Eurosphere roundup: “No sign of agreement on EU budget”… 2012 Catalan Elections…

MAIN FOCUS: No sign of agreement on EU budget | 23/11/2012

from euro|topics
The negotiations in Brussels on the EU budget for 2014 to 2020 were adjourned on Thursday night. Some heads of state and government evoked the possibility of postponing the talks until the new year. In view of the hard stance of the UK and other net contributors, commentators also predict that the summit will fail, complaining that solidarity in Europe is a thing of the past.

Infographics illuminate EU budget

from Blogactiv by Marc Hall
Creators of infographics, also known as data visualisations, are providing more and more interesting ways to explain complex phenomena. So often subject to misunderstanding and conjecture, the European Union budget is a clear example of where such visualisations are needed.

MAIN FOCUS: Moody’s downgrades France | 20/11/2012

from euro|topics
Rating agency Moody’s has stripped France of its top AAA credit rating, exlaining that the country’s long-term economic growth outlook remained negative and that the announced reforms did not go far enough. Commentators nonetheless believe President Hollande is on the right path and blame the country’s predicament on the failoure of previous governments to implement reforms.

 

MAIN FOCUS: Budget puts EU to the test | 22/11/2012

from euro|topics
The fronts have hardened in the run-up to the EU budget summit that kicks off today, Thursday. While net contributors want to cut the budget proposed by the Commission for 2014-2020, net recipients are calling for more EU funding. Some commentators see Britain’s veto threat as a danger to the Community. Others stress that cuts will above all hit the poorer countries.

 

Social Pressure Halts Evictions Temporarily in Spain

from Global Voices Online by Kimberly Shiller
This article is part of our special news coverage Europe in Crisis.
Associations and platforms that formed in protest against home evictions have succeeded in getting the Asociación Española de Banca (Spanish Banking Association) to bring evictions to a halt after years of trying. The moratorium was declared for two years, and it will specifically apply to families with small children, people with disabilities and the long term unemployed. On November 12, the group of banks that forms the association announced the suspension of evictions for the next two years ?for humanitarian reasons? and in cases of ?extreme necessity?.

Strike Across Southern Europe

by Janet Gunter
This post is part of our special coverage Europe in Crisis.
November 14, 2012 witnessed the first strike of its kind, including all of the southern European countries most affected by austerity and financial crisis. Organized labor in Spain and Portugal announced general strikes, while in Greece and Italy there were work stoppages planned during the day.

 

French Government Eases Strict Immigration Policy

by Savannah Goyette
[All links in French unless otherwise stated]
French Interior Minister Manuel Valls, during a speech in Toulouse in southwestern France, expressed his desire to change his country’s immigration policy. The site afrik53.com posted an article which states:

Catalan TV Show Flares Debate Over Independence from Spain

by Daniel Bogre Udell
Catalonia’s news program ?30 minuts? [ca], which has aired weekly on the region’s public television channelTV3 [ca] since 1984, recently broadcast an episode on the question of Catalonia’s geopolitical status, called ?Independence, step by step.? The episode comes at a complicated time, just a week before campaigning begins for the region’s early round of elections (to be held on November 25, 2012), which are largely considered to be a plebiscite on Catalonia’s independence from Spain.

Europe is messing up Merkel?s union

Consider the anger of Americans and Britons about bailouts for bankers. Now imagine their anger if the bankers were foreign, says Sebastian Mallaby

Spanish Constitutional Court Upholds Same Sex Marriage

from Global Voices Online by Omar Zainab Ceña
The Spanish Constitutional Court approved by a large majority [es] the law passed in 2005 by José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero‘s government (of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party -PSOE [es]) that guarantees equal rights to same sex marriages.

If voting could change anything: the 2012 Catalan Elections

from open Democracy News Analysis – by Matthew Tree
A vote next week will probably enable the controversial referendum on independence in Catalonia. Madrid continues to try to thwart the move, while demonstrations ? and statistics ? tell a different story

Student Riots in Italy: a dispatch from Jasmina Tesanovic

from Boing Boing by Jasmina Tesanovic

How can the European Commission make life better for startups? It wants your ideas.

from The Next Web by Martin Bryant

2012 Annual report on the state of the drugs problem in Europe

from Docuticker
Source: European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction Summary: The report on the state of the drugs problem in Europe presents the EMCDDA’s yearly overview of the drug phenomenon. This is an essential reference book for policymakers, specialists and practitioners in the drugs field or indeed anyone seeking the latest


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