UPDATE: Depardieu stocks up on France’s finest foods before moving to Belgium for lower taxes

Mr Depardieu seen out cheese shopping and talking to locals in Paris

Later seen boarding flight to Rome with small weekend bag

France to tax 75 per cent of earnings over €1million from January 2013
Belgium’s top rate of taxed capped at 50 per cent

 

He may have renounced his French citizenship but these pictures prove that Gerard Depardieu is not quite ready to give up on the country’s delicacies.

Spotted shopping in a Paris cheese [...]

Italy PM unveils sweeping austerity package: All cash transactions over 1000 euros will now be banned outright.

* 30 billion euros in tax hikes, spending cuts

* Monti renounces own salaries

* Pension age to rise to 66 by 2018

By Giuseppe Fonte

ROME, Dec 4 (Reuters) – Prime Minister Mario Monti unveiled a 30-billion-euro ($40.3 billion) package of austerity measures on Sunday, raising taxes and increasing the pension age in a drive to shore up Italy’s strained finances and stave off a crisis that threatens to overwhelm the euro zone.

Packed into a [...]

Greece update: New prime minister to be sworn in today

From Bloomberg:

Lucas Papademos, a former vice president of the European Central Bank who will be sworn in as prime minister of a Greek unity government today, faces the immediate task of securing funds by implementing budget cuts to avert an economic collapse.

Papademos and his Cabinet, which has yet to be named, will be sworn in at 2 p.m. in Athens. President Karolos Papoulias gave Papademos the mandate to form a [...]

From Morgan Stanley on why anyone betting on a quick rebound in the EURXXX will be sorely disappointed

Euro And The Greek Confidence Vote

The EUR is set to remain under pressure as the uncertainty regarding Greece intensifies once again. Any comfort for the EUR from reports Merkel and Sarkozy are to meet with the Greek government and IMF officials Wednesday, ahead of the G20, is likely to be short-lived in our view.

Indeed, Friday’s confidence vote in the Greek parliament will be extremely important in our view and will [...]

Dozens Of Italian Businessmen Send Letter To Parliament Demanding Imposition Of Capital Controls Instead Of EPS Cutting Austerity

by ZH

Apparently America’s “Patriotic (yet just slightly hypocritical) Millionaires” phenomenon is spreading. In an open letter sent to the Government and to Parliament (we assume the post office can track down the recipients at whatever seaside resort complexes they are to be found), 75 Italian managers, industrialists and professionals, propose what in their opinion is best for the country, which is another way of saying [...]