Eurotopics.net

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has proposed the introduction of a global minimum tax rate on corporate profits - also in view of Joe Biden's plan to increase corporate tax in the US from 21 to 28 percent. Does the proposal have the potential to rein in multinationals that artificially shift their profits to countries with low corporate taxes? European commentators say this is a promising initiative.

In mid-January the EU Commission announced ambitious goals according to which at least 80 percent of people aged over 80, as well as of those working in health and social professions, were to be vaccinated by March. However, by the end of March just under 60 percent of people over the age of 80 had received the first dose across the EU. Many are pinning the blame on the bloc's unwieldy bureaucracy, but is this justified?

The conflict in eastern Ukraine has escalated again: media report that Russia is reinforcing its troops on the border with Ukraine and that shelling has intensified on both sides. Commentators don't believe Western states will play a significant role in de-escalating the situation.

Joe Biden's Covid relief bill measures will cost 1.9 trillion dollars and now a four trillion dollar economic stimulus package is to follow, with programmes for more welfare, climate protection and the renovation of ailing infrastructures. Biden aims to finance the plan with the first major tax hike in the US in 30 years; the rich and businesses in particular will have to pay more. Europe's press is impressed.

A political stalemate is emerging in Bulgaria after Sunday's parliamentary elections. Prime Minister Boyko Borisov's liberal-conservative Gerb party secured the largest share of the vote with 26 percent, but it is clear that with its current coalition partners it won't secure a majority. At the same time other alliances seem barely feasible due to major differences. The press looks to Italy for solutions.