European Business Buoyant Paris, France
June 6, 2007 Corporate tax rates look set to fall from 33% to 28% in France following the election last month of the right wing President, Nicolas Sarkozy. This continues a recent trend of corporate tax cuts across Europe as each country attempts to attract more investment. The Spanish government is to reduce its business tax rate from 35% to 30%, Germany has just agreed a cut from 39% to 30%, and Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer in Britain, has already reduced the top business tax rate to 28% this year. President Sarkozy's pre-election promises to offer tax breaks on mortgage interest payments for first-time buyers are still in discussion and expected to be clarified soon. Currently there is debate over whether all mortgages for main residences would be included, or simply those that had been signed after a certain date-possibly the date of the new president's accession to power in May this year. Making another splash in the European dailies this week are the results of a report on the quality of Europe's bathing waters, coastal and inland. The European Commission has been testing the waters-literally-of Europe's beaches and the annual report just published has found that nine out of 10 have acceptable standards for bathing water quality. Top marks for clean bathing areas go to nearly all of Greece and Spain's coastal sites, while 97% of France's seaside resorts were found to be acceptable. In Italy, 93% of the coastal bathing areas attained acceptable ratings, and 91% reached even more stringent standards. New member states of the EU have added 370 coastal bathing areas to the survey. Best regards, Maria Savage
International Living's European Consultant | 
