Not quite the presidency agenda Paris wantedEUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - On Tuesday 1 July, France takes over the EU presidency armed with a big country's sense of the natural order of things, a hyperactive president and a lengthy list of priorities. But its six month term will operate under the twin black clouds of Ireland's rejection of the EU Lisbon Treaty as well as rising discontent among European citizens about the recent hikes in food and fuel prices. The Irish question will simmer throughout Paris' reign of the EU as member states try and pull off the public relations feat of making it look like the Irish vote counts but putting pressure on Dublin to put the document to referendum for a second time. Whether they achieve this will depend as much on the way Paris conducts the talks as on the actions of Irish prime minister Brian Cowen. However, France's hopes of brokering deals on who would occupy new posts created by the Lisbon treaty - such as the EU president - have been scuppered.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - On Tuesday 1 July, France takes over the EU presidency armed with a big country's sense of the natural order of things, a hyperactive president and a lengthy list of priorities.
But its six month term will operate under the twin black clouds of Ireland's rejection of the EU Lisbon Treaty as well as rising discontent among European citizens about the recent hikes in food and fuel prices.
The Irish question will simmer throughout Paris' reign of the EU as member states try and pull off the public relations feat of making it look like the Irish vote counts but putting pressure on Dublin to put the document to referendum for a second time.
Whether they achieve this will depend as much on the way Paris conducts the talks as on the actions of Irish prime minister Brian Cowen. However, France's hopes of brokering deals on who would occupy new posts created by the Lisbon treaty - such as the EU president - have been scuppered.
Paris: France takes over the European Union's rotating presidency on Sunday for what was originally billed as six months of action-packed diplomacy, but other EU capitals and Irish voters have forced it to scale down its aims. Last year, fresh from his election victory, President Nicolas Sarkozy had a range of plans for his turn at the helm, from an EU-style Mediterranean Union to bringing the bloc's new institutional order into force and hosting a summit on the euro. Those plans have either been watered down or scrapped, taking the sheen off Sarkozy's ambitions. "We went from a vision that Sarkozy was going to change Europe to a slightly more realistic view of what a president can do," said Olivier Louis, head of the EU presidency programme at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI).
Paris: France takes over the European Union's rotating presidency on Sunday for what was originally billed as six months of action-packed diplomacy, but other EU capitals and Irish voters have forced it to scale down its aims.
Last year, fresh from his election victory, President Nicolas Sarkozy had a range of plans for his turn at the helm, from an EU-style Mediterranean Union to bringing the bloc's new institutional order into force and hosting a summit on the euro.
Those plans have either been watered down or scrapped, taking the sheen off Sarkozy's ambitions.
"We went from a vision that Sarkozy was going to change Europe to a slightly more realistic view of what a president can do," said Olivier Louis, head of the EU presidency programme at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI).
"We went from a vision that Sarkozy was going to change Europe to a slightly more realistic view of what a president can do,"
ROTFLMAO...
This now gets tendentious. Have you read just one example of a Sarko fan realising s/he was duped who admits it s/he should have foreseen it? *Traitor*, n. A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
PARIS (Map, News) - France's first lady sings in English and dreams in Italian, and the president's roots reach to Hungary and Greece. Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy could be a metaphor for a harmonious, borderless Europe.The real Europe is a cacophonous and conflicted place, though, as the Sarkozys will soon discover: On Tuesday, they become the continent's public face, as France takes over the presidency of the 27-nation European Union.It's an unusual, important job, presiding over a bloc that boasts nearly half a billion people and an economy rivaling America's yet that struggles to manage its financial and diplomatic heft.Impatient and attention-grabbing, Sarkozy will have his hands full trying to guide - and not dictate to - an EU that is trying to prepare the sometimes sluggish continent to meet this century's challenges, from China's growing clout to expanding global demand for shrinking energy resources.
PARIS (Map, News) - France's first lady sings in English and dreams in Italian, and the president's roots reach to Hungary and Greece. Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy could be a metaphor for a harmonious, borderless Europe.
The real Europe is a cacophonous and conflicted place, though, as the Sarkozys will soon discover: On Tuesday, they become the continent's public face, as France takes over the presidency of the 27-nation European Union.
It's an unusual, important job, presiding over a bloc that boasts nearly half a billion people and an economy rivaling America's yet that struggles to manage its financial and diplomatic heft.
Impatient and attention-grabbing, Sarkozy will have his hands full trying to guide - and not dictate to - an EU that is trying to prepare the sometimes sluggish continent to meet this century's challenges, from China's growing clout to expanding global demand for shrinking energy resources.
here we go again...
one man's sluggish is another man's calm.
jus cuz we don't run around bumping into things in a caffeine frenzy!
oh wait... The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it. Chinese Proverb.
PARIS: French officials said Monday that they would use the presidency of the European Union to try to win over discontented voters in Europe by getting "back to basics," like cushioning the impact of soaring food and fuel bills and protecting voters from globalization. On the eve of the start of its six-month presidency, the officials made it clear that they would seek to reverse the recent no vote by Ireland in a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty to reorganize the EU and would press the Czech Republic to ratify the treaty. "The European idea is in danger if we don't protect Europeans," President Nicolas Sarkozy said Monday as he promised to oppose the European Commission's position in global trade talks. Speaking on French television, Sarkozy attacked proposals in the trade negotiations that he said would reduce European farm production by one-fifth and cut agricultural exports by 10 percent. Sarkozy also highlighted the problems caused for exporters by the high euro exchange rate with the dollar and said the European Central Bank should take account of economic growth, as well as its obligation to control inflation.
PARIS: French officials said Monday that they would use the presidency of the European Union to try to win over discontented voters in Europe by getting "back to basics," like cushioning the impact of soaring food and fuel bills and protecting voters from globalization.
On the eve of the start of its six-month presidency, the officials made it clear that they would seek to reverse the recent no vote by Ireland in a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty to reorganize the EU and would press the Czech Republic to ratify the treaty.
"The European idea is in danger if we don't protect Europeans," President Nicolas Sarkozy said Monday as he promised to oppose the European Commission's position in global trade talks. Speaking on French television, Sarkozy attacked proposals in the trade negotiations that he said would reduce European farm production by one-fifth and cut agricultural exports by 10 percent.
Sarkozy also highlighted the problems caused for exporters by the high euro exchange rate with the dollar and said the European Central Bank should take account of economic growth, as well as its obligation to control inflation.
Sarkozy's European Union plan - Telegraph
As Nicolas Sarkozy assumes the EU presidency, The Daily Telegraph examines French leader's position on the key issues facing the union.
The Czech government has advised the country's Constitutional Court that the EU's Lisbon treaty does not violate the Czech Republic's own constitution, improving the climate for ratification in the most problematic EU state after the Irish No vote. "Due to its [Lisbon's] ratification, no substantial change in the arrangement of the democratic legal order will occur," the text of a legal opinion submitted by the government to the court late last week states, Czech daily Lidove noviny reported. Prague - if the EU treaty gets through here, it should spell 26 against one for Ireland "The government says in its position that...on the basis of legal expert reports the Lisbon treaty complies with the Czech Republic's constitutional order," Europe minister Alexandr Vondra told the CTK news agency on Saturday (28 June). The court is set to make its ruling on the question in September or October, allowing the Czech parliament to complete the ratification process before Prague takes over the rotating EU presidency on 1 January 2009.
The Czech government has advised the country's Constitutional Court that the EU's Lisbon treaty does not violate the Czech Republic's own constitution, improving the climate for ratification in the most problematic EU state after the Irish No vote.
"Due to its [Lisbon's] ratification, no substantial change in the arrangement of the democratic legal order will occur," the text of a legal opinion submitted by the government to the court late last week states, Czech daily Lidove noviny reported.
Prague - if the EU treaty gets through here, it should spell 26 against one for Ireland
"The government says in its position that...on the basis of legal expert reports the Lisbon treaty complies with the Czech Republic's constitutional order," Europe minister Alexandr Vondra told the CTK news agency on Saturday (28 June).
The court is set to make its ruling on the question in September or October, allowing the Czech parliament to complete the ratification process before Prague takes over the rotating EU presidency on 1 January 2009.
Polish president Lech Kaczynski has said he will not sign the EU's Lisbon Treaty, saying it was pointless after Irish voters rejected it in a referendum last month. "For the moment, the question of the treaty is pointless," Mr Kaczynski was quoted as saying in the online version of the daily Dziennik. The Polish parliament voted in April to ratify the Lisbon Treaty, a key reform treaty meant to streamline EU decision-making, but it needs the signature of the president to become definitive.
"For the moment, the question of the treaty is pointless," Mr Kaczynski was quoted as saying in the online version of the daily Dziennik.
The Polish parliament voted in April to ratify the Lisbon Treaty, a key reform treaty meant to streamline EU decision-making, but it needs the signature of the president to become definitive.
German President Koehler has put on hold his country's ratification of the EU's Lisbon Treaty until the highest court has ruled on legal challenges to the text in a move that imperils Germany's EU reform plans. German President Horst Koehler will not sign off on the ratification of the embattled EU's Lisbon Treaty until the country's Constitutional Court decides whether the reform accord is compatible with the country's Basic Law, his office said on Monday, June 30. Koehler has decided to heed a request from the Constitutional Court not to add his signature to the embattled reform treaty pending its ruling, his office said in a statement.
German President Horst Koehler will not sign off on the ratification of the embattled EU's Lisbon Treaty until the country's Constitutional Court decides whether the reform accord is compatible with the country's Basic Law, his office said on Monday, June 30.
Koehler has decided to heed a request from the Constitutional Court not to add his signature to the embattled reform treaty pending its ruling, his office said in a statement.
The EU has not ruled out taking action against Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe in the wake of presidential elections marred by extensive violence. In a statement issued following the elections on Friday (27 June), Slovenia, which currently holds the six-month rotating EU presidency warned "The European Union does not exclude the possibility of taking appropriate measures against those responsible for the tragic events of recent months." Elections in Zimbabwe are a "sham," said one EU representative "The people of Zimbabwe were unable to express their will," the statement added. "As a result, these elections cannot be regarded as legitimate and the power of the elected representatives is questionable." The European Commission equally attacked the validity of the poll, with spokeswoman Krisztina Nagy saying "[Friday's] election is a sham, the election is hollow and its result will be equally hollow and meaningless...The European Commission like the United Nations does not consider this election legitimate or valid."
The EU has not ruled out taking action against Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe in the wake of presidential elections marred by extensive violence.
In a statement issued following the elections on Friday (27 June), Slovenia, which currently holds the six-month rotating EU presidency warned "The European Union does not exclude the possibility of taking appropriate measures against those responsible for the tragic events of recent months."
Elections in Zimbabwe are a "sham," said one EU representative
"The people of Zimbabwe were unable to express their will," the statement added. "As a result, these elections cannot be regarded as legitimate and the power of the elected representatives is questionable."
The European Commission equally attacked the validity of the poll, with spokeswoman Krisztina Nagy saying "[Friday's] election is a sham, the election is hollow and its result will be equally hollow and meaningless...The European Commission like the United Nations does not consider this election legitimate or valid."
The noose is steadily tightening around the neck of EU biofuels targets, with France on Monday (30 June) saying that the EU's 10 percent biofuels target may have to be reconsidered, in the latest attack on the renewable energy drive. "Probably we will be obliged to call into question or postpone the 10 percent objective," said French ecology minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet speaking to reporters in Paris, according to the Reuters news agency. The renewable energy source has come under attack from all quarters She added that developing a target for the controversial fuel source was "probably a mistake" and that the EU had proposed things the wrong way round: setting environmental and social criteria for the production of biofuels should have been developed first and then any target should have been drafted to match that. The EU in 2007 agreed that 10 percent of all transport fuel should come form renewable sources such as biofuels by 2020 as part of a wider overhaul of its energy sector. "On biofuels, we do not rule out in the long-run reconsidering the target," Ms Kosciusko-Morizet said.
The noose is steadily tightening around the neck of EU biofuels targets, with France on Monday (30 June) saying that the EU's 10 percent biofuels target may have to be reconsidered, in the latest attack on the renewable energy drive.
"Probably we will be obliged to call into question or postpone the 10 percent objective," said French ecology minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet speaking to reporters in Paris, according to the Reuters news agency.
The renewable energy source has come under attack from all quarters
She added that developing a target for the controversial fuel source was "probably a mistake" and that the EU had proposed things the wrong way round: setting environmental and social criteria for the production of biofuels should have been developed first and then any target should have been drafted to match that.
The EU in 2007 agreed that 10 percent of all transport fuel should come form renewable sources such as biofuels by 2020 as part of a wider overhaul of its energy sector. "On biofuels, we do not rule out in the long-run reconsidering the target," Ms Kosciusko-Morizet said.
Slovenia, the first former communist country to hold the rotating EU presidency, oversaw positive developments in the Balkans over the last six months. But the crisis of the Irish No vote overshadowed Slovenia's term. At the beginning of the year, Slovenia set out to prove that a small country could successfully take on the European Union presidency. Indeed, the recent EU member showed that "things wouldn't go disastrously wrong and that they could manage it effectively," said Jacki Davis from the European Policy Center, a leading think-tank in Brussels. "I think they've done that and that's really the best one could have asked for," she said.
At the beginning of the year, Slovenia set out to prove that a small country could successfully take on the European Union presidency.
Indeed, the recent EU member showed that "things wouldn't go disastrously wrong and that they could manage it effectively," said Jacki Davis from the European Policy Center, a leading think-tank in Brussels.
"I think they've done that and that's really the best one could have asked for," she said.
ROME: President Giorgio Napolitano appealed for calm from Italy's political class on Sunday after friends and foes of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi attacked each other with offensive slurs and name-calling. Tensions have been rising steadily since the new prime minister announced legislation to grant himself immunity from prosecution, to suspend some trials and to jail journalists who publish wiretapped phone conversations. With the weakened centre-left potentially unable to stop Berlusconi in parliament, the political climate has turned ugly - devolving into name-calling this weekend. La Stampa newspaper declared on its front-page: "It's Insult Time". "I hope for a more calm and constructive climate," said Napolitano, who as president acts a neutral arbiter. But opposition leader Walter Veltroni, who lost April elections to Berlusconi, said the time for dialogue with the billionaire media mogul was over.
ROME: President Giorgio Napolitano appealed for calm from Italy's political class on Sunday after friends and foes of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi attacked each other with offensive slurs and name-calling.
Tensions have been rising steadily since the new prime minister announced legislation to grant himself immunity from prosecution, to suspend some trials and to jail journalists who publish wiretapped phone conversations.
With the weakened centre-left potentially unable to stop Berlusconi in parliament, the political climate has turned ugly - devolving into name-calling this weekend. La Stampa newspaper declared on its front-page: "It's Insult Time".
"I hope for a more calm and constructive climate," said Napolitano, who as president acts a neutral arbiter.
But opposition leader Walter Veltroni, who lost April elections to Berlusconi, said the time for dialogue with the billionaire media mogul was over.
It is only when an opposition figure uses strong language does it become an international affair worthy of the IHT or the FT. Where were they when Sgarbi interrupted Travaglio repeatedly a couple of months ago by calling him a "piece of shit?"
Frankly, Di Pietro's characterization of Berlusconi as a "pimp" does not appear to me so much as an insult as a simple recognition of fact.
PARIS: When Nicolas Sarkozy brings France back into NATO's unified command next year, he will want to celebrate it as a triumph for Europe's own defense identity. It's a very French spin on a step that more meaningfully signifies that the alliance, so often buried, is alive and kicking, and that Sarkozy, 42 years after Charles de Gaulle's decision to pull out of NATO's integrated military structure, thinks there's no more profit in France being seen as a reflex antagonist of the United States on issues like Iran, the Middle East, Russia and China. The world ought to notice. Even if Sarkozy, out of domestic political considerations, must write his own Franco-French account of his country's new wisdom. On France's motivation, Sarkozy states a plain truth: "Our position, outside the military command, sustains mistrust about the object of our European ambition." To that, he adds a very French judgment: "A France taking its full place in NATO would be an alliance that would be giving a greater place to Europe."
PARIS: When Nicolas Sarkozy brings France back into NATO's unified command next year, he will want to celebrate it as a triumph for Europe's own defense identity.
It's a very French spin on a step that more meaningfully signifies that the alliance, so often buried, is alive and kicking, and that Sarkozy, 42 years after Charles de Gaulle's decision to pull out of NATO's integrated military structure, thinks there's no more profit in France being seen as a reflex antagonist of the United States on issues like Iran, the Middle East, Russia and China.
The world ought to notice. Even if Sarkozy, out of domestic political considerations, must write his own Franco-French account of his country's new wisdom.
On France's motivation, Sarkozy states a plain truth: "Our position, outside the military command, sustains mistrust about the object of our European ambition." To that, he adds a very French judgment: "A France taking its full place in NATO would be an alliance that would be giving a greater place to Europe."
FRANKFURT: Inflation in the euro area surged to a record high for the year ending in June, Eurostat reported Monday, fueling a debate about whether the European Central Bank should raise interest rates more than once to keep rising costs from harming the European economy. The increase, to 4 percent, fed by oil prices that rose above $143 a barrel Monday, is double the level deemed acceptable by the European Central Bank, which tries to keep inflation below, but close to 2 percent. "This is a bad figure," the European monetary affairs commissioner Joaquín Almunia told the European Parliament on Monday. "We need to avoid an inflationary spiral." The ECB is widely expected to raise its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point, to 4.25 percent, when it meets Thursday, a sharp reversal in investor sentiment from just a month ago. It hinted at the move last month, surprising observers who said that they expected it to stand pat for much of the year.
FRANKFURT: Inflation in the euro area surged to a record high for the year ending in June, Eurostat reported Monday, fueling a debate about whether the European Central Bank should raise interest rates more than once to keep rising costs from harming the European economy.
The increase, to 4 percent, fed by oil prices that rose above $143 a barrel Monday, is double the level deemed acceptable by the European Central Bank, which tries to keep inflation below, but close to 2 percent.
"This is a bad figure," the European monetary affairs commissioner Joaquín Almunia told the European Parliament on Monday. "We need to avoid an inflationary spiral."
The ECB is widely expected to raise its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point, to 4.25 percent, when it meets Thursday, a sharp reversal in investor sentiment from just a month ago. It hinted at the move last month, surprising observers who said that they expected it to stand pat for much of the year.
We need to avoid an inflationary spiral.
Is that a likely scenario? I'm as much an economic dunce as the next guy, but if the inflation comes from particular sectors (oil, agricultural land) becoming globally more costly, rather than any failing of the currency, will tinkering with the interest rates - strengthening an already very strong Euro - have much effect?
The Graun's take is that yer Europe, right, is doomed, apparently.
Credit crunch: Central bank likely to raise eurozone interest rates
Germany, Europe's biggest economy and the world's largest exporter, has been growing very robustly on the back of a sizzling global economy and has shrugged off the strength of the euro, which makes exports less competitive. But other European economies such as Ireland and Spain are in the middle of full-blown housing market meltdown.The German economy, which grew at 1.5% in the first quarter of this year, now looks in trouble. Rising petrol prices hit consumer sentiment and business confidence has turned down. Unemployment has ticked up for the first time since March 2006 and retail sales have fallen for three months in a row. Some economists think Germany may show no growth at all in the second quarter.
Germany, Europe's biggest economy and the world's largest exporter, has been growing very robustly on the back of a sizzling global economy and has shrugged off the strength of the euro, which makes exports less competitive. But other European economies such as Ireland and Spain are in the middle of full-blown housing market meltdown.
The German economy, which grew at 1.5% in the first quarter of this year, now looks in trouble. Rising petrol prices hit consumer sentiment and business confidence has turned down. Unemployment has ticked up for the first time since March 2006 and retail sales have fallen for three months in a row. Some economists think Germany may show no growth at all in the second quarter.
The battle for leadership of France's divided Socialist party will intensify this week as the last of the big contenders lay out their plans to bring the left back to the presidential palace after more than a decade.Ségolène Royal, who led a controversial but unsuccessful challenge for the presidency last year against the right-of-centre Nicolas Sarkozy, this weekend put anti-Sarkozyism at the heart of her renewal programme.Speaking to a rally of 1,000 supporters in Paris, Ms Royal said that the left needed to "break the grip of the Sarkozy clan" on France and accused the president of favouring friends in the business community - "the France of the Falcon jet" - over the purchasing power of ordinary workers.She appealed to the extreme left, with references to a political "revolution" and quotations from Friedrich Engels, and to the centre to join her assault on the president's "predatory system".
The battle for leadership of France's divided Socialist party will intensify this week as the last of the big contenders lay out their plans to bring the left back to the presidential palace after more than a decade.
Ségolène Royal, who led a controversial but unsuccessful challenge for the presidency last year against the right-of-centre Nicolas Sarkozy, this weekend put anti-Sarkozyism at the heart of her renewal programme.
Speaking to a rally of 1,000 supporters in Paris, Ms Royal said that the left needed to "break the grip of the Sarkozy clan" on France and accused the president of favouring friends in the business community - "the France of the Falcon jet" - over the purchasing power of ordinary workers.
She appealed to the extreme left, with references to a political "revolution" and quotations from Friedrich Engels, and to the centre to join her assault on the president's "predatory system".
Too much tactics, not enough politics. Not all that interesting. Auferre, trucidare, rapere, falsis nominibus imperium; atque, ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant.
This
War on Terra
article is based on events that blew up on 27th November last year.
At this time of year, night does not fall in Narvik, a Norwegian town 140 miles north of the Polar Circle. The midnight sun shines over the industrial town and the stunning mountains and fjords surrounding it. But the town has been plunged into a dark financial storm. This Arctic municipality of 18,000 inhabitants is the surprise victim of the US sub-prime mortgage crisis, an example of how far-reaching its impact has been. Narvik, together with seven other small communities across Norway, have lost tens of millions of pounds in complex investments that went south as a direct result of the global financial squeeze. This means that Narvik, the site of the second world war battle, faces an uphill struggle to ensure the funding of its public services. "There are going to be cuts in healthcare, schools, elderly care, youth clubs, sport activities," lists opposition local councillor Torgeir Trældal. "People don't understand that the crisis will have such an impact. They have a right to be angry. It's sad." At the heart of the crisis is the decision by Narvik to invest £24m of its public funds into securities put together by US bank Citigroup. These products were marketed and sold via a Norwegian brokerage firm, Terra Securities. Narvik's leaders say they did not know these products were high-risk, with most thinking that they were investing in domestic companies, rather than outside Norway, as was the case. When the credit crunch hit last summer, the town lost around £18m, coming on top of other debts Narvik ran up. The city will get back some of the money it lost, but in the end, the total debt could reach as high as £20m - small change to the banks responsible for the credit crunch, but around a fifth of the city's £100m annual budget.
This Arctic municipality of 18,000 inhabitants is the surprise victim of the US sub-prime mortgage crisis, an example of how far-reaching its impact has been. Narvik, together with seven other small communities across Norway, have lost tens of millions of pounds in complex investments that went south as a direct result of the global financial squeeze.
This means that Narvik, the site of the second world war battle, faces an uphill struggle to ensure the funding of its public services. "There are going to be cuts in healthcare, schools, elderly care, youth clubs, sport activities," lists opposition local councillor Torgeir Trældal. "People don't understand that the crisis will have such an impact. They have a right to be angry. It's sad."
At the heart of the crisis is the decision by Narvik to invest £24m of its public funds into securities put together by US bank Citigroup. These products were marketed and sold via a Norwegian brokerage firm, Terra Securities. Narvik's leaders say they did not know these products were high-risk, with most thinking that they were investing in domestic companies, rather than outside Norway, as was the case.
When the credit crunch hit last summer, the town lost around £18m, coming on top of other debts Narvik ran up. The city will get back some of the money it lost, but in the end, the total debt could reach as high as £20m - small change to the banks responsible for the credit crunch, but around a fifth of the city's £100m annual budget.
Still, it's much nicer in Narvik at this time of year than in early December when this was news....
The German Bundespräsident, Horst Köhler, will not, for the time being, sign the act permitting the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty.
He has been so requested by the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) in order to avoid an injunction, something the court usually frowns upon.
German President Koehler has put on hold his country's ratification of the EU's Lisbon Treaty until the highest court has ruled on legal challenges to the text in a move that imperils Germany's EU reform plans. German President Horst Koehler will not sign off on the ratification of the embattled EU's Lisbon Treaty until the country's Constitutional Court decides whether the reform accord is compatible with the country's Basic Law, his office said on Monday, June 30. Koehler has decided to heed a request from the Constitutional Court not to add his signature to the embattled reform treaty pending its ruling, his office said in a statement. "The president is respecting the request of the Constitutional Court," the statement added. The court has not yet set a date to rule on the challenges.
"The president is respecting the request of the Constitutional Court," the statement added. The court has not yet set a date to rule on the challenges.
WASHINGTON -- The United States and the European Union are nearing completion of an agreement allowing law enforcement and security agencies to obtain private information -- like credit card transactions, travel histories and Internet browsing habits -- about people on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. The potential agreement, as outlined in an internal report obtained by The New York Times, would represent a diplomatic breakthrough for American counterterrorism officials, who have clashed with the European Union over demands for personal data. Europe generally has more stringent laws restricting how governments and businesses can collect and transfer such information. Negotiators, who have been meeting since February 2007, have largely agreed on draft language for 12 major issues central to a "binding international agreement," the report said. The pact would make clear that it is lawful for European governments and companies to transfer personal information to the United States, and vice versa.
WASHINGTON -- The United States and the European Union are nearing completion of an agreement allowing law enforcement and security agencies to obtain private information -- like credit card transactions, travel histories and Internet browsing habits -- about people on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.
The potential agreement, as outlined in an internal report obtained by The New York Times, would represent a diplomatic breakthrough for American counterterrorism officials, who have clashed with the European Union over demands for personal data. Europe generally has more stringent laws restricting how governments and businesses can collect and transfer such information.
Negotiators, who have been meeting since February 2007, have largely agreed on draft language for 12 major issues central to a "binding international agreement," the report said. The pact would make clear that it is lawful for European governments and companies to transfer personal information to the United States, and vice versa.
