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Tuesday, February 28, 2017

EU: Juncker to unveil post-Brexit plan for the EU

On Wednesday (1 March) European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker will unveil his plan for the EU’s future after Britain’s departure, his spokesman said.

Juncker’s so-called “White Paper” will be presented to the European Parliament after Commissioners get a first look at it today (28 February), the spokesman said.

European Union leaders will then consider Juncker’s plan at a summit on 9-10 March, before coming up with their own post-Brexit roadmap at a special meeting in Rome on 25 March.

Britain’s shock June 2016 vote to leave the EU — coupled with crises involving the economy and migration — has plunged the 28-nation EU into a deep bout of soul-searching.

At a special summit in Italy to mark the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome which founded the EU, the bloc’s leaders will issue a special declaration with new plans for future.

Read more:Juncker to unveil post-Brexit plan – EurActiv.com

Monday, February 27, 2017

EU Stock Market Merger On Ice: EU set to block stock market mega merger

 London Stock Exchange (LSE) said its proposed merger with Deutsche Börse AG was unlikely to be approved by the European Commission, leaving the stock market operators’ third attempt at combining on the brink of failure.

The LSE said in a statement late on Sunday (26 February) that the Commission had asked it to sell its 60% stake in fixed-income trading platform MTS to satisfy antitrust concerns over the merger of Europe’s two largest market operators.

Calling the request “disproportionate”, the British exchange said it believed that it would struggle to sell MTS and that such a sale would be detrimental to its ongoing business.

“Based on the Commission’s current position, LSE believes that the Commission is unlikely to provide clearance for the merger,” it said.

The exchange added that it would still work to make the merger with Deutsche Börse succeed, but that would be impossible unless the executive changed its position.

Read more: EU set to block stock market mega merger – EurActiv.com

Sunday, February 26, 2017

Expats: the world’s most welcoming countries - by Lindsey Galloway

For many expats, finding new friends can ease the often overwhelming task of adjusting to a new life abroad. But with huge variances in local culture and language capabilities, some places can definitely feel more welcoming than others.

To determine where expats might find the best success of fitting in fast, global community network InterNations recently conducted their annual Expat Insider survey of more than 14,000 expats from 191 countries, asking residents to rate a number of aspects about life abroad, including how easy it was to settle in, a country’s friendliness and ease of making friends.

We talked to residents in the countries ranked high for friendliness to find out what makes these places so hospitable to newcomers.

Read more: BBC - Travel - Living in… the world’s most welcoming countries

Saturday, February 25, 2017

EU Economy: Every one of the EU's 28 member economies is growing simultaneously for the first time since 2007

QWuartz reports that the European Union is facing its biggest crisis since… well, since its last big crisis. The perpetually problematic union is threatening to come undone, with Britain in the process of quitting the bloc and numerous populist movements elsewhere also threatening to sever ties.

But economically speaking, the bloc is performing better than it has in a long while. For the first time since 2007, all 28 of the union’s member economies are growing at the same time, on an annual basis.

Inflation-adjusted GDP in the EU will rise 1.8% this year and next, according to the European Commission’s latest projections. This is expected to push unemployment across the region to its lowest rate since 2009. For its part, GDP in the euro zone has risen for 15 consecutive quarters.

This is not to say that Europe’s economy is thriving, which is readily apparent by how successfully populist politicians have been blaming Brussels for their countries’ apparent financial malaise.

The European Commission warns that the risks to its forecasts are “exceptionally large,” thanks to the unclear intentions of US president Donald Trump, high-stakes elections across Europe this year, and the ongoing Brexit negotiations.

If Trump follows through on pledges to spend big on infrastructure, it could provide a boost to the EU’s export-oriented members. But if he doubles down on his “America First” policy, it could harm transatlantic trade. Meanwhile, a messy Brexit, tighter monetary policy from the US Federal Reserve, and a shaky Chinese economy could all derail the European economy’s slow but steady recovery.

Pierre Moscovici, the European commissioner for economic and financial affairs, warned that the benefits of growth must be shared more widely—both between and within EU countries—for it to be appreciated by citizens. “With uncertainty at such high levels, it’s more important than ever that we use all policy tools to support growth,” he said. “Above all, we must ensure that its benefits are felt in all parts of the euro area and all segments of society.”

EU-Digest

Friday, February 24, 2017

EU: Spain MPs to probe €60bn bank bailouts- by Sarah Morris

Spanish MPs have voted unanimously to set up a commission to examine mistakes that led to a €60 billion bank bailout in 2012.

In a rare display of unity in Spain's fragmented parliament, all parties signed up to a deal on Wednesday (22 February) to “create a commission to investigate the financial and banking crisis, the listing of savings bank Bankia and its later rescue, the action taken by regulators and the weaknesses, needs and challenges of the financial system”.

In 2012, a government led by current centre-right prime minister Mariano Rajoy sought a bailout from the EU and International Monetary Fund (IMF) after Bankia requested €22.5 billion in aid just a year after its flotation under the previous Socialist government. Dozens of other savings banks also needed state cash.

The cross-party deal this week came after the opposition Socialists, anti-austerity group Unidos Podemos and Catalan party Republican Left all lodged separate petitions for commissions.

Expected to hear evidence from April for about six months, the parliamentary commission will in particular look at the controversial listing of Bankia, the largest bank bailout still in public control.

In recent years, Spain's courts have looked into hundreds of corruption allegations linked to the property boom. Between July 2015 and September 2016, 399 people were convicted of corruption-related offences like embezzling public money, the General Board of Judicial Power (CGPJ), which oversees Spain’s judiciary, said in a report last month.

The creation of the parliamentary commission comes after the high court said last week it would question the former governor of the Bank of Spain, Miguel Angel Fernandez Ordonez, over Bankia's regulation.

Five other officials at the central bank and two former senior managers of stock market regulator, the CNMV, will also be questioned.

Read more: Spain MPs to probe €60bn bank bailouts

Thursday, February 23, 2017

The Netherlands: Dutch far-right leader Wilders cancels public events over alleged security leak but police say Wilders' safety "never in question".

Fake News Leadership
Anti-Islam Dutch MP Geert Wilders and his far-right Freedom Party suspended all public activities Thursday after a police agent was arrested for allegedly leaking information about him to a Moroccan gang.

 "Very disturbing news. The Freedom Party is suspending all public activities until all facts in connection with the investigation are known," Wilders said on Twitter, as Dutch political parties gear up for a crunch election on March 15.

The firebrand MP, who has courted controversy with his hardline anti-Islam, anti-immigrant stance and his incendiary insults against Moroccans and Turks, has long been under 24-hour police protection.

Tensions are escalating ahead of the election in which the Freedom Party is running neck-and-neck with the Liberals of Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

On Saturday, Wilders upped the tone at the launch of his official campaign, denouncing "a lot of Moroccan scum who make the streets unsafe".

The highly-respected NRC daily newspaper reported Wednesday that the agent was arrested for allegedly passing on information about Wilders to a Moroccan crime gang.

Dutch police chief Erik Akkerboom confirmed an investigation had been opened but that Wilders' safety "was never in question".

However the matter was deemed so serious that Rutte, who is now campaigning for his own Liberal VVD party, met Wilders to discuss the issue.

The suspected agent was released on Thursday pending the investigation, Dutch news agency ANP said.

Netherlands is no stranger to political violence, even though the small country of just 17 million people has largely gained a reputation for tolerance.

Flamboyant far-right leader Pim Fortuyn was assassinated just nine days before Dutch elections in 2002, shocking the country to the core.

Just two years later in November 2004, filmmaker Theo van Gogh was murdered by a Muslim radical.

Wilders, 53, has vowed in his party's one-page manifesto that if elected he would ban the sale of Korans, close mosques and Islamic schools, shut Dutch borders and ban Muslim migrants.

Note EU-Digest: Obviously one must question  the true value of this story about Wilders - that it is not another populist stunt by him and his followers to give his sinking popularity in the polls a boost. Also to be noted is that Mr.Wilders is never able to provide any detailed plans about how he wants to carry out his party's "one page" manifesto.  

Read more: Dutch far-right leader Wilders cancels public events over security leak - France 24

Internet Privacy: E-Mail Services List of Secure Email Providers that take Privacy Serious

Privacy laws and the internet
When you need an e-mail account and you want to start using the very popular and widely used Gmail services please note that the following is what you will be asked to agree on before you can get it and I quote: "Google Privacy Terms By choosing “I agree” below, you agree to Google’s Terms of Service.

You also agree to our Privacy Policy, which describes how we process your information, including these key points: Data we process when you use Google When you use Google services to do things like write a message in Gmail or comment on a YouTube video, we store the information you create.

When you search for a restaurant on Google Maps or watch a video on YouTube, for example, we process information about that activity – including information like the video you watched, device IDs, IP addresses, cookie data, and location. We also process the kinds of information described above when you use apps or sites that use Google services like ads, Analytics, and the YouTube video player.

Depending on your account settings, some of this data may be associated with your Google Account and we treat this data as personal information. You can control how we collect and use this data at My Account (myaccount.google.com).

Why we process it? We process this data for the purposes described in our policy, including to: Help our services deliver more useful, customized content such as more relevant search results; Improve the quality of our services and develop new ones; Deliver personalized ads, both on Google services and on sites and apps that partner with Google;Improve security by protecting against fraud and abuse; and Conduct analytics and measurement to understand how our services are used.

Combining data We also combine data among our services and across your devices for these purposes. For example, we show you ads based on information from your use of Search and Gmail, and we use data from trillions of search queries to build spell-correction models that we use across all of our services".Bottom-line: whatever you write or do on Gmail is not really private and belongs to Gmail.

For a list of secure email providers that take your privacy serious and do not track you (* = recommended, last updated December 7, 2016)click on the link below.

Read more: List of Secure Email Providers that take Privacy Serious - FreedomHack

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

EU Medicine Agency: Crowded race to win EU medicines agency- by Aleksandra Eriksson

The London-based European Medicine Agency (EMA) will need a new home after Brexit, and almost a dozen European cities are already vying over the regulatory gem.

Today, almost all new or innovative medicines are submitted to EMA for assessment, which evaluates whether they are safe to put on the EU market. The agency comes with almost 900 expert workers, paid for by the EU; comprehensive research networks; and a €300 million a year budget.

Acting as a host for EMA is a boon for a country's life science sector, but also benefits the hospitality sector: some 400 people fly in to the agency each day.

Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Dublin, Lisbon, Milan and Stockholm have already declared willing to be the next host of the EMA, but more candidates are mulling their bids. Sources say that at least 20 member states are considering throwing their hat into the ring.

As much things related to Brexit, the race will be uncharted waters. There is no fixed procedure for how to elect the next headquarters; the new seat must only be chosen by unanimity in the Council, where EU member states are represented, which doesn't make the task easier.

"We are expecting the process to get mired in basic, competitive instincts," said one EU diplomat working on her country's EMA bid.

So far, cities are entering the contest as a beauty pageant, touting themselves as pro-European, cosmopolitan, with good food, and better weather than London. All also stress their vibrant pharmaceuticals industries.

Amsterdam puffs up its "outstanding international connections".

Read more: Crowded race to win EU medicines agency

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Weapons Industry: International arms trade shoots up to highest level since end of Cold War – by Daniel Mützel

The global arms race grew significantly last year and sales shot up by 8.4%, according to a study by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) that compared the last five years with the 2007-2011 period. It called it the highest level since the end of the Cold War.

The five largest arms suppliers, the United States, Russia, China, France and Germany, are responsible for 74% of weapons traded around the world.

According to the SIPRI, the reason for this increase in sales is the growing demand presented by Asia and the Middle East.

Read more: International arms trade shoots up to highest level since end of Cold War – EurActiv.com

Monday, February 20, 2017

Sunday, February 19, 2017

Spain - Refugees: Barcelona protest to support refugees draws thousands

Some 160,000 people have demonstrated in Barcelona to demand the government allow more refugees into Spain from war-hit areas such as Syria.

Marchers carrying placards and banners- many in the Catalan language - accused the Madrid government of dragging its feet over the issue.

They say it has not honoured its pledge made in 2015 to allow more than 17,000 refugees into Spain within two years.

Over that time, Spain has accepted only about 1,100 refugees.

Police gave the estimate of the turnout at Saturday's protest in the capital of Catalonia, organised by the Our Home is Your Home group, with many denouncing the government for not living up to its promises.

Protest organisers quoted by local media said that as many as 300,000 people took part.

Note EU-Digest: Bravo Spain ! Refugees don't come to Europe because they prefer it there. They come because their homes are being destroyed by war and bombs, many of these bombs are from our own Western military (NATO). High time to stop this stupidity and for Europe to get out of all these military adventures where nobody succeeds and everybody suffers.
 

Read more: Barcelona protest to support refugees draws thousands - BBC News

Saturday, February 18, 2017

Capitalizing on Capitalism: Unilever's Paul Polman Shares His Plans to Save the World - by Vivienne Walt

Step out of the frigid drizzle into Unilever’s factory outside ­Liverpool in northern England, and the brightly lit, automated assembly line gleams in stark contrast to the gloom outside. Thousands of bottles shoot down a conveyor belt with a click-clack sound, in a streak of bright purple.

Look more closely, and there is an important detail. The new bottle is squatter than the older, taller style on another assembly line, with a smaller dispenser and a label explaining that this version of Comfort brand fabric conditioner is good for 38 washes, rather than the 33 of the last-generation package. The message is clear: Customers need to help save one of earth’s most precious resources—water.

This might appear to be a clever bit of marketing by one of the world’s biggest consumer product companies, and marketing it surely is. But to Unilever (ul, +14.00%), its updated, concentrated liquid is also a crucial innovation. It’s one of countless tweaks underway by the Anglo-Dutch company in its more than 300 factories across the world, which churn out more than 400 brands for 2.5 billion or so customers—an astonishing one in every three people on the planet.

Central to these changes is a message Unilever is determined to convey to its investors, as well as to other companies: Big corporations need to change the way they do business, fast, or they will steadily shrink and die.

Read more: Unilever's Paul Polman Shares His Plans to Save the World | Fortune.com

Friday, February 17, 2017

USA: Wave of leaks stirs fears of a U.S. ‘deep state’ - by Amanda Taub and Max Fisher

A wave of leaks from government officials has hobbled the Trump administration, leading some to draw comparisons to countries like Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan, where shadowy networks within government bureaucracies, often referred to as “deep states,” undermine and coerce elected governments.

So is the United States seeing the rise of its own deep state?

Not quite, experts say, but the echoes are real — and disturbing.

Although leaks can be a normal and healthy check on a president’s power, what’s happening now extends much further. The United States, those experts warn, risks developing an entrenched culture of conflict between the president and his own bureaucracy.

Issandr El Amrani, an analyst who has written on Egypt’s deep state, said he was concerned by the parallels, although the United States had not reached authoritarian extremes.

The growing discord between a president and his bureaucratic rank-and-file, he warned, “is dangerous, it encourages deep divisions within society, it creates these constant tensions.”

Read more: Wave of leaks stirs fears of a U.S. ‘deep state’ - Las Vegas Sun News

Thursday, February 16, 2017

EU-Canada relations: In counter to Trump, Trudeau says EU and Canada must lead the world economy - by Dan Alexe

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau addressed the European Parliament in Strasbourg, marking the adoption by MEPs of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union.

“Make no mistake about it, this is an important moment,” he said.

Trudeau said the whole world benefited from a strong European Union and that the bloc and his country needed to lead the international economy in challenging times.

With the passage of their trade deal, Canada and the European Union offer a counter to Trump, who has withdrawn from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and wants to rework the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Trudeau told the European Parliament that the Union was an unprecedented model for peaceful cooperation in a speech that marked his distance from both the United States under new President Donald Trump, who has questioned the value and future of the bloc, and from Britain, which has voted to leave it.

On Wednesday the European Parliament approved CETA, with 58 % of members voting to adopt the deal.

The final vote saw most of the members representing Europe’s centrist parties voting in favour, with opposition from members representing left-leaning socialist and Green as well as right-wing, nationalist parties.

Of the 695 members present in the 751-seat legislature, 408 voted in favor, 254 against and 33 abstained.

For Canada the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is important to reduce its reliance on the neighboring United States as an export market.

For the EU, it is a first trade pact with a G7 country and a success to hail after months of protests at a time when the bloc’s credibility has taken a beating from Britain’s vote last June to leave.

Trudeau will next travel to Berlin, where he will meet with German President Joachim Gauck and Chancellor Angela Merkel. 

Read more: In counter to Trump, Trudeau says EU and Canada must lead the world economy

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

High-End Technology: EU states seek protection for high-end technology - by Andrew Rettman

France, Germany, and Italy have urged the European Commission to better protect EU states from foreign countries seeking to acquire high-end technology.'

EU countries can already block foreign investments on national security grounds, but the three countries’ economy ministers said in a joint letter to EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem that they should also be able to do it for “economic” reasons.

"EU law gives the right to member states to prohibit foreign investments which threaten public security and public order," they said, according to the Reuters and DPA news agencies.

"What is needed is additional protection based on economic criteria taking into account, and with reference to, the Commission's expertise.”

They said EU states “should have more scope to investigate individual takeovers and, where applicable, block them”.

They added that the kinds of deals that should be targeted were “unfair  ... because they rely on state funds or are aimed at buying up important technologies”. 

They also complained that foreign states abused EU open markets by closing their doors to European investors.

“We are worried about the lack of reciprocity and about a possible sell-out of European expertise, which we are currently unable to combat with effective instruments," the ministers, representing the eurozone's three largest economies, said.

The letter did not mention China, but China was recently in the spotlight in Germany on technology-transfers and is notorious for blocking EU investments in its firms.

Berlin blocked the takeover of German electronics firm Aixtron by China’s Fujian Grand Chip Investment last year on grounds that its microchips could be used in Chinese nuclear weapons.
German chancellor Angela Merkel also complained about lack of reciprocity after the €4.5 billion buy-out of German robotics firm Kuka by Chinese electrical appliance maker Midea.

Germany’s deputy economy minister, Matthias Machnig, told the Financial Times newspaper on Tuesday that foreign companies should be obliged to “show that their investments in Germany are not driven by the state, and that financing for their deals is in keeping with the market”.

“It is a principle that we want to establish in Europe, together with France and Italy,” he said.
He told German daily Handelsblatt that: “Germany is for open markets. We support the investment of foreign companies in Germany”.

He added, however: “Our companies are in a tough competition with countries that themselves are not as open as Germany and Europe.”

For the complete report click here: EU states seek protection for high-end technology

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

EU:: US Allies In Europe Have Literally No Idea What's Going On With The Trump Administration - by Mitch Prothero

Already concerned by the Trump administration’s erratic approach to the trans-Atlantic alliance, European security services have been shaken by the resignation of US national security adviser Michael Flynn over allegations he lied about his contacts with Russian diplomats, amid increasing concern that the new US administration is pursuing an uncomfortably close relationship with NATO’s foremost rival, Russia.

Flynn’s resignation Monday night immediately sent European officials into a frenzy of attempting to determine what the change of the president’s top national security adviser would mean as the Atlantic alliance has already been struggling with understanding how the new president will approach a litany of complex European situations from the expansion of NATO to the war against ISIS to concerns about an expansionist Russia.

“I was hoping you could tell me what the fuck is going on over there,” said one European Union intelligence official who, like the other officials contacted, declined to speak about such a diplomatically sensitive situation on the record.

“There’s no guide for handling this sort of situation, happening with such an important and powerful ally,” the official said. “If anything, it’s a wake-up call to European leaders that counting on America isn’t currently a smart policy. Of course this is exactly what Putin wants — to destabilize the Atlantic alliance — but I have to counsel my policymakers the best I can, and right now it’s ‘Prepare to handle some crises without US support.’”

The perception that Flynn had close ties to Russian intelligence and diplomats had alarmed a number of observers from Washington to Brussels, as had his reputation as a poor manager after his 2014 firing as the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency by then-President Barack Obama. The concerns about his ties to Russia were inflamed by the revelations that, during the transition last winter, he had possibly told Russian officials the incoming administration was open to reconsidering the sanctions Obama had just imposed, and then denied having done so.

While some observers and allies were reassured by Flynn’s departure, most stated that the broader problem with the Trump administration is an opaque and conflicting policymaking process that had left allies uncertain on how key Trump officials see the NATO alliance and relations with the European Union.

“This changes nothing in terms of European concerns about possible shifts in American foreign policy from this administration when it comes to the role of NATO and the EU,” said a NATO official, who declined to be identified discussing high-level diplomacy.

Read more: US Allies In Europe Have Literally No Idea What's Going On With The Trump Administration - BuzzFeed News

Monday, February 13, 2017

The Environment: Temperatures Skyrocket in Arctic, Prompt Desperate 'Refreeze' Plan

Temperature readings near the North Pole soared to 50 degrees F above average on Friday, as a storm pushed warm air into the Arctic region.

This is the third such worryingly warm period this winter and sea ice figures released last week show the lowest January ice extent in satellite record—nearly 500,000 square miles below average.

The situation in the region is so alarming that a team of scientists from Arizona State University have published a plan to "refreeze" the Arctic in the American Geophysical Union's journal Earth's Future.

The fact that the $500 billion plan, which would use millions of wind pumps to circulate colder water to the surface of the ice, is even being discussed "reveals just how desperately worried researchers have become about the Arctic," reported the Guardian.

Read more: Temperatures Skyrocket in Arctic, Prompt Desperate 'Refreeze' Plan

Sunday, February 12, 2017

Britain's slow and agonizing meltdown: The EU’s Brexit negotiators prepare for disaster - Charlemagne

“BREXIT is so fascinating!” exclaims a French official. Few Europeans wanted Britain to quit the European Union. But now that it is happening, foreign ministries and policy units across the EU are relishing the task ahead. As an intellectual exercise, managing the multifaceted complexities of Britain’s departure from the EU offers the kind of satisfaction rarely found in policy work. As a historic negotiation without precedent—no country has left the EU before, let alone one of Britain’s size and stature—it is a wonderful CV-builder. In Brussels, where the talks will take place, officials are scrambling to involve themselves with what one calls “the sexiest file in town”.

The preparations for Brexit on either side of the English Channel offer a Homeric parable of chaos and order. In Britain Theresa May, the prime minister, exudes swanlike calm, restricting her utterances on Brexit to warm banalities. But below the surface her government is paddling furiously to avoid being submerged by the awesome bureaucratic task bequeathed to it by Britain’s voters. One leaked note from a consultancy portrays a flailing government that needs up to 30,000 more civil servants to manage Brexit. Mrs May says she will notify the EU of Britain’s intention to leave under Article 50 of the EU treaty by the end of March 2017. That leaves barely three months to settle basic questions such as whether Britain should aim to stay in the EU’s customs union.

The contrast with the EU’s institutions, and the larger capitals, is striking. The 27 remaining EU countries quickly established a common line towards Britain on matters like the indivisibility of the EU’s single market. At a summit on December 15th, as The Economist went to press, they were due to issue a formal declaration outlining the format for the talks to come. The Brussels institutions have largely established their respective roles, bar a wobble from the European Parliament, and now spend their days in quasi-academic contemplation of trade models or security co-operation protocols as they wait for the games to begin. Officials everywhere insist that their priority will be preserving the interests of the EU, not keeping Britain happy. “This is a negotiation where we have to defend Europe, not undo it,” says Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit point-man.

European officials have refused to engage with Britain until Mrs May triggers Article 50. But they observe goggle-eyed the spectacle unfolding across the Channel. Some British ministers appear to believe that the entire relationship can be recast, rather than merely the divorce settlement finalised, in the two-year period Article 50 allows. European negotiators who think it is essential to act as one are staggered to hear some ministers cling to the delusion that Germany’s need to sell cars to British motorists will ensure that Mrs May secures a good deal.

Gloom is thus descending on the European side. The EU will probably insist on settling the terms of Britain’s withdrawal before discussing future arrangements, and each is ripe for the fiercest of rows. Top of the list is the departure bill that the European Commission, which will lead the talks on behalf of the EU, will place before Britain. The commission puts the sum at up to €60bn ($64bn), roughly equivalent to three-quarters of Britain’s projected budget deficit for 2016-17. Brexiteer diehards, and their allies in the pit-bull press, will transfer their fury from the domestic “Remoaners” they accuse of holding up Brexit to perfidious Europeans making outrageous demands. One EU official puts the chances of Britain walking out of the talks next year at 50%.

Even if catastrophe can be averted, the negotiations will offer endless opportunities for rancour. Take the question of what to do with the 2.8m EU citizens living in Britain and the 1.2m Britons in the rest of the EU. At first blush it seems simple: both sides agree to guarantee the ongoing rights of citizens who arrived before a given date—perhaps the notification of Article 50. Indeed, Mrs May has sought to strike such a deal before beginning the formal withdrawal talks (concerned that she was seeking to play divide-and-rule, her European counterparts rebuffed her).

But closer inspection reveals a never-ending string of complexities. Do governments have the administrative wherewithal to process applications for permanent residence? Will the children of EU citizens have the right to cheap university tuition? What about accrued pensions or other benefits? None of these questions is intractable. But each requires detailed negotiations and technical work. The same goes for other matters to be tackled in the withdrawal talks, from the pensions of British Eurocrats to the management of safety at Britain’s nuclear plants. Untangling a 43-year-old relationship, it turns out, is devilishly complicated.

Triumph of the won’t?

This in turn explains why concluding a separation deal within two years will not be easy. (In fact the months needed for procedural matters and ratification will cut the negotiation time to around 15 months.) The scale of the task, and the economic thump many Europeans think is heading Britain’s way—inflation, diverted investment and swooning public finances—mean some still harbour a hope Brexit may be averted. But that misreads the British mood. If things turn sour the blame will be heaped not on Brexit, but on the obstructionist EU.

The ingredients for Brexit—a departing country confused about its leverage, a club distracted by other problems and determined to avoid more fractures, a procedure without precedent, a tight deadline—make a combustible mix. Yet both sides should feel the historic weight of these talks. Although Britain will be the first victim if things go wrong, a club assailed by crisis on all sides knows it cannot afford to oversee a Brexit debacle, however fascinating the exercise. For the EU, at least, that means placing hope in a British government that it fears may not warrant it. “From a rational point of view, we can’t fail,” says an official in Brussels. “But I’m not sure the rationality is there in the UK.”

Read more: Charlemagne: The EU’s Brexit negotiators prepare for disaster | The Economist

Saturday, February 11, 2017

Democracy and Secularism go hand in hand and freedom of religion is part of that equation - by RM

Secularism - the only way Democracy can work
The word democracy means only that the people rule. Other than, perhaps, requiring freedom of speech and equal access to the ballot, indispensable requirements of self-rule, the notion of democracy sets no limits on what the people may do in their sovereign capacity.

All liberal constitutional democracies in the world impose restrictions on what private activity government may and should regulate, including, of course, religious behavior, and what values it may assimilate, and enforce, as its own.

There are several broad generalizations that can be made about the role and place of religion in liberal democracies. First, in a liberal democracy, citizenship is not dependent on adherence to an official religion or even a state approved religion. Religion, therefore, should never be the constitutive element of citizenship.

This principle is today accepted universally in the Western world. Equally well accepted is that in a liberal democracy the government may not penalize citizens because they profess a faith that is not shared by a majority of their fellow citizens. It is also settled that in a liberal democracy citizens enjoy the freedom to express their religious views, and to form institutions consistent with those views, without fear of punishment or civic disability.

Liberal democracies also assume that citizens should not be prevented from practicing their faith and that the government ought not to interfere with the religious decisions of citizens or their institutions.

This last principle is not always observed, at least as a matter of enforceable legal principle. In the United States the principle means only that the government may not single out religious practices for regulation. In the name of equal treatment of religious and nonreligious citizens, the courts have increasingly refused to recognize a special right to exemption from ostensibly neutral government regulation for religious practice, even though the constitutional text surely sounds as if one were intended. 

It is likewise universally accepted that liberal democracies cannot compel the doing of religious acts or attendance at worship services, although there is less than full agreement over the extent of this principle as it applies to children in state-run schools. Whether the state can compel participation in some form of prayer services, and, even if not, what constitutes coercion to participate in religious activities, are unfortunately still sharply disputed questions.

It should, in our opinion, however, be widely recognized that Secular Democracies can not and must never allow for any kind of worship in public schools financed by taxpayers monies. On the other hand, it should not deny that right to private schools financed by private funds.

The United States is the most religiously diverse country in the world. In no other nation can you find as many varied religious groups, beliefs and practices as there are there. The Founding Fathers recognized in their own times the great theological differences among not only different religions, but also among the many Protestant sects.

They saw the tyranny that government-sponsored religion wrought. That is why the US has a secular constitution – and Bill of Rights—that provide strict protections for religious practice and safeguards against government-endorsed religion. The US  secular government and protections of religion are what have allowed religion to flourish and grow there.

However, there has been a constant stream of legislation and executive action to impose religious ideas into law with the mistaken belief that what is good for one group of religious people should be good for everyone.This is absolutely not permissible in a Secular Democracy.

The truest test of religious freedom within a Secular Democratic State is not the ability of every religious group to do as it pleases, but for every individual to be able to freely choose his or her own religious or nonreligious path without recrimination or consequence.

Bottom-line - religious freedom should be an equal part within every Secular Democracy but nothing more or less than that. 

EU-Digest  

Friday, February 10, 2017

EU tells Trump to mind his own business

The European Union has urged the United States to respect the principle of “non-interference” in each other’s affairs.

“We do not interfere in US politics […] And Europeans expect that America does not interfere in European politics,” Federica Mogherini, the EU’s top diplomat, told reporters in Washington on Friday.

She later repeated her remarks at the Atlantic Council, a think tank that promotes strong transatlantic ties.

The two-day trip was Mogherini’s first visit to the US capital since Donald Trump became president three weeks ago.

Her remarks followed comments by Theodore Roosevelt Malloch, Trump’s frontrunner to become ambassador to the EU, that the bloc is anti-American and that he would prefer for the US to trade bilaterally with European countries.

Malloch echoed statements by Trump in the past who had repeatedly praised Brexit and efforts by populists in other EU countries to leave the European Union.

Mogherini said the new administration had not decided on a new US ambassador to the EU yet.

While in Washington, Mogherini had talks with senior members of the Trump administration, including Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

“We had very good meetings about common interests and common priorities”, the former Italian Foreign Minister said. “I have the impression that policies in Washington at this moment are still in the making.”

Mogherini underlined the intention of both sides to work together closely, but she also acknowledged disagreements on topics like multilateralism, free trade and “maybe some human rights issues”.

Mogherini also said she was reassured in her talks with the Trump administration that the US was committed to the full implementation of the Iran nuclear deal.

“I heard the intention to make sure that the deal will be a hundred percent implemented”, she said.

Read more: EU tells Trump to mind his own business | Euronews

Thursday, February 9, 2017

US-Canadian Relations: Justin Trudeau (David) and Donald Trump (Goliath) to meet Monday in Washington

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he will discuss Canadian values and jobs with U.S. President Donald Trump when the pair meets in person for the first time on Monday in Washington.

During a visit to Iqaluit Thursday, Trudeau was asked whether he would raise the controversial U.S. travel ban with Trump, which affects people from seven majority-Muslim countries, as well as all refugees.

"As everyone in Canada knows, I have two important responsibilities that stand out in the way we engage our neighbours to the south. The first is, of course, to highlight Canadian values and principles and the things that keep our country strong," he said.

Note EU-Digest: This will hopefully be a replay of the Biblical David and Goliath  story.

For complete report click here:  full report: Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump to meet Monday in Washington - Politics - CBC News

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

EU And US: A Relationship Of Concern (a conservative viewpoint)- by George Handlery

Much to their detriment, Americans like to ignore the world. Accordingly, they do not appreciate reminders that, like it or not, the rest of the world is out there. Worse, some of its “leading leaders” have rabies and “bite”. Aware of the provocation, Duly Noted has often indulged in its own version of “globalism”. In doing so, the European Union had received much attention.

If by your unearned luck you are an American reader, you wonder why the EU should be of concern to you. The evolvement of the Union will determine the quality of that entity and thereby its worth as a major ally. A federation might emerge that will, in a future crisis, be “neutral against the USA”. If some of this is true, the way Europe’s content will develop is of geopolitical significance.

Be reminded that Europe is a major world player. However, by its choice, it punches well under its weight class. With 500 million inhabitants and members rated as leading economies and with three of them listed among the great powers –England, France and Germany- Europe matters. It also counts as it had generated the forces that made the modern world. The Renaissance, the Reformation, the Industrial Revolution, modern science, from rocketry to cybernetics is, besides some key components of democracy, Europe’s contribution to the present. At the same time, two world wars and some of destructive systems of mass murder - Fascism, National Socialism and Communism- are also European products. 

Viewed globally, Europe’s achievements - rounded out by the contribution of her overseas extensions- have made it a culture of reference. However, the caveats of that evaluation counsel to caution.

By the 20th century, the highs achieved in the arts, science, medicine, economics, have been unmatched by the Continent’s political performance. Staging the world wars expresses that. Europe’s efforts to protect past achievements and to project these into the future have been less than satisfactory. This holds especially true in the post WW2 period when the independence of Western Europe had to be maintained –even after the post-war recovery- by an extra-European power.

Europe’s weakness is caused by an amalgam. Its components are failing vision, misjudged threats, unfounded assumptions about security, and an unwillingness to sacrifice to protect values declared non-negotiable.

An adjunct is to be added. Politicians are inclined to underrate threats, so they promise to voters that should know better that there are no enemies, and that the proclaimed intentions of these are not meant seriously. The notion of “security for free” is a drug. Its lulling consumption is difficult to cut when illusions dissipate and resistance is called for.

Disturbing trends emerge once the Union’s development is examined. To begin: the analogy of the United States of America and the United States of Europe is misleading. America’s union project –even if there might have been an emerging Southern nation- has not encountered functioning, historical and conscious national entities. The Civil War has determined that America would not continue to develop as a confederation. Given “federalism’s” practice, the components of an expanding USA could live with that result.

East or West, Europe is peacefully and consensually not unifiable the way “United” in “United States” suggests. To create a unitary state here, one needs to weld together what does not wish to fit together. Europe’s states are not administrative conveniences but the products of diverging traditions and languages. Since Europe is an entity without a matching people, any plan to unite it administratively while also upholding liberty and identities, implies a commitment to contradictory concepts. This testifies to ignorance, to the pursuit of a hidden agenda –or both.

Read more: EU And US: A Relationship Of Concern | The Brussels Journal

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Global Economy: Economist Harry Dent: “This is Just the Beginning of a Nightmare Scenario as Dow Crashes to 6,000”

Harry Dent recently explained: “Nations are dealing with aging populations, bubbles based on debt, and the misguided but unrelenting belief of policy makers that if they only try one more monetary policy change, they can turn the economic tide.”

But investors are finally waking up to the fact that we are in an economic winter. With it comes a whole assortment of problems: sluggish demand, falling commodity prices, and a race to devalue currencies to boost exports at the expense of everyone else.

We should heed his warning. He is renowned for his astounding accuracy; having pinpointed nearly every major economic crash over the past 30 years… including the 1991 recession, Japan’s lost decade, the 2001 tech crash, the bull market and housing boom of the last decade and, most recently, the impending demise of China and the fracking industry.

In his latest video presentation, Dent further details the “perfect storm” of economic and demographic realities brewing that will likely make the next few years some of the most trying times in U.S. economic history.

“Housing prices will start to fall by as much as 40% over several years… unemployment will surge… many state and municipal governments will be forced into default…and the federal deficit will balloon to as high as $1.5 to $2 trillion,” warns Dent.

Shocking Video: The Greatest Stock Market Collapse Since The Great Depression

Read more: Critical Warning from Rogue Economist Harry Dent: “This is Just the Beginning of a Nightmare Scenario as Dow Crashes to 6,000” | Economy and Markets

Monday, February 6, 2017

The Netherlands - banking industry: ABN Amro to slash below board level management from 100 to 40

ABN Amro is planning to reduce the number of senior managers from around 100 to just 40 and is shaking up its executive board to make the bank ‘more client-focused, agile and efficient’.

Among those leaving is Chris Vogelzang, who had been tipped to take over when Gerrit Zalm stood down as chief executive. The managerial jobs to go will run across the level below the executive committee.

The 40 jobs remaining ‘will have a stronger involvement in the strategic direction and the leadership of the bank than before,’ the bank said in a statement. The composition of the ‘top 40’ will be reviewed every year.

‘Over the past few years, the number of bank staff has been reduced considerably but there has been no change in the number of senior managers,’ chief executive Kees van Dijkhuizen said. T

he bank will also have a slimmed down executive board made up of CEO Van Dijkhuizen, chief risk officer Wietze Reehoorn and a new financial boss who has yet to be appointed.

Read more: ABN Amro to slash below board level management from 100 to 40 - DutchNews.nl

Sunday, February 5, 2017

Norway - Hacking: Norwegian Labour hacked by foreign group

The Norwegian Labour party's parliamentarian group has confirmed it was subjected to an attempted digital attack last autumn, which the Norwegian Police Security Service tied to 'foreign intelligence'. According to a report in Norwegian daily Dagbladet it was the same group that hacked the US Democrats that carried out the attack. It's not yet known whether the attack was successful, ahead of Norway's general elections in September.

Read more: Norwegian Labour hacked by foreign group

Saturday, February 4, 2017

US State Dept. reverses visa revocations, allows banned travelers to enter U.S. - by R. Barnes, M.Zapotosky and A.Gearan

The State Department says previously banned travelers will be allowed to enter the United States after a federal judge in Washington state on Friday temporarily blocked enforcement of President Trump’s controversial immigration ban.

“We have reversed the provisional revocation of visas under” Trump’s executive order, a State Department spokesman said Saturday. “Those individuals with visas that were not physically canceled may now travel if the visa is otherwise valid.”

Department of Homeland Security personnel “will resume inspection of travelers in accordance with standard policy and procedure.”

Immigrant advocates said they were encouraging travelers from the affected countries to get on planes as soon as possible, since the Trump administration has said it plans to appeal the stay on the travel ban.

Read more: State Dept. reverses visa revocations, allows banned travelers to enter U.S. - The Washington Post

Friday, February 3, 2017

EU leaders forced to unite in new Trump reality - by Eszter Zalan

United We Stand Divided We Fall
EU leaders pledged the need for unity and for Europe to stand on its own two feet at their meeting in Valletta on Friday (3 February), during a discussion on how to handle US president Donald Trump, whom EU council chief Donald Tusk described earlier this week as a "threat" to the EU.

Leaders emphasized the importance of the transatlantic relationship, and said they would work together with Trump on common interests, but move toward more independent European action on issues where the EU and the US administration disagree.

"We work on the basis of our shared values, [...] there are areas where we agree, like fighting international terrorism, and where we don’t agree," German chancellor Angela Merkel said after lunch, which summed up the mood toward Trump among EU leaders after a turbulent week of heavy criticism from Europe and concern over the US president's first days in office.

Merkel said that this is an opportunity for Europe to redefine itself and become more self-reliant. 

"The general debate concentrated on where we stand, we have to act together," Merkel said, adding that it could lead to boosting investment in defense capabilities in the EU but also in Germany. "We have our destiny in our own hands."

Some EU leaders heavily criticised Donald Trump's decision to ban refugees and people arriving to the US from seven Muslim-majority countries.

Others, like Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban ( whose country represents the new face of corruption in Europe), slammed those who criticized Trump. Before arriving at the Valletta summit, Orban said that the US has the right to decide its own border control policy, and that he is puzzled at the "neurotic European reactions" over the travel ban.

Read more: EU leaders forced to unite in new Trump reality

Thursday, February 2, 2017

Romania: Protesters in Romania hold huge demonstration over government 'anti-corruption U-turn'

Protesters in Bucharest have condemned a government decision to decriminalise some misconduct offences, in one of the biggest demonstrations since the 1989 revolution.

Tens of thousands of angry Romanians claim the passing of an emergency decree on Tuesday will allow corrupt politicians to escape justice.

The change in the law will decriminalises official misconduct in cases where the financial damage is less than 200,000 lei (44,000 euros).
 
“It’s an incredible manifestation of disappointment from these people who feel that they have been cheated. They have been deceived by the government. This Socialist government came to power only one month ago and in one month they managed to have 100.000 people unprecedented since the revolution on the streets against it.”

Read more: Protesters in Romania hold huge demonstration over government 'anti-corruption U-turn' | Euronews

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Saudi Arabia: "the hypocrisy continues" as Trump and the Saudi king discuss major pact to confront Iran - by Ben Norton

"the hypocrisy continues"
President Donald Trump and the monarch of the repressive Saudi regime spoke on the phone for more than an hour on Sunday. According to a White House statement, “The two leaders reaffirmed the longstanding friendship and strategic partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia.”

The official Saudi Press Agency reported that Trump and Saudi King Salman stressed the “depth and strength of the strategic relations between the two countries.”

The two agreed to greater military intervention in the Middle East, and the creation of so-called safe zones in Syria and Yemen. The details of how such zones would be created are not clear, but if they were instituted, it would likely take direct U.S. military involvement.

Hillary Clinton ran her 2016 presidential campaign against Trump on a pledge to create a “safe zone” in Syria, though she had previously acknowledged that instituting a safe zone could “kill a lot of Syrians” and lead to “American and NATO involvement where you take a lot of civilians.”

Reuters reported, citing a senior Saudi source, that the two leaders “agreed to step up counter-terrorism and military cooperation and enhance economic cooperation.”

The White House said Trump and Saudi King Salman also “agreed on the importance of strengthening joint efforts to fight the spread of radical Islamic terrorism.”

Saudi Arabia, a close U.S. ally since the 1930s, is a theocratic absolute monarchy that brutally represses all internal dissent, beheads nonviolent protesters and funds and spreads extremist Islamism throughout the globe. A leaked 2014 email from Hillary Clinton revealed, citing Western intelligence sources, that the U.S.-backed regimes in Saudi Arabia and Qatar supported the genocidal militant group ISIS.

Saudi Arabia also has the world’s second-largest oil reserves, plays a leading role in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and has been offered more than $115 billion in weapons deals by the U.S. government in the past eight years. U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia continue uninterrupted under Trump.

Note EU-Digest: Where there has been no difference between the Obama and Trump Administrations policies is in their both dedicated "love and admiration" for Saudi Arabia, the main source and training center for the worlds most dangerous terrorists, including those which masterminded and carried out the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the twin Towers in New York. 

Saudi Arabia is also one of the most oppressive, undemocratic and anti-women's rights countries in the world.  

They were, however, not included by the Trump Administration on their Ant-Muslim (possible Islamic terrorist) immigration list. 
The Obama Administration also never singled them out.  

So when you hear a US government official speak about "American values "- you might ask, what does he/she mean by that?

Read more: Trump and the Saudi king discuss major pact to confront Iran - Salon.com