Hurricane Harvey Energy Crisis Could Be Nightmare For U.S. Economy- by Ellen R. Wald

On Tuesday, August 29, over 26 inches of rain fell in Port Arthur, Texas. The 50,000 residents of that city, north and east of Houston, are suffering severe flooding and personal loss. Port Arthur is also the home of the largest refinery in the United States, Motiva, which has been shut down due to massive flooding. In addition, the nearby Valero Energy VLO -0.45% and ExxonMobil XOM +0.30% refineries were shut and the Colonial Pipeline (distributing refined products across the Southeast and north to Tennessee) has been disrupted. About 22% of U.S. refining capacity is offline due to the natural disaster. All told, it now appears that the impact Harvey will have on the energy industry is worse than expected and could very well, in a worst case scenario, lead to a serious macro-economic problem.

Read mor: Hurricane Harvey Energy Crisis Could Be Nightmare For U.S. Economy

EU Policy Renewable Energy: opening markets for corporate renewable energy buyers

RE100 is a global collaborative initiative bringing together 102 influential and multinational businesses that are committed to sourcing 100% renewable electricity globally. Together, they represent demand for over 146 terawatt hours of renewable electricity annually – about enough to power Poland.

These companies have made this highest-level commitment because they know that renewable electricity makes long-term business sense. The technology is ready, unsubsidized costs are competitive, and companies are ready to invest at scale.

Corporate sourcing of renewables represents a major new flow of capital and finance into Europe’s renewable electricity infrastructure. Much of the electricity used by our members in Europe is already from renewable sources, and they are leading the way through a combination of power purchase agreements (PPAs), on-site generation, green contracts and certificates.

IKEA Group, a founding member of RE100, owns more wind turbines than stores and is aiming to produce as much energy as it consumes by the end of the decade. The company has also invested an impressive $1.78 billion (€1.5 billion) in purchasing its own wind and solar power generation equipment since 2009 and in FY15 committed a further $715 billion (€600 million).

Last year, Mars, Inc. signed a PPA for a wind farm in Scotland to power its entire UK operations. Meanwhile, RE100 members Royal DSM, Google, Royal Philips and AkzoNobel joined forces to sign an exciting joint PPA for 350 gigawatt hours per year in the Netherlands.

RE100’s 102 members are:

AB InBev	Equinix	Philips Lighting
Adobe	Facebook	Procter & Gamble
AkzoNobel	Formula-E	Proximus
Alstria	Gatwick Airport	Rackspace
Amalgamated Bank	General Motors	RELX Group
Apple	Givaudan	Ricoh
AstraZeneca	Goldman Sachs	Royal Philips
Autodesk	Google	Salesforce
Aviva	H&M	SAP
AXA	Heathrow Airport	SAVE S.p.A. Group
Bank of America	Helvetia	SGS
Bankia	HP Enterprise	Sky
Biogen	HP Inc.	Starbucks
Bloomberg	IFF	Steelcase
BMW Group	IHS Markit	Swiss Post
British Land	IKEA	Swiss Re
Broad Group	Infosys	Tata Motors
BT Group	ING	TD Bank
Burberry	Interface	Telefonica
Caixa Bank	J&J	Tesco
Carlsberg	J. Safra Sarasin AG	Tetra Pak
Coca-Cola European Partners	Kingspan	UBS
Colruyt Group	KPN	Unilever
Commerzbank AG	La Poste	Vail Resorts
Corbion	Landsec	Vaisala
Credit Agricole	LEGO	VF Corporation
Dalmia Bharat Cement	L’Occitane	VMWare
Danske Bank	Marks & Spencer	Voya Financial
Dentsu Aegis Network	Mars	Walmart
Diageo	Microsoft	Wells Fargo
DNB	Nestlé	Workday
DSM	Nike	YOOX
Ebay	Nordea
Elion	Novonordisk
Elopak	Pearson

For additional info – or to join the campaign – contact:

info@re100.org

Read more: EU policy: opening markets for corporate renewable energy buyers | The Climate Gr

Brexit: Davis wants legal clarification from EU over Brexit payout- by Heather Stewart and Jennifer Rankin

David Davis’s negotiating team is demanding legal clarification from Brussels officials over its demands that the UK pay a substantial financial settlement as part of the process of quitting the European Union. Commission.

A senior government source said British negotiators have peppered EU officials with queries about the legal principles Brussels believes should be used to calculate the final exit bill.

Davis’s team have been stung by suggestions the government should have published a paper setting out its own position on the withdrawal bill – pointing out that the commission has not yet produced a paper on the border in Northern Ireland, while Britain has done so.

Read more: Davis wants legal clarification from EU over Brexit payout | Politics | The Guardian

USA: Trump Vows ‘Very Rapid Action’ on Funding for Harvey Response

“You’re going to see very rapid action from Congress — certainly from the President,” Trump said.

Addressing Texans, he added: “We’re going to get your funding.”

Trump said he has “spoken to Congress” and said he believes funding for relief efforts will be approved “very, very quickly.”

“We think Congress will feel very much the way I feel and in very much a bipartisan way,” Trump said.

 Trump also signaled the disaster funding would be addressed separately from a broader budget deal.

Note EU-Digest:  the US President, made these comments  during the joint press conference with the President of Finland.

 Read more: Trump Vows ‘Very Rapid Action’ on Funding for Harvey Response | KTLA

USA:Infrastructure neglect by Federal and State governments major cause of Texas flooding caused by hurricane Harvey

USA Infrastructure the root of all evil

Arcadis, the Dutch consultancy, recently released an analysis of the world’s built assets, aka the value of physical structures, buildings, and infrastructure.

Basically, it’s all the money a country spends publicly or privately on physical development, from “infrastructure investment, construction, investments in plant and machinery and improvements in ‘natural assets’ such as land reclamation.”

The study relies data from the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and from individual countries’ statistics offices.

It’s an interesting snapshot since it deals only with the stuff that has tangible physical value, rather than investments in less tangible stuff like intellectual property or software. More money spent on improving a country’s built environment, from new subway systems to flood-proofing coastlines, means stronger and more productive cities, which contribute to a country’s overall growth.

All in all, the report pegs the value of those physical assets–computed for 32 of the top-spending countries–at a whopping $218 trillion worldwide. So how does the US stack up against other countries? In terms of straight value, we’ve been eclipsed by China over the past two years:

While Arcadis points out that Qatar bowls every other country over when you look at it per capita value, that’s pretty unsurprising for a small country investing massively in its cities and infrastructure.

By that metric, the US doesn’t even make this list.  The US is actually slipping down in the rankings in general.

Arcadis says that the problem in the US isn’t real estate–the US is doing “solid” in terms of private assets like buildings. But US is in a mess when it comes to infrastructure, especially in high-growth cities that contribute to the overall productivity of the country.

“There is increasing concern about the negative impact an underperforming built environment has on the economic prosperity of US cities,” Arcadis’ Julien Cayet writes, citing a survey by Politico that showed that many US mayors say better infrastructure is the biggest hurdle in their cities.

In other words, if cities don’t figure out a way to upgrade their roads, parks, and transit systems, their growth is going to stall out.

One other problem the US is facing? Severe weather. Arcadis continues:

"The situation in the US is further complicated by the consequences of severe weather. From drought in California to hurricanes in New Orleans and New York – there is an urgent need to build more resilient cities to protect the public and the economy from these devastating events. The economic impact of Hurricane Sandy alone is estimated at over $70 billion".

Sadly, accepting the existence of climate change doesn’t necessarily mean politicians will be ready to spend on resilient infrastructure, unless the number of Harvey type storms increase .

EU-Digest

Iran-EU Trade Value Doubles

EU-Iran Trade 95% increase

Iran’s trade with the European Union topped €9.9 billion in the first half of 2017, registering a 95% rise compared with last year's corresponding period.

Exports to EU’s 28 nations exceeded $5 billion, indicating a 227% rise year-on-year, Eurostat data shared with Financial Tribune show.

Eurostat is a directorate general of the European Commission located in Luxembourg. Its main responsibilities are to provide statistical information to institutions of the European Union and to promote the harmonization of statistical methods across its member states and candidates for accession.

Petroleum, petroleum products and related materials accounted for a majority of Iran’s exports to the EU during the period, with a total value of €4.4 billion.

Iran has been ramping up exports, particularly hydrocarbons, over the past year to regain a market share it lost during the years it was under trade sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council over Tehran's nuclear energy program.

Efforts have been underway to restore traditional markets such as Greece and Italy, alongside a push to win new customers ever since the sanctions were lifted in January last year, as part of a landmark nuclear deal Tehran clinched with world powers in 2015.

Italy was the biggest importer from Iran in H1 among all the European states, as it bought €1.54 billion worth of Iranian goods during the period.

France, Greece and Spain followed with €1.26 billion, €638.5 million and €609.4 million worth of imports respectively.

Iran imported €4.94 billion worth of commodities from the European Union during the same period, recording a %38.5 YOY rise.

The imports mainly included manufactured goods and chemicals.

 Read more: Iran-EU Trade Value Doubles | Financial Tribune

European Railways: Why interrailing as an adult is the best way to explore Europe - by Chris Beanland

Interrailing should be a compulsory teenage rite of passage – no wonder the EU recently floated the idea of giving out free passes to all 18-year-olds. What better way to protect this beautiful, but fragile union than by showing the next generation what they have in common with each other and how many hi-jinks they can get up to in neighbouring European countries?

It was my first taste of independent travel too – 17 summers ago, though it seems like yesterday. Back then it was a Karrimor loaded with band T shirts, Lonely Planet Europe On A Shoestring and bank robber sacks of change for telephone boxes. This time, instead of sleeping cars, hostels and that tangy scent of socks, there were nice hotels and the scent of understated luxury. Three’s Feel At Home free roaming contract and my iPhone brought the whole experience into the 21st century, and meant home was only the touch of a button away.

It was a cultural whip round the first time, but it was also a piss up – getting out of your tree being the sine qua non of teenage travelling – that resulted in lost cash cards, nearly getting into fights on night trains and passing out on deck chairs on Positano Beach. And I met so many people – this was social networking avant la lettre, coming across fellow flaneurs from Australia, Canada, Finland, and making firm friends, if not for life then at least for a night.

Interrailing as an adult was much more relaxed and even more cultured, with less boozing and earlier mornings. I sped through Rotterdam’s Docklands on a watertaxi, climbed all over Tomas Saraceno’s incredible spiderweb netting art installation five floors above the ground of Dusseldorf’s Modern Art Gallery, had a sneak preview of some of the exhibits at Kassel’s famous art festival, Documenta (documenta.com), saw Eileen Gray furniture at Munich’s Design Museum, drank at Wes Anderson’s Bar Luce in Milan’s Fondazione Prada, and explored Novi Belgrade’s mind-blowing brutalist architecture.

The food was better this time around too. Back in 2000 I had inadvertently explored the premise “how can a human function on pizza alone for three weeks?” shortly after enduring the very worst meal of my entire life (do not ever accidentally order the minced heart and lung soup at Worgl station buffet).

This time I ate mushroom arancini with a vegetable mayonnaise in an old swimming pool in Rotterdam (alohabar.nl) and fresh white asparagus at the BMW Welt’s restaurant. Even the train food was good – on Deutsche Bahn’s ICE I chowed down on lamb kofte with yoghurt and mashed carrots in the Bordrestaurant.

Read more: Why interrailing as an adult is the best way to explore Europe | The Independent

Insurance Industry: Is your insurance business an ‘omnichannel’ business?

Omnichannel: It’s a buzzword that’s thrown around a lot in business circles, but what does it really mean, and is your business an omnichannel business?

While at its essence, omnichannel simply means to offer multiple channels, in the modern business landscape a true omnichannel business is considered one that offers a seamless customer experience across various platforms – and it’s increasingly important for insurers to get right.

Earlier this month, the insurance industry was warned to do more to stop creating problems for its customers, as ratings for the sector slipped compared to last year. In a competitive market, insurance companiesmneed to differentiate themselves by more than just price, we were told by The Institute of Customer Service.

But alongside providing customers with a problem-free experience, insurance firms need to focus on becoming genuine omnichannel businesses which offer consumers a smooth journey, according to The Institute’s CEO.

“We talk a lot about omnichannel and the need to have lots of different channels, but often organizations we force people to use a particular channel,” Jo Causon told Insurance Business. Today, it’s no longer enough to simply be present on a range of platforms – consumers want to be able to carry out the service that they require on the channel of their choosing.

Recent evidence suggests the industry hasn’t quite got to grips with that idea yet: a survey ranking UK general insurers on their digital offerings found that just 4% offered full digital claims services, forcing customers to pick up the phone.

Read more: Is your insurance business an ‘omnichannel’ business? | Insurance Business

China demands U.S. 'correct its mistake' over North Korea sanctions

China urged the United States on Wednesday to immediately withdraw sanctions that Washington imposed on Beijing as part of its efforts to pressure North Korea into halting development of its missile and nuclear weapons program.

In a news conference, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters that the country "especially opposes any country conducting ‘long-arm jurisdiction' over Chinese entities and individuals."

Hua added: "Measures taken by the United States are not helpful in solving the problem and unhelpful to mutual trust and cooperation. We ask the United States to correct its mistake immediately."

Read more: China demands U.S. immediately withdraw North Korea sanctions

US Economy: U.S. Economic Forecast by the Conference Board

US GDP grew by 2.6 percent in the second quarter, after a rocky first quarter featuring just 1.2 percent growth.

A combination of rising investment growth, an improved external demand environment, and plenty of firepower coming from consumer spending suggests that the economy can grow by 2.6 percent for the rest of 2017 and by 2.4 percent in 2018, which is above the current trend.

Business investment gained momentum last quarter, growing at a 5.2 percent annual rate echoing stronger first quarter growth.

This brings investment growth in line with higher levels of business confidence that have prevailed since the end of 2016.

A large portion of investment growth occurred in the energy sector which may make it difficult to sustain over the next few quarters unless oil prices continue to show an upside. Still, equipment spending was an important source of strength, which signals upward momentum for industrial production over the next few quarters.

Consumer spending is also continuing to make large positive contributions to GDP growth thanks to rapid employment growth and high levels of consumer confidence. Further increases in spending may be on the horizon if tight labor markets induce new acceleration in wages.

For now though, wage and price inflation are contained, meaning that the Federal Reserve is likely to raise interest rates only once more in 2017. Capital costs are therefore unlikely to rise quickly which will help perpetuate the current upward moment in investment.

Finally, improved global conditions are also helping US economic performance in 2017, especially through exports and improved investment opportunities. The Conference Board’s Global Leading Economic Index suggests that emerging economies are also picking up some speed.

The Euro Area has been growing above a 2 percent rate, its fastest pace time since 2011. For the first time since the Great Recession, the US faces an external environment where all major global economies are performing well. Should these conditions persist, along with a weaker dollar, demand for exports and a healthy profit environment for MNCs will be sustained.

Read more: U.S. Forecast | The Conference Board

ECB concerned stronger euro could derail economic recovery

European Central Bank (ECB) governors are concerned that a further hike in the value of the euro, making exports less attractive and imports cheaper, could derail the economic region’s recovery. In minutes from their meeting on 19-20 July 2017, released on Thursday, they said there is a "risk of the exchange rate overshooting in the future". Some concerns were also voiced about "policy uncertainty in the United States".

Read more: ECB concerned stronger euro could derail economic recovery

Bio-Economy:the Netherlands Is Taking Aim at One of America's Fastest-Growing Sectors

One of the fastest growing and most important pieces of the American economy is also often one of the most overlooked. Despite accounting for an estimated $324 billion in GDP in 2012 -- over 2% of the total economy -- growing at annual clips that exceed 10%, and accounting for over 5% of the total economy's growth from 2007 to 2012, the biotech sector doesn't get the policy attention it deserves.

While Uncle Sam has taken a hands-off approach to nurturing one of its prized economic drivers, the tiny Netherlands is doing things quite a bit differently. I recently had the chance to meet with representatives and entrepreneurs from Holland at the BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology in Montreal to learn more.

Turns out, the United States could learn a thing or two. The biotech sector, or bioeconomy, is defined as all revenue generated from genetically modified microbes, plants, and cell lines. Although the word "biotech" is often used interchangeably with "biopharma", that's an insult to the power of biology.

And in fact, biopharma is the smallest part of the biotech sector!

Read more: The Netherlands Is Taking Aim at One of America's Fastest-Growing Sectors | Business Markets and Stocks News | host.madison.com

Kazakhstan: EXPO-2017 in Astana, Kazakhstan, is worth a visit

Kazakhsta Capital Astana is a modern and friendly city

After a build-up lasting five years, Kazakhstan has finally opened EXPO-2017. If you’re in Astana between now and mid-September when it closes, you should go.

It might feel excessively corporate and you’ll probably come out of the EXPO-2017 site none-the-wiser on what exactly its Orwellian-tinged ‘Future Energy’ means, but don’t dwell on this — it’s not the real point of the exposition.

In reality it is putting Kazakhsta on the map for many people and they will be very positively surprised.

EXPO-2017 is a source of national pride and a must-do event for most ordinary Kazakhs this summer, at least for the ones who live in and around Astana.

And this pride and sense of fun is evident throughout EXPO-2017. The dozens and dozens of uniformed guides are courteous, speak excellent English and are genuinely helpful. The student volunteers beam with joy and are relishing the internationalism of the whole event.

As for the visitors, at the beginning of the expo it must have been 95% Kazakh. These were groups of families and friends touring the pavilion, drinking in each country’s take on EXPO-2017. This ranges from Britain’s glowing yurt to Iran’s focus on promoting its carpets.

The visiting Kazakhs, armed with selfie sticks and aging smartphones, weren’t the super rich who travel effortlessly around the world, these were Kazakhs who may never have left Central Asia, or been on a solitary trip to Europe. EXPO-2017 feels as if it has returned the international exposition series to its original mid-19th century Victorian era roots of bringing the world to a particular city.

And make sure you don’t miss out on the Caribbean pavilion, the least scripted section. The women from Belize, Haiti and Dominica will tell you how they are coping with four months in Kazakhstan, a country they hadn’t heard of until earlier this year.

Many Airlines are flying into  Kazakhstan with some special fares of less than euro 100.00 rt.. including:

Lufthansa flights	Ukraine International flights	Pegasus Airlines flights
Aeroflot flights	Etihad Airways flights	Turkmenistan Airlines flights
Air France flights	Air India flights	Hainan Airlines flights
S7 Airlines flights	Atlasglobal flights	Uzbekistan Airways flights

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON ON KAZAKHSTAN CLICK HERE

EU-DIGEST

EU: Exports and low unemployment fuel rapid growth in central Europe - by James Shotter

Central Europe’s economies have continued their rapid expansion, outpacing their peers in western Europe as rock bottom interest rates and record low unemployment fuel consumer spending.

With the eurozone’s recovery also pushing up exports from the region, Romania’s economy grew at the fastest annual rate in the EU in the second quarter.

The Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary also reported strong growth, according to preliminary data on Wednesday.

Romania grew by 5.7 per cent year on year in the second quarter. The Czech Republic grew by 4.5 per cent, Poland by 4.4 per cent, Hungary by 3.6 per cent and Slovakia by 3.1 per cent. The EU grew by 2.3 per cent.

Read more: Exports and low unemployment fuel rapid growth in central Europe

Spain -Terrorism: Barcelona attack: Van crashes into crowds in Ramblas tourist area

Deranged Radical Islamist Terrorists

A van has ploughed into crowds in the busy Las Ramblas area of central Barcelona in what police are treating as a “terror attack”.

A government official tweeted that 13 people have died and at least 50 have been injured.

Spanish police released a handout with information about and a photograph of Maghrebi Driss Oukabir, who is suspected of renting the van used to run down pedestrians in Las Ramblas.

The self-titled Islamic State group (ISIL) claimed responsibility for the deadly attack through its Amaq news agency.

"Once again a cowardly attack on innocent people by a deranged group of radial Islamist terrorists, whose territory of their self proclaimed "Islamic State" is crumbling away at an ever increasing speed".  

"To stay updated on terrorist movements{ check out the SITE Intelligence Group Website ". 

"SITE Intelligence Group is a for-profit US Bethesda, Maryland-based company that tracks online activity of white supremacist and jihadist organizations. From 2002 to 2008, SITE Intelligence Group was known as the Search for International Terrorist Entities (SITE) Institute. SITE is led by the Israeli analyst Rita Katz".

"On a personal basis, in case you see any suspect activities in your area or neighborhood, immediately contact your local police or security agency"..

EU-Digest

Britain: Former UK cabinet aid calls for new party to oppose Brexit

The former chief of staff to Britain’s Secretary of State for Exiting the EU has claimed that two serving cabinet ministers are interested in his idea of forming a new centrist ‘anti-Brexit’ party.

James Chapman, a former aide to David Davis and ex-Chancellor George Osborne, has told the BBC Brexit would be a ‘calamity’ as he stepped up his online campaign for a proposed ‘Democrat’ party, saying Britain’s impending departure from the bloc would spell demise for the conservative party.

Read more: Former UK cabinet aid calls for new party to oppose Brexit | Euronews

The Global Economy: The New World Order Is Leaving the U.S. Behind - by James Gibney

Of all the global consequences of President Donald Trump’s first half-year, surely one of the most surprising is the rise in multilateral diplomacy.

After all, this is the guy who came into office pledging to put America First. He downgraded the security guarantees of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to a definite maybe -- and only if its members ponied up more defense dollars. The Iran nuclear pact was “the worst deal ever,” and the Paris accord on climate change wasn’t much better. The Trans-Pacific Partnership was dead on arrival. Japan and South Korea’s free-riding days were over. The North American Free Trade Agreement was toast. The U.S. would ignore the rules of the World Trade Organization. And from its proposed cuts in foreign aid and United Nations peacekeeping to the empty offices and embassies of the State Department, the Trump administration has made clear how little it thinks of soft power and diplomacy.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the disintegration of the international liberal order. It’s started to reconstitute itself -- only not with the U.S. at its center. Unfortunately, that has less to do with a realization among our allies and partners that the burden must be more equitably shared than with the increasing recognition that Trump is not, as some U.S. diplomats liked to say about third world dictators during the Cold War, “someone we can do business with.”

That sentiment found its most trenchant expression in German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s declaration, following Trump’s May trip to Europe, that the continent “must really take our fate into our own hands.” The net result of the Trump administration’s antipathy to free trade and cooperation on climate change and refugee resettlement was a united front against the U.S. at both the Group of Seven and Group of 20 meetings.

Jilted by the U.S., the other 11 members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership are moving ahead on their own. Canada and Mexico are working together more closely than ever to save Nafta. Asian nations are hedging their bets between the U.S. and China. Trump’s tough talk on Mexico has prompted it to reach out to its hemispheric rival Brazil on defense cooperation.

In conclusion: But even bilateral agreements require a degree of discipline and coordination that Trump has yet to display. For now, Trump’s reflexive trashing of President Barack Obama’s policy choices without offering any coherent alternatives has left the U.S. on awkward ground. It’s one thing for other countries to fill a diplomatic vacuum created by a gradual U.S. withdrawal; it’s another for them to do so in the wake of a scorched-earth retreat. If and when the U.S. recovers its strategic senses, it might find itself reduced to occupying a much less attractive seat at the multilateral table.

Read more: The New World Order Is Leaving the U.S. Behind - Bloomberg

Turkey’s economy: The next casualty of Erdoğan’s state of emergency – by Aykan Erdemir

For the past year, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has exploited his country’s state of emergency to rule by decree, purging government ranks, imprisoning political dissenters and crushing independent media. But for all the attention paid to Turkey’s slippage in democratic norms, critics have largely ignored the heavy toll his brand of authoritarianism has taken on the country’s economy. The effects could be disastrous for Turkey’s future.

When Erdoğan first became prime minister in 2003, he inherited a struggling economy with a long list of structural problems. His greatest achievement during the first half of his 15-year tenure at the pinnacle of political power was to stick to a reform plan devised by the World Bank’s former Vice President Kemal Derviş and reorient Turkey’s foreign policy toward trade diplomacy.

But as he has consolidated power, he has become both more self-confident and more corrupt, replacing his original reform agenda with cronyism, nepotism and graft. Unless he ends his disastrous meddling in Turkish markets, the country’s volatile economy may well become the next casualty of last year’s abortive coup.

Turkey was already suffering from slowing growth and the highest percentage of youth not in employment, education or training, and the lowest labor force participation among OECD members. Morgan Stanley branded the country as one of “the Fragile Five” — overly dependent on short-term investment to finance its gaping current account deficit.

A key challenge for Turkey’s economy has long been weak governance. In 1995, a grand coalition of center-right and center-left parties established the Economic and Social Council, a quarterly consultative body to assemble labor, public, and private sector representatives to facilitate good governance.

But Erdoğan has refused to convene the Council since 2009, despite repeated calls to do so from the opposition. Under the current state of emergency, most economic decisions no longer involve parliament deliberations. They are simply the result of arbitrary decrees.

Erdoğan, for example, transferred the government’s stakes in Turkey’s flag carrier airline, two top public lenders, and fixed-line phone operator to the country’s newly-established sovereign wealth fund — and he did this simply with a decree.

The controversial fund is neither transparent nor accountable, and it’s exempt from the oversight of the Court of Accounts, which is responsible for auditing public administrative bodies.

To make matters worse, the fund is managed by cronies, including an Erdoğan adviser who once claimed foreign powers were trying to kill the president by “telekinesis.”

Turkey’s deteriorating rule of law has also eroded private property rights. In the past year alone, the government seized 879 businesses with assets worth over $11 billion, prompting potential buyers to worry about prolonged legal battles over ownership. The appointment of party loyalists to run these firms has only aggravated cronyism and mismanagement.

Read more: Turkey’s economy: The next casualty of Erdoğan’s state of emergency – POLITICO

Brexit: EU should welcome the UK back from Brexit like the prodigal son - by Hugo Dixon

Pro-European Brits should put their heart into stopping Brexit rather than campaigning for a soft one. Mitigating the disaster of quitting the EU is a poor consolation prize.

Staying in the EU, on the other hand, is the real jackpot — and, since Theresa May’s disastrous general election, no longer a quixotic goal.

The soft Brexit brigade may gain comfort from the position papers the government will start publishing this week. These are expected to confirm that Mrs May is looking for a transitional deal to bridge the gap between quitting the EU and nailing down a new long-term relationship with our partners.

This shift is certainly welcome. But the government remains committed to leaving the EU’s single market and customs union, so its policy will still damage our economy.

Anyone who campaigns for soft Brexit will be doing the government’s dirty work for it. And, let us be clear, it is dirty work.

The cabinet’s disarray over what sort of Brexit they want is not just down to incompetence. They are trying to solve the impossible puzzle of getting a good Brexit. If the government wants to delay the pain, it will have to continue following the EU’s rules and paying into its budget for that transitional period.

Rather than giving Mrs May a helping hand, pro-Europeans should exploit her problems in order to drive further changes in public opinion. People have lost confidence in the prime minister’s ability to negotiate a good Brexit. Before the June general election, she seemed to walk on water; now she is drowning.

We will also find ourselves marginalised on the world stage and so less able to influence things that really matter to our citizens such as fighting terrorism, combating climate change and preventing the worst side-effects of globalisation.

Read more: EU should welcome the UK back from Brexit like the prodigal son

EU-US Relations: Isn't it time for a transatlantic divorce or at least a separation? - editorial

When the US President Trump went to Europe earlier in the summer his trip certainly did not score many positive points, but at least what it did was show the EU and its leaders that they had to start taking more responsibility for the direction in which the EU should be heading.

This hit home even harder when German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave a speech back home declaring "the times in which we could rely fully on others" are "somewhat over" and suggesting Europe "really take our fate into our own hands."

Interviews with six top EU officials paint a picture of a US president who is regarded even by allies as erratic and limited, and whose shortcomings are compounded by the ongoing chaos beneath him in the White House.

The US President has also become something of a laughing stock among European politicians at international gatherings. One revealed that a small group of diplomats play a version of word bingo, whenever the president speaks because they consider his vocabulary to be so limited. “Everything is ‘great’, ‘very, very great’, ‘amazing’,” the diplomat said.

But behind the mocking, there is growing fear among international and EU governments that Trump is a serious threat to international peace and stability.

But unfortunately the negative perception is not just about President Trump, it is also, and probably more so about the overall state of the country's totally disfunctional gridlocked political system.

Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase & Co, who  is known for his frequently outspoken comments and who turned down an opportunity to become Donald Trump’s Treasury Secretary, noted at a conference he was attending:  “It’s almost an embarrassment being an American citizen traveling around the world ... listening to the stupid s*** we have to deal with in the US,” he said. “At one point we all have to get our act together, or we won’t do what we’re supposed to do for the average Americans.”

JPMorgan Chase & Co, which under Dimon's leadership reported a profit of $7.03bn for the second quarter, 13 per cent higher than last year, has also made $26.5bn over the past 12 months, a record profit for a US bank, according to the Associated Press.
Eric Zuess, writing in Counterpunch: noted , "American democracy is a sham, no matter how much it's pumped by the oligarchs who run the country (and who control the nation's "news" media)," he wrote. "The US, in other words, is basically similar to Russia or most other dubious 'electoral' 'democratic' countries. We weren't formerly, but we clearly are now."

Like it or not, the US has become an oligarchy and is not a democracy anymore. The country is dominated by a rich and powerful elite. So concludes a recent study by Princeton University Prof Martin Gilens and Northwestern University Prof Benjamin I Page.

They come to this conclusion by multivariate analysis, which indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence.

In plain English: in the US the wealthy few move policy, while the average American has little power.

This brings us back to the need for the EU to seriously review their Transatlantic relationship with the US. because what used to bind the two continents together in the past, has disappeared, mainly because of a series of developments (described above) on the opposite side of the Atlantic.

For the Europeans it might look as an impossible task at the moment, but in reality won't be too difficult to do.

Let us keep in mind that the EU as an independent economic entity has the power to do so, all it requires now is the unity and will-power to follow through.

The only major objective it will require is unity among EU States, in carving out an independent foreign policy for the EU, which is detached from that of the US, specifically when it concerns military operations, in addition to economic policies and trade agreements.

In the past, what has been good for America, has not, or hardly ever been beneficial to the EU.

Specially the EU involvement in US Middle East wars, which caused the worst immigrant crises ever faced by the EU. 

Also important to remember - The European Union is not a "tidly-bitly" disorganized group of nations. It  ranks as the world’s second-largest economy by gross domestic product, but few people globally see it as an economic leader ahead of China or the United States, according to a recent Pew Research Center report.

Even citizens of the EU don't seem to be aware of the power the EU has. Time maybe for the EU to start blowing their own horn - because when our own people are left in the dark, it's  no-one's fault except our own. 

Another important fact: At the latest census in 2015 the EU had 743.1 million inhabitants, more than double that of the US, which at the latest census there in 2016 had 323.1 million.

So EU Commission and EU Parliament, please wake-up, and smell the roses - the time is now to take serious and decisive action.

Where there is a will there is a way. The EU can't keep walking in "lock-step" with the US anymore 

EU-Digest

Chemical Giants: The World vs. Monsanto: A Short History of the Battle Against the Most Evil Corporation on the Planet - by Jason Louv

Starting in 2013, the Monsanto Company made a major play to not only consolidate its control over the agribusiness industry, but to seize permanent control of the entire world’s food supply. Ultraculture, and the entire world, fought back. Here’s a history of the Great Monsanto War of 2013-15.

From 2013 to 2015, Ultraculture helped lead the charge against the Monsanto Company, and worked to guide and encourage the global effort to get chemicals and genetic tampering out of our food supply.

Monsanto has relentlessly and ruthlessly lobbied for the ability to re-engineer our food for profit, without consumers knowing what it’s doing—particularly in the United States.

Thanks to a network of lobbyists passed through the “revolving door” between public office and private corporate appointments, Monsanto has been able to operate largely without the American public having any awareness of its actions.

But nothing can stay hidden for long. Our reporting on Monsanto rocketed to the top of Reddit, breaking the story of the “Monsanto Protection Act,” helping to initiate the global furor that prompted the two-million-strong “March Against Monsanto” and forcing the company into backpedal mode as its stock took a hit.

All of this reporting (which we followed up with by breaking the story of the TPP at Vice News) resulted in a book, Monsanto vs. the World, which took a critical and investigative look at the company and has since become a lasting success, achieving ongoing sales, becoming a go-to text of the anti-GMO movement and being placed on the syllabus of multiple college courses.

Now it’s time to round up all of our Monsanto reporting into one cornerstone post, which collects the best of our reporting to archive the history of the Great Monsanto War for posterity. The fight against Monsanto—and genetic (specifically transgenic) tampering with food—goes on, and it’s important to have the information summarized for easy access.

To read the  the complete report click here: The World vs. Monsanto: A Short History of the Battle Against the Most Evil Corporation on the Planet

USA: This is not Trump's economy

How much credit should President Trump get for a U.S. economy that's generating lots of jobs and for a stock market that keeps setting record highs?

Very little.

Trump, of course, thinks MAGAnomics is doing the trick, as do his most ardent supporters. After the July jobs numbers came out last week, Fox News and other members of Team Trump were touting the more than 1 million private-sector jobs created since Inauguration Day. Over on Trump TV, former CNN pundit Kayleigh McEnany was even crediting the president with personally creating them. That Obama created the same number of jobs during his final six months was considered less newsworthy, apparently.

Presidents are always given too much credit or blame for economic performance on their watch. So many factors are outside their control. But beyond that, the idea that this is already "Trump's economy" is ridiculous. None of Trump's big agenda items — at least the ones corporate America and Wall Street really care about — have become law. No ObamaCare repeal. No massive tax cuts. No trillion-dollar infrastructure. Nothing.

Read more: This is not Trump's economy

Tax Systems - money is not determinating factor: The happiest countries in the world also pay a lot in taxes

The US Tax System needs an overhaul

The happiest countries in the world in 2017 are prosperous Western-style liberal democracies.

Their populations are, in many cases, largely homogeneous. And they also have something else in common: They each pay a lot in taxes.

According to the United Nations' latest World Happiness Report, as covered by CBS News, the top 10 happiest countries are:
1. Norway
2. Denmark
3. Iceland
4. Switzerland
5. Finland
6. Netherlands
7. Canada
8. New Zealand
9. Australia
10. Sweden

Report co-author Jeffrey Sachs, who is also the director of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, tells CBS that "happiness is a result of creating strong social foundations," and that if other nations prioritized "social trust" and "healthy lives," they could also find that their citizens become more content.

The top three happiest countries, Norway, Denmark and Iceland, are all among the highest taxed countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in terms of total tax revenue as a percentage of GDP. The widely enjoyed social benefits residents get in exchange for their taxes, such as universal health care, access to education and subsidized parental leave, could have something to do with the "strong social foundations" touted by Sachs.

Note EU-Digest: These countries are happy, mainly for all the services they are getting in exchange for paying high taxes. Specially in the area of healthcare and low pharmaceutical costs, obviously also by enjoying great infrastructural advantages and obviously modern public transportation systems. In America right-wing politicians (mainly Republicans) have figured out that by telling the taxpayers they pay the lowest taxes in the world, it will make  corrupt practices by them easier. Unfortunately over time this made the US taxpayer the big loser.

Read more: The happiest countries in the world also pay a lot in taxes

EU president Jean-Claude Juncker picks a fight with Donald Trump - by Jon Stone

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has publicly mocked Donald Trump’s chaotic White House – potentially inviting a row with the volatile US president.

Describing the tumultuous events the last week in Washington DC as “stunning” Mr Juncker claimed the EU was “better organised” than the US.

“We are better organised than the Trump administration. That is because if there are any internal difficulties, those difficulties are fixed in a direct conversation instead of by firing people,” Mr Juncker told the Politico Europe website.

Read more: EU president Jean-Claude Juncker picks a fight with Donald Trump | The Independent

Turkey: Is the EU-Turkey Refugee Deal on the Ropes? - by Judy Dempsey

Although both Turkey and Germany have at times threatened to pull out of the March 2016 EU-Turkey refugee deal, all indicators point to its survival, despite the heated rhetoric from both sides.

Why? The answer is simple. The deal is solely one of convenience—a pragmatic bargain struck between two parties based on a realpolitik-driven calculation of interests. Europe wants to stem the tide of migrants reaching its shores; Turkey wants cash and other benefits.

The deal may pose an administrative burden for Greece and threaten scores of migrants, but the interests in its success almost guarantee that it will not be scrapped. Despite Europe’s concerns about Turkey’s massive government-led purge and crackdown in the wake of the July 2016 coup attempt and the diplomatic rows over Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s use of inflammatory rhetoric against Europe, the desire to keep Turkey as a partner in curbing migration flows is likely to outweigh any sense of moral outrage.

The EU has similar arrangements with Morocco and Tunisia and is seeking further agreements with Jordan, Lebanon, and numerous African states. As such, the EU-Turkey deal is part of a larger strategy of outsourcing migration control, which is set to continue.

Judy Asks: Is the EU-Turkey Refugee Deal on the Ropes? - Carnegie Europe - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Global Beer Sales: Who are among the biggest beer drinkers in Europe? - by Chris Harris

The Czech Republic, Germany and Poland are among Europe’s biggest beer drinkers, latest figures reveal.

The data, obtained by Euronews to mark International Beer Day on August 4, shows wide disparities across the continent.

Drinkers in the Czech Republic knocked back 146.3 litres per person last year, according to statistics from market research firm Euromonitor.

It’s equivalent to nearly 300 large beers (500ml) per individual.

That’s around five times as much as wine-producing countries like France and Italy, who came bottom of the European countries studied.

There is a broad geographical divide: central and eastern European countries consume more beer and western Europe and Scandinavia less.

The amount of beer consumed has a weak link with death rates from liver cirrhosis, a condition linked to alcohol abuse. There is a stronger correlation if we compare cirrhosis death rates and all alcohol consumed, not just beer.

Read more: Who are among the biggest beer drinkers in Europe? | Euronews

Mind over matter: Free your brain: How Silicon Valley denies us the freedom to pay attention - by David Priest

In late June, Mark Zuckerberg announced the new mission of Facebook: “To give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together.”

The rhetoric of the statement is carefully selected, centered on empowering people, and in so doing, ushering in world peace, or at least something like it. Tech giants across Silicon Valley are adopting similarly utopian visions, casting themselves as the purveyors of a more connected, more enlightened, more empowered future. Every year, these companies articulate their visions onstage at internationally streamed pep rallies, Apple’s WWDC and Google’s I/O being the best known.

But companies like Facebook can only “give people the power” because we first ceded it to them, in the form of our attention. After all, that is how many Silicon Valley companies thrive: Our attention, in the form of eyes and ears, provides a medium for them to advertise to us. And the more time we spend staring at them, the more money Facebook and Twitter make — in effect, it’s in their interest that we become psychologically dependent on the self-esteem boost from being wired in all the time.

This quest for our eyeballs doesn’t mesh well with Silicon Valley’s utopian visions of world peace and people power. Earlier this year, many sounded alarm bells when a “60 Minutes” exposé revealed the creepy cottage industry of “brain-hacking,” industrial psychology techniques that tech giants use and study to make us spend as much time staring at screens as possible.

Indeed, it is Silicon Valley’s continual quest for attention that both motivates their utopian dreams, and that compromises them from the start. As a result, the tech industry often has compromised ethics when it comes to product design.

Case in point: At January’s Consumer Electronics Convention – a sort of Mecca for tech start-ups dreaming of making it big – I found myself in a suite with one of the largest kid-tech (children’s toys) developers in the world. A small flock of PR reps, engineers and executives hovered around the entryway as one development head walked my photographer and me through the mock setup. They were showing off the first voice assistant developed solely with kids in mind.

A free market only functions properly when consumers operate with full agency and access to information, and tech companies are working hard to limit both.

Read complete report: Free your brain: How Silicon Valley denies us the freedom to pay attention - Salon.com

The Netherlands - Toxic eggs: Albert Heijn removes 14 types of eggs from its shelves as scandal spreads

The Netherlands’ biggest supermarket group Albert Heijn said on Thursday it is removing 14 different types of eggs from its shelves, as the uncertainty over pesticide contamination continues.

The measure is a precautionary one, the company said. Among the eggs to be removed are the company’s own brand free-range and organic eggs. It had already removed some eggs earlier this week, website Nu.nl reported. Jumbo, the second biggest Dutch supermarket group has also removed some types of eggs from its stores,

Nu.nl reported, as has German supermarket group REWE. ‘We want to give our clients total transparency,’ the German company said in a statement. Farmers say they are extremely unhappy at the supermarkets’ decision and describe it as an over-reaction.

The government said earlier on Thursday that farmers themselves will have to pick up the bill for the product recall following the discovery of the contamination with a banned pesticide.

The Dutch food and product safety board has come under fire from experts, MPs and farmers for the way it is handling the ongoing contaminated egg scandal.

The NVWA first said there was no danger to human health and then issued a warning about certain batches of eggs, only for its deputy director to suggest a day later consumers should avoid eggs altogether until tests for a banned pesticide have been completed.

Note EU-Digest:  Hopefully the Dutch Government will not be swayed by lobbyists from Chemical companies to put their head in the sand and clean-up the apparently poorly functioning government food inspection services (NVWA). It is also strange no one is questioning who the makers of the pesticide are,  causing this calamity and why it is allowed by local EU Governments to being used in the food chain? Unfortunately this is probably just the top of the iceberg, when it comes to the use of pesticides in the European food chain.

Read more: Albert Heijn removes 14 types of eggs from its shelves as scandal spreads - DutchNews.nl

USA: Trump just unveiled a new plan to slash legal immigration

President Donald Trump on Wednesday unveiled legislation intended to slash legal immigration to the United States by reducing the amount of low-skilled immigrants who are allotted green cards.

“The RAISE Act ends chain migration and replaces our low-skilled system with a new points-based system,” Trump said in an announcement alongside Republican Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and David Perdue of Georgia, who introduced an early version of the legislation in February.

Trump said the bill would take aim at programs that predominantly admit low-skilled immigrants, which he said has displaced American workers and depressed wages. He added that the legislation is intended to favor green-card applicants who can speak English, financially support themselves, and demonstrate their skills, which he said would “reduce poverty, increase wages, and save taxpayers billions and billions.”

“It will restore the sacred bonds of trust between America and its citizens,” he added of the legislation, which is named the Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment (RAISE) Act.

But immigration advocates seized upon the bill Wednesday, arguing that not only are low-skilled immigrants and refugees essential to America’s economy, but the proposed legislation does not actually create a “merit-based system” as Trump said.

Note EU-Digest: Actually not a bad plan, specially where it favors applicants who can speak the language of the country they are immigrating to, are financially able to support themselves in the initial transfer period, have a basic education and or demonstrated special skills. The EU could certainly (with some additions to cover human rights aspects) also benefit from such a program.

 

Read more: Trump just unveiled a new plan to slash legal immigration

The Netherlands: Pesticide Contamination : Dozens more egg producers shut down as pesticide scandal spreads

The Dutch food and product safety board has stopped ‘dozens’ more poultry farms from sending their eggs to market because they may be contaminated with the pesticide fipronil. Tests for traces of the pesticide, used to control lice in poultry, are now being carried out on eggs, hens and chicken manure at several dozen farms, the NVWA said in a statement.

On Monday, the NVWA shut down seven poultry farms after fipronil was found in samples of eggs.

The chemical is primarily used as an insecticide, particularly to kill fleas, and is classed as a ‘moderately hazardous pesticide’ by the World Health Organisation.

In the Netherlands it is banned in the poultry sector. The NVWA, which took the action after a tip-off from the Belgian authorities, said in a statement there is no danger to human health. According to regional paper de Stentor, the contamination may have come from a pest control company in Gelderland which used the pesticide to deal with chicken lice.

The NVWA says it has not so far found concentrations of the chemical which would prove a direct danger to human health. However, continued consumption of eggs containing fipronil ‘could have damaging effect.

The anti-lice pesticide at the centre of an egg safety scandal in the Netherlands may have been used on Dutch farms as early as June 2016, the Volkskrant said on Wednesday.

The company at the centre of the scandal, Barneveld-based Chickfriend, was treating poultry for lice last year and there is no reason to believe that the product did not contain fipronil at that time, the paper said.

The Dutch food and product safety board NVWA told the paper that eggs containing the banned pesticide fipronil could have been sold in Dutch shops since then, but said: ‘we have no way of checking because the eggs have been eaten’.

Chickfriend is now thought to have bought the pesticide from a Belgian supplier and investigators are now trying to find out if the Dutch firm was aware the product, said to be based on natural oils such as eucalyptus, contained fipronil. The pesticide is classed as ‘moderately hazardous pesticide’ by the World Health Organisation.

Note EU-Digest:  Reviewing Chemical Product Lists of chemical products sold in the EU reveals Fipronil is among one of the many poisonous (to humans) products sold by the US based company Dow Chemicals in the EU. The EU authorities and local European governments need to do a better job at overcoming the intense lobby efforts, of mainly US based companies, to sell harmful products like Fipronil in the EU.

Read more: Dozens more egg producers shut down as pesticide scandal spreads - DutchNews.nl

Russia-US Sanctions: U.S. lawmakers’ attempt to handcuff Trump on Russia could backfire, Europe says - by Michael Birnbaum

A top E.U. leader warned Wednesday that a U.S. congressional vote to strip President Trump of the ability to remove sanctions against Russia could backfire, dealing a blow to transatlantic efforts to curb Russian aggression against Ukraine and sparking a trade war between Europe and the United States.

The House of Representatives approved the measure Tuesday, 419 to 3, after the Senate passed similar legislation last month in a 98-to-2 vote. The White House has not indicated whether Trump will sign the bill.

The bill’s main goal is to force Trump to consult with Congress before dialing back sanctions, a reaction to a White House plan weighed in his first weeks in office to unilaterally end the measures against the Kremlin. But the legislation would also give Trump the power to ban investments in certain Russian energy projects, most notably a major Russia-to-Germany gas pipeline under development called Nord Stream 2, and to promote U.S. energy exports instead.

The legislation’s language was softened in the days ahead of the vote, in apparent acknowledgment of European worries. But many policymakers and experts in the European Union’s capital, Brussels, and in Berlin still say that Congress may ultimately harm its own effort to pressure Russia. The worries are also a measure of the Trump White House’s diminished standing in Europe, since the policymakers are mistrustful of U.S. natural-gas exports that were welcomed during the Obama administration.

Read more: U.S. lawmakers’ attempt to handcuff Trump on Russia could backfire, Europe says - The Washington Post