European Union

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

A lively debate on the proposal for “reformed system” to resolve disputes between foreign investors and states in the Transatlantic Trade and investment partnership (TTIP) deal, currently being negotiated between the EU and the United states, took place between Trade Committee MEPs and EU Trade Commissioner Malmström on Wednesday afternoon.
Committee on International Trade

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

A lively debate on the proposal for “reformed system” to resolve disputes between foreign investors and states in the Transatlantic Trade and investment partnership (TTIP) deal, currently being negotiated between the EU and the United states, took place between Trade Committee MEPs and EU Trade Commissioner Malmström on Wednesday afternoon.
Committee on International Trade

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Dijsselbloem, left, and Sapin during a February eurogroup meeting in Brussels

Normally, it wouldn’t seem unusual for Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister, to be making the rounds to the eurozone’s major capitals. He is, after all, chairman of the eurogroup, the committee of 19 eurozone finance ministers that, among other things, is locked in a prolonged dispute over the Greek bailout.

In addition to Greece, Dijsselbloem has other things to discuss, including a report due in June from the so-called “four presidents” – Dijsselbloem, the ECB’s Mario Draghi, Jean-Claude Juncker at the European Commission, and Donald Tusk at the European Council – on the future of the monetary union.

But Dijsselbloem only has two months left on his term as eurogroup president, and the race between the centre-left Dutchman and his centre-right Spanish counterpart, Luis de Gindos, is beginning to heat up. So is the fact he is in Paris today to meet French political leaders, and in Berlin tomorrow, and Rome on Friday, a bit of a campaign swing as well?

If so, it got off to a good start. The FT’s woman in Paris, Anne-Sylvaine Chassany, went to a joint news conference between Dijsselbloem and his French counterpart Michel Sapin, and reports that the Frenchman was robust in his endorsement of the incumbent:

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Formal relations between the European Union and the United Arab Emirates developed in the framework of the 1988 EU-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Cooperation Agreement

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Greece's hulking finance ministry, overlooking Athens' central Syntagma Square

With Greece’s government coffers dwindling by the day, nervous creditors have been watching each and every debt repayment and monthly wage bill closely for signs Athens has finally run out of cash.

But despite many predictions the country should have gone bust by now, the Syriza-led government has managed to scrape together enough funds to pay its creditors – including a €200m payment to the International Monetary Fund that was due today – and, despite some hiccups, the pensions and salaries owed government workers as well.

Some of that cash has been found in the bank accounts of independent government agencies, and more recently the government has been trying to raise additional funds by pooling unused reserves from local municipalities – a move that has generated considerable backlash.

But under the radar, the Greek government appears to have found a different, more traditional way to raise extra money: it’s collecting more taxes and spending less money.

According to data released just over a week ago – which was widely overlooked, since it was published the same day as a highly-contentious meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Riga – the Greek government is actually doing even better than it was a year ago in tax revenues, spending reductions, and primary surpluses.

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Disclaimer : The interpretation of debates serves to facilitate communication and does not constitute an authentic record of proceedings. Only the original speech or the revised written translation is authentic.
Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

The proposed Digital Single Market strategy is needed to build trust in the online world, boost growth and protect the rights of citizens, creators and companies. These were among the first reactions from the chairs of the three committees that will work intensively on today's Commission proposal. This afternoon and tomorrow morning, the Commissioners responsible will visit Parliament to discuss the proposal with MEPs.
Committee on Legal Affairs
Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection
Committee on Industry, Research and Energy

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

The proposed Digital Single Market strategy is needed to build trust in the online world, boost growth and protect the rights of citizens, creators and companies. These were among the first reactions from the chairs of the three committees that will work intensively on today's Commission proposal. This afternoon and tomorrow morning, the Commissioners responsible will visit Parliament to discuss the proposal with MEPs.
Committee on Legal Affairs
Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection
Committee on Industry, Research and Energy

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Britain appears to have finally decided to become European. Not that it is falling deeper in love with the European Union’s project of ever-closer union; quite the contrary. Perhaps the most curious aspect of this election is how small a role Europe has played throughout the campaign despite the emergence of UKIP as a major force.

The Conservatives have, after all, promised an in-or-out referendum on a “reformed” EU to please their euro-sceptic faction and ease pressure from the staunchly anti-Europe UKIP. However, the campaign has focused more on immigration, which all parties say they want to control more tightly, despite the obvious economic benefits migrant workers bring. Remarkably, it was only in the last days of campaigning that the issue of the UK’s continued EU membership surfaced as a substantial point of contention. The possibility and implications of a Brexit featured strongly in the leaders’ televised “question time” event. Latest opinion polls suggest a shift away from satisfaction with Europe, with only 36% of the population seemingly keen to stay in the EU.

It appears Britain’s love/hate relationship with Europe will rumble on, whatever the outcome of the election. British politics, however, has become, by any conventional metric, more European than ever. The running of the country is now dependent on coalitions, minority governments, arrangements cooked up behind closed doors, and deals on government programmes cobbled together by parties after the election and therefore not subject to voter approval. Of course one person has to be prime minister, even without an absolute majority. David Cameron was forced to form a coalition with the Liberal Democrats in 2010 rather than govern with only Tory ministers, and had to dilute some – though not all – of his manifesto pledges. The parties are announcing red lines, beyond which all insist they won’t budge during coalition talks. Yet everyone knows a compromise will have to be reached, as it was when the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats got together to form the current government in 2010.

“It appears Britain’s love/hate relationship with Europe will rumble on, whatever the outcome of the election”

So after a century of red or blue majority governments headed by either the Conservatives or Labour, Britain is becoming more continental. In Denmark, no single party has won an overall majority since 1909.  The Federal Republic of Germany has always been governed by coalitions, including, of course, the current Grand Coalition between the centre-right Christian Democrats and centre-left Social Democrats. British electors no longer seem to trust any single party to govern well or fairly. The financial crisis and its aftermath have had a role to play here, calling into question the economic competence of all parties.

That readiness of electorates to punish parties that under-perform is something else the British now share with other Europeans. In Greece, for example, the parties which formed a grand coalition in 2012 have all lost huge support. The decades-long dominance of Greece’s two main centre-left and centre-right parties came to a crashing end as voters punished both in January this year for the austerity measures and economic mismanagement which left the country with massive unemployment and a 25% fall in GDP.

The era of absolute Conservative or Labour majorities in Britain is relatively recent. The 19th and early 20th centuries saw frequent minority governments. In January 1910, for example, 274 Liberal MPs were elected along with 272 Conservatives and 71 Irish MPs who fought on a platform of independence for Ireland. In December 1910, another election was held, but it too produced an inconclusive result – 272 Liberal MPs, 271 Conservatives and 74 Irish nationalists. Yet the minority Liberal government that was formed produced some of the most radical reforms in British history – notably the introduction of state pensions. Irish MPs kept the government in power by refusing to support the Conservatives in any vote that threatened the Liberal administration, which was seen as more favourable to Irish independence than the Tories. These days, it is the Scottish National Party that may well tilt the balance of power in the House of Commons. Though it was unable to win the September 2014 independence referendum, the SNP has since gained support for its separatist and anti-austerity policies.

“That readiness of electorates to punish parties that under-perform is something else the British now share with other Europeans”

Where does Britain go from here? So far, the political establishment has not really adapted to the new electoral realities. Membership of the main parties has been reduced considerably. Single, or narrow, issue parties such as the Greens, the SNP or UKIP have grown in importance. The printed media no longer has the same influence to shape opinion. It was long assumed that Britain’s first-past-the-post electoral system delivered stable, solid majority governments able to take tough decisions – until they ran out of steam and were replaced by the other big party. Although the electorate appears to be content that this no longer holds true, the reaction of the markets to the prospect of a hung parliament points to a period of economic uncertainty which may not have been factored into voters’ calculations.

 

IMAGE CREDITS: CC / FLICKR – secretlondon123

The post For UK governments, hung parliaments may be the new normal appeared first on Europe’s World.

EU asylum applications for unaccompanied minors should be processed in the EU country where the child is present, even if this is not where the child first applied, said Civil Liberties Committee MEPs on Wednesday. Processing where children are present is usually in their best interests, and avoids moving them unnecessarily between member states, say the committee’s amendments to the Dublin Regulation, which determines which member state should examine asylum applications.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

EU asylum applications for unaccompanied minors should be processed in the EU country where the child is present, even if this is not where the child first applied, said Civil Liberties Committee MEPs on Wednesday. Processing where children are present is usually in their best interests, and avoids moving them unnecessarily between member states, say the committee’s amendments to the Dublin Regulation, which determines which member state should examine asylum applications.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

People who are suspected or accused of a crime, or are named in a European Arrest Warrant, but cannot afford a lawyer or court proceedings, should have access to EU member state funding and assistance for both “provisional” and "ordinary” legal aid, say Civil Liberties MEPs in amendments, voted on Wednesday, to a proposed EU directive on fair trial rights.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP