Athens anti-Nazi protest turns violent
Greek police fired tear gas at anti-fascist protesters who hurled petrol bombs and stones near the Athens headquarters of Golden Dawn on Wednesday (25 September) following the killing of an anti-racism rapper by a supporter of the far-right party.
Thousands of Greeks marched towards the party’s offices earlier on Wednesday in the biggest show of public anger at Pavlos Fissas’ stabbing. Rampaging protesters set garbage cans on fire and smashed bank windows.
Greek protests against Golden Dawn
A team of EU inspectors arrived in Gibraltar yesterday (25 September) to investigate a border dispute that has strained relations between Britain and Spain. A Commission spokesperson said the effort wasn?t ?a PR thing?.
In a row which began over fishing waters, Britain and Gibraltar complained to the EU that Spain was applying overly zealous border controls, causing long lines for workers and tourists entering and leaving the British territory, a rocky outcrop near the tip of southern Spain.
EU-US trade deal to include ‘corporate bill of rights’
SPECIAL REPORT / Controversial rights for multinational corporations to sue states, likely to be included in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), are causing a political headache for EU and US negotiators, but may also set a precedent for future trade agreements, notably with China.
The TTIP currently being negotiated includes so-called “investor-state” dispute clauses empowering EU and US-based corporations to lodge private legal cases directly against governments.
MAIN FOCUS: Record public debt in France | 26/09/2013
Despite plans for cuts running into the billions, France is heading for record debt levels. The Socialist government of President François Hollande on Wednesday discussed the 2014 budget, with which total debt is set to reach 95 percent of the GDP. Commentators criticise the planned tax hikes and call for increased cuts in the bloated government sector.
Q&A: Austria parliamentary election
Austria’s far-right Freedom Party (FPO) appears likely to raise its share of the vote in Sunday elections, drawing on fears over bailouts for needier eurozone countries and the cost of supporting asylum seekers.
Social Democrat Chancellor Werner Faymann’s government coalition may well survive, but opinion poll trends suggest the FPO could overtake his conservative junior partner, the People’s Party. Austria’s overall prosperity at a time of hardship in Europe has done little to dampen historic unease at immigration.
Reding slams France for using Roma as election scapegoats
Commission Vice-President Viviane Reding has strongly criticised the ?electioneering? rhetoric of French Interior Minister Manuel Valls, who has called for Roma from Bulgaria and Romania to sent back where they came from. EurActiv.fr reports.
“If I am not mistaken, elections are in the air in France. Whenever in this country [the government] doesn?t want to talk about important things like the budget or debt, they talk about the Roma,” Reding said yesterday (25 September) onFrance Info radio station
UK lines up another court challenge against EU financial regulation
Last week, the UK launched another legal challenge at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) against an unwanted piece of financial regulation ? this time, the bankers’ bonus cap. This comes in the wake of some favourable legal assessment from a UK point of view, on short selling and the FTT (though both those cases are still pending), as well as a win on benchmark regulation.The German Election: what does it mean for Europe?
As predicted, Sunday?s German federal election resulted in a resounding victory for Angela Merkel. But with growing German euroscepticism and hesitation about the country’s future role in the Union, the results for Europe are not yet in.
Sisa: is meth use the latest face of the catastrophe in Athens?
Meth ? or Sisa, as it has been called on the streets of Athens ? has become the drug of choice for a rising number of drug addicts in Greece. After Golden Dawn and rampant poverty, is meth use the latest face of the catastrophe in Athens?
Britain sues EU over banker bonus cap
Britain has launched a legal challenge to the European Union’s cap on bankers’ bonuses which London fears will hurt its financial industry.
Finance minister George Osborne has long argued that Brussels has gone too far with reforms aimed at preventing a repeat of the financial crisis. But EU financial services chief Michel Barnier said the bonus cap was legal.
The EU law will limit a bonus to no more than a banker’s fixed salary, or twice that level with shareholder approval.
The UKIP class of ?09: Where are they now?
The removal of Godfrey Bloom?s whip this week, in the wake of his comments to the annual conference, reminds me that the role of MEPs in UKIP has long been an unhappy one.
Greece?s Primary Budget Surplus: How far from reality?
There are some steps left to be done for the successful signing of the Association Agreement. In particular, President Viktor Yanukovych persuades that legislation on public prosecution and elections needs to be adopted and also the ?issue of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko? needs to be solved. Mr Yanukovych also reminded that the Cox-Kwasniewsky Mission is working on the Tymoshenko case.
Berlusconi faction sparks political crisis
Centre-right group in Italy?s coalition vows to quit parliament if Senate committee votes to strip former prime minister of his Senate seat
Merkel?s Victory, Everyone?s Loss: The Burden Of German Mercantilism On Europe
John Weeks
The electoral victory of Angela Merkel brings bad news to the rest of Europe. Without doubt it means the continuation of the national economic policies that have all the other euro zone countries suffering from recession. While the Christian Democrats and their Bavarian allies narrowly missed an absolute majority, the probability that a coalition partner would moderate austerity polices is close to zero.
More than a lobby: finance in the UK
Finance and the British state are mutually embedded to the point that it can be hard to tell where one stops and the other starts. Here, Tamasin Cave of Spinwatch gives us a brief tour of the tangled web that is public life in the UK.
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AfD chief Bernd Lucke on the campaign trail |
It’s barely been half a year since the German anti-euro party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) emerged onto the political scene (and we were one of the first to flag up the then-unknown party), but its ascent has been rapid.
Anti-fascist protests in Greece amid neo-Nazi crackdown
Greek parties and unions on Wednesday were to hold anti-fascist protests in Athens and other cities
Islam’s disruptive visibility in the European public sphere
The spectre of Islam has haunted European public debate for the last three decades. Moreover, Islam’s visibility in the contemporary European public sphere raises crucial political questions that concern the very fabric of secular society, writes Nilüfer Göle.
EU team investigate Gibraltar row
A team of European Union inspectors are visiting Gibraltar to investigate a border row that has caused recent diplomatic tensions between the UK and Spain.
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