Commission won’t call Castro a dictator EUobserver.com – Headline News The EU executive says that a statement decribing the former Cuban leader as a “hero for many” is balanced and suggests that the use of the word dictator by a commissioner doesn’t reflect its position. France’s next President could be an Islamophobic “Thatcherite” who wants to dismantle … Read more
Identity and Migration: A European Problem Firstly, let me apologise for the length of this post. I simply couldn?t have written this more concisely. I wanted to start this week?s instalment to say that I thought that various official reactions to the crisis in Lampedusa was funny. However, the more I thought about the situation the … Read more
Germany’s path towards new government fraught with dilemmas After losing out on her preferred coalition partners, Germany’s newly re-elected chancellor, Angela Merkel, faces a number of hurdles in securing a power-sharing deal with rival left-leaning parties. While Merkel and her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won a resounding victory in Germany?s general elections on Sunday (22 … Read more
Eleven Turks enter German Parliament Eleven lawmakers of Turkish origin have been elected to the German Bundestag Merkel faces tough coalition talks Chancellor Angela Merkel is triumphant but must now form a new ruling coalition, with the Social Democrats (SPD) seen as likely partners. As focus shifts to German coalition negotiations, who are the … Read more
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 … Read more
Merkel romps to victory in German election Exit polls showed Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU on 42 percent while Social Democrats stood at 26 percent German parties poised for coalition talks The chancellor insisted that she would not answer ?speculation? over the shape of the next government until the final result was clear Merkel leads in German vote, … Read more
Merkel concludes campaign trying to fend off Eurosceptic threat German chancellor Angela Merkel wrapped up her re-election campaign with an appeal to defend Europe and her centre-right coalition against Eurosceptics Will Germany’s Pirates be walking the plank? Despite recent successes, and timeliness of internet privacy issues, life’s not all plain sailing for the Pirate Party. … Read more
Germany’s anti-euro party mobilises non-voters and FDP supporters Three days ahead of the German election, Germany’s anti-euro party, Alternative für Deutschland is polling at 5%, according to the latest INSA Poll. Who says the German election is dull? Barbie, Mutti Merkel and a monstrous personality cult: a campaign diary ahead of the 22 September German election. Germany: on … Read more
VIDEO: Death sparks violence in Greece Violent clashes have broken out in several Greek cities after a left-wing musician was stabbed to death, the suspect is a member of the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn. Protesters, police clash in Greek anti-fascist demos Protesters and police clashed across Greece on Sept. 18 as thousands demonstrated against fascism following … Read more
Eight small European Countries are the happiest on Earth Just in time for the UN General Assembly, the UN secretariat has published the second World Happiness Report. On the basis of extensive polls in 156 countries it assesses how people rate their overall happiness in life. German election: don’t forget the Turkish vote(s)! There are … Read more
France Sees Great Potential in the Chinese Tourism Industry The statistics this year for French tourism are a bit fuzzy. Minister of Tourism Sylvia Pinel remains cautious with the numbers while the results from Protourisme, the reference point for tourism studies, look gloomy [fr]. Vassiliou: ‘Europeans should get out of their chairs more often’ … Read more
Norway?s centre-right wins election Result ends eight years of centre-left rule and makes Erna Solberg all but certain to be the oil-rich country?s new prime minister EU unfreezes regional aid funding for Hungary Hungary won access today (9 September) to ?2 billion in frozen EU development funds after convincing Brussels its management of projects met … Read more
EU takes Russia to WTO for first time EU officials say a levy to cover recycling costs is a protectionist ploy in environmental disguise because it only applies to imported vehicles MAIN FOCUS: Help for Greece in dribs and drabs | 09/07/2013 After the conclusion of the troika’s review the finance ministers of the … Read more
Turkey’s ‘standing people’ protest spreads amid Erdoğan’s crackdown Protesters turn to passive resistance after four people die in Erdoğan’s brutal response to Taksim Square demonstration Lunchtime in the waterfront district of Beşiktaş in Istanbul on Tuesday and Ismail Orhan has been standing silently under a yellow parasol in the blistering heat for more than four hours. … Read more