Europe

Apple returns to the attack of the European Commission, after Tuesday’s fine that requires the company to Cupertino payment of 13 billion euro to move back taxes in Ireland. "The European legislation on taxes is maddening," said the number one Tim Cook group then called "exasperating" the EU Commission approach to State aid.

Yesterday, the US Treasury Secretary, Jack Lew, had spoken of fury on the part of Brussels against American companies. However, Cook remains "very confident" about the outcome of the appeal against the EU decision: "I am convinced that the verdict will be overturned," he told Irish radio Rte.

The possibility that the Spanish come back for the third time at the polls, now, is a more realistic scenario. Mariano Rajoy, on Wednesday, has received the rejection of the Parliament with 180 "no".
The Spain’s acting Prime Minister will try again in the second vote tomorrow, even if it becomes more and more concrete prospect of returning again to the polls later this year.
About the situation, the Minister of Finance Luis de Guindos warned that the Iberian economy will continue to proceed "at a slow pace" if it does not exit from the political stalemate that the country is experiencing, for several months.

The European Commission says "yes" to the merger between Wind, Italian subsidiary of the Russian group Vimpelcom, and 3Italia, which belongs to the group of Hong Kong Hutchison.

The approval, it said in a Brussels statement, shall be subject to sale of assets sufficiently to allow the entry of a new operator market. The agreement, in fact, opens the Italian market to the new French mobile operator Iliad. The parties (Three and Wind), have proposed to the committee a number of corrective measures that have finally brought the European antitrust give its approval: the sale to the new operator of a quantity of the mobile spectrum currently managed by the joint venture, sharing thousands of sites for the installation of mobile base stations (antennas) and a transient agreement that will allow Iliad to use the network of the joint venture until it has successfully opened its own.

Swiss banks have hired more staff during the first half of the year, thus reversing the trend. These additional places, however, were created abroad, while in Switzerland the number of employees has decreased.

Domestically, the Swiss banks have in fact reduced the staff by a significant 4.1%, writes the Swiss Bankers Association as a barometer of the banks published today. The 162 banks considered cut 3,454 employees in Switzerland. A major part of this decrease contributed to the foreign banks, with a reduction of 2,036 jobs, or 11.2% of its workforce. On the contrary, the Swiss banks have created over 6,700 jobs abroad.

The new CEO of Unicredit, Jean Pierre Mustier, has clear ideas on how to manage the first phase of work, in particular the capital increase that the bank is called upon to put in. As reported by the newspaper La Repubblica, Mustier aims to lighten the capital increase through a sales program.
In recent weeks, rumors of a possible sale of the stake held in the Polish Bank Pekao had already emerged. Then rumors related to the sale of FinecoBank, not to mention those on possible also movements of Pioneer.

The moment in which the securities issued or guaranteed by Greece will be included in the plan of the ECB purchases, ie Qe, are not yet certain. This is the content of the written response from the President of the institute, Mario Draghi, to request the Greek MEP Dimitrios Papadimoulis.

Statoil, the Norwegian energy giant, has developed a project to make profitable the huge investment in the Johan Sverdrup field in the North Sea, even if the price of a barrel of oil falls to $ 25, "The situation we’ve been in for the last two years, where we need to find smarter solutions, spurs creativity," Mr. Nylund, Statoil’s head of Norwegian operations, told The Wall Street Journal. The plan is followed with great attention by the domestic energy that is trying to adapt to the low prices of crude oil. In short, it is the traditional manufacturers to launch the competitive challenge in the alternative ones.

The free trade agreement between the United States and the European Union "has not failed", and precisely could get the classic twist. The next day the words of Vice cancellerier German Gabriel, who had announced the failure of TTIP, Brussels wanted to deny.

"The European Commission has made steady progress in the current negotiations on the TTIP," said European Commission spokesman, Margaritis Schinas, recalling that "the Commission has received unanimous negotiation mandate of the Member States to negotiate this agreement."