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European Union Tag

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on May 11, 2017 3 Comments
The governments of Hungary and Slovakia have filed a case against the EU's refugee distribution plan. "Hungary and Slovakia have accused the EU of negligence and violations with regard to its decision to distribute up to 120,000 refugees across Europe," German newspaper Die Welt reported. Defending his government’s decision to challenge the EU's migrant policy in the European Court of Justice (ECJ), Hungary's Justice Minister Laszlo Trocsanyi told Die Welt, "We have compiled a ten-point list of reasons we believe this decision to be illegal." Minister Trocsanyi criticised EU's plans of redistributing migrants for incentivising illegal immigration. The EU was telling migrants to "go ahead and come to Europe, and we will handle the distribution," Trocsanyi said.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on May 08, 2017 14 Comments
Nowhere has the victory of the establishment candidate Emmanuel Macron in the French presidential election been cheered more fervently than in Berlin and Brussels. Last night, President-elect Macron received a ‘warm call’ from German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French news agency AFP reported. "Congratulations, Emmanuel Macron. Your victory is a victory for a strong and united Europe and for French-German friendship," Merkel's spokesman said on Twitter. Merkel's Chief of Staff Peter Altmaier was quoted saying “[Macron’s] success is a great opportunity for Franco-German friendship.”

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on May 04, 2017 17 Comments
"France will be led by a woman, either me or Angela Merkel," Marine Le Pen said last night as she clashed with the pro-EU candidate Emmanuel Macron in the final debate ahead of Sunday's presidential run-off. Le Pen's statement points to the long shadow of the German Chancellor that looms large over the establishment candidate Macron. Merkel, hoping to boost Macron's chances, had endorsed him last week, praising his "consistently pro-European policy." "I would be very pleased if Emmanuel Macron were to win, because he stands for consistently pro-European policy," Merkel said in an interview last week, claiming that he will be a "strong president for France" and "his victory would be a good sign for the political center, whose strength we would like to maintain here in Germany, as well."

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on April 23, 2017 19 Comments
Centrist candidate Emmanuel Macron and Front National's Marine Le Pen have qualified for the second round in the French presidential election securing 23.7 and 21.7 percent of votes respectively, French news agency AFP reports. Conservative François Fillon conceded defeat after getting 19.5 percent of the votes. Fillon endorsed Macron and called his supporters to vote for his rival in the final round. A fact that should cheer liberals and feminists alike: with today's result, France is just one step away from getting its first female president.

Posted by Mary Chastain on April 18, 2017 11 Comments
British Prime Minister Theresa May stunned many British politicians on Tuesday morning when she called for a snap election on June 8 as a way to help her negotiate through the Brexit process with the European Union. May had said before that she would not hold a general election, but opposition from within the government over Brexit negotiations forced her hand. The London Times reported:
“The country is coming together but Westminster is not,” she said.

Posted by Mary Chastain on April 07, 2017 15 Comments
A man plowed a truck into a shopping center in Stockholm, Sweden, killing at least five people and injuring many more. Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven has called it a terror attack:
"Sweden has been attacked. Everything indicates an act of terror," PM Stefan Löfven said at a press conference on Friday afternoon. "The government is informed and doing everything to help authorities with it."

Posted by Mary Chastain on March 30, 2017 8 Comments
Back in October, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande warned British Prime Minister Theresa May that the United Kingdom might face a tough time leaving the European Union. Those warnings have come to fruition a day after the UK delivered the official Brexit letter to the EU. Merkel and Hollande demanded to May "that Brexit negotiations must deal with how Britain will leave the bloc" before the countries even think about future negotiations.

Posted by Mary Chastain on March 29, 2017 10 Comments
The divorce between the United Kingdom and the European Union has officially begun. Tuesday, British Prime Minister Theresa May signed the letter to EU Council President Donald Tusk to trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, which allows a member to leave the union. Wednesday morning, British Ambassador to the EU Sir Tim Burrow handed the letter to Tusk. The UK now has two years to leave the EU.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on March 22, 2017 11 Comments
With the diplomatic row between Europe and Turkey escalating further, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan issued an unveiled threat to Europeans. "If Europe continues this way, no European in any part of the world can walk safely on the streets," Erdogan said during a speech in Ankara, Turkey. Earlier, several cities in Germany and the Netherlands canceled public appearances by Erdogan's ministers citing security concerns. It is unclear if Erdogan's statement was meant as a direct call to violence, but Erdogan supporters have a track record of resorting to intimidation and violence abroad to push their Islamist leaders' political agenda. Earlier this month, thousands of Turkish immigrants rioted in the streets of Rotterdam after city's mayor refused the landing rights to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. Following those riots in the Netherlands, Erdogan supporters vandalised the Dutch consulate in the Turkish city of Istanbul.

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 07, 2017 15 Comments
'Never believe anything until it has been officially denied,' they use to say in days of the Soviet Union. Today, the same is apparently true for the European Union. After years of official denials, E.U. has announced its plans to build a unified military command in the Belgian city of Brussels -- a move set to take NATO's European partners away from the existing transatlantic alliance. Germany's state-run ARD broadcaster called it an "attempt to transform European Union into a real defense union". Just last year in the run-up to the Brexit vote, U.K.'s Deputy Prime Minister and pro-E.U. campaigner Nick Clegg blasted U.K. Independence Party's (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage for misleading the voters on the issue of a proposed E.U. Army ahead of the referendum, saying Farage was spreading a 'dangerous fantasy that is simply not true.' That 'dangerous fantasy' is now coming true.

Posted by Fuzzy Slippers on March 04, 2017 14 Comments
The Obama administration refused to grant visa-free travel to the U. S. from five EU countries:  Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland, and Romania.  The EU Parliament has been protesting that decision since at least 2014 and had been putting pressure on the Obama administration to relent; however, no progress was made. Now that President Trump is in office, however, the EU Parliament has decided that it's time to step up the pressure on the Trump administration regarding the long-standing lack of "visa reciprocity" and to propose (threaten?) the end to visa-free travel to all EU countries for U. S. citizens.

Posted by Vijeta Uniyal on March 02, 2017 8 Comments
With less than 2 weeks until Dutch election, the government has assigned special forces of the Dutch military to protect the frontrunner Geert Wilders, European newspapers report. Europe’s most prominent critic of Islam and leader of the Dutch Freedom Party (PVV), Wilder had suspended his public campaign last week after a police officer serving in his security detail was arrested for leaking details about his movements to Moroccan-Muslim criminal organisation.
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