The European Court of Auditors assessed whether gender mainstreaming had been applied in the EU budget from 2014 onwards. Their conclusion is that there is not yet any effective framework to support gender mainstreaming, and that the EU’s budget cycle has not adequately taken gender equality into account.They found that only 4 out of the 58 2014-2020 spending programmes had explicit gender-related objectives.
Today is Environment Day and it is time to take stock of how the private sector is contributing to reducing the carbon footprint. Greenhouse gas emissions play an important role in global warming and, although business has long been trying to reduce them through energy efficiency programmes and similar initiatives, the urgency of the climate crisis is raising the bar significantly. In this article Roland Rott, director of La Française Sustainable Investment Research, analyses the real problem in achieving net zero carbon claims.
Crédito y Caución (Atradius) | Despite the deep economic contraction in 2020, Italian business insolvencies decreased 29% year-on-year. The decline was mainly due to a temporary bankruptcy moratorium and fiscal support. However, with the expiry of temporary adjustments to insolvency law, it is expected that business failures will increase again in H2 of 2021. Looking at the cumulative insolvency growth between 2019 and 2021, Italian business failures are forecast to increase 4%, with further rising insolvencies expected in 2022
On the rights and freedoms of all Spaniards, on whether or not they can leave their homes, until what time, with how many people… On all of this, let the Supreme Court decide. On the 12 prisoners of the ‘procés’ who, from prison, support the Government, on whether they enter or leave, how and when… The Supreme Court can say mass, and the Government, in other words Sánchez, will decide.
Portocolom AV | One out of every three pieces of food ends up in the rubbish bin, which is equivalent to around 1.3 billion tonnes of food. That is enough to feed all the undernourished people in the world several times over. In Spain, each person throws away 77 kilos of food a year, 42% of which is generated in households. But food waste is not only a social or humanitarian concern, but also an environmental one. When we waste food, we also waste all the energy and water it takes to grow it, harvest it, transport it. And if the food ends up in landfill and rots, it produces methane, a greenhouse gas even more potent than carbon dioxide.
Luis Alcaide | The world is gradually moving towards a multiple reserve system. In its latest World Economic Outlook, the IMF notes that when the euro made its appearance, the dollar accounted for 71% of foreign exchange reserves. In the last quarter of 2020, dollar reserves held by central banks had fallen to 59%, the lowest share in the last 25 years. The complaints in 1960 from the then French…
According to the prime minister, Marrero, despite the economic opening, “the state enterprise is the main subject of the economy”, and the expansion of activities to non-state forms of management does not lead to a process of privatisation. “There are limits that cannot be exceeded,” he said.
Randstad Research | Just before the start of the crisis, in February 2020, the number of companies was 1.48 M, i.e. 89,000 more than today. This loss means a drop of 6% in the number of businesses. If the comparison is made with April 2019, in order to avoid seasonality, the situation is even worse, since the fall in the number of companies is 7.6%, with a reduction of 115,014 companies.
In the first quarter of 2021 cannabis companies raised nearly USD 4.3 billion in debt and equity. Cannabis is making a comeback and enjoying popularity and acceptance it hasn’t seen in thousands of years – but caution is advised.
In 2011, Telefónica’s liabilities exceeded 56 billion euros. Today, however, after the latest operations (the merger agreement for its business in the United Kingdom, the sale of towers to American Tower…) it has cut its leverage by a further 8.4 billion euros and reduced it to less than half, at 26 billion. Although this amount is starting to become more manageable for the group, the most critical operators point out…