EU VAT-Rates Compared

The value added tax raises the price on consumer goods. Almost all EU countries had a higher VAT-rate in 2012 compared to 2000. Perhaps surprisingly, Hungary has the highest VAT-rate, followed by Scandinavian Denmark and Sweden. Cyprus, Portugal, Greece, Spain and Romania particularly saw their VAT rising in the last twelve years. Except for Cyprus, all of these countries have now a higher rate than the average for the EU of 21 percent.

Reuters

Nuclear Energy in Europe

This picture from the dutch newspaper NRC shows the amount of nuclear reactors in European Countries with their status. Red means: in use. Black: not in use and green: being constructed. The colors of the countries point to the percentage of the nuclear energy in total energy consumption. The row in the bottom shows total amount of produced nuclear energy per country in terawatt-hours. 

NRC 310511: 'Recorduitstoot broeikassen in 2011'

Europe 2010 Budget Deficits

Today Eurostat announced the 2010 Greek Budget Deficit will be a lot higher than expected. The next graph shows the deficits as a percentage of gdp of the main Europe-countries with most recent data from Eurostat.

Source: Eurostat