European Union

"The Central African Republic is doing much better. There is a clear improvement even if it is still very fragile," CAR's interim president, Catherine Samba-Panza, told foreign affairs MEPs on Tuesday. CAR still needs the EU's "multi-dimensional aid", she stressed, calling on member states to redouble their efforts to help the CAR meet its electoral, budgetary and security challenges.
Committee on Foreign Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Plenary sessions : UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will deliver a formal address to Parliament at 15.15 today. He is expected to address the recent refugee tragedies in the Mediterranean and to support the EU Agenda on Migration.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Plenary sessions : UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will deliver a formal address to Parliament at 15.15 today. He is expected to address the recent refugee tragedies in the Mediterranean and to support the EU Agenda on Migration.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Citizens from over 70 nations will be able to vote in the UK referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union. But most European Union nationalities will be excluded.

A spokesman for the British Prime Minster said:

“This is a big decision for our country, one that is about the future of the United Kingdom. That’s why we think it’s important that it is British, Irish and Commonwealth citizens that are the ones who get to decide.”

But the voting franchise on who can vote in the UK has more to do with Britain’s distant past than its future.  Its roots go back to Britain’s Empire, when countries across the world were ruled by Great Britain.  At one time or another, Britain invaded almost 90% of the world’s nations.  At the Empire’s peak, atlases showed half the world coloured pink, signifying British rule.

Over time, as the British reign softened, many of these countries became self-governing whilst retaining Britain’s monarch as Head of State.  The Commonwealth of British Nations was formed in 1949 with membership on a voluntary basis.  The last two countries to join The Commonwealth – Rwanda and Mozambique – have no ties with Britain’s Empire.

Including Britain, 55 countries across the world are members of The Commonwealth, and all citizens from those countries resident with ‘leave-to-remain’ in the UK will be able to vote in the Referendum. 

They include citizens living in the UK from Australia, Canada, Ghana, Malaysia, India, Pakistan, Singapore, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe.  Just two EU countries are members of the Commonwealth, Malta and Cyprus, and citizens from those countries resident in the UK will also get a vote.

The right-to-vote in the UK elections doesn’t end when Commonwealth membership ends.  The UK’s Electoral Commission told me yesterday, “Commonwealth citizens retain their voting rights even if the country of which they are a national has been suspended from the Commonwealth.”

In addition, citizens living in the UK from 15 ‘British Overseas Territories’ will also have a say on Britain’s future in Europe, including those from Anguilla, Bermuda, Cayman Islands and Montserrat.  The British government has announced that residents of its Overseas Territory, Gibraltar, whether living there or here, will also be able to vote in the Referendum.

Citizens of the British Crown Dependents of the Isle of Man and the Channel Island also have the vote.  And as a result of a special treaty signed between Britain and Ireland, Irish citizens living in the UK will also have a vote in the referendum.

But citizens from 24 EU countries who have made Britain their home, who reside here, work here, pay taxes here and many of whom have started families here, will have no vote on whether Britain will stay a member of the EU, even though the decision directly affects them.   Many of these EU citizens have been living in Britain for over 30 years.  They hadn’t taken out British citizenship because, under EU rules, they all have European Citizenship, meaning that, like all EU nationalities, they can move to any other EU country and enjoy the same rights as native citizens of that country.

Except that residents here from other EU countries do not enjoy the same voting rights as British citizens – or those of over 70 nationalities across the world, who because of Britain’s imperial past, still retain the historical right to vote here in our General Elections and the forthcoming referendum.

EU citizens living in the UK denied a referendum vote include French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Danish, Romanian and Swedish residents  – all denied a vote, whilst those living here from nations including Grenada, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, the Seychelles and Sri Lanka will have a say on Britain’s future in the EU.

Also excluded from the referendum vote will be British citizens who have lived abroad for over 15 years – an arcane rule that the Conservatives promised in their manifesto would be scrapped. But it seems that the rule will not be changed in time for the referendum.

Uniquely for the referendum, members of the House of Lords will be given a vote, but unlike in last year’s Scottish referendum on independence, 16 and 17 year-olds will not. (In the Scottish referendum, EU migrants were also permitted to vote). However, the fact that the UK government can amend the rules on who can vote in the referendum, means that it is politically and practically possible to change the voting franchise for what will be a once-in-a-generation (or-two) event.

Yesterday I contacted No 10 Downing Street, the home of British Prime Minister, David Cameron.  A spokesman told me that the voting rights and rules for the referendum will be broadly the same as those of a British General Election.  But, he added, it would be subject to the consent of Parliament.

Maybe our Members of Parliament will see sense and realise that there is a serious democratic deficit in allowing so many different nationalities to vote in the forthcoming EU referendum, but to specifically exclude most nationalities living here from the rest of Europe, as well as denying a vote to many British people living abroad.  

#EUReferendum: who can and can’t vote and is it fair? Read @Jon_Danzig on our Facebook page http://t.co/nha8RDX0Xa pic.twitter.com/b7U5NoP72U

— New Europeans (@NewEuropeans) May 27, 2015

Other articles by Jon Danzig:

• Can’t vote or don’t vote?
• Britain’s human rights law: endorsed by Churchill, written by British lawyers, adopted by 47 European countries
• Censored by The Daily Telegraph

The post The Referendum – who can and can’t vote? appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

Length of video : 229'
You may manually download this video in WMV (2.5Gb) format

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 European Union and Switzerland on 27 May 2015 signed an agreement on the automatic exchange of financial account information, aimed at improving international tax compliance.

The European Union and Switzerland on 27 May 2015 signed an agreement on the automatic exchange of financial account information, aimed at improving international tax compliance.

The Council on 26 May 2015 participated in a meeting with the European Parliament and the Commission to discuss the issue of the outstanding bills in the EU budget.

The Council on 26 May 2015 participated in a meeting with the European Parliament and the Commission to discuss the issue of the outstanding bills in the EU budget.

http://tvnewsroom.consilium.europa.eu/uploads/council-images/thumbs/uploads/council-images/remote/http_7e18a1c646f5450b9d6d-a75424f262e53e74f9539145894f4378.r8.cf3.rackcdn.com/d526f017a8c95f98d38fd8df19ddb500396d0cc2_thumb_169_1417191349_1417191335_640_361_80_c1_thumb_169_1425316270_1425315999_129_97shar_c1.jpg

In this section you will find footage of the meetings of Donald TUSK, President of the European Council.

Download this video here.

As the final rounds of negotiations with the European Parliament on the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) begin, the Presidency enters them with clear ambition and a mandate from the Council to seal the agreement this Wednesday, 27 May.

As the final rounds of negotiations with the European Parliament on the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) begin, the Presidency enters them with clear ambition and a mandate from the Council to seal the agreement this Wednesday, 27 May.

A reform of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), informally agreed with the Latvian Presidency of the Council of Ministers, was backed by the Environment Committee on Tuesday. The reform aims to reduce the surplus of carbon credits available for trading in order to support the price of the emission rights. The scheme would start operating in 2019.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

A reform of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), informally agreed with the Latvian Presidency of the Council of Ministers, was backed by the Environment Committee on Tuesday. The reform aims to reduce the surplus of carbon credits available for trading in order to support the price of the emission rights. The scheme would start operating in 2019.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

General : The Parliament is updating its position on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), outlining what issues are important to MEPs. The international trade committee, which is the committee in charge, will on Thursday decide on a draft report, providing guidelines to the current negotiations. MEPs will then vote on it during the June plenary. The European Commission conducts the talks on behalf of the EU, but do you know what role the Parliament plays? Read on to find out.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP