The Commission proposal to introduce a European tax is an attractive one, especially for countries which are net contributors to the EU. However, De Volkskrant argues that it will have little chance of overcoming opposition from national governments, who are reluctant to surrender control in an area as delicate as taxation.

Ten years after the introduction of the single currency, are Europeans ready to pay a tax directly to Brussels? The European Commissioner for Financial Programming and the Budget, Janusz Lewandowski, who has launched a trial balloon to this effect in the German edition of the Financial Times, believes that now is the right time to take this step towards the establishment of a European federal state. But his proposal has no chance of being implemented.

The bait that Lewandowski is using to encourage EU member states to take a position on the issue will be relatively hard to ignore: in exchange for a tax on financial transactions or passenger flights, they will be able to reduce the cost of their contributions to the administration in Brussels. Countries like Germany and the Netherlands will certainly pleased with the concept. For years they have had to contend with the political tensions that surround their status as net contributors to the EU, and now they also have to cope with the budgetary austerity required by the stability pact. So any measure that reduces the amount they have to pay to the EU would be more than welcome.

However, the disadvantages still outweigh the advantages. Member states’ fiscal authorities will be effectively sidelined by any tax that is paid directly to Brussels: and individual countries will also be concerned about exceeding limits for tax pressure on their citizens, even if these are not well defined. At the same time, a mandate to raise taxes remains the prerogative of national governments and they would like to keep it that way. In the UK, where fear of the European Superstate is inculcated from a very young age, the British are already insisting that "if you give Brussels an inch, it will take a mile." And in recent years, voters in other European countries appear to be adopting a similar position: especially in the Netherlands and France, where the rejection of the European Constitution in 2005 marked a radical departure in European politics. Commissioner Lewandowski’s proposals do nothing to address this growing phenomenon of Euroscepticism.

But it should be pointed that the measures he aims to implement are not the product of solipsistic thinking on the part of Brussels bureaucrats, as Eurosceptics would like to believe, but a survival strategy for the Commission which is anticipating that negotiations for the 2014-2021 EU budget will be particularly hard-fought. In view of the financial problems that prevail in many of Europe’s member states, an alternative source of revenue could offer a convenient solution, but in all likelihood it will be shelved in response to the fierce opposition to " more Europe," which exists in EU member states.

What the European Union is giving to Internet users and online privacy activists with one hand, it's taking away with the other, argues an American newspaper, reporting on a groundswell of opposition to increased surveillance of personal data.

The EU has tighter restrictions than the United States does on the collection, use, and sale of data by online companies, but also requires Internet service providers to store personal data in case the government ever wants to investigate an individual user. The European Parliament is currently considering passing a law called "Smile29" that would require the Google search engine – which processes billions of searches a month on the Continent – to retain data on users as well.

The EU effort is just the latest of government's around the globe seeking to glean more about their citizens from their online behavior. To critics, the EU laws amount to a surveillance land-grab that has prompted a groundswell of opposition across Europe. Now a group in Ireland is challenging the new regime – seeking permission from the Irish courts to sue the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to strike down new Irish laws designed to bring the country into line with broader European standards. If Digital Rights Ireland, which argues that the laws violate the European Convention on Human Rights, wins, it would set the stage for successful challenges to the rules across Europe. "The main thing we want to see is our data retention laws repealed," says T.J. McIntyre, a law lecturer at University College Dublin and head of the organisation. Mr. McIntyre says the laws criminalize ordinary citizens.

Online privacy has become a key civil liberty battleground. Facebook and Google are amassing colossal amounts of data about users' thoughts, desires, and impulses, which businesses covet and pay handsomely for. And across Europe, a backlash against the storage of private data is growing. Civil society groups like the European Federation of Journalists have criticized the practice, and in Germany almost 35,000 people, including Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, sued their own government over the issue. "There is a real problem in Europe today. It is a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights, which says that everyone has the right to a private life. That fundamental right has to extend into digital life," says Christian Engström, a member of the European Parliament for Sweden's controversial Pirate Party, elected on a platform of digital rights.

In Ireland at present, telephone data must be retained for three years, but there are currently no provisions requiring Internet service providers to retain data, something both the EU and the Irish government want to change. McIntyre says the government already has the upper hand. "In 2002 the Irish government secretly introduced data retention. They did it by ministerial order, and to this day the department of justice has not confirmed it." McIntyre expects the case to be decided by the ECJ.

The EU itself seems to be of two minds when it comes to Internet privacy. While monitoring and surveillance powers have been greatly expanded, the EU body overseeing the effort to expand data retention to search engines under Smile29 complained in a report that EU members are already collecting more information on citizens than they should and "have scarcely provided statistics on the use of data retained under the Directive, which limits the possibilities to verify the usefulness of data retention."

The group advocates major changes to the law, including a reduction of the maximum retention period, reconsideration of the overall security of traffic data by the European Commission, clarification of the concept of "serious crime" at member state level, and "disclosure to all the relevant stakeholders of the list of the entities authorized to access the data." According to Mr. Engström of the Pirate Party, the problem with the EU is a democracy deficit: "Most of the power is with commissioners and [other] unelected officials."

Engström also points to the EU's various bureaucracies, often at loggerheads with one another, as a problem. "It's important to recognize that this is not 'evil'; there is no dark lord pulling the strings, but the EU has become very close to various interests and this in conjunction with an unelected executive is very worrying." Engström contends that law enforcement agencies are seeking access to data simply because it exists: "These things don't have anything to do with real police work. The measures might catch really stupid criminals bumbling about, but real criminals will know how to get around them." He also points to the danger of false accusations, complaining that data mining amounts to little more than pattern recognition: "The human brain is fantastic at seeing patterns – even when they don't exist."

Back in Ireland, McIntyre says his fight will go on for just this reason: "You can't have automated crime detection. For some reason that idea is beloved of law enforcement. The related idea is one of stopping people in advance. Data mining creates too many false positives. From a commercial perspective it doesn't matter – who cares if you get an irrelevant ad on your Facebook page? But with, say, terrorism, a vanishingly small number of people are engaged so you simply don't have the evidence base from which to profile people."

Situata alle pendici del Monte Bondone, e a pochi chilometri in linea d’aria da Trento, Garniga era una località isolata dal resto del mondo, raggiungibile unicamente a piedi attraverso una vetusta mulattiera che partiva dal villaggio di fondovalle di Aldeno e saliva serpeggiando sulla costa della montagna, lasciandosi alle spalle i vigneti e i frutteti della val d’Adige, i boschi e le macchie, arrivando in questo paradiso della tranquillità, posto a circa 800 m di quota, tra le cime austere del Cornetto e del Palòn.
Proprio per la sua particolare collocazione geografica la località di Garniga Terme è la meta ideale per chi cerca una vacanza al contatto con la natura incontaminata e vuole rilassarsi nella pace più totale. Qui si trovano numerosi sentieri che attraverso boschi e pascoli consentono di scoprire passo - passo le bellezze del Monte Bondone.

Per arrivare a Garniga Terme è molto semplice, ed è quindi una meta perfetta per un week-end, sprecando poco tempo in marce di avvicinamento. Si utilizza l’autostrada del Brennero A22, con uscita Rovereto Nord per chi procede da sud, e Trento centro per chi arriva invece da nord. Da Rovereto si segue la strada in destra Agide in direzione di Ardeno, raggiunta la quale si piega a sinistra per Garniga, superando le località di Cimone e Gatter prima di arrivare in circa 20 minuti di percorso dall’uscita autostradale. Uscendo Trento Centro si procede sempre sulla provinciale in destra agide (Via dei Pomari), superando le frazioni di Ravina e Romagnano, prima di arrivare ad Ardeno e seguire lo stesso percorso di prima.

Garniga ha anche una lunga storia da raccontare, che risale a circa 5.000 anni fa. Le prime tracce di insediamenti umani sono riferibili a dei ritrovamenti archeologici risalenti al neolitico e cioè circa al 3.000 avanti Cristo, in accordi al vasellame tipico del periodo ivi rivenuto. Anche durante l’impero romano Garniga era una meta conosciuta, e in questa zona sono state trovate delle monete di epoca imperiale. Lo sviluppo ufficiale della località avvenne però qualche secolo più tardi, in piena epoca medioevale quando fu l’impulso minerario a richiamare popolazione in queste lande solitarie, anche da nazioni estere, a nord delle Alpi. Esiste infatti un documento ufficiale, risalente alla metà del tredicesimo secolo che parla di una miniera di Garniga. Una tradizione popolare fa risalire proprio agli immigrati germanici la scelta del nome della città, che quindi deriverebbe dal tedesco “Gar Nichts”, cioè traducibile in assolutamente nulla, visto le scarse riserve minerarie effettivamente riscontrate, termine poi contrattosi in Garniga.

Dal punto di vista climatico la posizione privilegiata di Garniga sul versante sud del monte Bondone rende i soggiorno piacevole ad ogni stagione. In inverno si può salire in pochi minuti al Bondone di giorno per praticare lo scii, e ridiscendere la sera a Garniga e rilassarsi nelle sue terme gradevoli.

Le minime invernali scendono sotto lo zero, ma la buona esposizione sul versante meridionale della montagna consente un clima asciutto e gradevole di giorno.

Il periodo più caldo dell’anno corrisponde all’estate che è però anche la stagione più foriera di precipitazioni. Fortunatamente i fenomeni assumono carattere temporalesco, e seppur intensi hanno di solito una breve durata. D’estate è anche il miglior momento quindi per gli appassionati di funghi da scoprire nelle camminate all’interno dei boschi.

Garniga Terme è il luogo giusto per rilassarsi e cercare il contatto con la natura. Le numerose passeggiate conducono, tra prati e boschi, in luoghi affascinanti come l'antichissima Chiesa di S. Osvaldo, posta su un colle dove il tempo sembra essersi fermato, oppure ad assaggiare i latticini freschi di malga Albi, adagiata a quasi 1500 metri, in un dolce conca ai piedi della Cima Verde.

La Chiesa di S. Osvaldo è il monumento principale della cittadina e si trova si di un balcone naturale posto in periferia della cittadina, denominato il “dos dei Nòzi”. E’ una chiesa di origine medioevale che possiede un semplice stile gotico ed è affiancata da un grazioso cimitero di montagna. Una altra chiesa da visitare è la più recente Chiesa del Sacro Cuore di Gesù situata in centro paese e ben visibile per il suo slanciato campanile.

Prima delle Terme Garniga era una località ben nota per il suo clima gradevole e salutare, per la proverbiale e sentità ospitalità degli abitanti, per il sapore dei cibi semplici e la cucina a base di verdure e gli ortaggi, ma soprattutto la presenza di erbe dalle proprietà terapeutiche.

Le Terme di Garniga si contraddistinguono proprio per essere l’unico centro termale in Italia veramente specializzato nella cosiddetta fitobalneoterapia, e cioè i bagni d’erbe.

Allo scopo vengono selezionate delle erbe d’alta quota, prelevate dai parti del monte Bondone e in cui viene immerso il paziente, che si rilassa inebriato dagli aromi di piante salutari come il timo, la genziana e il tarassaco.

Questa tipologia di bagni è particolarmente indicata per le osteoartrosi, i reumatismi, i dolori lombari, le lombosciatalgie e malattie professionali come la sindrome del tunnel carpale . Le terme sono anche dotate di centro benessere

Accanto allo stabilimento termale si trovano ottime strutture ricettive e tutti i servizi che possono rendere ancora più gradevole il soggiorno dei turisti: qui troviamo un parco giochi situato nei pressi di un laghetto pittoresco, un centro sportivo dotato di campo da calcio ed il classico campo da bocce, perfetto per il relax delle serate estive. (Fonte: www.ilturista.info)