The appeal will send the case to Europe’s highest court where a final decision will be made.
The case focuses on whether a deal made between Apple and Irish tax authorities was illegal, with the EC alleging that the deal granted Apple €13 billion in unlawful tax advantages.
The EU’s second-highest court disagreed with these allegations, however, ruling in July that there was not enough evidence to demonstrate that the tech giant broke EU competition rules.
“The General Court annuls the contested decision because the Commission did not succeed in showing to the requisite legal standard that there was an advantage for the purposes of Article 107(1) TFEU,” the judgment [PDF] said.
In announcing the appeal, the commission said it believed the General Court had made a “number of errors of law” when making its judgment.
“We have to continue to use all tools at our disposal to ensure companies pay their fair share of tax. Otherwise, the public purse and citizens are deprived of funds for much-needed investments — the need for which is even more acute now to support Europe’s economic recovery,” European Commission EVP Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.
"If Member States give certain multinational companies tax advantages not available to their rivals, this harms fair competition in the European Union in breach of State aid rules," Vestager added.
The EC originally made these allegations against Apple back in 2016, after a two-year investigation had found that Ireland issued two tax rulings to “substantially and artificially” lower Apple’s tax bills.
The deal allegedly saw Apple attribute all profits from two of its incorporated companies to a “head office” in Ireland, which had no employees and “could not have generated such profits”, the EC said at the time.
Zurich, Sep 28 (IANS) Swiss voters have rejected a proposal to end an accord with the EU allowing the free movement of people.
With all referendum votes counted, nearly 62 per cent said they wanted to keep free movement, while 38 per cent were against, the BBC reported.
Switzerland is not a member of the EU but has a series of interdependent treaties with Brussels which allow it to access to Europe’s free trade area.
The move to rein in immigration was proposed by the Swiss People’s Party (SVP), but opposed by the government.
A similar initiative to introduce quotas on immigrants from the EU to Switzerland narrowly passed in a 2014 referendum, damaging Swiss-EU relations.
Swiss people are given a direct say in their own affairs under the country’s system of direct democracy. They are regularly invited to vote on various issues in national or regional referendums.
Supporters of the anti-free movement plan said it would allow Switzerland to control its borders and select only the immigrants it wants.
Opponents argued it would plunge a healthy economy into recession at an uncertain time and deprive hundreds of thousands of Swiss citizens of their freedom to live and work across Europe.
A landlocked country that has observed neutrality for centuries, Switzerland has over time veered between seeking closer engagement with the EU, and preferring a more isolationist course.
Sunday’s referendum could have forced the Swiss government to unilaterally void its free movement agreement with the EU by invoking a so-called guillotine clause.
This clause would have impacted other bilateral deals on transport, research and trade with the EU, disrupting economic activity.
The president of the right-wing SVP, Marco Chiesa, conceded that his campaign had struggled to garner enough support for a proposal which was opposed by the government, parliament and tradio unions.
Given that opposition, Chiesa framed the campaign as a “fight between David and Goliath”. “But we will continue to fight for the country and take back control of immigration,” he said.
Opponents of the proposal said the result was an expression of Swiss support for open, bilateral relations with the EU. They said voters were worried about the economic cost of ending free movement during the coronavirus pandemic.
“The bilateral path is the right one for Switzerland and for the EU,” Justice Minister Karin Keller-Sutter told reporters. “The Swiss people have confirmed this path again today”.
“Today is a great day for the relations between the European Union and Switzerland,” tweeted European Council President Charles Michel. “The Swiss people have spoken & sent a clear message: together we have a great future ahead of us.”
South African church leaders heard that corruption in their country kills when they organized for a campaign against the latest version of pillaging during the fight against the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The South African Council of Churches organized a nationwide campaign against corruption during September, Heritage Month in their country.
It is under the banner “Corruption is not our heritage” which highlights the human and monetary costs of corruption involving government officials and people in the private sector.
“People often speak about corruption is an abstract matter of rands [dollars] and cents, or irregular expenditure,” said University of Pretoria political science lecturer Dr. Sithembile Mbete in a webinar organized by the SACC on Sept. 9 to launch the campaign.
“And people have died because of the COVID-19 disease from having incorrect personal protective equipment and other issues that are related to the kind of corruption that we’ve seen around this issue.
“So, this isn’t just a high-level political issue but something about how we live as a society and whether people survive living in South Africa,” said Mbete, who moderated the session.
CREATING A FUTURE
Ziphozihle Siwa, presiding bishop of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa and president of the South African Council of Churches led prayers at the beginning of the webinar.
“We pray Oh Lord that we use this time as we create a future. We know that future may be created by the actions of each and every citizen of this country,” he said.
Before the campaign began, Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town had addressed the nation’s president and other leaders about pandemic corruption.
“Mr. President, this is not only stealing. It is annihilating the very lives of the poorest; it is almost genocidal in effect.
“Corrupt bigwigs who have joined your party, not to serve the common good but to enrich themselves, act with impunity – their attitudes are debilitating, life-drenching.”
Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana, general secretary of the South African Council of Churches, cited Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former South African Anglican leader Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu writing on the humanity-based philosophy of “ubuntu.”
“We know we belong in a greater whole diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, and others are tortured or oppressed — in this case, by COVID corruption and greed,” said Mpumlwana.
Also speaking at the webinar was South Africa’s auditor general, Kimi Makwetu.
He had released a scathing report earlier revealing that in some cases personal protective equipment was bought for five times more than the price the national treasury had advised.
Makwetu’s report had tracked the spending of 500 billion rands ($26 billion) equivalent to 10 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product.
“A lot of the effort that we put into this on the detection side of things has revealed a number of frightening findings that require to be followed up very quickly,” he said at a press conference.
‘ONLY SPENT MONEY HAS VALUE’
Mbete quoted the auditor general’s words at the webinar that the money in the national coffers, “does not have value until it is spent on the people for whom it is intended.”
Prof. William Gumede, a Witwatersrand University governance assistant professor, said, “I understand these gangsters; I grew up with gangs in the Cape Flats,” a crime-and poverty-ridden area of Cape Town.
“Real gangsters are setting up political parties, so we need to have a tightening of the rules for people who set up these political parties and for people who get elected.”
Gumede noted, “We need to bar companies found guilty of corrupt practices,” and their actions need to be made public.
At the end of the webinar, Mbete said, “I hope to take this as a real clarion call for us to build the kind of South Africa, that we intended to in 1994,” when Nelson Mandela became president of the country. The future is defined by justice and a better life for all of us.”
SACC leader Bishop Mpumlwana on Sept. 15 launched the nationwide silent prayers campaign against corruption in all South Africa’s nine provinces
“We are calling it a ‘performance of silence’ because the churches are speechless at this level of revolting fraud,” said Mpumlwana.
The campaign followed the moral call against COVID-19 corruption issued on Aug. 7, by a group of six organizations who call themselves the Moral Call Collective.
The collective is made up of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation, Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution, Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, Foundation for Human Rights, Nelson Mandela Foundation, and South African Council of Churches.
“We are saying as the churches, and active citizens, that we refuse for our nation’s culture and heritage to be one of stealing, and defrauding of public resources,” said Mpumlwana.
“Corruption, especially this blatant looting of COVID-19 funds that has been reported, is criminal and continues to cost us lives and livelihoods as a country.”
September 27, 2020 (KHARTOUM) – The European Union and the World Bank Saturday signed a partnership agreement to manage $110 million to fund Sudan Family Support Programme (SFSP) provided by the European countries.
This European support is critical for the Sudanese government to implement tough economic reforms including the end of commodities subsidies which would affect poor families.
“The signed agreement allocates a total amount of EUR 92.9 million (USD 110 million) to the Sudan Transition and Recovery Support (STARS) Multi-Donor Trust Fund administered and managed by the World Bank,” said a statement released by the EU office in Khartoum.
The trust fund is the primary financing mechanism for the government-led and implemented Sudan Family Support Program.
At the occasion, the ambassadors of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden also announced their support, summing up to $78.2 million USD, bringing the total Team Europe contribution to the SFSP to $186.6 million.
The Sweden Ambassador said in a tweet after the signing ceremony that her country signed bilateral support to the programme of almost $25 million, through the World Bank.
The signing ceremony was held at the Prime Minister’s Office in the presence of Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok, the Ministers of Labour and Social Development, Culture and Information, the Acting Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, European Ambassadors and UN officials.
The agreement was signed by Ambassador of the European Union to Sudan, Robert van den Dool and Ousmane Dione, Country Director for Eritrea, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Sudan of the World Bank.
Hamdok commended the efforts made by the World Bank, the exemplary cooperation with the EU and its member states and the steps in following on the pledges made in the Berlin Conference.
Today’s ceremony marks “an important step in enabling the civilian-led Transitional Government to provide the much-needed assistance to the most vulnerable Sudanese as the cabinet accelerates its urgent economic reforms,” he said.
For his part, EU Ambassador Robert van den Dool said that the European Union is making good on its pledge at the Berlin conference in June 2020, to support the transitional government in its efforts to launch economic reforms.
“Together with the contributions announced today by EU member states, we have also shown that this Team Europe Approach allows us to join forces very effectively with our partners to make an even bigger difference for Sudan and its people,” den Dool added.
He also, disclosed that the European Union has also helped in triggering the World Bank to consider contributing substantially with resources which will be decided by its Board in the coming days.
The Sudan Family Support Programme is led and implemented by the Sudanese government. The Programme is being implemented by the Ministries of Finance and Economic Planning, Labour and Social Development, and Interior, along with other relevant agencies, and will be executed by the Digital Economy Agency.
The pilot phase is being launched in October 2020 and the program will be gradually scaled up over the next few months, starting with the states of Khartoum, Red Sea, South Darfur and Kassala.
The second phase will roll out to the other most affected states.
According to news reports, at least 16 people have been killed along the line of contact in the worst fighting between the two former Soviet Republics in four years.
Secretary-General @antonioguterres voices extreme concern over the fresh resumption of hostilities along the line of contact in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, calling on the sides to immediately stop fighting.
“He condemns the use of force and regrets the loss of life and the toll on the civilian population”, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said in a statement.
This latest skirmish between the two countries, which fought a war in the 1990s as the Soviet Union was dissolving, has heightened fears of instability in the South Caucasus, a region that provides crucial transit routes for gas and oil to world markets.
Both States have declared martial law and Armenia ordered the total mobilization of its military, according to media reports.
“The Secretary-General strongly calls on the sides to immediately stop fighting, de-escalate tensions and return to meaningful negotiations without delay”, Mr. Dujarric said, adding that the UN chief would be speaking to both the President of Azerbaijan and the Prime Minister of Armenia.
Back and forth
Armenia accused Azerbaijan of carrying out early morning air and artillery attacks on the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
The two fought a six-year war over the region until a 1994 truce, but over the years, both countries have blamed the other for ceasefire violations in the enclave and along the border, including in July.
In recent months, more than a dozen soldiers and civilians have been killed in the struggle.
Mr. Dujarric underscored that the Secretary-General reiterated his “full support” for the important role of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group Co-Chairs and urged the sides to “work closely with them for an urgent resumption of dialogue without preconditions”.
AMMAN — Jordan on Sunday signed a soft loan agreement and a memorandum of understanding worth 700 million euros, according to a Planning Ministry statement.
The financing granted by the EU, at a total value of 700 million euros, will be disbursed to the Kingdom in three batches, the first, at a value of 250 million euros, is expected in October, while the second 250-million euro batch, will be granted during the first-quarter of 2021, after achieving the related indicators of the second tranche.
The third installment of 200 million euros is also expected during 2021, to be disbursed after the completion of the related indicators of the third batch.
Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Wissam Rabadi and Central Bank of Jordan Governor Ziad Fariz signed the agreements.
Rabadi said that the soft financing would be provided on “very lenient terms”, at a competitive interest rate and a long repayment period of an average of 15 years.
He added that such processes would require the European Commission to borrow from the international capital markets, on behalf of the European Union, to provide assistance to its partners, at the same rate of interest set on the day of the issuance of bonds or on the date of receipt of the bank loan, according to the statement.
He stressed that the concessional funding and the memo will support a range of reforms adopted by Jordan in priority areas, including public finances, through measures to develop the electronic billing system for sectors or professions, and the adoption of regulations to enforce the Public-Private Partnership Act, increase transparency and efficiency of public investment projects through the establishment of a national register for investment projects.
They will also contribute in “increasing transparency and efficiency in the public procurement system” through operating the electronic bidding system, along with reforms aimed at reducing water waste and introducing smart metres, among other goals, the statement said.
The European Council and Parliament approved a 500-million-euro soft loan to Jordan in January 2020, which was raised by 200 million euros in May 2020 in response to measures against the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing the total amount to 700 million euros.
The European Union is one of Jordan’s main donors, as its assistance has contributed in the implementation of programmes and projects in important sectors, as well as providing support to the public budget, besides allowing Jordan to address the economic cost of hosting Syrian refugees, as well as addressing the repercussions of the coronavirus epidemic.
Scientologists celebrate the 50th anniversary in Germany and request the UN to launch an investigation on Germany for violating their religious freedom.
Geneva/Munich, Sept 27th – As Scientologists celebrate the 50th anniversary of the German Church of Scientology and its peaceful and fruitful social actions to the benefit of German society, the representative of the European Church requests the UN Human Rights Council to launch an investigation on Germany for violating their Freedom of Religion.
Founded in a villa in the south of Munich in 1970, the Scientology community quickly became the central institution for the entire German-speaking region. To this day, the Munich “Mother Community” is one of the larger organizations of its kind in Europe.
Initially based in Munich-Harlaching, the Church of Scientology needed larger premises by August 1972 and moved to the center of the city to Sendling on Lindwurmstrasse. which soon became too small as well. In January 1982, it moved into its own building in Munich-Schwabing.
Speakers at the anniversary event emphasized the pioneering work of Scientologists from the first hour. It did not take long since its establishment in Germany, that some people in the government started to discriminate against a growing and socially involved community. Nonetheless, Scientologists did not stop the practice of their religion and continued their peaceful social endeavors such as their fight against drugs, their support of the Constitution, and the promotion of Human Rights. In defending their religious freedom rights, they have won their recognition as a religious movement by dozens of German courts at various levels.
Veteran Scientologists that participated at the celebration emphasized that “spiritual freedom – despite the well-known resistance from established “vested interests” – could never be suppressed and that all such attempts were doomed to failure”.
In the week in which this celebration is taking place, Scientologists have not lost sight of the opportunity to continue their battle for Freedom of Religion or Belief. In this regard, Ivan Arjona, the European representative of the Church, and founder of the UN-recognized Foundation of the Church [Fundacion para la Mejora de la Vida, la Cultura y la Sociedad], took the issue to the 45th Session of the UN Human Rights Council.
Arjona stated last Thursday and last Friday at the HRC Session chaired by the President of the Human Rights Council, Ms. Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberger (an Austrian lawyer and diplomat who has served as Austria´s representative to the United Nations and who now chairs the United Nations Human Rights Council since January 2020) that he
“invites Germany to celebrate this week the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Church of Scientology in their country, and so stop all discrimination and violations of Freedom of Religion or Belief by the authorities against Scientologists”.
Arjona also reminded the Germany representative to the UN that
“Over the past three decades, dozens of German courts have condemned the actions of the government against Scientologists at different levels and recognized their rights as per Article 4 of their Constitution”
and that
“despite the decisions of their judicial powers, for practically 50 years the German executive powers continue to ignore these decisions, and have violated, and still violate today, the rights of this religious minority”.
Scientology was founded in 1952 by humanist and philosopher L. Ron Hubbard and opened its first Church in Germany in 1970 in Munich. There are today nine Churches of Scientology in Munich, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Berlin, Hannover, and Hamburg, along with numerous missions and smaller groups throughout the country.
