Eurosphere roundup: Eleven Turkish-origin lawmakers gain seats in German Parliament…” Golden Dawn loses support after rapper killing: poll

Golden Dawn loses support after rapper killing: poll

 

Support for Greece’s Golden Dawn has fallen by 2.5 percentage points after the fatal stabbing of an anti-racism rapper by a supporter of the far-right party and most Greeks believe it threatens democracy, a poll showed on Monday.

 

The poll by Rass for the Eleftheros Typos newspaper, conducted on September 19-21, put support for Golden Dawn at 5.8%, down from 8.3% on September 15.

Eleven Turkish-origin lawmakers gain seats in German Parliament

Eleven lawmakers of Turkish origin have been elected to the German Bundestag, the country?s lower house of Parliament

Merkel?s big win: the view from Europe

Bundestagswahl 2013 – Merkel stays in control

The big headline – that Merkel remains in prime position after the German federal elections – isn’t a big surprise, for Germany or for Europe. The shape of the next governing coalition and the impact on German and European politics, however, it a more complicated matter. As a parliamentary election, the German media have been calling the election too close to call, despite Merkel’s CDU (and sister party CSU) having a 17% gap from its nearest rival, the centre-left SPD. Still, the Christian Democrats are within a few seats of an overall majority by themselves, so they are clearly in the driving seat for the next parliamentary period.

Triumphant Merkel to start search for coalition ally

Merkel was Monday set to start the process of haggling with potential partners over how to rule Europe’s biggest economy

Greece: Anti-fascist musician stabbed to death by neo-nazi

Greek anti-fascist hip hop musician Pavlos Fyssas, also known as Killah P., was stabbed to death on Wednesday, 18 September 2013, by a neonazi and Golden Dawn party supporter who confessed his crime after being arrested on the same day.

Italy economy minister threatens to resign: paper

 

Italian Economy Minister Fabrizio Saccomanni will resign if the fragile coalition government flouts European Union deficit spending limits in favor of tax cuts, he told Corriere della Sera newspaper on Sunday (22 September).

 

The departure of Saccomanni, a former high ranking Bank of Italy official who is not affiliated to a political party, would be a blow to Italy’s credibility with the financial markets as it battles to emerge from its longest recession in six decades.

The ironies and uncertainties of German politics

Andrew Watt

The results of the German election are clear. The interpretation is not. Incumbent Merkel remains Chancellor after an impressive performance by her CDU/CSU conservatives. Yet, her position is, ironically, weaker than before, at least in the short term: lacking the support of a smaller right-wing party, after the demise of the FDP, she needs a coalition with a party of the centre-left, either the social-democrats or Greens. Although neither party will be keen, in the end one of them ? most likely the SPD ? will enter government as a junior partner. (In theory both could refuse, but this is highly unlikely.)

2030 energy target doubts as Oettinger hails ?wide agreement?

Europe is in ?wide agreement? on the need for a CO2 emissions target for 2030, divided on a renewable energy goal and averting its eyes from any talk of an energy savings aim, the EU?s energy commissioner, Günther Oettinger said after an informal energy council in Vilnius on 20 September.

But a Commission ?non-paper? for the meeting, seen by EurActiv, shows that the consensus on everything bar a 40% CO2 reduction goal is far from unanimous, and murmurs from officials suggest a deeper unease at the direction the 2030 debate is taking.

Secrecy vs. democracy in the European Union

Secrecy is universally appealing. And understandably so: it conceals what individuals and organizations care most to protect: ?the dangerous, the shameful, the source of power?. Yet, even in democracies there often seems a legitimate need for at least some secrecy in decision-making. Where does the need for secrecy come from in the European Union and how must it be reconciled with the democratic aspirations of the EU?

By Vigjilenca Abazi, Nik de Boer, and Maarten Hillebrandt

Euro stronger after Merkel win

The single currency gained against the dollar after a strong showing for German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Sunday’s election.

EU, US gear up for ‘real’ negotiation round on trade deal

There is a sense of anticipation in Brussels as negotiators are frantically preparing for next month?s second “real” round of trade talks with the United States in Brussels, but progress is unlikely to be perceivable before December, experts say.

After a first testing session in July, negotiators are expected on 7-11 October to delve into complicated dossiers to pave the way towards a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) which could over time boost EU GDP by 0.5% annually and help create approximately 400,000.

Brussels chops through EU forest rules

An agriculture council is to discuss today (23 September) the EU?s new forest strategy, which aims to cut through the mass of rules governing the protection of forests.

More than 40% of the European Union is made up of forest, which houses more of its biodiversity than any other ecosystem. Many communities and industries, such as paper and bioenergy, are dependent on the forests, which also play a key role in keeping global carbon emissions in check.

Oettinger hails ‘wide agreement’ on 2030 energy targets, but doubts persist

Europe is in ?wide agreement? on the need for a CO2emissions target for 2030, divided on including renewable energy, and averting its eyes from an energy savings goal, the EU?s energy commissioner, Günther Oettinger, said after an informal energy council in Vilnius on 20 September.

But a Commission ?non-paper?, an unofficial write-up for the meeting seen by EurActiv, shows that the consensus on everything except the 40% CO2 reduction goal is far from wide, and murmurs from officials suggest a deeper unease at the direction the 2030 debate is taking.

Merkel triumphs as German Liberals fall

Chancellor Angela Merkel posted a resounding victory in Germany’s general election yesterday (22 September), while her coalition partner, the Liberal FDP, was ousted from parliament by not reaching the needed 5% threshold.

Merkel Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) won more than 42% of the vote, a level not seen since 1990, the first poll after German reunification.  However, the result was still a few votes short of an absolute majority leaving Merkel needing a coalition partner to govern.

Results of the German Elections

Will Merkel be more pro-EU now?

Now that she has won a third mandate as Chancellor, Angela Merkel might decide to give more impetus to the European project.

Merkel has argued that a treaty change could help enforce fiscal rules to avoid repeats of the debt crises plaguing members of the eurozone. Even those who reject federalism agree that without further integration the Eurozone would continue to be at risk.

 

Swedish Police Discovered Having Illegal Database Of Romani, Including Children

Civil Liberties:?This morning, it was discovered that Swedish police have been maintaining an extensive database of Romani people in Sweden, regardless of criminal history or suspicion. The highly illegal database includes kinship and one-quarter of the registered Romani people are children; over 50 are two-year-olds. This is a very loud warning bell of where things are heading.