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European Union Tag

France has been taken to the EU human rights court for refusing entry to children of Islamic State jihadists. The grandparents of two children who, along with their Islamist mother, are currently being held in detention by Syria's Kurdish fighters have filed a lawsuit in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) to overturn the French decision.

Europe's open-doors immigration policy will lead to a European "Islamic caliphate," Italian deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini has warned voters ahead of the upcoming European Union election. "For our children, to leave behind an Islamic caliphate with sharia law in our cities is not something I want to do and I’m going to do everything in my power to avert this sad ending for Europe," he said during a visit to Hungary this week.

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has invited Steve Bannon to speak at the country's parliament next month, the Hamburg-based news weekly Der Spiegel disclosed. "The AfD is planning a meeting for right-wing bloggers and writers at the Bundestag," the magazine reported. "The party has invited U.S. President Donald Trump's former chief strategist Steve Bannon."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has spoken against a trade deal with the United Kingdom if the country fails to solve the "hard border" issue between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland with the European Union before leaving the bloc. Brussels wants the border between Ireland, an EU member state, and Northern Ireland, a part of the UK, to remain open after Brexit. The arrangement, also known as the "the backstop," will allow the EU to dictate immigration and trade policies in Northern Ireland, a move that will erode British sovereignty over the region. Many Brexit supporters see the backstops as a tactic to shackle Britain to EU law and regulations.

With the British parliament failing to agree on the strategy to exit the European Union, Brussels has called upon Prime Minister Theresa May to hold the European elections. Referring to the recent pro-EU demonstrations in London, the European Council President, Donald Tusk, accused the UK government of betraying the "increasing majority" of Britons who wish to stay in the union.

The United Kingdom should be taking its last steps as a member of the European Union. Instead, even after two years, the UK is dragging its feet after parliament rejected Prime Minister Theresa May's deal and voted not to leave the EU without the deal. Caught in a Catch-22 parliament voted to extend the Brexit deadline, which should have taken place on March 29. The EU agreed and set April 12 as the new deadline if parliament supports May's deal.

Okay, let's see if I can keep this straight because Brexit has become a circus. On Tuesday, the Members of Parliament (MP) voted against British Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit Deal. On Wednesday night, the MPs voted against leaving the European Union (EU) without a deal. What a Catch-22. So this sets up a vote on Thursday to extend Brexit, but even if the MPs pass that, the EU has to approve it.

Last month, Mary wrote that British Prime Minister Theresa May Will Give Parliament a Chance to Delay Brexit if They Reject Withdrawal Plan.  The withdrawal plan comes up for a vote on Tuesday, March 12, and May has traveled to Strasbourg to meet with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. The UK is scheduled to leave the EU on March 29 on this year.

The last time we visited Poland, eco-activists were upset with its continued reliance on coal power. The shrieks of green justice warriors will likely grow louder. Poland will continue with plans to dig a canal between its main eastern coastline and the Baltic Sea despite concerns among activists and in the European Union that it could damage the environment.
The Vistula Spit is a heavily wooded sandbank 55 km (34 miles) long but less than 2 km wide which encloses a coastal lagoon. Poland shares both the lagoon and the spit with the neighboring Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.

The United Kingdom is supposed to leave the European Union next month, but even after two years of negotiations and talks, it may not happen on time. This is why British Prime Minister Theresa May told Parliament if the members reject her Brexit deal on March 12, she will give them an opportunity to vote "on 13 March on leaving with no deal." If the members reject that, the members can "vote on 14 March for an extension to Article 50."

The European Union wants to challenge the longstanding dominance of the U.S. dollar in oil trade, the French broadcaster EuroNews reported. Brussels has created a working group comprising of representatives from European trade and industry to "challenge the dominance of the dollar" in energy trade and promote the use of euro to price oil imports, the broadcaster said.

The anti-EU parties are poised to win one-third of the seats in the EU Parliament election in May, according to a study titled "The 2019 European Election: How anti-Europeans plan to wreck Europe and what can be done to stop it," released by a pro-EU think-tank. By securing the controlling share of the seats, the anti-establishment rightist parties could "paralyze decision-making at the center of the EU" and end up "curbing the [bloc's] liberal orientation and returning power to member states," the London-based European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) said.

The Trump administration's decision to suspend the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty with Russian triggered sharp responses from Germany and the European Union. "Europeans aghast as end to INF treaty looms," the German state broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported, adding that the "EU leaders are concerned that the US withdrawal from the INF treaty could spark a new arms race."

The top EU court has prohibited bus companies from checking passenger passports on cross-border buses, making it difficult for German police to identify illegal immigrants entering the country, say local media. The ruling by the European Court of Justice could prevent the German police from stopping thousands of illegal border crossings and embolden the migrant traffickers. Last year, the police caught around 14,000 illegal immigrants trying to enter the country by bus and train.

Israel has called out the European Union for continuing to finance the boycott movement against the country. The EU funneled millions of euros to organizations and activists running the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign between 2017 and 2018, a detailed report issued by the country's Minister of Strategic Affairs revealed. "Contrary to statements by EU Foreign Minister Federico Mogherini opposing Israel boycotts, [the report] reveals that funds continued to be transferred to organizations which promote boycotts against the State of Israel in 2017-2018," Israel's Ministry of Strategic Affairs said in its press release Wednesday.