The Catalonian regional government has acknowledged that it needs financial aid from Spain’s Regional Liquidity Fund. With €5.57 billion debt to reimburse for 2013 and €42 billion overall, the region is the third — after Valencia and Murcia — to ask for help.
Catalonia asks government for bailout – ABC
Romania's Liberal Democratic Party (PDL) has called for a boycott of the 29 July referendum on whether to impeach PDL member President Traian Băsescu. It also intends to denounce the risk of fraud. A 50% turnout is required to validate the vote.
From vote to boycott – Adevărul
The Polish state’s revenues are to be lower than expected due to shrinking VAT and other tax revenues in the first six months of 2012, the Warsaw daily reports. So far, the Polish treasury has collected a billion zlotys (€250 million euro) less in VAT than in 2011. “Reducing this year’s budget deficit to less than 3% as requested by the European Commission is unrealistic.”
Crisis destroys Polish budget – Rzeczpospolita
In response to French car makers PSA's announcement that it would axe 8,000 jobs in France, the French Productive Recovery Minister Arnaud Montebourg has presented a plan to support the French car industry. This includes increased incentives for green and hybrid vehicles.
State plan to relaunch French car industry – Les Echos
Seán FitzPatrick, the former chairman and chief executive of Anglo Irish Bank has been charged with unlawfully providing financial assistance to 16 investors to buy shares in the institution in 2008. Anglo Irish was subsequently nationalised by the Irish state in 2009, after the bank had suffered massive losses in property speculation. The state has so far invested over 30 billion euros in the bank.
Former Anglo chief FitzPatrick charged – The Irish Times
Seven key News International executives, including British PM David Cameron's former spin-doctor Andy Coulson and ex-Sun editor Rebekah Brooks, have been charged with phone-hacking crimes. Between 2000 and 2006, the journalists – who all held senior positions in Mr Murdoch's UK newspaper group – were alleged to have targeted 600 individuals, quite often celebrities.
Murdoch's finest brought to trial – The Independent
The European Commission wants European companies to pay more for their CO2 emissions. Today it will unveil a plan to reduce as of 2013 the number of certificates to motivate energy suppliers, steelworkers and cement manufacturers to invest in environmentally friendly technologies. The cost of CO2 per tonne is to rise from 6 euros today to 40 euros by 2020 in order to reduce emissions by 20% compared to 1990.
Brussels risks row with business – Süddeutsche Zeitung
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