Tag Archives: budget
French Push Evasion To Top Of EU Agenda
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f421342e-a44a-11e2-ac77-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz2QpMoS3Ng By Peter Spiegel in Brussels ©AFP With Paris still reeling from revelations the budget minister charged with tackling tax evasion held €600,000 in a secret Swiss bank account, the French finance minister foisted the issue on to the EU’s agenda on Saturday, calling on his counterparts to share more data on accounts held by foreigners in their domestic banks. Pierre Moscovici, speaking at a high-profile meeting of EU finance ministers in Dublin, said European bank secrecy rules were outdated and that Europe should help set new international standards that are currently being negotiated on a bilateral basis with the US. “At the present time, the situation calls for a more efficient, for a stronger, for a faster reply,” Mr Moscovici said at a hastily-called press conference the night before Saturday’s meeting. “Political will is strong in France and we are more resolute than ever.” The rushed nature of the initiative was highlighted by the unexpected appearance of Algirdas Semeta, the EU tax commissioner, who flew to Dublin at the 11th hour to help broker a deal on EU anti-tax evasion legislation that has been awaiting action for nearly five years. “It’s a bit of a surprise, but a very nice one, to be here in Dublin today,” Mr Semeta told reporters. EU officials estimate countries lose about €1tn every year in tax revenues due to evasion. Mr Moscovici and his German, British, Italian and Spanish counterparts agreed last week to begin a “pilot” project to share information on foreign EU nationals with accounts in their country based on the same kinds of exchanges recently agreed with the US as part of Washington’s new Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. Five other countries agreed to participate in the scheme at the Dublin meeting, including Poland, the Netherlands and Belgium. But an EU-wide deal to widen its regime along US lines was held up by Austria, which has refused to sign up to the long-delayed proposal by the European Commission, arguing it would infringe on the country’s data protection laws. Luxembourg, the only other holdout, agreed to participate last week. “We will fight for bank secrecy. We are no tax haven,” said Maria Fekter, the Austrian finance minister. Earlier, Ms Fekter lashed out at the UK, saying that persistent use of the Channel Islands as well as overseas territories like the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands as tax havens should be part of the discussion, calling Britain “the island of the blessed for tax evasion and money laundering”. George Osborne, the British finance minister, said the Channel Islands recently signed agreements to provide information on account holders as part of the US negotiations and said London was in “advanced discussions” with the overseas territories on similar exchanges. The extent to which the French scandal – in which Jérome Cahuzac, a junior finance minister, was forced to resign after acknowledging he had lied for months about the existence of his secret Swiss bank account – has moved tax evasion to the top of the EU agenda was made clear Friday, when Herman Van Rompuy, the European Council president, unexpectedly announced the topic would discussed at next month’s EU summit. In an interview, Poland’s Jacek Rostowski, who was the first finance minister in Dublin to join the five big EU countries in the “pilot” project, insisted the recent momentum was not about the French scandal and instead about ensuring fairness at a time taxpayers in many EU countries are suffering through tough austerity and reform efforts. “I must say the thought never even crossed my mind,” Mr Rostowski said of the French controversy. Approval ratings for François Hollande, the French president, have plummeted to historical lows in the wake of the scandal, prompting him to call for the eradication of tax havens and launch a campaign against fraud. Despite the Austrian objections, Mr Semeta said he expected an EU-wide agreement “within weeks”, putting pressure on Irish officials, who as holders of the EU’s rotating presidency must now attempt to find a compromise between all 27 EU members before next month’s summit. Continue reading
King Coal Could Lose It’s Crown As Biomass Is Moving In
Tuesday, April 16, 2013 Scunthorpe Telegraph DRAX is a big deal when it comes to the regional economy, contracting and keeping the UK’s lights on. It reliably provides between 7 per cent and 8 per cent of Britain’s electricity, with coal traditionally used to fire the six huge units housed within a site that spans an area of a small town. SHIPPING IN: Artist’s impression of the Immingham Renewable Fuels Terminal at ABP’s Port of Immingham Just a few miles from Selby, close to the start of the Humber and the M18/M62 junction, Europe’s second largest power plant doesn’t always command the most positive of headlines. The process used to keep modern lives on track – be it mobile phones charged, television programmes running, food cool and wi-fi active at home, or industry’s wheels turning at work – requires a level of coal that is difficult to comprehend. Much of it comes into Drax via Immingham, but with emission targets and carbon reduction strategies cascading down from Kyoto through Brussels to Westminster, the heat has been on to move away from a fossil fuel that for years has been a necessary evil, on which much of the world has depended. With plans for carbon capture at Drax now rapidly accelerating following the Government backing on Budget day, how to deal with what comes out of the plant, and into the air, is being worked on. And Immingham is at the centre of what will increasingly be going in as a raw material. The biomass power boom isn’t so much being capitalised on by Drax, but being steered by the executive team at the heart of the UK’s energy infrastructure. It has lobbied successive governments hard on what is required, and the £700 million investment reported on this past month underlines a confidence in the political and economic structure around such a monumental shift. Half is being spent on site. A huge in-situ fabricated automated conveyor system – capable of carrying 2,800 tonnes of biomass an hour – is snaking round the existing units with a new rail handling facility being built under ground. Bespoke wagons, without so much as stopping on their journey west from the North East Lincolnshire port, will discharge the wooden pellets, formed in the US and shipped more than 5,000 miles to Humber International Terminal, into vast chambers, where they will be stored, then crushed into little more than sawdust, blown into the boiler, and gone within two seconds, playing a part in what comes through our plugs. Adding to the 259m tall chimney and the dozen 114m high cooling towers that mark Drax out in an area of Britain where five counties are drawn together, are four 50m high, 70m wide domes, to store the arriving biomass. Inflated, then coated, they are an emerging new addition to a skyline that currently features a myriad of cranes. The whole project is an industrial engineering feat to behold. Peter Emery, production director at Drax, was my tour host. He said: “Over the next three years we will convert half the station to biomass. The first unit has been converted. We hope to start running 100 per cent biomass during this month and we will then progressively commission the project over the remainder of this year. “In 2014 we will convert a second unit, and we are trying to accelerate plans for another one in 2015. If we get confident in the technology in the first two units, and the biomass supply chain is looking encouraging, we will try and bring the conversion forward.” The plan is to have the full distribution system operating on site in November. So where does £700 million come from? “We raised new equity last year – £190 million – and raised another £225 million in new debt, and together with funds from our own earnings that gave us is £650 million to £700 million to fund the whole transformation. “A total of 50 per cent is what you have seen today, the domes, the conveyor systems, the unit conversions. The balance of the £700-million is being spent in the US, and ensuring we comply with Industrial Emission Directives in 2016.” Of that finance, £125 million is on cheques bearing the Queen’s signature, too. Mr Emery said: “£75 million is an HM Treasury grant, with £50 million from UK Green Investment Bank. “That is a very strong signal to the market place that biomass is here to stay.” Without seeing the work underway, it would be easy to assume much of the money is being spent on the electricity generating equipment that handles incredibly high pressurised steam, but that is not the case. “We are spending far more of the capital expenditure on the rail, unloading, storage and fuel distribution,” said Mr Emery. The design is based on three principles. It has to be robust, efficient and reliable. “All the conveyors are doubled up and completely enclosed, we want to keep dust away as it can cause fires, be explosive and hazardous to health,” said Mr Emery. “You have to treat it with respect and keep it away from people. We are trying to make sure people can work on the plant without any breathing apparatus, so it will never be exposed to the open air.” Strict quality tests will be carried out throughout the supply chain, and with each dome capable of holding more biomass than a Panamax vessel will ship across the Atlantic, anything found to be amiss can be quarantined. When it comes to the efficiency, biomass has to play catch up with the black stuff. “We could lose up to 1.5 per cent efficiency converting,” said Mr Emery. “Biomass is half the density of coal but two thirds the calorific value, so we have to put more in to get the same load out. “It is two to three times the price of coal, too, so that is why we need the subsidy to work. The roll-out depends on government policy. One of the reasons we are going down this route is because of the economic incentives. The Government has put in place a carbon floor price and that will increase the price of carbon out to 2020 then out to 2030. If government sticks to that policy it is quite possible the biomass units will become more and more competitive in a world where the price of C02 is high.” While the US is the focus of Drax’s self-sourcing of biomass, it wants to have a strong and diverse supply chain. Actually operating in the market will allow the publicly limited company to then buy elsewhere with increased knowledge. “A lot does come from Canada, US, Balkans, Scandinavia, Russia, and a small amount from Africa, and what we are really trying to do is build up the diversification,” said Mr Emery, explaining the American model that will see plants either side of the Mississippi feed a new port facility at Baton Rouge, and then the Humber. “A lot of forests in the US are managed as sustainable forests, for a long period of time serving paper and construction industries,” he said. “Demand is dropping because of new technology and forest owners are looking for new markets. We have been greeted with open arms. It gives us a great place to start. We will start work this summer and it will be 12 to 15 months (to commissioning). Some time at the end of 2014 we will get pellets from the two plants in this region.” This led to the Immingham development, roughly £75 million of the £100 million to be spent in the Humber ports, with the North East also feeding in. Mr Emery said: “We already have an agreement with Port Of Tyne, we have agreed a one million tonne capacity terminal at Port Of Hull, and a contract with ABP at Immingham, where we will be building new three million tonne per year capacity there. “If we look at three units, we need 7.5 million tonnes of biomass a year, and port capacity in excess of that.” Then there’s the new rolling stock too, eight trains worth, with half already committed to. Boosting capacity and British manufacturing. “Bigger trains are important for two reasons, it makes planning easier for biomass coming into Drax, and reduces the carbon footprint if you can carry more tonnage on the same loco,” said Mr Emery. “We need to bring biomass to the UK with a low carbon footprint, and if you put it in a 50,000-tonne vessel you can travel a long, long way with a negligible carbon footprint. Scale is very important here.” And how exactly does biomass compare environmentally as a feedstock? “It is a very attractive carbon footprint versus fossil fuels,” said Mr Emery. “It is 10 per cent to 15 per cent of coal, 20 per cent to 50 per cent of gas. “There are regulatory risks here and we have to work with Government (when it comes to long term policy). We have got a very good, very reliable coal plant. If we have 50 per cent biomass capability and 50 per cent coal capability. We will complement wind, too. We will be here to support the market in times of high demand, particularly in the winter,” he said, looking at peak capacity. The long term, is another challenge, however. “I would be surprised if we are still burning biomass in plants in 40 years time,” he added. “We are not looking at what the next generation of technology is at the moment, but we will be soon.” Read more: http://www.thisisscu…l#ixzz2QjXrbn32 Follow us: @thisisscunny on Twitter | thisisscunny on Facebook Continue reading
UK Housing market distortions
BBC Parliament Content Nice discussion about the necessity for government intervention in the free market for housing. But how far should you go and when sho… Continue reading
