Trump will do whatever he wants.

Europe should simply ignore him and take the initiative:

- Severe secondary sanctions (UAE, Turkey, and other Russia supporters).

- Complete embargo on shadow fleet flag states and countries of insurers.

- Total sanctions enforcement.

There's lots we can do.

We need to focus on enforcement and to seriously consider severe SECONDARY sanctions.

Switching to Land Value Tax would ensure that it's not indirectly charged to tenants via rent hikes.

A tax system centred on #LVT would massively boost housing supply, leading to cheap rents and affordable properties.

LVT is both progressive and economically beneficial, with zero deadweight loss.

It does not have to be traditional stalwarts like ESA alone. This could span most sectors of the economy, and could provide the critical mass to lead in new, emerging sectors.

How about switching the entire tax system to Land Value Tax?

Progressive.
Zero deadweight loss.
Low administration and collection cost.
Enhances economic competitiveness.

ENDS THE HOUSING CRISIS!

#LVT is the low hanging policy fruit, people. Criticise it all you want.

Thank you!

I just hope the Commission can withstand the next push for capitulation by our national leaders, who seem intent on sabotaging European interests with impunity via the EU Council.

At some point, EU institutions must make a stand against the national leaders who are so easily divided.

True.

It's my reaction to someone I respect, who writes about the importance of European autonomy and European interests, but also uses what appears to be exclusively US online services.

I've done the same in the past, but we're in a different world now.

We all need to make a greater effort.

It's consistent with Musk's pro-Russian propaganda, and his support for far right, anti-democratic forces in both Europe and the US.

The really insane bit is that European leaders continue to allow foreign owned and controlled social media to operate in Europe. Existing laws are not even enforced.

Land Value Tax would force developers and land owners with planning permission to build.

It's a simple, albeit radically different policy that features low admin and collection costs and zero deadweight loss.

LVT is a wealth tax, so it's progressive.

We should switch our tax base to LVT.

True, but there's also a lack of awareness among the general public.

Many countries in Europe have alternative payment systems but it's up to people to encourage businesses to accept them.

I also take every opportunity to emphasis digital sovereignty to decision makers in business and government.

or the United Federation of Europe

It's B2B that's most dangerous. Azure & AWS host the vast majority of online services, even for European governments. Major barriers to migrating off those.

B2C services are problematic when there's a near monopoly, and it's often tough to avoid Visa and MasterCard.

No E2E enxryption either.