France: New Visa Restrictions for Foreign University Graduates
from Global Voices Online by Julie Owono
If the United States’ immigration law had ever been similar to the one France recently decided to apply, Yahoo would have been a Chinese company (founded by Jerry Yang from Taiwan), Google would now be a successful Russian business (set up by Sergey Brin) and Apple would have been a Syrian enterprise – the father of Steve Jobs was a foreign student when his son was born.
MAIN FOCUS: EU makes breakthrough in debt crisis | 27/10/2011
from euro|topics
The heads of state and government of the EU reached agreement in Brussels late on Wednesday night on a debt restructuring and a new rescue package for Greece, among other things. This is Athens’ last chance, commentators write, and also demand greater financial integration in the EU.
Man with ‘Finnish guts’ named eurozone chief (News)
from EurActiv.com
Olli Rehn, the Finnish EU Commissioner dealing with the most sensitive portfolio these days ? Economic and Monetary Affairs ? was promoted today (27 October) to Commission vice president and de-facto economic affairs minister of the eurozone.
The aftermath of the October 26 Euro Summit ? No Solution
from Ideas on Europe by Protesilaos Stavrou
Expectations were very high prior to the latest EU summit. Mostly because of the severity of the moments and the urgent need for a solution. Expectations were also raised by the promise of French President Sarkozy and German Chancellor Merkel, to deliver a ?comprehensive? plan that would finally draw a line under the crisis. In addition the sheer length of the summit was remarkable by EU standards, as it nearly lasted a week, with countless meetings taking place prior and in-between the two-leg official summits of October 23 and 26, giving the impression that Europe was preparing to act big.
MAIN FOCUS: Reactions to the euro crisis summit | 28/10/2011
from euro|topics
International financial markets reacted with relief to the results of the euro crisis summit on Thursday, with stock markets showing considerable gains in Europe and the US. The EU has taken an important step to overcome the crisis, some commentators write, while others fear that stepping up pressure on indebted states to cut spending will smother their economies.
Sarkozy defends EU summit’s results at home (News)
from EurActiv.com
The self-imposed restrictions to a solution at the EU summit
from Ideas on Europe by Protesilaos Stavrou
Officially we now are between two EU summits. One took place yesterday October 23 with the aim to set the foundations of an agreement that will finally be reached at the next summit on October 26. In practice the meetings and negotiations have started from Friday and have been taking place ever since until they are concluded on Wednesday night.
MAIN FOCUS: Berlusconi endangers euro bailout | 26/10/2011
from euro|topics
The EU Commission has urgently demanded that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi present an austerity and reform plan for his country at the EU summit today, Wednesday. According to commentators Berlusconi must finally comply with the demand otherwise both his government and the euro bailout will be in grave danger.
Euro area debt crisis: What to expect from the EU summits
from Bloggingportal.eu – Today’s posts
Following their summit on October 9th, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicholas Sarkozy announced that the next EU summit on October 23rd would reveal a ?comprehensive solution? to the euro crisis.
The night before the European Council: Merkel takes some drinks
from Ideas on Europe by Ronny Patz
The night before the European Council on 23 October 2011, the two French journalists Jean Quatremer and Arnaud Leparmentier have dinner in the hotel Amigo where also the French and the Germans are lodged.
Analysis of Greek debt sustainability based on the Troika report
from Ideas on Europe by Protesilaos Stavrou
inShare
The latest report from the Troika about the sustainability of the Greek debt has made it crystal-clear even to the most optimists that the public debt of the country is unsustainable and that haircuts of 50%-60% will be necessary. Note that this figure holds true only in the case Greece runs large primary surpluses for years ? that means surpluses not including interest payments ? in an already deeply depressed economy. This is however a brave assumption that might easily be proven far from true, which suggests that the haircuts will have to be increased and expanded.
An argument on whether we need Referenda on EU Membership
from Ideas on Europe by Protesilaos Stavrou
I was asked to submit my views on Debating Europe regarding the question ?Do we need Referenda on EU Membership??. Here is what I wrote:
There are a few problems with referenda that need be clarified before answering the principal question of whether EU membership should be decided through such a decision-taking process.
The constitutional position of referendums in the UK
from Nosemonkey’s EUtopia by nosemonkey
Ahead of today?s Commons vote on a possible EU referendum, some basic points that many are overlooking (originally posted as a comment over at Jon Worth?s place):
Referenda have a decidedly unclear position within the UK constitution. The people are not and never have been sovereign in the UK ? sovereignty rests with Parliament (technically the Crown in Parliament), and anything that threatens parliamentary sovereignty could easily be challenged as unconstitutional. Direct democracy bypasses Parliament, therefore it easily falls into this category.
Who will stop euro crooks mortgaging the future? Not their buddies and comrades!
from Blogactiv by David
Parliamentarians in the UK are discussing a referendum ? promised by all three major parties. When the parties came to power, what happened? No referendum. It is still refused. The referendum would ask the public about the desire of some UK citizens to leave the EU or modify its membership. Why do so many Britons want to leave? Corruption of politics by what they see as an opaque, undemocratic cartel of power in Brussels. The parties at home who refuse their pledges also look like they have the same disease ? dishonesty.
EU Digital Agenda: Radio spectrum progress
by Grahnlaw
After some basic economic and market trends, broadband and regulatory developments as they appeared at the time of the Digital Agenda launch, we return to the Commission staff working document SEC(2010) 630 final/2, which accompanied the 15th progress report about telecoms (eCommunications) markets in Europe:
EU?s crisis-busting projects
from Blogactiv by Florian Pantazi
On the 19th of October, the European Commission has announced in a press release that it will invest 31.7 billion euros into the transport infrastructure of member countries in need. Until now, as the document states, rail and road networks have been developed within the EU on a national basis. Opportunities for interconnectivity have thus been lost and that has severely restricted the free flow of goods and people across the continent.
Arab League and EU should intensify their collaboration
from Blogactiv by Eberhard Rhein
At an emergency meeting on Syria held in Cairo October 16th the Arab League foreign ministers have called for an immediate end of violence and invited the Syrian government and opposition forces to urgently engage in a dialogue. They fell short of suspending Syrian membership, as they had done in February with Libya in protest against the regime`s crackdown on demonstrators.
MAIN FOCUS: EU again postpones euro bailout | 24/10/2011
from euro|topics
The heads of state and government of the EU met in Brussels on Sunday to discuss thedebt crisis. But they don’t intend to present the solutions until Wednesday’s special summit. Commentators say the Union remains unable to act, not least because Germany and France are too often at odds.
A German eurosceptic party on the horizon?
by Open Europe blog team
EU Digital Agenda: broadband trends
by Grahnlaw
Yesterday we looked at some basic economic facts and market trends in the European ICT sector, available at the time the Digital Agenda was launched.
We return to the Commission staff working document SEC(2010) 630 final/2, which accompanied the 15th progress report about telecoms (eCommunications) markets in Europe:
National Digital Agenda for Finland 2011-2020
by Grahnlaw
At European Union level we have the information society strategy, which is a EU2020 flagship initiative:
A French election American-style
from Today’s Zaman, your gateway to Turkish daily news :: Interviews by Raphael Hadas-Lebel
PARIS — Primary elections in France? The idea that a large number of voters should designate the presidential candidates of the major political parties was born in the United States, and we French have long believed that such things were American to the core.
EU vs Facebook: Facebook’s dossiers on Europeans breach EU privacy laws
by Cory Doctorow
An Austrian student has kicked off a movement that pits EU privacy rules against Facebook’s data collection practices. Max Schrems requested a copy of the data Facebook had collected on him (which Facebook is required to provide under EU law) and found himself with more than 1,000 pages of data that demonstrated several clear breaches of EU privacy laws. Kim Cameron has a good writeup on the ensuing complaints that Schrems filed:
Hollande to face Sarkozy
by PARIS
The Socialist Party?s newly elected ?low-key? presidential nominee Hollande, who is a managerial consensus- builder and a virtual unknown outside France, is likely to win the next elections against showbiz style Sarkozy
Which civil society organisation received most EU Commission funding 2003-2007?
from Ideas on Europe by Ronny Patz
?The primary findings are that EU-level groups, groups that promote a European identity and groups based in western Europe receive stronger support from the Commission.?
These findings are presented by Christina Mahoney and Michael J. Beckstrand in their newly published article ?Following the Money: European Union Funding of Civil Society Organizations?*.
EU2020: Learning from the best
by Grahnlaw
After the series about the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), I reported the publication of a new Digital Agenda for Sweden and then took a first look at policy outcomes in Denmark in the light of the competitiveness, growth and employment aims of the Europe 2020 strategy (EU2020). Next we looked at the twelve pillars of competitiveness wisdom, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF).
Greece used to shock and awe rest of Europe?
by HDN
Last week?s G20 summit ended yet with another stern warning by the head of IMF Christine Lagarde that the situation of world economy ?is likely to get worse and that ?emerging economies are starting to be affected by the weaknesses in advanced economies.?
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