Cardinals fail to elect new pope
from BBC News | Europe | World Edition
Black smoke emerges from the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel chimney, indicating that cardinals have failed to elect a new pope on their first day of voting.
The Great Graphics Glut of the 2013 papal conclave
from FP Passport by Elias Groll
VIDEO: Snow brings chaos to northern Europe
from BBC News | Europe | World Edition
Severe snow and strong winds have brought parts of northern Europe to a standstill.
MAIN FOCUS: No Schengen membership for Bucharest and Sofia | 08/03/2013
from euro|topics
The controls on the borders of Romania and Bulgaria will remain in place for now. In particular the poor state of the judicial systems in the two countries prevented their accession at this point in time, Germany’s Minister of the Interior Hans-Peter Friedrich said at a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Thursday. Europe is suddenly making a big fuss about problems it has known about for a long time, some commentators criticise. Others justify the blockade by pointing to the increased pressure Eastern European migrants would put on welfare systems.
MAIN FOCUS: Hungary’s Constitutional Court disempowered | 12/03/2013
from euro|topics
On the strength of the right-wing conservative government under Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian parliament on Monday passed a controversial constitutional reform curbing the powers of the country’s highest court. Commentators say the rule of law has been dealt a severe blow and stress that Europe must not turn a blind eye to developments in the country.
Greece: Corruption, Police State and Struggle in Skouries
from Global Voices Online by Veroniki Krikoni
In the Skouries region of Chalkidiki, Northern Greece, Canadian company Eldorado Gold obtained mining rights for the Kakkavos Mountain gold through its Greek subsidiary, Hellenic Gold, after a controversial transfer process in 2004. Local residents have been opposed to the company owing the mining rights during the last decade. Ierissos city feels like a police state, and many suspicious events are taking place
Mainstreaming the brown spectre haunting Europe
from open Democracy News Analysis – by Aurelien Mondon
From Geert Wilders in the Netherlands to Marine Le Pen in France, far right politicians using new strategies are being welcomed into mainstream discourse.
Some more signs of financial market fragmentation in the eurozone?
by Open Europe blog team
The European Repo Council of the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) released its bi-annual assessment of the European repo markets today. Admittedly, not the most exciting of intros but the survey does contain some interesting points regarding financial markets in the eurozone. As a reminder, repo markets are the main source of short term funding for banks (or at least they should be if markets are functioning normally).
Is the Netherlands heading for a referendum on Europe?
from Open Europe blog
How could Italians possibly vote for Silvio Berlusconi again?
from Blogactiv
Hoping for an Italian Spring?
from open Democracy News Analysis – by Andrea Teti
More widely, what the M5S? success represents is a challenge to the approach to economic reform which has too often rewarded the rich responsible for the problems, while making the working classes pay for Europe?s economic mess.
Europe?s woes leave Brics exasperated
To many of the non-European participants at the Ambrosetti finance forum, Europe appears as a cause for concern more than a model worthy of emulation
France and its Catholic legacy
from BBC News | Europe | World Edition
France’s Catholic Church soldiers on but young stay away
The Great Portuguese Hollowing Out
from A Fistful Of Euros » A Fistful Of Euros by Edward Hugh
With every passing day Portugal has less and less economy left, while fewer and fewer people remain to try to pay down the debt.
Italy must seek generational change
There should be a handover of power to younger leaders, from which Matteo Renzi is the most likely prime minister, says Wolfgang Münchau
One in four Germans would back anti-euro party: Poll
from Hurriyet Daily News
Tired of living under the threat of financial crisis spread around Europe, 26 percent of Germans would vote for anti-euro party in approaching elections, a poll says
Euro most lucrative investment instrument last month
from Hurriyet Daily News
The euro became the most lucrative instrument of financial investment in February.
Former far-right Dutch politician converts to Islam
from Hurriyet Daily News
A former member of the anti-Islamist Dutch politician Geert Wilders? party.
Euro crisis is breeding comics not fascists
Times may be tough but this is not the 1930s. Modern Europe is a much richer and less traumatised continent, writes Gideon Rachman
Germany will veto Bulgaria, Romania Schengen bid, minister
from Hurriyet Daily News
Germany will veto Romania and Bulgaria joining the Schengen passport-free.
Spanish registered unemployment surpasses five million
from Hurriyet Daily News
Registered unemployment in Spain surpassed five million in February, labour ministry
Are anti-euro sentiments brewing in Austria?
by Open Europe blog team
Last weekend in Austria, “Team Stronach”, a newly-founded political party which aims to abolish the euro, did quite well in two regional elections, winning 9.8% in the state of Lower Austria and 11.3% in the state of Carinthia.
“The End Of Europe?s Bonus Culture” by Henning Meyer
from Social Europe Journal by Henning Meyer
Chávez will continue to inspire ? but not in Europe – by Martin Kettle
by EU-Digest
One of the most famous things ever said about Hugo Chávez, who died on Tuesday, was written by the Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez after accompanying him on a flight from Havana to Caracas in 1999, just before Chávez took office as Venezuela’s president for the first time.
How the EU subsidises Israel?s military-industrial complex
from open Democracy News Analysis – by Ben Hayes
The EU is providing generous R&D (research and development) subsidies to Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), the state-owned manufacturer of Israeli ?drones? and other ?battlefield solutions?. Some of the grants are for IAI to adapt its killer robots for use within the EU.
MAIN FOCUS: President Klaus charged with high treason | 05/03/2013
from euro|topics
The Czech Senate announced on Monday that charges will be filed against outgoing President Václav Klaus for high treason at the country’s constitutional court. Klaus had granted amnesty to 7,000 prisoners at the beginning of January who are allegedly guilty of fraud against investors, among other crimes. Commentators see the charge as a public rejection of the president’s undemocratic act, but say he has nothing to fear anyway.
What next on the EU bank bonus cap?
by Open Europe blog team
Today has been billed as the final chance for UK Chancellor George Osborne to secure a change in the proposal to limit bank bonuses across the EU.
How to build a foreign policy for introvert Europe?
from open Democracy News Analysis – by Spyros Economides
The euro crisis has resulted in an even more introvert Europe, and everything has yet to be done to build a European foreign policy. So where should we start?
Bonuses, Osborne and the Luxembourg Compromise
from Brussels Blog by Alex Barker
The Italian puzzle – austerity, corruption, and the man next door
from open Democracy News Analysis – by Lorenzo Marsili and Alessandro Valera
The chaos that followed the Italian elections might be the foretaste of bigger changes to come. But which ones?
Let’s tone it down a notch: Comparing the UK and German debates on EU migration
by Open Europe blog team
No one picking up a UK paper will have failed to notice that there issome concern over EU migration on the British isles, with the debate being triggered by the end of so-called “transitional controls” for Romanian and Bulgarian workers (the countries joined in 2007).
Van Rompuy laments slow single market reform
from Grahnlaw by Ralf Grahn
EU media remembers Hugo Chavez
from cafebabel.com by euro topics
Venezuela’s president died of cancer on 5 March, aged 58. The socialist had ruled the oil-rich country for 14 years with a policy of redistribution and nationalisations. Selections of how the Finnish, Swiss, Swedish, Slovenian, Polish, Dutch, French and Spanish media reacted in the fallout
The Mali effect
from open Democracy News Analysis – by Stephen Ellis
Many evolving disputes in north Africa and the Sahara fuse religious language and political impulse to powerful effect, says Stephen Ellis.
The rise of the anti-politician
from open Democracy News Analysis – by Kaushik Barua
The internet is an angry place, as is obvious from any examination of the comments section of blogs or popular news-sites. Anti-politicians have managed to use this disembodied universe we all increasingly inhabit to stoke people?s anger.
Italy’s ‘Perfect storm’
from open Democracy News Analysis – by Carlo Ungaro
More than a week after the elections, the situation in Italy is as hazy as ever, with no obvious way out of the political deadlock.
Q&A: The ‘Berlusconi paradox’
by Open Europe blog team
Silvio Berlusconi has just been sentenced to one year in prison in the so-called BNL-Unipol trial. We thought a short Q&A could be useful for those of you who don’t follow Italian politics on a daily basis.
Wales is leading the debate on a federal UK
from open Democracy News Analysis – by John Osmond
John Osmond reflects on how far Wales has come in the last 15 years, as he steps down after a long career as head of the Institute of Welsh Affairs. The history demonstrates the unstoppable dynamic built into the devolution process. Now Wales is at the forefront of thinking on the possible future of a ?Britannic federation?.
The Future of EU Enlargement
from Docuticker
Source: House of Lords European Union Committee (UK) From Summary: The enlargement process has, historically and in successive Treaties, been understood as an integral part of the European Union?s development. 40 years after the first enlargement, which brought the UK, Ireland and Denmark into the then European Community, the EU is
Female genital mutilation in the European Union and Croatia
from Docuticker
Source: European Institute for Gender Equality From Executive Summary: Female genital mutilation (FGM) refers to all procedures involving the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons. It is at heart an expression of gender inequalities, recognised as […]
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