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27 May - 2 June 2019 | 326 comments (326 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
Re: Europe CAMPAIGN 2019 (none / 1)
winding up
AP | Merkel wants quick deal on head of EU Commission
because the European Parliament will meet at the beginning of July and it would of course be desirable if there were already a proposal at that point" from heads of state and government.
REUTERS | Macron, Merkel seek common ground on EU Commission president pick: official
The third-largest group in the European Parliament, the liberal centrists to whom Macron's party belongs, must be part of the selection process, Macron told his German counterpart.
euractiv | Parliament calls for Spitzenkandidat to be respected, liberals oppose it
ALDE leader Guy Verhofstadt responded in a written statement that 'a Spitzenkandidat that you cannot vote for in the whole of Europe is simply not serious'.
POLITICO.EU
After election, EU turns to fight over top jobs
"over dinner in Brussels on Tuesday at the invitation of European Council President Donald Tusk"
Rasmussen swings Vestager for EU top job
Danish "liberal" and "social liberal" dream team
Belgian government deadlock complicates EU commissioner appointment
head of state pro temp "may even need parliamentary approval"


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue May 28th, 2019 at 10:29:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]
No Weber (4.00 / 2)
Merkel got a quick deal, but not the one she wanted, according to (the idiotic but well-informed) Jean Quatremer in Brussels:

Libération : Le successeur du Luxembourgeois Jean-Claude Juncker à la présidence de la Commission ne sera pas l'Allemand Manfred Weber. Les présidents des groupes politiques du Parlement européen, qui se sont réunis mardi matin, n'ont pu que constater qu'il n'existait aucune majorité pour soutenir la tête de liste du PPE (conservateur) qui est arrivé en tête des élections européennes de la semaine dernière. La balle a donc été renvoyée dans le camp des chefs d'Etat et de gouvernement où le constat a été identique. La perle rare reste donc à trouver.

Manfred Weber will not be President of the Commission. The EP group presidents' meeting yesterday morning concluded that there was no majority to support the conservative candidate. The heads of State and government concluded likewise.

I used to be afew. I'm still not many.

by john_evans (john(dot)evans(dot)et(at)gmail(dot)com) on Wed May 29th, 2019 at 02:06:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: No Weber (none / 0)
< wipes tears >
Can barely contain interest for The Big Reveal in September. Can they keep a secret that long?

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed May 29th, 2019 at 02:23:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe CAMPAIGN 2019 (none / 0)
German SPD leader quits in blow to Merkel's loveless coalition
Nahles, whose SPD is a junior coalition partner in Merkel's ruling alliance, said she would resign as party leader on Monday and step down as head of the SPD's parliamentary group on Tuesday.

"The discussions within the parliamentary faction and feedback from within the party have shown me that I no longer have the necessary support to carry out my duties," Nahles said in a statement released by the SPD.

Greens, Bremen, Kramp-Karrenbauer, Scholz, Schulz
Earlier, German Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz, a Social Democrat, told Germany's Tagesspiegel that he had ruled out entering another grand coalition as the SPD seeks to regroup after losses in the European parliamentary elections.
so much for "Jamaica" coalitions

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Jun 2nd, 2019 at 04:48:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe CAMPAIGN 2019 (4.00 / 2)
There is no red in the Jamaican flag.

Jamaica is black-yellow-green, ie CDU-FDP-Green.

So, does this make a snap election likely?

In the single poll after the EP election, the Greens are in the lead. With one percent. Just after a successful EP election. So, not to put to much weight on this single poll, but it is still interesting.

by fjallstrom on Sun Jun 2nd, 2019 at 10:37:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe CAMPAIGN 2019 (none / 0)
Snap election?
Hellifino! It seems to be a thing. But so is "caretaker" government. Set me straight.

I wasn't much impressed by MEP-Referendum-Prism campaign by the press in the first place. Since "transnational lists" are not well understood (until summer's end, the big EP group sort, ascension of the Spitzenkandidat or excommunication of the Merkel) I really wouldn't know which coalition colors to pick for DE federal elections. Scheduled 2021, right?

archived German Elections Open Thread 2017
It's really difficult for people in the US to figure out Germany.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Mon Jun 3rd, 2019 at 01:47:51 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe CAMPAIGN 2019 LOL (none / 0)

KTHNX

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Mon Jun 3rd, 2019 at 08:38:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe CAMPAIGN 2019 LOL (none / 0)
OpEd | The EU conclave
The decision-making for the top jobs in the European institutions bears some similarity to how Roman Catholic Cardinals elect the new Pope. There is a lot of unpredictability and a long wait for the outcome of a less than transparent process.
[...]
The sequence should be the following. First, the Spitzenkandidaten system needs to be killed.

archived April punters
Der Schmiegel
M. Barnier, the reluctant "lead candidate" for EC president

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Tue Jun 18th, 2019 at 11:43:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe CAMPAIGN 2019 LOL (none / 0)

Groups are ready, EU Parliament is ready to play
The first of the two big national parties without a Parliamentary group is the British Brexit Party (29 MEPs) ... The second of the big national players is Italian Five Star Movement (M5S) with 14 MEPs.
WOOT!

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Jun 26th, 2019 at 05:07:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe CAMPAIGN 2019 LOL (none / 0)
Revealed: The Twitter mug-shot of newly-elected MEPs
data vizualization

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Jun 30th, 2019 at 03:59:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe CAMPAIGN 2019 (none / 1)
No way the Grünen are going to enter coalition at this juncture. Their preference will be failed coalition talks precipitating an early election.

Which leaves the CDU/CSU with basically no options, unless they can find another sucker from the SPD.


It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II

by eurogreen on Mon Jun 3rd, 2019 at 02:03:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe CAMPAIGN 2019 (none / 0)
What happened or is happening in the SPD youth congress?

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Mon Jun 3rd, 2019 at 03:20:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe CAMPAIGN 2019 (none / 1)
No idea. But I saw some Burschenschaftler (I didn't know they still exist) on a train in Saxony on Sunday. They were carrying a CDU poster.
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Tue Jun 4th, 2019 at 08:51:55 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe CAMPAIGN 2019 (none / 0)
Center-left looks set to win Denmark election on welfare pledges
Vows by Social Democratic leader Mette Frederiksen, heading the opposition center-left bloc, to boost welfare spending after years of cuts and stick to a tougher stance on immigration, the other big hot-button issue, have gone down well with many Danes. ... Support for Frederiksen's party alliance stood at 54.7% shortly before of the vote, according to an average of polls published by Berlingske Barometer.
"Nordic model" badass chamber slave of the patriarchy
LIBERALS TOPS IN EU ELECTION, NOT AT HOME

Contrary to opinion polls, the Liberals overtook both the Social Democrats and the anti-immigration Danish People's Party (DF) to become the biggest Danish group in the EU assembly.

The staunchly pro-Europe Liberals benefited from record-high popular support for the EU in Denmark, but that recipe for success is unlikely to work in Wednesday's national vote. ...Frederiksen, contrary to Nordic counterparts, has taken a harder line on immigration to lure back some voters from nationalist parties like DF. ...Frederiksen's party backed a large part of tougher legislation on refugees and immigrants passed by Rasmussen's center-right minority government, which relied on DF support.

The package included a ban on wearing the body-covering Islamic burqa and niqab face veil in public, as well as a so-called "jewellery bill" that allows police to seize refugees' valuables to help pay their costs.

archived
Danish PM Calls [General] Election That Polls Show He Is Set to Lose
poll smoke, Pornhub, Detention Project &tc.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Wed Jun 5th, 2019 at 02:11:19 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe CAMPAIGN 2019 (none / 0)
The Danish Elections: Social Democracy with an Inhumane Face
"Frederiksen was doing everything to shrink the gulf with her opponents, not accentuate the difference. To that end, her party, in 824 legislative votes since 2015, has voted with the government in over 90% of instances."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jun 13th, 2019 at 03:13:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe CAMPAIGN 2019 (none / 0)
winding up
OpEd | European Elections 2019 - what now for racial diversity?
What is the goal?
to truly represent the full diversity of its population in the Parliament.
What is the barrier, or problem?
Although this election brought a welcome increase in the numbers of racial and ethnic minorities elected, Brexit will roll back most of the gains.
[...]
The United Kingdom elected the most POC ["people of color"] MEPs, and when they leave in October, it will greatly reduce racial representation in the European Parliament. After Brexit, not only will there be seven less MEPs of colour, but there is a risk that commitment to equality and diversity principles such as equality data collection, positive action, and even the acknowledgement of racism as a major issue, is likely to falter.
waitwut
We also see that minorities are not a monolith and the elected ethnic minority MEPs represent a range of political stances. Far-right parties such as Le Pen's Rassemblement National and the UK's Brexit party will send one MEP each to the European Parliament, and Belgium's New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) - known for its strong opposition to the UN's migration pact - elected Belgium's only MEP of colour, Assita Kanko.
UN: Nearly 71 million now displaced by war, violence at home
cascade of misplaced precision

archived Anglo-merican disease
They are not all going back to where they came from.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Wed Jun 19th, 2019 at 05:11:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe FEMINISM (none / 0)
Statistics are at the heart of achieving SDGs ["Sustainable Development Goals"], says gender equality advocate
What is the goal?
developing public policy ... to set targets [OF WHAT?]. For example, with regard to employment policies, it will be decided that a measure should benefit [HOW?] two million long-term unemployed people [WHERE?] between the ages of 30 and 50 [WHY?].
What is the barrier, or problem?
official statistics are not collected in a systematic manner. Political and statistical experts should work together but, unfortunately, this is not the case.
waitwut
It is more difficult to have statistics on women [?]. For example, the agricultural sector employs many women in the South. However, they are part of the informal [sic] employment sector, which does not necessarily [!] respect labour laws.

So there are many legal violations in this sector. But this finding is not based on sector-related studies [!]. Everyone knows this reality but it is not supported by official statistics, which means that this issue is not taken into account in public policies in the agricultural sector.

What was the question?

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Jun 19th, 2019 at 05:30:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]

27 May - 2 June 2019 | 326 comments (326 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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