The European Commission is looking to tax video streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime to fund the production of European movies and TV programs Politico is reporting. In addition to the tax, at least 20% of their catalogs must be European productions.
On-demand-video streaming services would also have to ensure that at least 20 percent of their catalogs for EU viewers were European productions. There is currently no quota.
With Europe facing two distinct challenges as a result of the ongoing refugee crisis (which in recent months has been tamed as a result Turkey withholding further immigrant outflows via the land route if only for the time being until Erdogan changes his mind and asks for more concessions), namely how to keep track of the hundreds of thousands of new immigrants, and also where to house them, the Netherlands has successfully killed these two birds with one stone.
One of the alliance’s most senior retired generals has warned that Nato risks a nuclear war with Russia within a year if it does not increase its defence capabilities in the Baltic states. Banging the war-drum, General Sir Richard Shirreff, who served as Nato’s Deputy Supreme Allied Commander in Europe between 2011 and 2014, said that an attack on Estonia, Lithuania or Latvia, which are all Nato members, was a serious possibility and that the West should act now to avert “potential catastrophe”.
After two violently volatile days in which the market soared (Monday) then promptly retraced all gains (Tuesday), the overnight session has been relatively calm with futures and oil both unchanged even as the BBG dollar index rose to the highest level since April 4. This took place despite a substantial amount of macro data from both Japan, where the GDP came well above the expected 0.3%, instead printing 1.7% annualized, which pushed stocks lower as it meant the probability of more BOJ interventions or a delay of the sales tax hike both dropped.