Northern Ireland’s incomplete peace: young feminists speak out open Democracy News Analysis – by Claire Pierson and Maria Deiana Organising around a belief in feminism’s ability to articulate and represent visions of peace and politics, a new generation of feminists is emerging to challenge the traditional rigidity of Northern Irish politics. Pipes for South Stream … Read more
The centre is falling apart across Europe theguardian.com – Ian Traynor – Nov 15, 4:04 PM – Wednesday morning in Brussels and Beppe Grillo has brought his anti-establishment roadshow to the European parliament. The committee room is packed, standing room only for the former standup act. Once he gets going, Grillo resembles a force of … Read more
Cameron warns Russia over Ukraine BBC News | Europe | World Editio Russia could face further sanctions unless it stops “destabilising” Ukraine, David Cameron says, as world leaders gather for the G20 summit. After the Catalan vote, Spain needs to buy time open Democracy News Analysis – by Francesc Badia i Dalmases Spain, and Catalonia within … Read more
The Podemos Express: What lies behind the extraordinary rise of Spain’s new protest party? Open Europe blog The extraordinary rise of Podemos, Spain’s eight-month-old protest party, continues. A new Metroscopia poll for El País, released on Sunday, showed that the party would win a Spanish general election, if held today, with 27.7% of votes. The Socialist Party … Read more
Turkey announces EU accession strategy EurActiv.com Turkey said today (18 September) that crises in the Middle East and elsewhere made closer co-operation between Ankara and the European Union essential and announced a new programme to revive the country’s stalled drive for EU membership. EU Minister promotes Turkey’s new EU strategy Turkey provides a more detailed account of how … Read more
Just who are Podemos? open Democracy News Analysis – by Fernando Betancor Who are the people voting for Podemos? An analysis of election data reveals some surpising results… I?ve be following the impact of the ?Podemos? phenomenon on Spanish politics since the European elections late last May. It is not too much of an … Read more
EU to review Swiss ties after vote curbing immigration The European Union warned it will review ties with Switzerland after the non-member Alpine country voted to restrict EU immigration Swiss face EU clash after immigrant vote If Britain decides to quit bloc it could find itself in similar position, trying to exercise sovereignty … Read more
Italian navy rescues over 1,000 migrants in one day The Italian navy said on Friday (3 January) it had rescued more than 1,000 migrants from boats trying to reach Europe, as an immigration crisis that killed hundreds in the last year showed no signs of easing. Italian navy helicopters spotted four overcrowded boats struggling to … Read more
France’s new surveillance law creates a police state Jeremie from La Quadrature du Net writes, “France just turned into a surveillance state, adopting a sneaky surveillance framework in article 13 of its Defense Bill (Loi de programmation militaire). MAIN FOCUS: Final spurt towards banking union | 12/12/2013 The project of a banking union is taking … Read more
France takes tough line at Iran talks France expresses doubts about draft agreement and makes demands on Tehran that appear to be tougher than those from the US and Britain Iran nuclear talks end without a deal Near two-week gap before next talks could prove uncomfortable for US and Iranian negotiators, who both face considerable opposition at … Read more
German parties wake up to growing migrant vote Arab Times (Kuwait) September 15, 2013, p. 16 AFP, Sept 14, Berlin German Chancellor Angela Merkel once alienated many immigrants by declaring ?multiculturalism has failed,? but as elections near her conservatives and other parties are scrambling to reach the growing migrant vote. The question, say analysts and … 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
MAIN FOCUS: Berlusconi definitively convicted | 02/08/2013 Italy’s highest court convicted Silvio Berlusconi of tax fraud on Thursday. After dozens of trials, this is the first definitive conviction for Italy’s ex-prime minister. The judiciary is finally putting paid to Berlusconism, some commentators write delightedly. Others are dismayed that Berlusconi could not be stopped by political … Read more
Europe is partner and target for US spies US co-operation on intelligence with European nations over decades has never come with a guarantee that Washington will not spy on them as well Europe gets tougher on cybercrimes Tougher penalties for those found guilty of carrying out cybercrimes have been agreed by European member states … Read more
MAIN FOCUS: EU eases taxpayers’ bank bailout burden | 28/06/2013 The EU’s finance ministers agreed on tougher rules for failing banks on Wednesday night. In future shareholders and creditors will be obliged to help cover the cost of their rescue, rather than just the taxpayers. Finally the average man on the street will no longer … Read more