Sweden is Europe’s most innovative economy, Commission says Sweden is the best country in the EU when it comes to getting new ideas to reach the market, according to a new innovation indicator launched by the European Commission. The new indicator measures innovation output, which creates better jobs and makes Europe more competitive, the … Read more
Morning Brief: NSA Monitored 60 Million Calls in Spain in One Month NSA Monitored 60 Million Calls in Spain in One Month Top News: A report that the National Security Agency monitored 60 million Spanish telephone calls over the course of a one-month period prompted calls from Spain that that the United States must explain the extent of … Read more
Greek police arrest dozen Golden Dawn members, including party leader Greek police arrested the leader of the far-right Golden Dawn Party in a morning operation Greek neo-Nazi MPs to face criminal charges: Court source Five lawmakers of the Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn including its founder Nikos Michaloliakos will face charges of belonging to … Read more
EU hardens stance on Israeli settlements New guidelines will prevent any grants to companies based on occupied land as the EU hardens its opposition to expansion of Israeli settlements Israeli PM Netanyahu rejects EU ‘external dictates’ on borders Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu angrily rejected European Union guidelines barring the bloc’s 28 member states from funding … Read more
Anonymous Leaks the Accounts of Spain’s Governing Party The global hacktivist group, Anonymous, has leaked the 1990-2011 financial accounts of the governing Partido Popular (PP) [People’s Party] on the internet. Recently, during the investigation, Judge Pablo Ruz asked for access to the documents dated since 1990 on suspicion of illegal financing. The PP refused, claiming … Read more
Library of the European Parliament’s Blog: Croatia ? sources of information For the occasion of Croatian accession to the European Union on the 1 July 2013 and becoming the 28th member state, we have prepared this document as introductory information to sources that are already available in Library of European Parliament Croatia: President Plays Beethoven to … Read more
MAIN FOCUS: Record unemployment in Europe | 26/04/2013 from euro|topics According to figures published on Thursday, for the first time more than six million people are currently out of work in Spain, and France also has record unemployment, surpassing a 1997 peak. Commentators fear the ongoing crisis will provoke a rebellion of the masses and … Read more
IMF sees a mixed outlook for Europe – calls for more ECB action and a fiscal union by Open Europe blog team The IMF today released its latest World Economic Outlook forecasts. As usual the forecasts are not overly different from the previous ones – published in October last year – but there are a … Read more
May day protests highlight Europe?s pain from FT.com – World, Europe Tens of thousands of workers take to the streets for annual marches, demonstrating against government spending cuts and rising unemployment How real is Hollande’s veto threat? by Open Europe blog team As has been widely reported, Francois Hollande – the socialist contender for the … Read more
Recession Warning On Europe?s Periphery from A Fistful Of Euros » A Fistful Of Euros by Edward Hugh As Europe?s leaders struggle to convince markets that their Greek debt problem-resolution-proposals are actually viable, and will really do the trick, last week?s flash PMI readings seem to have attracted rather less attention than they might. Nonetheless, … Read more
The Council of Europe denounces the burqa ban from Blogactiv by Protesilaos Stavrou On April 2011 and on July 2011, France and Belgium respectively passed legislation forbidding Muslim women from wearing the burqa, the traditional veil that fully covers their face, except their eyes. These decisions were based upon the claim of safeguarding public security, … Read more
Once again the day is saved… from The European Citizen by Eurocentric …At least for now. It’s hard to escape the feeling that each time an agreement is made at a European Council summit, it’s only a matter of time (usually 3-6 months) before we’re back in superhero mode again. Still, there seems to be … Read more
MAIN FOCUS: No stress for Europe's banks | 18/07/2011 from euro|topics Only eight out of ninety banks failed the bank stress test, the European Banking Authority announced in London on Friday. But the press says the test ignored the risk of a state going bankrupt and will therefore hardly calm Europe's financial markets. Why Europe … Read more
Europride and Gaga in Rome from Boing Boing by Jasmina Te?anovic (Lady Gaga performs during a gay pride concert in downtown Rome. Stefano Rellandini / Reuters) The gay icon Lady Gaga was there wearing her green wig, together with up to one million people marching chanting singing in a carnival gay pride march. Rome is … Read more
Five reasons why Europe is cracking up, José Ignacio Torreblanca from open Democracy News Analysis – by José Ignacio Torreblanca In Germany, France and Italy, but also in many other places, we find ourselves confronted with a generation of leaders ever more shortsighted and given over to electioneering: among them, none speak to Europe nor … Read more