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Europe Tag

Posted by Mary Chastain on March 20, 2017 2 Comments
British Prime Minister Theresa May will activate Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty to start the Brexit process on March 29, which will start the two year negotiations for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union. From The London Times:
Britain is keen to seek a comprehensive free-trade deal with the EU as part of the exit process. However, the European Council wants to sort out Britain’s “divorce bill” from the bloc before any future relationship is agreed. The status of EU nationals already in the UK is another issue that both sides want to deal with early on.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on March 16, 2017 12 Comments
According to final vote count tallies, Prime Minister Mark Rutte's centre-right VVD has scored a commanding lead over his main rival Geert Wilders' Freedom Party (PVV). With 95 percent of votes counted, PM Rutte's VVD won 33 seats in the 150-place legislature, down from 41 at the last vote in 2012. Wilders came second with 20 seats, Reuters news agency reports.

Posted by Mary Chastain on March 14, 2017 11 Comments
The top European Union court has ruled that employers can ban the Islamic headscarf from the workplace. From the BBC:
The European Court of Justice (ECJ), ruled on Tuesday morning that employers are allowed to ban workers from the "visible wearing of any political, philosophical or religious sign" including headscarves. The ruling was prompted by the case of a receptionist who was fired from security company G4S in Belgium for wearing a headscarf to work.

Posted by Mary Chastain on March 13, 2017 10 Comments
As Brexit looms around the United Kingdom, Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced she may ask for approval to have another independence referendum. From CNN:
Sturgeon said it was clear that the UK was heading for a "hard Brexit" to the detriment of Scotland, and that Scottish voters deserved a choice of remaining in the European Union as part of an independent nation.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on March 12, 2017 14 Comments
A diplomatic dispute between the Netherlands and Turkey has led to rioting by Turks in Rotterdam and a diplomatic crisis that could influence the Dutch elections that are just a few days away.

Thousands of Turkish immigrants rioted in the streets of Rotterdam early Sunday following the Dutch government's decision to bar two Turkish ministers from entering the country.

The Mayor of Rotterdam issued emergency orders late Saturday in an attempt to contain a demonstration supporting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan outside the Turkish consulate in the city which has turned into a rallying point for Turkish immigrants.

Today morning, pro-Erdogan rioters vandalised the consulate of the Netherlands in the Turkish city of Istanbul and took down the Dutch flag replacing it with a Turkish flag, French news agency AFP reports.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on February 24, 2017 14 Comments
With less than 3 weeks before Dutch Election, Frontrunner Geert Wilders has suspended his campaign after a major security breach. A Moroccan-origin Dutch police officer working on Wilders security detail was arrested for passing on his movements to Moroccan criminal gangs. Wilders, campaigning on the promises of de-Islamising the Netherlands and taking the country out of the European Union, is leading in polls ahead of the election. Wilders' Dutch Freedom Party (PVV) is expected to come out as the single largest party in March election and set to play a key role in the formation of the next government. Following Wilders-led PVV’s strong showing in the polls many commentators have started taking the 53 year-old Dutch politician as a serious contender for the post of Prime Minister.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on February 23, 2017 4 Comments
Wednesday, Swiss Police raided a mosque and several houses in search of terrorists belonging to Islamic State. Around one hundred law enforcement officers were involved in the counter-terrorism operation carried out in the Italian-speaking region of Ticino. Police arrested two Islamists of Turkish origin, including a recruiter for Islamic State. So far, Switzerland has been spared terrorist attacks such as those carried out in France, Belgium and Germany, but the country has long been in the crosshairs of Jihadists. ISIS had previously released propaganda clips calling Switzerland part of the "coalition of devil" and threatening to carry out terrorist attacks inside the country.

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 18, 2017 5 Comments
Vice President Mike Pence attended the Munich Security Conference in Germany where he told Europe that America will stand behind its NATO allies. Pence also met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to assure him that America remains committed to Ukraine and that Russia upholds the Minsk Agreement. President Donald Trump rattled some cages on the campaign trail when he stated his beliefs that NATO was obsolete, leading many to believe America will abandon the organization. Pence said that will not happen:

Posted by Mary Chastain on February 13, 2017 0 Comments
Uh oh. UK Parliament Speaker John Bercow has found himself in deeper water after he revealed to students that he voted for the UK to remain in the European Union on the Brexit vote. From The Telegraph:
His fresh comments appear to breach the convention that Speakers of the House of Commons do not allow themselves to be drawn into political debate.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on February 09, 2017 4 Comments
Right after the Paris attacks of November 2015 that killed 128 people, President Obama scoffed at Republicans for being "scared of widows and orphans coming into the United States of America." But just because those "clinging to their guns and religion"  -- to use another of Obama's expression-- might be skeptical of mass-migration from Muslim dominated countries, doesn't mean Islamic terrorism isn't out to get them. According to a recent report published by a UK-based counter-extremism think tank, Islamist groups like ISIS and Boko Haram are using child recruits to infiltrate the refugee wave currently overwhelming Europe. ISIS was paying smugglers to bring child recruits across to Europe and offering up to $2,000 for each child recruited inside the refugees camps in Lebanon and Jordan, says the report issued by Quilliam International.

Posted by Mary Chastain on January 24, 2017 11 Comments
The UK Supreme Court has decided that parliament must decide if the government can start the Brexit process. The ruling also stated that the "Scottish Parliament and Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies did not need a say." Prime Minister Theresa may cannot begin talks with European Union (EU) leaders until parliament votes. May would like to invoke Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the part that allows a country to leave the EU, by the end of March.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on December 15, 2016 24 Comments
Despite Merkel government’s all-out effort to prevent the breakdown of law and order in German cites ahead of the New Year’s Eve, wide cracks are appearing in country's police preparedness. What reads much like a dispatch from a lost battlefront, the union of police officers in the eastern German state of Thuringa has penned an open letter describing the dire state of affairs amid an unstoppable migrant crime wave. “[You] are abandoning us to a superior force,” says the desperate note addressed to Interior Minister of Thuringa.
Time and again representatives of the police union have pointed out the dramatic consequences to the politicians and higher authorities, the letter further says, (Quote) “But what changes? Nothing. One instead gets a sense of disinterest.”  [Author's translation]

Posted by Mary Chastain on December 09, 2016 7 Comments
EU counter-terrorism coordinator Gilles de Kerchove will tell the EU interior ministers on Friday that experts have found 1,750 ISIS jihadists have come back to Europe to perform terrorist attacks:
Up to 35 percent have returned - some with 'specific missions' - and 50 percent remain in the battle theatre, which amounted to between 2,000 and 2,500 Europeans.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on December 08, 2016 15 Comments
What could only be described as a political sleight-of-hand, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is suddenly running as a conservative ahead of next year’s general election. Merkel who opened the floodgates of Europe to millions of Arab and Muslim migrants by scrapping the border controls (Dublin Protocol), is now talking tough on mass-migration and calling for a ban on the regressive Islamic garb, Burqa. “The full-face veil is not acceptable in our country,” Merkel said on Tuesday while addressing her party’s convention held in the city of Essen. “It should be banned, wherever it is legally possible.”

Posted by Mary Chastain on December 05, 2016 1 Comment
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has announced he will resign from his post after Italians rejected a referendum to amend the country's 1948 constitution. Renzi said:
"Tomorrow the President of the Republic will have a meeting with me and I will hand in my resignation," Renzi said. "I take on full responsibilities for defeat and so I say I lost, not you," he told supporters. The defeat of the referendum was resounding, with nearly 60% of voters saying "no."

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on November 22, 2016 14 Comments
It’s official! Merkel will run for a fourth term as German Chancellor. After months of speculations, Chancellor Merkel has announced her decision to lead the Christian Democrats (CDU) in next year’s election. The chief architect of Europe’s open border policy, 62 year old politician has been at the helm of Germany for the last eleven years. President Obama dropped in to lend a helping hand. On the last leg of his presidency, U.S. President gave Merkel a “glowing endorsement” -- to quote London-based Financial Times -- as he toured Germany last week. Obama asked Germans to “appreciate” Merkel. “If I were here and I were German, and I had a vote, I might support her,” Obama told reporters in Berlin.
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