extreme weather, such as more frequent and more intense heat waves, flooding, droughts and storms because of climate change.

The document, called Climate change, impacts and vulnerability in Europe, revealed the cost to the economy had soared by about 80% over the last 30 years.

During the 1980s, the damages averaged about €7.6bn euro a year, but by the 2000s the figure had risen to €13.7bn, the report said. Overall between 1980 and 2013, the cost was nearly €393bn.