German coalition talks cast long shadow over EU elections
German chancellor Angela Merkel said there was no ?automatic link? between the party that wins next year’s EU election and the next European Commission president, casting doubt over a pledge by the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) to “put a face” on the election.
“The Treaty clearly describes that this is to be taken into account,” Angela Merkel told a press briefing after last week?s EU summit on Friday (25 October).
The unions of the United Kingdom are changing
The independence referendum in Scotland means a new relationship for all four countries currently in the UK, and the British media are only just starting to realise.
How will the independence referendum impact on all four of the UK’s countries?/wikimedia
The truth about sexual abuse in a British detention centre
What is the government really doing to protect immigration detainees from their guards?
In Parliament on Tuesday 15 October, the Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather challenged the government to come clean about a sexual abuse scandal.
Bundestag wants to question Snowden over US eavesdropping
Germany’s parliament will hold a special session on revelations that the United States has tapped Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone, with left-wing parties demanding a public inquiry and asking to call in witnesses, including former US intelligence agent Edward Snowden.
Her conservative party, now in talks with the opposition Social Democrats on forming a new governing coalition after the Sept. 22 election, said it would not stand in the way of any parliamentary committee investigating the espionage affair.
Spain’s Association of Victims of Terrorism Publicly Chastizes Amnesty International
The Minister of the Interior, Jorge Fernandez Diaz, receives the president of the Association of Victims of Terrorism, Angeles Pedraza. Photo from the Ministry of the Interior website.Anti-EU propaganda in the Kyiv subway
The less time is left before ? possible signing of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement in Vilnius, the more anti-EU propaganda appears in Ukraine. Here?s some pictures I?ve made today in the Kyiv subway.
Czech elections: The people have spoken but who will interpret what they said?
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Will the Czech sausage machine be able to create a government? |
As the old adage goes – to retain respect for sausages and governments you should not watch them being formed. To stretch the analogy, Prague remains a giant and possibly broken sausage machine trying to fuse together some unlikely ingredients into a government. Added to this the man in control of the machine, President Zeman, is by no means an impartial observer.
15-Year-Old Roma Girl’s Deportation Shakes Up France’s Immigration Debate
[All links lead to French-language pages unless otherwise noted.]
Deported Roma girl’s parents try again for French residency
In pictures: European storm aftermath
Trail of destruction after north Europe’s worst storm in years
Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (CC WEF on Flickr)Germans used to joke that Chancellor Angela Merkel?s penchant for communicating via fleeting text messages effectively marked the end of traditional historiography. Well, at least American spy agencies seem to have kept full track of the behind-the-scenes communications ? in Berlin and beyond.
