After Russia, Macron in Ukraine to try to defuse the crisis

French President Emmanuel Macron is on his way to kyiv on Tuesday where he is to meet his counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky after presenting to Moscow - who said he was ready to "compromise" - his proposals to defuse the crisis around Ukraine.
Westerners fear an invasion of Ukraine, with tens of thousands of Russian troops deployed on the Ukrainian border.
Mr Macron will then meet in Berlin with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, himself just returned from Washington as part of a series of European diplomatic efforts this week and next.
According to the French presidency, Mr. Macron's proposals concern a commitment not to take new military initiatives on both sides, the start of a dialogue, in particular on the Russian military system or even peace negotiations on the conflict in Ukraine. and the beginning of a strategic dialogue.
After more than five hours of discussion, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that "some of the ideas" of his French counterpart could "lay the foundations for common progress" and must speak to the French head of state again after his trip to Kyiv.

Semiconductors: the EU puts 42 billion to emancipate itself from Asia

The European Commission will propose on Tuesday to release nearly 42 billion euros of public money for the semiconductor industry to reduce its dependence on Asia in this strategic sector which is experiencing shortages. This plan "will guarantee the security of supply of European factories, by multiplying by four the production of semiconductors in Europe" by 2030. The European Union, at the forefront of research on chips, has seen its market share has fallen in recent decades to just 10% of global production.
But the shortage of semiconductors, which has held back the automotive industry for three years with the forced shutdown of many factories, has caused an electric shock. The geopolitical tensions around China, as well as the pandemic, have raised awareness of the need to produce in Europe these essential components mainly imported from Taiwan and Korea.
To the point of convincing the Commission to relax its strict framework for state aid and to assume an interventionist industrial policy on a continent traditionally very open to global competition.

France: Dissociation of personal and professional assets, relaxation of the unemployment insurance scheme...

Parliament is preparing to definitively adopt a bill on Tuesday offering a simpler and more protective framework for the more than three million self-employed workers. The text on which deputies and senators have agreed in a mixed parity committee must be voted on one last time successively by the Senate and the National Assembly.
It creates a unique status for the self-employed - craftsmen, merchants, liberal professionals...- which makes a distinction between the professional assets of the individual entrepreneur and their personal assets. "All the elements which are not useful for the professional exercise" will be elusive in the event of failure", indicated the Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, while today only the main residence is protected.
This measure, which derogates from the legal principle of the uniqueness of heritage, was a long-standing request from these workers, whose activity by nature faces significant risks, brutally brought to light by the health crisis. It will enter into force three months after the promulgation of the law.
The draft law is articulated with a budgetary component voted at the end of the year, to facilitate the transfer of companies, too few in France when an entrepreneur retires, thanks to exemptions from taxation of the capital gain.

Return to prison for Patrick Balkany convicted of tax evasion

The former LR mayor of Levallois-Perret (Hauts-de-Seine) Patrick Balkany, who had spent five months in detention for tax evasion before being released for health reasons, returned to prison after multiple breaches of his obligations . At the end of the morning, the imprisonment of Mr. Balkany in the prison of Fleury-Mérogis had been announced by the public prosecutor of Evreux Dominique Puechmaille, in front of the gendarmerie of Vexin-sur-Epte (Eure) where she had summoned the former mayor. This gendarmerie is located about ten kilometers from the Cossy mill, in Giverny, where Mr. Balkany had been under house arrest since March 2021 with his wife Isabelle.
Regarding Mr. Balkany's medical certificate provided by the defense to show that his state of health was incompatible with detention, the prosecutor argued that by choosing Fleury-Mérogis, "the management of the prison administration proposed an establishment which allows for 24-hour medical monitoring.
The magistrate had also denounced a "total lack of effort to clear their tax debt, subject of the conviction" for tax evasion. The couple owes 5.3 million euros to the tax authorities, in addition to a sum of 766,759 euros specific to Ms. Balkany.
Asked about BFM on the amount reimbursed to the tax authorities, the prosecutor indicated that the added payments were of the order of 2,000 euros.

IN SHORT
- Overwhelmed by hundreds of trucks laying the "siege" of the Canadian capital, the mayor of Ottawa called on the federal authorities for help to put an end to the show of force by the truckers against the sanitary measures, the object of an urgent debate in Parliament on Monday evening.
- Amazon announced on Tuesday that it has hired 4,000 people in 2021 in France, beyond its initial ambitions, and has the objective of creating 3,000 additional positions in 2022 to reach a total workforce of 18,500 people on permanent contracts in the country.
- Marine Le Pen said Monday evening on France 2 that she was considering a "gradual" retirement system, reserving retirement at age 60 with 40 annuities for French people who entered working life before the age of 20 years.- Former Interior Minister Claude Guéant was granted conditional release on Monday and must leave the prison of Health on Wednesday, after two months of incarceration.
- The Chinese Peng Shuai, whose personal situation has worried the world since November, met the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach on Saturday on the sidelines of the Beijing Olympics, confirming in an interview with the newspaper L'Equipe that she had, according to her, "never disappeared".

After Russia, Macron in Ukraine to try to defuse the crisis

French President Emmanuel Macron is on his way to kyiv on Tuesday where he is to meet his counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky after presenting to Moscow - who said he was ready to "compromise" - his proposals to defuse the crisis around Ukraine.
Westerners fear an invasion of Ukraine, with tens of thousands of Russian troops deployed on the Ukrainian border.
Mr Macron will then meet in Berlin with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, himself just returned from Washington as part of a series of European diplomatic efforts this week and next.
According to the French presidency, Mr. Macron's proposals concern a commitment not to take new military initiatives on both sides, the start of a dialogue, in particular on the Russian military system or even peace negotiations on the conflict in Ukraine. and the beginning of a strategic dialogue.
After more than five hours of discussion, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that "some of the ideas" of his French counterpart could "lay the foundations for common progress" and must speak to the French head of state again after his trip to Kyiv.

Semiconductors: the EU puts 42 billion to emancipate itself from Asia

The European Commission will propose on Tuesday to release nearly 42 billion euros of public money for the semiconductor industry to reduce its dependence on Asia in this strategic sector which is experiencing shortages. This plan "will guarantee the security of supply of European factories, by multiplying by four the production of semiconductors in Europe" by 2030. The European Union, at the forefront of research on chips, has seen its market share has fallen in recent decades to just 10% of global production.
But the shortage of semiconductors, which has held back the automotive industry for three years with the forced shutdown of many factories, has caused an electric shock. The geopolitical tensions around China, as well as the pandemic, have raised awareness of the need to produce in Europe these essential components mainly imported from Taiwan and Korea.
To the point of convincing the Commission to relax its strict framework for state aid and to assume an interventionist industrial policy on a continent traditionally very open to global competition.

France: Dissociation of personal and professional assets, relaxation of the unemployment insurance scheme...

Parliament is preparing to definitively adopt a bill on Tuesday offering a simpler and more protective framework for the more than three million self-employed workers. The text on which deputies and senators have agreed in a mixed parity committee must be voted on one last time successively by the Senate and the National Assembly.
It creates a unique status for the self-employed - craftsmen, merchants, liberal professionals...- which makes a distinction between the professional assets of the individual entrepreneur and their personal assets. "All the elements which are not useful for the professional exercise" will be elusive in the event of failure", indicated the Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, while today only the main residence is protected.
This measure, which derogates from the legal principle of the uniqueness of heritage, was a long-standing request from these workers, whose activity by nature faces significant risks, brutally brought to light by the health crisis. It will enter into force three months after the promulgation of the law.
The draft law is articulated with a budgetary component voted at the end of the year, to facilitate the transfer of companies, too few in France when an entrepreneur retires, thanks to exemptions from taxation of the capital gain.

Return to prison for Patrick Balkany convicted of tax evasion

The former LR mayor of Levallois-Perret (Hauts-de-Seine) Patrick Balkany, who had spent five months in detention for tax evasion before being released for health reasons, returned to prison after multiple breaches of his obligations . At the end of the morning, the imprisonment of Mr. Balkany in the prison of Fleury-Mérogis had been announced by the public prosecutor of Evreux Dominique Puechmaille, in front of the gendarmerie of Vexin-sur-Epte (Eure) where she had summoned the former mayor. This gendarmerie is located about ten kilometers from the Cossy mill, in Giverny, where Mr. Balkany had been under house arrest since March 2021 with his wife Isabelle.
Regarding Mr. Balkany's medical certificate provided by the defense to show that his state of health was incompatible with detention, the prosecutor argued that by choosing Fleury-Mérogis, "the management of the prison administration proposed an establishment which allows for 24-hour medical monitoring.
The magistrate had also denounced a "total lack of effort to clear their tax debt, subject of the conviction" for tax evasion. The couple owes 5.3 million euros to the tax authorities, in addition to a sum of 766,759 euros specific to Ms. Balkany.
Asked about BFM on the amount reimbursed to the tax authorities, the prosecutor indicated that the added payments were of the order of 2,000 euros.

IN SHORT
- Overwhelmed by hundreds of trucks laying the "siege" of the Canadian capital, the mayor of Ottawa called on the federal authorities for help to put an end to the show of force by the truckers against the sanitary measures, the object of an urgent debate in Parliament on Monday evening.
- Amazon announced on Tuesday that it has hired 4,000 people in 2021 in France, beyond its initial ambitions, and has the objective of creating 3,000 additional positions in 2022 to reach a total workforce of 18,500 people on permanent contracts in the country.
- Marine Le Pen said Monday evening on France 2 that she was considering a "gradual" retirement system, reserving retirement at age 60 with 40 annuities for French people who entered working life before the age of 20 years.- Former Interior Minister Claude Guéant was granted conditional release on Monday and must leave the prison of Health on Wednesday, after two months of incarceration.
- The Chinese Peng Shuai, whose personal situation has worried the world since November, met the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thomas Bach on Saturday on the sidelines of the Beijing Olympics, confirming in an interview with the newspaper L'Equipe that she had, according to her, "never disappeared".