Alexandra&Trust group, 12 Lampton Park Road, Hounslow (2024)

25/08/2022

How to manage globalisation: EU responses

The benefits of globalisation in the EU

The EU is one of the largest players in international trade, next to the US and China, with EU exports representing more than 15% of global exports.

More than 36 million jobs in the EU depend on exports beyond its borders. On average, every €1 billion exports to non-EU countries supports more than 13,000 EU jobs.

International trade means more competition, which benefits consumers in terms of lower prices and more choice. The benefits to EU consumers amount to about €600 a year per person.

Managing the negative impact on employment

Globalisation also creates challenges in terms of employment such as job losses and relocation.

In the EU, the most fragile sectors are textiles, clothing, footwear and leather, basic metals and fabricated metal products and manufacturing industries, which mostly offer low-skilled jobs.

To reduce this negative impact of globalisation, the EU created the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund in 2006. The purpose of this emergency fund is to help workers who have lost jobs because of globalisation.

25/08/2022

Hohlmeier: fighting climate change is the priority for the EU's 2020 budget

How would you describe your proposal for the EU's budget for 2020?

The overarching priority for the Parliament is that we wish to tackle the issue of climate change and in parallel combine it with possibilities to create new jobs and strengthen the competitiveness of our economy.

We wanted to give a clear statement that Parliament wants to significantly contribute to innovation, research and new, green technologies with next year’s budget.

We also want to support digitalisation because for research on climate, we need good digital tools. Digitalisation not only helps with the EU’s climate targets, but also enables us, for example, to improve research into severe illnesses or more efficient agriculture methods.

We want to give money to universities and research institutions that are conducting this type of research and collaborate successfully with industry.

The priority of climate and environmental protection continues in the area of the common agricultural policy and rural development with the successful LIFE+ programme. Another important area is development policy, where we want to continue to reduce poverty, but also address issues such as plastic-free oceans and waste removal.

With our budget instruments, we can help tackle climate-related problems, for example, by supporting the use of renewables in countries where they could help solve the issue of access to sustainable energy and tackle the energy problem.

You have added €2 billion to the European Commission’s proposal on climate spending for 2020. Will this be enough to reach the EU’s 20% climate-related spending goal for 2014-2020?

No, we won’t reach the target because in 2014 we had a contribution of less than 14% of climate-related expenditure, which we were unable to make up in the following six years of the current multi-annual framework [the EU’s long-term budget].

Nevertheless, for 2020, my proposal is very clearly above the 20% target. We think that the young generation really has the right to tell us when it comes to climate “Please do something, do it quickly and don’t just discuss the issue of what we could do.”

We would also like to increase financial support for the successful Youth Employment Initiative. The unemployment rate for young people is decreasing and this programme is contributing to helping them find work. We would also like to increase funding for Erasmus+ to give more young people the opportunity to study abroad.

25/08/2022

Tax committee chair: "Citizens demand action and this committee will be their voice"

Parliament’s new committee on tax matters will become “the European hub for debate on tax issues”, promises Dutch S&D member Paul Tang, the committee’s newly elected chair.

What will Parliament's new committee on taxation – FISC – be focusing on?

We’re at a critical stage. Governments are now – rightly – spending billions to save lives and livelihoods. But the debts incurred will have to be repaid. After the last crisis, we made the double mistake of austerity and increased taxes on the middle class. Only the richest remained out of shot. This time will have to be different. By looking at ways to tax those that are not paying their fair share – the richest and the big corporations – we can get out of this crisis in a fair way and maintain the trust of our citizens. Corporates alone avoid between €50 billion and €190 billion in tax each year. FISC will work to fight this injustice at the heart of our economic system. We will also work to make our tax system a force for sustainability. By using taxes to make polluters pay, we can stimulate innovation and clean up our environment.

Previously, tax committees in the Parliament have been inquiry committees, set up to look into topical scandals such as Lux Leaks and the Panama Papers. Why is it necessary to have a permanent committee?

Since I started in the European Parliament five years ago, we’ve had tax committees almost permanently. However, after they published their report, they were dissolved only to be re-established after yet another tax scandal. With this permanent committee, we can continue the valuable work of the previous committees in terms of fact-finding and raising public awareness, but we can also look at the long-term. We can, for example, engage in lasting relationships with national parliaments and other international organisations. In this way, the FISC committee will truly become the European hub for debate on tax issues.

The EU doesn't have many competences in the area of taxation. What difference can your committee make?

As the previous taxation committees showed, much of what is going on can’t stand the light of day. By simply pushing for transparency, laying facts in the open for everyone to see, we will further push the momentum for change. Citizens demand action, and this committee will be their voice in the European arena.

In recent years, there have been many revelations and leaks on global tax evasion, tax avoidance and money laundering. How do you think the EU has responded?

There has inevitably been a gap between the EU’s approach to its members and to non-member states. The list of non-EU tax havens has been useful in putting pressure on well-known tax havens. It is far from perfect, as the recent de-listing of the Cayman Islands shows. It is, however, a start. For EU countries, on the other hand, pressure had to come primarily from the European Parliament. In March 2019, we labelled seven EU countries, including my home country of the Netherlands, as tax havens. This naming and shaming greatly helped shift the conversation in the Netherlands, with more and more of my compatriots accepting that tough reforms are needed. These seven EU tax havens cost the governments of other EU member states over €40 billion each year. We cannot let this continue and I trust that, in the context of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, pressure on these governments will grow. The Commission should be very clear: EU tax havens should reform their tax system, or their recovery and resilience plans will not be approved.

25/08/2022

Covid-19: how the EU can help small businesses

Why small and medium-sized enterprises matter
SMEs represent the backbone of the economy: they account for 99% of EU businesses with 24 million small and medium enterprises in the EU. They generated more than half of the EU’s gross domestic product, while employing about 100 million workers before the beginning of the pandemic. The European Union must help them to survive the Covid-19 crisis.

Parliament’s report in December highlighted the need to update the European Commission’s SME strategy in the light of the pandemic, since the Commission published it on 10 March 2020, a day before the World Health Organization Issued the Covid-19 pandemic alert.

Some of the proposals of the Commission are aimed at increasing SMEs' access to markets outside the EU and extending the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs scheme that allows aspiring entrepreneurs to learn from experienced businessmen from across the globe.

MEPs also call for aligning the SME strategy with the Industrial strategy, the European Data Strategy and the European Green Deal, in order to actively involve and support all SMEs in the transition towards a greener and digital Europe. Small business is essential to Europe’s competitiveness and prosperity, industrial ecosystems, economic and technological sovereignty, and resilience to external shocks.

Sectors such as tourism, hospitality, culture, creative, transport, trade fairs and events, which are largely composed of SMEs, have been hit the hardest by the Covid-19 crisis.

Need for less bureaucracy
Small and medium enterprises need more resources to overcome complex bureaucratic requirements. The excess of administrative and regulatory burden is hindering their ability to thrive, said MEPs, who called for creating a EU strategy with concrete and binding targets for better regulation and simplification.

Excessive administrative burdens affect the growth potential of SMEs across the Union. Administrative procedures represent a major challenge to 78% of SMEs, according to the 2019 Business Survey by Eurochambres.

The complex formalities make it difficult for SMEs, especially micro-enterprises, to get funding for their basic functioning. MEPs expressed concern regarding the difficulties in obtaining funding from the European Investment Bank, which is why they called for a temporary relaxation of EU state aid rules.

Focus on innovation and market access

Parliament also wants SMEs to be taken into account in investments for innovation. This includes the need to develop pilot initiatives to accelerate SMEs’ take up of e-commerce solutions since the pandemic has pushed small enterprises to digital business models. Only 17% of SMEs have so far successfully integrated digital technology into their businesses. They need support to make use of innovation opportunities and to maximise synergies with EU programmes.

MEPs call on the Commission and EU countries to invest in the data economy, artificial intelligence, smart production, the Internet of Things and quantum computing and to ensure a strong SME component in these fields..

Currently, about 600,000 SMEs are exporting outside the EU. MEPs say these enterprises will improve their competitiveness only if supported both at the local and international levels.

25/08/2022

Shara H. Goldfarb
Partner

I am dedicated to providing compassionate, thoughtful counseling, mediation and legal representation during life’s transitions. With a focus on the family’s emotional, financial and psychological well-being, I guide my clients during these unsettling and often stressful times to a more promising future with new possibilities. Whether you are concerned about parenting plans/child custody/access, child support, spousal maintenance, equitable distribution of assets, or prenuptial or postnuptial agreements, I am committed to obtaining the best possible outcome for you and your family.

After receiving my J.D. and completing a clerkship at the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, I began my career as an associate at Rosenman & Colin, a large New York City firm where I practiced business litigation and matrimonial law. Since that time, my practice has focused exclusively on matrimonial and family law.

In addition to my matrimonial practice, I have for the last fifteen years represented children in highly-contested custody matters. Having witnessed the devastating impact parental conflicts have on children, I have shifted my practice towards mediation and collaborative law — where parents agree to refrain from exposing their children to the conflict, stresses and negativity inherent in the litigation process.

Whether my clients choose mediation, collaborative divorce or litigation, I encourage my clients to explore what matters most to them and meaningfully participate in the process so that we can achieve resolutions that best suit the family’s immediate and future needs.

25/08/2022

Alexandra Halsey-Storch
Associate

I meet clients when they are often in the midst of a stressful and tumultuous time in their lives and are experiencing a wide array of emotions whether its frightened, unsure, angry or overwhelmed, to name a few. I believe that one of my greatest strengths as an attorney is my ability to empathize with these complex emotions, and understand how they impact the legal process and the individual family unit. While there is no “formula” or “one size fits all approach” to family law matters, as a solution-oriented advocate, I help clients resolve these matters with dignity.

I received my J.D. from Syracuse University College of Law. My passion for working for and with families began well-before I started law school but was fostered as a student attorney in the Children’s Rights and Family Law Clinic where I gained invaluable experience representing parents from all walks of life in a variety of family law matters.

After law school, I began my law career as an attorney with a preeminent law firm located on Long Island, where I had a general practice with a concentration in matrimonial and family law matters.

I joined Miller Law Group to continue my work as a matrimonial and family law attorney and helping clients to divorce with dignity.

25/08/2022

Our Origins

Katherine Miller founded the Miller Law Group because her own personal and professional experience taught her that there was a deep need for a different kind of law firm. Katherine was always interested in the intersection where the law meets each of us in our personal lives. That interest naturally led her to family and matrimonial law where her early career involved child welfare litigation, estate planning and matrimonial and family litigation. As Katherine gained experience, she realized that the courtroom is a very bad place for families and she looked for a better way to help resolve divorce and other family-related conflicts.

Mediation seemed like a great alternative and Katherine took her first mediation training in 1990 and integrated those ideas and techniques into all the work she was doing. “Frankly, it was an uphill battle,” she says, “because the legal culture at the time was not focused on the needs and interests of the people but more on the battle.” Eight years later, following her own divorce, Katherine fully committed to finding a better way and the Miller Law Group was formed.

The mission of the Miller Law Group is to change how people divorce and help them divorce with dignity. We are interested in what is important to our clients and we use powerful techniques of communication to obtain those results in Collaborative Law, mediation, litigation and negotiation. Our core values are Dignity, Integrity, Compassion and Excellence because we believe these are essential to helping our clients through the challenge of divorce and other conflict.

25/08/2022

Many people assume that calling a divorce lawyer means fighting it out in court. They picture themselves losing control in heated courtroom disputes, and they anticipate that solutions must be handed down by judges. Fortunately, there is an alternative.

What if you could have the tools that give you greater power to resolve conflict and maintain control over the solutions even when that seems impossible?

We are not built like a traditional family law practice. Our legal team respects the parties involved in a family law matter and strives to alleviate stress and agony rather than fan the flames of discord. We are dedicated to putting the needs of children first. Our lawyers use tools such as Collaborative Law and mediation to empower our clients as we work towards solutions.