The November 2011 edition of AEFJN's Forum for Action is now online. It contains articles on the ethical responsibility of the Church on the climate issue, on the clean up of the Ogoniland oil spills, which will take decades, on the spread of Libyan arms in the Sahel, on the production of medicines in Africa and on the EU's attempt to force African countries to sign EPAs.
The national election campaign officially started the 28th October in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), exactly one month ahead of historic presidential and legislative elections, scheduled for November 28 2011. 41 humanitarian and human rights organizations, among them AEFJN, have expressed concern about the high political tension and deteriorating security situation. They have called upon all Congolese and international actors involved to take urgent measures to prevent electoral violence, better protect civilians and ensure credible, free and fair elections.ROBIN HOOD TAX
The proposed ROBIN HOOD TAX is a levy on banks that could raise billions to tackle poverty and climated change at home and abroad. AEFJN-UK actively supports this proposal. In February 2011, it signed an open letter to the Prime Minister asking him to introduce a Robin Hood Tax at this coming budget and to make the banks pay their fair share to society.
October 2011: EC adopts the proposal for a Financial Transaction Tax
President of the European Commission, Jose Maria Barroso, has announced that the EC has adopted the proposal for an FTT. Addressing the Commission in his State of the Union speech, he said that banks needed to pay back their debt to taxpayers. Under the proposal, the tax should take effect in 2014 and raise around €57 billion (about £50 billion) a year. We need to ensure that the money raised does not just plug a fiscal hole in Europe, but go to poor people at home and abroad hit by the economic crisis.
30 June 2011: EC proposal for EU-wide Financial Transaction Tax
Over a decade of advocacy for a global Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) and widespread campaigning especially over the last two years seems to be finally bearing fruit. The European Commission finally proposed the implementation of an EU-wide Financial Transactions Tax (FTT), late in the evening of 29 June 2011. It proposed a FTT as one channel by which the EU could raise its ‘own resources’ to fund the EU budget. The second channel being proposed is a new EU Value Added Tax. Presently the European budget is essentially funded by its member states. [nbsp] http://www.cidse.org/Area_of_work/Development_finance/?id=2731