Germany suffering worker shortage
from FT.com – World, Europe
For Ursula von der Leyen, solving that dilemma will require fundamental reforms in the heart of the eurozone, and its periphery
The Google EU settlement: Full details
from Brussels Blog by Alex Barker
Google?s three year tussle with Brussels over its search business is almost over. Our report today outlines the substance of its pre-charge settlement with the European Commission. Once formally adopted, it will allow Google to avoid a fine, any admission of guilt and a lengthy legal battle. But the price is accepting legally binding restrictions on how it can present its search results. Google has never yielded ground to a regulator on its prized core business before.
Ex-Trotskyite rocks French establishment
from FT.com – World, Europe
Veteran investigative journalist Edwy Plenel founded a crusading website which refused to cosy up to France?s elite and has just toppled a minister
Thatcher?s legacy is Britain?s isolation
from FT.com – World, Europe
Her attitude towards Europe was less a throwback to Winston Churchill than to her 19th-century predecessors, writes Anne-Marie Slaughter
Spain’s ?Move Your Money!? Campaign Advocates for Ethical Banking
from Global Voices Online by Anna Williams
Various organizations have joined together to launch the ?Move your money!? [es] initiative in Spain, aiming to convince citizens to transition from traditional banks, which are in large part responsible for the current economic crisis, to emerging financial institutions commonly called ?ethical banks.?
Margaret Thatcher’s death puts Cameron’s leadership in spotlight
from Hurriyet Daily News
Margaret Thatcher’s funeral this week may be the costliest political advert in history.
Three Options for Cyprus to Escape the Financial Crisis
from Global Voices Online by Andrew Kowalczuk
The small island of Cyprus continues its race against bankruptcy. Following the European decision to tax all depositors, [fr] the Mediterranean republic faces a critical situation. Three options are emerging for the island: to carry out an agreement with Europe, to turn to Russia, or to declare bankruptcy and leave the Eurozone.
Berlusconi would win new elections: Polls
from Hurriyet Daily News
Silvio Berlusconi?s center-right coalition would win if the current deadlock forces new elections in Italy..
Eurozone approves problematic Greek Cyprus bailout
from Hurriyet Daily News
Eurozone finance ministers formally approved Friday the terms of a problematic Greek Cyprus debt..
Hungary a nightmare for foreign groups
Viktor Orbán?s corporate sparring may boost his popularity, but at a steep long-term cost to the country?s investment image, Neil Buckley says
Scapegoating Germany is easy but wrong
European governments need to convince their citizens that fundamental changes are necessary and will be fruitful, writes Marcel Fratzscher
Weak economy adds to Hollande?s headache
As the French president grapples with the fallout from a scandal, the economy eked out 0.1% growth in the first quarter, Hugh Carnegy says
More leaked Cyprus documents: first tranche ?3bn
from Brussels Blog by Peter Spiegel
EU-India free trade deal puts millions of lives at risk
from Blogactiv by oxfameu
by Leïla Bodeux, Policy Advisor in Essential Services at Oxfam-in-Belgium
As the mid-April deadline to conclude negotiations for the EU-India free trade agreement approaches, members of the European Parliament and civil society groups from across Europe mobilised in Brussels today to demand that the European Commission withdraw provisions that will harm people?s access to medicines in India and across the developing world.
MAIN FOCUS: Euro Group discusses Cyprus and Portugal | 12/04/2013
from euro|topics
During their two-day meeting starting in Dublin today, Friday, the Eurozone finance ministers want to work out the details of the bailout package for Cyprus. Support for a new austerity programme in Portugal is also on the agenda. Commentators are confident that Portugal won’t be left in the lurch and say that Cyprus must above all find ways to get itself out of its current predicament.
Shale gas in Poland: Government gags local opposition
from Blogactiv by Bankwatch
Poland?s government is hasting to adopt liberal shale gas legislation. It tries to avoid any interference by factually excluding local opposition movements and by pre-empting the development of an EU wide framework on unconventional fossil fuels.
Independence of judiciary ? case against Hungary before the ECtHR
from Blogactiv by Europe of Human Rights
András Baka was a judge at the European Court of Human Rights. Subsequently, the Parliament of Hungary elected him President of the Supreme Court for a six-year term. He was also the President of the National Council of Justice. The new Hungarian Constitution introduced by the ruling coalition established that the new highest judicial body would be the Curia. Article 11 of the new Basic Law provided that the Curia would be the legal successor of the Supreme Court, the National Council of Justice and its President for the administration of justice, while the President of a new National Judicial Office would become responsible for the administration of courts. Pursuant to Transitional Provisions, the President of the Supreme Court as well as the President and the members of the National Council of Justice would have their term of office terminated upon the entry into force of the Fundamental Law. The date of the entry into force of the Fundamental Law was set at 1 January 2012. On that day Mr Baka?s term of office was terminated, three and a half years before its normal date of expiry
Ten Years in Office are enough for European Commission President
from Blogactiv by Eberhard Rhein
The five-year mandate of the present European Commission President expires October 31th 2014. Contrary to the restrictive provisions concerning the President of the European Council and the members of the Court of Justice the Treaty on the European Union is silent on the possibility for Commission presidents and members to be reconfirmed.
Out of range, out of mind: Is there a role for Europe in the Korean crisis?
by Centre for European Reform
From London or Brussels, the situation on the Korean Peninsula can appear ? in the words of former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain ? a “quarrel in a far-away country between people of whom we know nothing”. On one side, a mad dictator (you only have to look at his hairstyle) with nuclear weapons and long-range missiles of doubtful reliability; on the other side, the country of Gangnam Style and Samsung. The nuclear weapons cannot reach Europe. And the big global powers, the US and China, are already engaged. Europe could leave them to sort things out, at best playing the role of Greek chorus in support of US policy (as a Western ex-official described it recently).
Denmark and the 1973 Enlargement: The Dual Impact
from Ideas on Europe by blog
As part of the Evolving Europe project, UACES asked participants at the 40 Years since the First Enlargement conference to respond to the question ?What have been the most significant changes in the 1973 accession states as a result of EU membership??
Here, Thorsten Borring Olesen (Aarhus University) shares his view:
Thatcher’s lessons for social democrats
from open Democracy News Analysis – by Nick Pearce
Thatcher utilised three emergent themes: globalisation, social liberalism and the reconfiguration of class structure. She used the spirits of the age to drive her own key project – unfettered markets. There is plenty the left could learn here.
Thatcher, a woman? Not on my terms
from open Democracy News Analysis – by Glenda Jackson
In her speech in the House of Commons, Glenda Jackon caused uproar on the Conservative benches for her forthright attacks on Thatcher and her legacy. This is what she said.
Europe, sterling and Thatcher?s handbag
The troubled relationship with the EU wrote the Iron Lady?s political obituary ? and the fact that power had turned her head, writes Philip Stephens
Bank deregulation part of Thatcher legacy
With a focus on the benefits of deregulation, little attention was given to risks and the rise of ?too big to fail? banks, John Plender says
On hagiographies and Thatcher?s foreign policy
from open Democracy News Analysis – by Christopher Barrie
Very little has been said about Thatcher’s dealings with General Pinochet, apartheid South Africa, the Khmer Rouge, the House of Saud and Saddam Hussein (issues we raised within hours). Let’s be clear on exactly what we are being told to “pay tribute” to.
The ‘Patriot’ Prime Minister
from open Democracy News Analysis – by Mike Small
It is time to disassociate Thatcher from liberty. Look at her era of repressing dissent, protest and freedom of expression. She must not go down in history as a ‘champion of freedom and democracy’.
Skopje counted 1.450.000 ?Macedonians? in Bulgaria and Greece
from Blogactiv by Georgi Gotev
This is not Wikileaks, it?s actually better. A document in the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Macedonia says that according to estimates by Skopje, 750.000 Macedonians live on the territory of Bulgaria and 700.000 other on the territory of Greece.
A cultural reading of the Cyprus crisis
from open Democracy News Analysis – by Olga Demetriou
The Cyprus crisis may be the model for slower moving, harsher austerity measures in Europe.
MAIN FOCUS: Germany’s euro critics found a party | 15/04/2013
from euro|topics
Alternative for Germany (AfD) held its founding convention in Berlin on Sunday. The new party calls for an “orderly exit” from the Eurozone and plans to run in the parliamentary elections in September. Finally there are alternatives in the discussion about the single currency, commentators note, adding that Merkel’s government now faces additional headwind.
The Eurozone crisis: what way forward?
from open Democracy News Analysis – by Ann Pettifor
The simple truth unpalatable to Eurozone authorities is that small peripheral EU economies and even big economies like Spain and Italy, are victims, not designers of the liberalised financial architecture that was built way back in 1992, repeating earlier twentieth century failed experiments that led to financial crisis, immiseration and war.
Ten areas where the UK and Germany could agree on Europe
by Open Europe blog team
Ahead of last week’s meeting between David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Open Europe’s Director Mats Persson wrote on his Telegraph blog:
Is there an alternative to locking up migrants in the UK?
from open Democracy News Analysis – by Jerome Phelps
If detention is a tool of war on irregular migration, then the damage on both sides is severe. But this war is not inevitable. There is a significant area of potential common interest in a fair system that works primarily by consent
SPD Manifesto: A different course for Europe?
from The European Citizen by Eurocentric
It’s no secret that the European left are depending on a victory in Germany in this year’s federal election before there can be some change of course on the Eurocrisis. With French, Italian and German elections within 18 months of each other (though the Italian one was more unexpected), the hope must have been to capture the big 3 Eurozone Member States to change the currency’s political direction. It’s an uphill battle: Hollande is struggling in the polls, the Italian centre-left failed to win a parliamentary majority, and at the moment Merkel’s CDU areahead of the SPD in the polls.
Who Gets Justice From ICTY?
from Blogactiv by AriRusila
Finnish leading daily newspaper ? Helsingin Sanomat ? published today (14/04/2013) an investigative feature story Winners Justice related to recent release of Croatian war criminal Ante Gotovina. Gotovina was responsible about biggest ethnic cleansing during Balkan wars. The article clearly proves the political and biased nature of International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
BBC in hot seat as anti-Thatcher song climbs chart
from Hurriyet Daily News
The BBC has been put in an awkward spot, as the “Wizard of Oz” song “Ding Dong! The Witch Is Dead”.
Testing the EU’s budget discipline
from Open Europe blog
The Cyprus ‘bail-in’ blunder: a template for Europe?
from open Democracy News Analysis – by Yiannis Kitromilides
The justification for the ?rescue? plan for Cyprus appears reasonable: taxpayers should not have to pay for the costly mistakes of bankers and ?tax havens? should be eliminated. But the ?bail-in? plan does not achieve these objectives.
Bailout countries given seven years? grace
from FT.com – World, Europe
EU ministers have sought to ease pressure on Portugal and Ireland, but have made their move conditional on Lisbon hitting its budget targets
Eight EU countries hit 2020 education goals early: Eurostat (News)
from EurActiv.com
Europe is no longer Spain?s solution
from FT.com – World, Europe
As the country?s economic woes continue, its people are losing faith in national and European institutions, writes Gideon Rachman
The British Dream by David Goodhart
from open Democracy News Analysis – by Sunder Katwala
A new book on immigration and inclusion by the former Prospect Editor should throw his critics off scent. By attempting a vision of a shared future Britain, Goodhart has made a significant contribution to one of the most difficult questions of our time.
The Front National?s new clothes
from open Democracy News Analysis – by Michel Wieviorka
Last year, Marine Le Pen came third in the French presidential elections, following a campaign seeking to de-demonise the party and make it more attractive to a broader electorate. While it is arguable whether her strategy was entirely successful, the changes made may well have long-term consequences.
Has Germany really gone off the idea of EU treaty change? (Part II)
by Open Europe blog team
Some EU pundits have spent the last several months arguing that a change to the EU treaties is a non-starter. “Don’t you know”, they say with a high degree of confidence “the Germans have gone off it.” And in any case, no one else wants it any way for fear of ratification problems, not least in France.
An EU-blogger on board Greenpeace?s Arctic Sunrise
from Jon Worth
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