Free Republic

They might have been congratulated for their "green" efforts in an area of heavy air pollution. Instead a group of French cleaning ladies who organised a car-sharing scheme to get to work are being taken to court by a coach company which accuses them of "an act of unfair and parasitical competition". The women, who live in Moselle and work five days a week at EU offices in Luxembourg, are being taken to court by Transports Schiocchet Excursions, which runs a service along the route. It wants the women to be fined and their cars confiscated. Two years ago a...

When the euro was first issued in 1999, members of the euro zone relished the idea that it might make a dent in the U.S. dollar's status as the world's premier reserve currency. Ironically, that may be the last thing the EU wants to see happen today. Restored pride aside, a wider adoption of the euro as a reserve currency means that dollars would be sold to buy euros. An even stronger euro now would be as welcome as a return of the plague. Europe is lagging the U.S. in growth at exactly the same time the dollar is falling...