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A ballot carried out by Ipsos firstly of September, to which 10,000 individuals responded in France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, United Kingdom, Portugal, Moldova and Serbia, reveals that Europeans are going via a tough patch.
For 55 p.c of these questioned, buying energy has fallen during the last three years. The main trigger recognized is, unsurprisingly, value rises. One third of the respondents say they’re economically insecure (29 p.c on common, virtually 50 p.c in Greece and Moldova). Thirty p.c say they’ve already skipped a meal, and a 3rd say their wage is now not ample. Eurostat confirms this development: in 2022 95.3 million individuals within the EU had been vulnerable to poverty or social exclusion, or 21.6 p.c of the inhabitants.
Whether or not or not it’s basic salaried employment or extra trendy and precarious forms of labour, this working Europe simply retains getting poorer.
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But an OECD examine analysed by the French month-to-month Options Economiques reveals that labour is extra closely taxed than capital. Aside from solely three international locations (Switzerland, Spain and Colombia), in all places on this planet it’s fiscally extra engaging to obtain dividends than to earn wages. And it simply so occurs that dividends are at present in impolite well being: within the second quarter of 2023, totally $568.1 billion of them had been distributed by 1,200 listed corporations, an enhance of 4.9 p.c in comparison with 2022 (Janus Henderson knowledge, April-June knowledge, reported by Libération).
Taxing capital: an answer?
One proposal comes from the Greens/EFA group within the European Parliament. On 15 September final, it launched a report “Tax the wealthy: From slogan to actuality”, produced with the NGO Tax Justice Community on the premise of knowledge from the World Inequality Database. A “average and progressive” wealth tax, which targets the richest 0.5 p.c in every European nation, would elevate over €213 billion in tax income annually. In response to the French newspaper Le Monde, this “0.5 p.c of the inhabitants holds about 20 p.c of European wealth, in comparison with 3.5 p.c for the entire much less affluent half. This wealth has grown by 35 p.c in ten years.”
Alongside the identical traces is a European residents’ initiative submitted by Belgian socialist Paul Magnette and French socialist Aurore Lalucq. Accepted by the European Fee, signature assortment for the petition opened on 9 October. It proposes a tax on massive estates to finance environmental and social programmes and worldwide growth.
In response to the European Central Financial institution, the ecological transition goes to be costly. Very costly. Particularly for atypical individuals: will increase in power payments of as much as 50 p.c are predicted within the worst-case state of affairs.
Taxing wealth sounds difficult, however it’s potential.
Spain has obtained the ball rolling: because the information company EFE experiences, a “solidarity tax” is because of hit Spanish property value €3 million or extra. As well as, capital positive aspects tax will probably be elevated and the tax thresholds for decrease incomes will probably be raised.
On the identical theme
Restos du cœur: “The state Uberises solidarity and will get itself off the hook”
Elsa Da Costa | La Croix | 9 September | FR
“Restos du Cœur” is certainly one of France’s largest food-distribution charities. The affiliation issued a cry for assist in early September: this 12 months there are 1.3 million French individuals on its lists, a 20 p.c enhance in comparison with 2022, when the figures had already soared. The organisation dangers being submerged. Bernard Arnault, one of many world’s richest males and proprietor of the luxury-goods group LVMH, responded to the enchantment by donating €10 million. How beneficiant was that for someone with an estimated wealth of €214 billion? The cybersecurity professional Mathis Hammel created a comparator that gives a solution: for somebody with an earnings of €35,000 it corresponds to €1.64.
Maybe the actual downside is a superb absentee. “The place is the state?” asks Elsa Da Costa. “The state has Uberised solidarity. It’s shirking its accountability, that of tackling the basis causes of meals insecurity. And in the meantime the poorest individuals queue up at soup kitchens.”
Why have we stopped believing in the rich?
Michał Zabdyr-Jamróz | Znak | 18 july | PL (paywall)
For decades, a dominant narrative in the media has been the capitalist-meritocratic notion that wealth is a proof of merit – of entrepreneurship, genius, hard work and so on, all of which are rewarded in a free market. These days, however, the rich are increasingly likened to buffoons. The antics of people like Elon Musk have clearly not helped the cause, says political scientist Michał Zabdyr-Jamróz.
On gender
Menstruation: the world of tech opens a new cycle
Lucie Ronfaut (La Déferlante) | Mediapart | 30 September (FR, Paywall)
“If you use a menstruation monitoring app, delete it now.” Flo, Clue, Glow, Natural Cycles: there are plenty of such apps, all proudly claiming to work for women’s empowerment. But their success raises ethical questions. In the United States in particular, some of them stand accused of endangering women, following the repeal of the Roe v. Wade ruling and the new doubts over the right to abortion. The independent French investigative outlet Mediapart, in partnership with the feminist magazine La Déferlante, takes a closer look at this “femtech” and its potential implications.
Coming in: sexual politics and EU accession in serbia
Laura Luciani | LSE Review of books | June 2023 | EN
“Coming In: Sexual Politics and EU Accession in Serbia” (Manchester University Press. 2023), is by Koen Slootmaeckers, a British sociologist and political scientist. The book, reviewed by Laura Luciani, looks at the introduction of LGBTIQ+ rights as part of Serbia’s EU accession process – and the resistance that the change has provoked. Such “forced Europeanisation” may simply create rights that are rejected at the local level.
Muslim feminists, the coming revolution
Françoise Feugas | Orient XXI | 31 July | FR, ES
Journalist Françoise Feugas reviews the latest book by Malika Hamidi, “La révolution des féminismes musulmans. Élaboration théorique et agir féministe, 2004 à 2014”. Hamidi, a French sociologist of Algerian origin who lives in Belgium, was previously the author of “Un Féminisme musulman, et pourquoi pas?” (Éditions de l’Aube, 2017). Muslim women find themselves needing to assert themselves both within their own community and in the wider European public arena, navigating often tense polemics over the veil or other clothing. This new research aims to give them a voice. “We want to live our religion without having to suffer domination, in society as well as in the Muslim community,” says one young woman. “Our growing involvement in organised feminism as Muslim women should make it clear that we do not need to separate ourselves from our religious identity in order to be accepted as feminists,” says another.
Victoria’s Secret: a brand’s feminist pinkwashing condemned by #MeToo
Alba Correa | El Orden Mundial | 26 September | ES (paywall)
This company, once dominant in the lingerie market, is fighting a sales slump caused by a tarnished image in the post-#MeToo era. Alba Correa reports on how Victoria’s Secret is trying to become more inclusive.
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