Insights
At the moment, the real winner of the European elections in France is the abstention. Traditionally, those elections fail to attract a large panel of electors and only see the most proactive citizens vote. The result is a polarization of the electorate, with on one side the pro-EU almost federalist voters and on the other populists against the Government. This should be once again the case with only 41% of people saying they intend to vote
Insights
On April 11th, the Action Plan for Growth and Transformation of Businesses (PACTE) Bill was adopted by the National Assembly, after 28 weeks of parliamentary debates. The Government presented the text as the second stage of its economic reform program, following the Labour law reform that was adopted in 2017.
Insights
As the Yellow Vest movement is slowly fading away, “old-school” politics is coming back. Intense negotiations between political figures, threats of departure, backstabbing and criticisms among allies over the last weeks.
The idea of a Yellow Vest list for the elections has disappeared alongside the support from the population toward the movement. As it was credited with more than 10% at the climax of the social movement, it has now been reduced at a rate of knots.
Publication
Three ministers left the Government following the announcement of the Presidential party's (LaREM) list for the European elections : Nathalie Loiseau, former Minister in charge of European Affairs and head of the list, as well as two Junior Ministers - Benjamin Griveaux, the Government’s Spokesperson, and Mounir Mahjoubi, in charge of Digital Affairs - who have publicly stated that they are candidates to lead the LaREM list for the City of Paris in the upcoming mayoral elections, planned for spring 2020.
Biographies of Amélie de Montchalin, Sibeth Ndiaye and Cédric O.pdf
Insights
In view of the difficulties encountered in reaching a consensus at European level on the digital tax package, France, similarly to Italy, Austria, Spain and the United Kingdom, decided to introduce a domestic digital tax bill.
Insights
The European Commission has run an intensive work to assess the need for a legal framework for online platforms since the beginning of its mandate.
Insights
On Monday 24 September, the Government presented the draft Budget Law for 2019 (PLF 2019) to the Council of Ministers and submitted it to the National Assembly. The parliamentary debate will begin on October 9th. The examination of the draft Budget Law, together with the Social Security bill, will remain the top priority until the end of December. The traditional “budget marathon" is back.
Update
On September 12th, 2018, the European Parliament adopted its revised negotiating position on the Copyright Directive, proposed by the European Commission in September 2016: 438 votes in favour, 226 against and 39 abstentions.
Insights
The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), entering into force on May 25th, 2018, replaces a 1995 EU Directive on data protection. Based on its expertise on privacy and data protection Cabinet SAMMAN has been appointed by several business organizations to work and be part of the dialogue on the GDPR implementation process with supervisory authorities and other public officials. Please find below a recap of the main elements of the GDPR.
Update
The elections that took place yesterday renewed the 577 seats of the most important chamber of the French Parliament, the National Assembly. President Macron's party, La République En Marche (LREM) and its ally, the Modem party, ensured a solid majority with 350 seats, representing 60% of the Assembly. This should allow the new President to adopt his forthcoming reforms. More details on the new composition of the National Assembly and what it means below.
Insights
On January 1st 2017, Malta took over the rotating Presidency of the European Council, third in the EU Presidency Trio after the Netherlands (January – June 2016) and Slovakia (July – December 2016). More details on Malta's key priorities - finance, digital, telecoms, and energy - in our article below.
Insights
Four months after the “Brexit” vote, and while the various protagonists are starting to position themselves in view of the negotiations, we would like to share once again our analysis of the situation.
Update
BEREC, the EU body gathering national telecom regulators, published its guidelines on the implementation of Net Neutrality, aiming to guide NRAs in their application of EU regulation 2015/2120 on net neutrality. Our recap below, including stakeholders' reactions and next steps.
Update
On August 30th, the European Commission decided that the tax arrangements granted by Ireland to Apple amount to a State Aid and therefore sentenced Ireland to recover up to €13bn from the US company. Our recap of the case.
Insights
Our analysis of the potential implications and next steps following the UK referendum in favor of an exit from the EU, with a presentation of the applicable legal framework, the current state of the political positions and a specific focus on two sectors which could be particulalry impacted: digital sector and financial services.
Update
ESMA has updated its Work Programme for 2016 to include its role in the CMU implementation, and issued two dedicated Programmes for its Regulatory and Supervisory Works.
Update
Business France, the agency in charge of accompanying foreign investments in France and French companie's investment abroad, published a Scoreboard with an overview of France’s principal elements of attractiveness and their comparison with other countries.
Publication
Our article (in French) about the upcoming 21st United Nations Conference on Climate Change and its stakes.
Publication
Our presentation (in french) of the new technologies being currently developed and deployed in the French housing sector, the expectations surrounding them, and the public authorities’ measures to encourage their use.
Publication
Our presentation of the European Commission’s “Summer package” announced on July 15th and of its consumer-friendly measures and proposals.
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