Tony Blair is facing louder criticism than anticipated in his bid to become the EU's first president. Support for the former British prime minister appears to be waning in Berlin and Paris as resistance builds elsewhere in Europe. Is Blair losing his chance to become the man to call in Brussels? Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair wants to become the man to call in Brussels. London's bid to promote Tony Blair as a candidate to become the first ever President of the European Union is being met with unexpectedly vocal opposition in a number of European capital cities. The person serving as EU president will effectively be the international face of the 27 member countries and would lead regular summits of state and government leaders. The creation of the post is contingent on the ratification of the EU's Lisbon Treaty, the watered-down successor document to the failed European constitution. Rejected by Irish voters last year, the issue is expected to be put up for another vote in a second referendum on Oct. 2.
Tony Blair is facing louder criticism than anticipated in his bid to become the EU's first president. Support for the former British prime minister appears to be waning in Berlin and Paris as resistance builds elsewhere in Europe. Is Blair losing his chance to become the man to call in Brussels?
Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair wants to become the man to call in Brussels. London's bid to promote Tony Blair as a candidate to become the first ever President of the European Union is being met with unexpectedly vocal opposition in a number of European capital cities.
The person serving as EU president will effectively be the international face of the 27 member countries and would lead regular summits of state and government leaders. The creation of the post is contingent on the ratification of the EU's Lisbon Treaty, the watered-down successor document to the failed European constitution. Rejected by Irish voters last year, the issue is expected to be put up for another vote in a second referendum on Oct. 2.
EU environment ministers met for a second day to discuss a common stance on tackling climate change, committing to a 30 percent reduction of carbon dioxide and financial support for developing nations. Sweden's Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren says the European Union will use all its influence to get the international community to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent during talks on a new climate deal at the end of the year. The EU will hold a summit in October to set down its policy for global negotiations on a new pact to cut greenhouse gas emissions, Carlgren said at a press conference Saturday in the Swedish town of Are, where EU environment ministers were holding a summit. Carlgren said the summit would be preceded a few days earlier by meetings of EU finance and environment ministers on October 20-21.
Sweden's Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren says the European Union will use all its influence to get the international community to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent during talks on a new climate deal at the end of the year.
The EU will hold a summit in October to set down its policy for global negotiations on a new pact to cut greenhouse gas emissions, Carlgren said at a press conference Saturday in the Swedish town of Are, where EU environment ministers were holding a summit.
Carlgren said the summit would be preceded a few days earlier by meetings of EU finance and environment ministers on October 20-21.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The regional and urban dimension will get more prominence in the EU lawmaking process, former commissioner and the new chairwoman of the European Parliament's regional committee told this website. Up until June the EU commissioner for regional policy, Danuta Hubner was elected last week as chair of the regional development committee (REGI) in the European Parliament. Former EU commissioner Danuta Hubner is now chairing the European Parliament's regional development committee. "My intention is to make this committee more visible and more important in the Parliament. It should acquire the full right to give opinions on legislation adopted by other committees - for instance environment, transport or energy," the Polish MEP said. Established as a separate parliamentary committee five years ago, REGI is responsible for all legislation concerning the EU's regional funding - since 2007 the biggest part of the bloc's budget - and its co-ordination with other policies, as well as for relations with interregional co-operation organisations, local and regional authorities.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The regional and urban dimension will get more prominence in the EU lawmaking process, former commissioner and the new chairwoman of the European Parliament's regional committee told this website.
Up until June the EU commissioner for regional policy, Danuta Hubner was elected last week as chair of the regional development committee (REGI) in the European Parliament.
Former EU commissioner Danuta Hubner is now chairing the European Parliament's regional development committee.
"My intention is to make this committee more visible and more important in the Parliament. It should acquire the full right to give opinions on legislation adopted by other committees - for instance environment, transport or energy," the Polish MEP said.
Established as a separate parliamentary committee five years ago, REGI is responsible for all legislation concerning the EU's regional funding - since 2007 the biggest part of the bloc's budget - and its co-ordination with other policies, as well as for relations with interregional co-operation organisations, local and regional authorities.
The European project is stalling. In order to strike out from the crisis it now faces, it must decide on its future and put forward a major new project as ambitious as that of the single currency, according to a report by demosEuropa, published in Warsaw weekly Polityka. This moment is special: Europe has lost momentum, gripped by a economic, institutional crisis, and also a crisis of faith. With a new institutional season beginning - a new parliament, soon a new Commission, Europe needs to overcome some apathy. Polityka weekly and demosEuropa - Centre for European Strategy, a Warsaw-based think tank, launched a reflection group with the purpose of drawing up a new agenda for the European Union. Its comprehensive report, called Europe Can Do Better, was unveiled in Warsaw on 16 July, with the aim to present it in selected European capitals also. Its message is clear: To go forward the EU must launch a new, demanding integration project matching to single market and single currency ones of the eighties and nineties.
The European project is stalling. In order to strike out from the crisis it now faces, it must decide on its future and put forward a major new project as ambitious as that of the single currency, according to a report by demosEuropa, published in Warsaw weekly Polityka.
This moment is special: Europe has lost momentum, gripped by a economic, institutional crisis, and also a crisis of faith. With a new institutional season beginning - a new parliament, soon a new Commission, Europe needs to overcome some apathy.
Polityka weekly and demosEuropa - Centre for European Strategy, a Warsaw-based think tank, launched a reflection group with the purpose of drawing up a new agenda for the European Union. Its comprehensive report, called Europe Can Do Better, was unveiled in Warsaw on 16 July, with the aim to present it in selected European capitals also. Its message is clear: To go forward the EU must launch a new, demanding integration project matching to single market and single currency ones of the eighties and nineties.
They simply will not devolve the real power that would render them irrelevant keep to the Fen Causeway
Unlike the popinjays, who are fine patriots, every one of them, Europe is evil by definition.
Therefore the European parliament is evil too. And so it goes.
As votes cast by Iraqi Kurds Saturday are counted, Kurds in Turkey are mulling recent overtures made by Ankara. After 25 years of conflict between Turkey and Kurdish separatists, there are signs of a rapprochement. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced last week that his government was working on steps to solve the Kurdish conflict, which has claimed over 40,000 lives. "Whether we call it the Kurdish, the southeast or eastern problem, whether we call it the Kurdish initiative, we have started work on this," Erdogan told a news conference before departing on a trip to Syria. He did not say when the plan would be announced or what it might entail, but did say the interior ministry was already discussing the issue with other branches of government including the military and the national intelligence agency.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced last week that his government was working on steps to solve the Kurdish conflict, which has claimed over 40,000 lives.
"Whether we call it the Kurdish, the southeast or eastern problem, whether we call it the Kurdish initiative, we have started work on this," Erdogan told a news conference before departing on a trip to Syria.
He did not say when the plan would be announced or what it might entail, but did say the interior ministry was already discussing the issue with other branches of government including the military and the national intelligence agency.
TBILISI, Georgia -- This weekend, after the brass band had gone home and workers had taken down the American flags fluttering all over town, this much was clear: President Mikheil Saakashvili had survived. Pundits were writing his political obituary through much of the past year. Former loyalists defected from his administration to join the opposition, Western allies blamed him for starting the war with Russia last August, and Russian leaders publicly menaced him, calling him a "political corpse." It was a worried man who greeted Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. last Wednesday. Mr. Saakashvili went beyond friendly to pushy in his quest for support, telling his guest, mid-banquet, that "there is no free dinner in Georgia." At first -- as Mr. Saakashvili welcomed "my dear Joe" and Mr. Biden responded with a prim "Mr. President" -- it was not clear what the American response would be.
TBILISI, Georgia -- This weekend, after the brass band had gone home and workers had taken down the American flags fluttering all over town, this much was clear: President Mikheil Saakashvili had survived.
Pundits were writing his political obituary through much of the past year. Former loyalists defected from his administration to join the opposition, Western allies blamed him for starting the war with Russia last August, and Russian leaders publicly menaced him, calling him a "political corpse."
It was a worried man who greeted Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. last Wednesday. Mr. Saakashvili went beyond friendly to pushy in his quest for support, telling his guest, mid-banquet, that "there is no free dinner in Georgia." At first -- as Mr. Saakashvili welcomed "my dear Joe" and Mr. Biden responded with a prim "Mr. President" -- it was not clear what the American response would be.
Vaclav Klaus, the Czech president, has threatened to derail attempts to see the controversial Lisbon Treaty take effect before the end of the year. Supported by 17 Czech senators, Mr Klaus, a critic of the treaty, plans to refer the document to his country's constitutional court at the start of August.In seeking a ruling on whether the treaty complies with the Czech constitution, Mr Klaus would be able to delay signing the treaty into Czech law until the court had given its verdict.
Supported by 17 Czech senators, Mr Klaus, a critic of the treaty, plans to refer the document to his country's constitutional court at the start of August.
In seeking a ruling on whether the treaty complies with the Czech constitution, Mr Klaus would be able to delay signing the treaty into Czech law until the court had given its verdict.
A British grandmother has become a fugitive from the French judicial system, wanted for a conviction that she never knew she had. Deborah Dark, 45, from Richmond, West London, was blissfully unaware of her status as a wanted woman when she went to visit her elderly father in Spain. Her plight became clear only as she tried to return home. At the airport she was arrested and incarcerated for a month, as French authorities sought to have her extradited to serve a six-year sentence. Though a Spanish judge denied the request she was arrested again on her return to London. A European Arrest Warrant has been issued and authorities in every member state of the EU are obliged to detain her should she set foot in their country. The alleged offence for which Mrs Dark is now being pursued is from 1988, when she was 24 and was driving home from a holiday in Marbella, Spain, with her eight-year-old daughter. At the French border, customs searched her car and found several kilograms of cannabis beneath the floor and in the sunroof.
A British grandmother has become a fugitive from the French judicial system, wanted for a conviction that she never knew she had.
Deborah Dark, 45, from Richmond, West London, was blissfully unaware of her status as a wanted woman when she went to visit her elderly father in Spain. Her plight became clear only as she tried to return home. At the airport she was arrested and incarcerated for a month, as French authorities sought to have her extradited to serve a six-year sentence.
Though a Spanish judge denied the request she was arrested again on her return to London. A European Arrest Warrant has been issued and authorities in every member state of the EU are obliged to detain her should she set foot in their country.
The alleged offence for which Mrs Dark is now being pursued is from 1988, when she was 24 and was driving home from a holiday in Marbella, Spain, with her eight-year-old daughter. At the French border, customs searched her car and found several kilograms of cannabis beneath the floor and in the sunroof.
Man, someone slipped up badly. You could almost say there should be a statute of limitations on it, after all the authorities let her go. keep to the Fen Causeway
Wether this is the whole true story, or convenient anti-europeanism is another matter however Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
Immigrants who want to become British citizens will win bonus points if they go to live and work in Scotland, where the population is ageing, Jim Murphy, the Scottish secretary, announced today.A draft Home Office consultation paper, due shortly, on the government's new policy of "earned citizenship", singles out the fact of "having lived or worked in a part of the UK in need of increased population [such as Scotland]" as a point worthy of "favourable treatment".The credit of living in Scotland will rank alongside skills in short supply, as well as special talents, in science or the arts, and a "proper attitude" towards the adopted country.Writing in Scotland on Sunday, Murphy reminded fellow Scots that their average age was now 45 - "almost four years older" than his age - and that such a demographic profile put pressure on the welfare state and on future competitiveness.
Immigrants who want to become British citizens will win bonus points if they go to live and work in Scotland, where the population is ageing, Jim Murphy, the Scottish secretary, announced today.
A draft Home Office consultation paper, due shortly, on the government's new policy of "earned citizenship", singles out the fact of "having lived or worked in a part of the UK in need of increased population [such as Scotland]" as a point worthy of "favourable treatment".
The credit of living in Scotland will rank alongside skills in short supply, as well as special talents, in science or the arts, and a "proper attitude" towards the adopted country.
Writing in Scotland on Sunday, Murphy reminded fellow Scots that their average age was now 45 - "almost four years older" than his age - and that such a demographic profile put pressure on the welfare state and on future competitiveness.
Updated 12.43 Brussels time The EU has accepted Iceland's bid to join the bloc at a meeting of its foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday (27 July), signaling a speedy pace on accession. The ministers asked the European Commission to analyse Iceland's legal preparedness to start membership negotiations. The move marks the first formal step in the enlargement process. Reykjavik: ministers will accept the application less than one week after it was made "The Commission is invited to submit to the Council its opinion on this application," they said in a statement. The decision comes after Iceland officially submitted its EU application just last week. If the commission completes the analysis before the end of the year, Iceland could start accession talks in 2010 and enter the EU as early as 2011 or 2012.
Updated 12.43 Brussels time The EU has accepted Iceland's bid to join the bloc at a meeting of its foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday (27 July), signaling a speedy pace on accession.
The ministers asked the European Commission to analyse Iceland's legal preparedness to start membership negotiations. The move marks the first formal step in the enlargement process.
Reykjavik: ministers will accept the application less than one week after it was made
"The Commission is invited to submit to the Council its opinion on this application," they said in a statement.
The decision comes after Iceland officially submitted its EU application just last week.
If the commission completes the analysis before the end of the year, Iceland could start accession talks in 2010 and enter the EU as early as 2011 or 2012.
Germany called a French idea to slap "carbon tariffs" on products from countries that are not trying to cut greenhouse gases a form of "eco-imperialism" and a direct violation of WTO rules. The issue of greenhouse tariffs has met bitter opposition from developing countries such as China and India, who count on the developed world to buy their exports as they build their economies in the face of the worst financial crisis in decades. Matthias Machnig, Germany's State Secretary for the Environment, told a news briefing on Friday that a French push for Europe to impose carbon tariffs on imports from countries that flout rules on carbon emissions would send the wrong signal to the international community. "There are two problems -- the WTO (World Trade Organization), and the signal would be that this is a new form of eco-imperialism," Machnig said.
The issue of greenhouse tariffs has met bitter opposition from developing countries such as China and India, who count on the developed world to buy their exports as they build their economies in the face of the worst financial crisis in decades.
Matthias Machnig, Germany's State Secretary for the Environment, told a news briefing on Friday that a French push for Europe to impose carbon tariffs on imports from countries that flout rules on carbon emissions would send the wrong signal to the international community.
"There are two problems -- the WTO (World Trade Organization), and the signal would be that this is a new form of eco-imperialism," Machnig said.
Carbon tariffs, at this point, are precisely what is needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Being nice and negotiating non-binding targets isn't working. Plus, BRIC won't play along with reducing emissions.
Even if hedge funds don't depart, London's financial district, known as the City, may be left at a disadvantage, said Willem Buiter, a former Bank of England policy maker and now a professor at the London School of Economics. "There hasn't been a systemic crisis of this nature in recent times, and it has shown the limits to the long-term viability of the City," Buiter said. "The age of light-touch regulation is clearly over. Although it remains to be seen what will happen on the regulatory side in the U.S., the U.K. is now at a disadvantage."
"There hasn't been a systemic crisis of this nature in recent times, and it has shown the limits to the long-term viability of the City," Buiter said. "The age of light-touch regulation is clearly over. Although it remains to be seen what will happen on the regulatory side in the U.S., the U.K. is now at a disadvantage."
jeez, if everyone else was manacled to the grindstone 24/7 and starving on the job, they'd still be at it, kvetching how the kids should get up earlier and skip breastfeeding!
chronic, pathological, and hopefully soon terminal... ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
As its hedge-fund and private-equity industries worry about new rules, the U.S. is quietly lobbying Europe to change the terms of proposed financial regulation that could place strict new rules on any U.S. hedge- or private-equity fund doing business in the region, according to a senior Treasury official. The move wades the U.S. into a fierce battle between the U.K. and other parts of Europe over how tough regulation should be. Some nations, led by Germany and France, are calling for wholesale regulation of financial services
The move wades the U.S. into a fierce battle between the U.K. and other parts of Europe over how tough regulation should be. Some nations, led by Germany and France, are calling for wholesale regulation of financial services
The seven North Atlantic Treaty Organization governments behind the Airbus A400M military transport aircraft program pledged Friday to continue looking for negotiated solutions to the troubled program through the end of the year. Defense ministers from the A400M core customer countries, meeting in Le Castellet, in southern France, renewed their support for the program and said they will continue to negotiate with Airbus Military, which is overseeing the program.
Defense ministers from the A400M core customer countries, meeting in Le Castellet, in southern France, renewed their support for the program and said they will continue to negotiate with Airbus Military, which is overseeing the program.
EADS Quarterly Profit Rises as Airbus Delivers More Aircraft - Bloomberg.com
The seven countries that placed the 20 billion-euro order for the A400M turboprop in 2003 had the right to drop the contract in April 2009 if the model hadn't made its first test flight by then. Officials granted a three-month moratorium on any decision before extending it to the end of the year. Airbus now plans the A400M's first flight for December in Seville, Spain, where the model is being assembled. The manufacturer is spending 100 million euros a month on modifications and testing to fix engineering glitches, including engine-design flaws, that led to the delays. Advance payments of 5.7 billion euros have already been used up, EADS Chief Executive Officer Louis Gallois said June 14.
The seven countries that placed the 20 billion-euro order for the A400M turboprop in 2003 had the right to drop the contract in April 2009 if the model hadn't made its first test flight by then. Officials granted a three-month moratorium on any decision before extending it to the end of the year.
Airbus now plans the A400M's first flight for December in Seville, Spain, where the model is being assembled. The manufacturer is spending 100 million euros a month on modifications and testing to fix engineering glitches, including engine-design flaws, that led to the delays. Advance payments of 5.7 billion euros have already been used up, EADS Chief Executive Officer Louis Gallois said June 14.
The aircraft is 4 years late. Not only that, Airbus committed to a fixed per-unit price when the project was placed, which by now is significantly south of break-even.
Meanwhile, the European armed forces have been nursing their >40 yo A-130 fleets, figuring they'd be taking delivery of a supercool transport aircraft right now. Not. So now they have to budget for a lot (even for military hardware!) of unanticipated maintenance. The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman
German shoppers are showing surprising strength in adversity with consumer confidence in the eurozone's largest economy hitting its highest level for more than a year, even as evidence mounts of a credit squeeze across continental Europe.The Nuremberg-based GfK research group has forecast its "consumer climate" index will rise from 3.0 points in July to 3.5 points in August, the highest since June last year. Even as the country battles against the worst recession in post war history, the disappearance of inflation and the lack of a dramatic shake-out in the labour force were boosting Germans' propensity to spend, it said.The unexpectedly steep increase will strengthen expectations of a significant rebound in Europe's largest economy in the second half of this year. Last week, the German Ifo business confidence index also rose strongly, hitting the highest level since October.
The Nuremberg-based GfK research group has forecast its "consumer climate" index will rise from 3.0 points in July to 3.5 points in August, the highest since June last year. Even as the country battles against the worst recession in post war history, the disappearance of inflation and the lack of a dramatic shake-out in the labour force were boosting Germans' propensity to spend, it said.
The unexpectedly steep increase will strengthen expectations of a significant rebound in Europe's largest economy in the second half of this year. Last week, the German Ifo business confidence index also rose strongly, hitting the highest level since October.
The European Union risks losing credibility and contributing to political instability in the Balkans unless it draws the region's states closer to their goal of EU membership, Carl Bildt, Sweden's foreign minister, said on Sunday.In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Bildt, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, warned that nationalists in the region might gain strength at the expense of pro-European political forces in several former Yugoslavian states if the prospect of joining the EU were to fade.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Bildt, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, warned that nationalists in the region might gain strength at the expense of pro-European political forces in several former Yugoslavian states if the prospect of joining the EU were to fade.
Busses running to replace Berlin's temporarily cancelled commuter rail routes have been pulled off the road for mechanical defects, including the risk of fire, adding to commuter frustration. A spokeswoman for S-Bahn operator Deutsche Bahn (DB) told the daily Berliner Morgenpost that 40 busses have been taken off their routes for mechanical repairs, adding that the problems are specific to each bus and not common to the fleet, as has been the case with the cracked wheels discovered on the commuter trains.
A spokeswoman for S-Bahn operator Deutsche Bahn (DB) told the daily Berliner Morgenpost that 40 busses have been taken off their routes for mechanical repairs, adding that the problems are specific to each bus and not common to the fleet, as has been the case with the cracked wheels discovered on the commuter trains.
Britain's pensioners have the fourth highest level of poverty in Europe, according to figures published today by the European Commission. The over 65's in Britain are, on average, worse off than their counterparts in Romania, Poland and France. The research, which compared relative poverty in the 27 member states, showed nearly one in three UK over-65s were at risk of poverty - the same proportion as in Lithuania (30 per cent). Only pensioners in Cyprus (51 per cent), Latvia (33 per cent), and Estonia (33 per cent) came out worse. The EU average was 19 per cent.
The over 65's in Britain are, on average, worse off than their counterparts in Romania, Poland and France.
The research, which compared relative poverty in the 27 member states, showed nearly one in three UK over-65s were at risk of poverty - the same proportion as in Lithuania (30 per cent).
Only pensioners in Cyprus (51 per cent), Latvia (33 per cent), and Estonia (33 per cent) came out worse. The EU average was 19 per cent.
Hat tip naked capitalism "Dieu se rit des hommes qui se plaignent des conséquences alors qu'ils en chérissent les causes" Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
