Eurosphere agenda: [Probably a futile attempt:] “Merkel, Hollande urge unified EU response to refugee crisis

A new wave of migrants began entering the European Union from Serbia Monday (24 August), as the leaders of France and Germany called for a unified response to the continent’s biggest migrant crisis since World War II.

Dealing with the onslaught of refugees has forced the Greeks, with their own country’s never-ending economic crisis, into a strange kind of double-think.

On Monday, share prices dropped sharply all over the world due to fears of an economic crash in China. China’s stock exchanges had just experienced their worst slump in eight years. According to some commentators a global economic crisis can only be prevented by strengthening buying power. Others are urging the central bank managers to turn on the money printers in order to create growth.

After Sahra Wagenknecht attacked the EU and the euro, Die Linke leader Bernd Riexinger warned that institutions like the ECB have more power than elected governments. EurActiv Germany reports.

Europe’s sinister expansion of euthanasia

If you were a psychiatrist and a chronically depressed patient told you he wanted to die, what would you do?In Belgium, you might prescribe this vulnerable, desperate person a fatal dose of sodium thiopental.Read full article >>

Greece approves first privatisation deal under Syriza

Greece’s radical left Syriza government on Tuesday (18 August) approved its first privatisation granting a concession of more than a dozen key regional airports to Germany’s Fraport-Slentel consortium in a deal worth 1.23 billion euros.

After the Greek parliament and the finance ministers of the Eurozone approved athird bailout package for Athens last week, the parliaments of other Eurozone states are due to vote on it this week. Some commentators see the reforms it entails as a historic opportunity for the country’s renewal. Others criticise the fact that almost all the money will go to banks and creditors.

In the refugee crisis the Greek island of Kos has become the focus of attention in recent days. The situation on the island has become increasingly dramatic, with many new arrivals being put up in a docked car ferry. Commentators point to Kos as proof of Europe’s failed asylum policy and discuss how to best help the refugees’ countries of origin.

When it comes to foreign affairs EU institutions cannot bypass national policies

25 years ago, a fence in Hungary made history. Today a new fence in the country is also making history – but for entirely different reasons.

 

Nazi gold train ‘found in Poland’

Two people in Poland say they may have found a Nazi train rumoured to be full of gold, gems and guns that disappeared at the end of World War Two, Polish media say.

Catalonia: a new country in the making?

A few years ago, independence supporters like me were a minority in parliament. Now I feel we are just a small step away from an independent Catalan state.

 

Slovakia ‘to refuse Muslim migrants’

Slovakia says it will only accept Christians when it takes in 200 Syrian refugees under a EU relocation scheme.

Jeremy Corbyn’s first 100 days

What alarms the opponents of the Labour Party’s probable next leader? That he is not thirty years behind the times – but ten years ahead.

David Cameron has just celebrated his first hundred days as leader of a government that has moved quickly to consolidate its vision of a neo-liberal conservative age and making the most of what was expected to be a lacklustre but usefully diversionary Labour leadership contest. As in 2010, the consolidation has met with much success. But there is a difference: this tim,e it has been less an opportunity to set an agenda of Labour’s previous fiscal irresponsibility and much more a positive and rigorous insistence that austerity is essential and “there is no alternative”.

 

Finland considers basic income reform

Finland considers basic income to replace benefits

VIDEO: German art row over export rules

Artists in Germany are threatening to remove their works from the country after the culture ministry announced proposals to further limit the export of art.

VIDEO: Desperate for a train into the EU

Hundreds of people wait in Macedonia for a train that will take them to the north of the country, from where they hope to continue into the European Union.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.