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In accordance with the Presidential decree.

Since Sunday night, Spaniards in Brussels must feel a little bit more at home. Following the announcement of electoral results, Spain follows the “Belgian example” meaning entering a period of what appears to be complex coalition negotiations in order to form a government.

Yesterday’s elections did not produce an outright winner. Rather, results highlighted the political impact of the European crisis. Prime Minister Rajoy’s People’s Party (PP) won just 29% of the vote or (123 seats out of the 176 needed to form a government) with the Socialists (PSOE) receiving 22% of votes (90 seats).

While traditional political powers (the Socialists scored their lowest percentage since 1989) lost part of their electorate, new parties capitalized on Spaniards’ austerity and unemployment fatigue. The radical left   Podemos, scored 21% or 69 seats with the liberal Ciudadanos at 14%, which amounts at 40 seats. As in many Southern European countries the political landscape is changing and two party systems are taking the biggest hit.

Similarly to SYRIZA’s successful strategy in Greece, Podemos and Ciudadanos campaigned against corruption and established societal mechanisms. In the backdrop of an economic situation slowly recovering and high levels of unemployment, political parties associated with the establishment gave space to new political powers.

So what comes next? Weeks of negotiations and potentially a new election in the next 3 months. Spain doesn’t have an imminent deadline (the King should appoint a candidate for Prime Minister on 13 January) in order to form a government; however no combination of parties seems to produce a viable solution at this point. What could initially be a minority government led by the People’s Party, could turn into a recipe for disaster facing opposition from the left on structural reform issues.

By contrast, a similar scenario to the Portuguese one in November could emerge. In spite of the conservatives’ winning first place, a coalition government would be formed with the Socialists and Podemos. However, being on the same side of the political spectrum does not equal automatic consensus. The Socialists and Podemos disagree on the contentious issue of Catalan independence, thus making difficult ensure their potential coalition’s stability; particularly considering they would need the support from the smaller regional parties to have a majority.

In these days following the vote, Rajoy would not be the only one scratching his head; Jean-Claude Juncker and his team at the European Commission must be waiting for the situation to unfold with caution, hoping that the Spanish rain would indeed stay mainly in the plains. A temporary political vacuum in Spain, would mean Rajoy remains as interim Prime Minister until a government is appointed yet has much less legitimacy to negotiate in Council and even if/when a “real” government would be formed, the difficulties of domestic alliance building would take precedence over active involvement in EU affairs, in areas such as state aid or agriculture.

With issues such as Brexit coming up in 2016, the benefits of having a stable government proactively working for the European agenda in one of Europe’s largest countries are undeniable; it would enable both for structural reforms to be carried out thus stabilizing the Spanish economy and giving fewer Eurosceptics the opportunity to capitalize on the South’s “lack of capacity” to reform.

In addition, depending on which coalition takes over the issue of Catalan independence could re-emerge. This is the last thing the Commission’s wants in a year where it will have to walk on eggshells in order to avoid the UK leaving the EU in the autumn of 2016.

In the year to come, what Brussels would like is for the EU to project an sunny image of unity over fragmentation. Seeing Spain’s election results, we’re not welcoming 2016 with the best of forecasts…. It looks like quite a bit of rain is coming our way…

Ilektra Tsakalidou & Martin Bresson

Alors que les perquisitions en lien avec les attentats de Paris se sont poursuivies lundi à Bruxelles, les autorités s’organisent pour lutter contre la radicalisation. La commune de Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, sous le feu des critiques depuis le 13 novembre, accusée d’être le « terreau du terrorisme », prend les devants et propose un plan d’action. Le gouvernement doit quant à lui annoncer courant janvier un arsenal de mesures pour différents quartiers bruxellois. Objectif : réduire drastiquement les départs de jeunes Belges vers la Syrie.

Amnesty International accuse les forces de sécurité burundaises d'exécutions extrajudiciaires à Bujumbura lors de la journée du 11 Décembre 2015. Burundi: 12 assaillants tués à Bujumbura UA-Burundi : le congrès va décider Le Burundi récuse la force de l’UA

Roumanie : le retour de la croissance, illusion ou cache-misère ?
Économie : pourquoi les pays des Balkans se sont-ils désindustrialisés ?
Économie : la Roumanie a besoin de bras pour soutenir la croissance
Pour le gouvernement, « la Roumanie est sortie de la crise »
Économie : en Roumanie, 2010 ne sera pas meilleure que 2009
Crise internationale : la Roumanie craint un fort ralentissement de son économie
Emploi et économie en Roumanie : deux ans après l'intégration européenne, quel bilan ?

/ Roumanie, Economie, Courrier des Balkans

Elle est confrontée à une rupture de stock des antirétroviraux. L’Afrique du Sud risque ainsi de passer outre ses engagements internationaux dans la prévention et la lutte contre le virus du Sida.

Elle est confrontée à une rupture de stock des antirétroviraux. L’Afrique du Sud risque ainsi de passer outre ses engagements internationaux dans la prévention et la lutte contre le virus du Sida.

Arrestation au Bénin d’un gendarme accusé d’être impliqué dans la mystérieuse disparition d’une importante quantité de drogue. En cavale depuis des jours, le gendarme nommé Affo Chabi, a-t-on appris, a été arrêté à Parakou, la plus importante ville du nord-Bénin.

Arrestation au Bénin d’un gendarme accusé d’être impliqué dans la mystérieuse disparition d’une importante quantité de drogue. En cavale depuis des jours, le gendarme nommé Affo Chabi, a-t-on appris, a été arrêté à Parakou, la plus importante ville du nord-Bénin.

Bloomberg says the pace at which central banks from Argentina to Azerbaijan surrendered their grip on exchange-rate policy this year is bringing back memories of the 1997 Asian currency crisis.

Dimanche soir, le Parti Populaire du Premier ministre Mariano Rajoy est arrivé en tête des législatives avec 123 députés. Une victoire bien trop courte. Le chef du gouvernement doit maintenant composer avec une ou plusieurs formations pour se maintenir au pouvoir. Mariano Rajoy a multiplié, hier, les appels du pied en direction des différents partis. Sans réponse positive pour le moment.

La justice burkinabè a émis un mandat d’arrêt international contre l’ancien président Blaise Compaoré le 4 décembre dernier dans le dossier sur l'assassinat de Thomas Sankara. Couronnement d’une année de procédure accélérée avec la chute de Blaise Compaoré le 31 octobre 2014, cette mesure est « un pas vers la vérité », estiment l'entourage du président Sankara.

Pour la rétrospective de l’année 2015, nous vous proposons de découvrir les coulisses d’une sélection d’articles publiés tout au long de l’année dans le magazine Air actualités. Souvenirs, anecdotes… Tout vous est révélé en exclusivité.Retour sur l’accident aérien d’Albacete, événement tragique qui a marqué l’année 2015, avec le lieutenant Christelle Hingant.

Despite the agenda, the Cotonou Agreement (signed in June 2000, entered into force in 2003; between EU and ACP countries) was not revised in 2015, but the preparation work of an Post-Cotonou Agreement will be launched.

Tag: Cotonou

Des retraités fréquentent les casinos ou grattent des billets pour tromper l’ennui. La prévention se met en place.

Au Burundi, les représentants du peuple (députés) et la population à la base ne parlent plus d’une même voix. Le clivage est perceptible et les points de vue diffèrent. En effet, l’envoi d’une mission de l’Union africaine pour la prévention et la protection des civils divisent les burundais.

Au Burundi, les représentants du peuple (députés) et la population à la base ne parlent plus d’une même voix. Le clivage est perceptible et les points de vue diffèrent. En effet, l’envoi d’une mission de l’Union africaine pour la prévention et la protection des civils divisent les burundais.

Macky Sall, le Président du Sénégal n’a pas encore jugé utile de s’expliquer sur les accablantes révélations de Lamine Diack qui aurait financé une partie de l’opposition politique à laquelle il appartenait. L’affaire fait grand bruit. Des membres du gouvernement sénégalais sont montés au créneau pour démentir ces accusations. Seulement, ils n’ont pas encore convaincu l’opposition politique qui exprime un agacement face au silence du Président Macky Sall.

Macky Sall, le Président du Sénégal n’a pas encore jugé utile de s’expliquer sur les accablantes révélations de Lamine Diack qui aurait financé une partie de l’opposition politique à laquelle il appartenait. L’affaire fait grand bruit. Des membres du gouvernement sénégalais sont montés au créneau pour démentir ces accusations. Seulement, ils n’ont pas encore convaincu l’opposition politique qui exprime un agacement face au silence du Président Macky Sall.

Vasu Gounden, ACCORD's Chief, addresses high level expert group on climate and migration.

By Vasu Gounden
DURBAN, Dec 22 2015 (IPS)

On 21 November 2015, during ACCORD’s 2015 Africa Peace Award celebration, I made a call for the United Nations to convene the first ever UN Global Conference on Peace.

The call was made during the presentation of the Africa Peace Award to the African Union Commission (AUC), in recognition of its central role in contributing to peace and promoting development in Africa. The award was made at a gala dinner by the Chairperson of ACCORD, Madame Graca Machel, and received on behalf of the AUC by Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Chairperson of the AUC.

Over the past few months, our television screens and social media have again exposed us to the graphic nightmares currently plaguing humanity. Terrorism, violent uprisings, and devastating conflicts now afflict several parts of the world, with no corner of our planet immune to either these challenges or their consequences.

Conflicts throughout the world have multiplied in complexity and intensity. The previous paradigm of warfare, where two nations fight one another across borders, is no longer the norm. Today internal conflicts around a number of grievances dominate, and are complicated by the rapid expansion of amorphous groups of radicalised and militant individuals.

As evidenced by the current challenges in Syria and Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Yemen and Ukraine, the consequences of the violence are devastating and will scar these societies for generations to come. Our global community can no longer afford to pursue exclusively military-oriented responses, nor can states afford to remain indifferent to situations that are beyond their immediate concerns or borders. We need a new paradigm for peace.

With an exponentially growing population, unprecedented urbanisation often into unplanned cities, destabilising climate change, a shaky global financial system, growing unemployment, mass migration, and expanding wealth inequality, our planet is in a race against time to create a sustainable future and prevent these global challenges from accelerating and entrenching global instability.

As our work on climate change has shown, challenges such as these can trigger conflict and so even adaptation measures need to be conflict sensitive. While humanity is equipped with unprecedented technological advancements and incredible demographic opportunities to build a better future, we must channel the collective expertise of our global community to find sustainable and transformative pathways forward. The need for sustainable global peace is urgent and the stakes are rising as the challenges deepen. The choice of inaction could close the door on the future for which many strive. We must act quickly!

Collective political dialogue is the only true pathway to begin addressing inter-connected challenges in a sustainable and holistic manner. Over our 23-year history and through engagements with governments, armed groups, civil society, and regional, continental, and multi-lateral bodies, ACCORD has found this maxim to be true.

Our global systems for peace have grown more fragile and stressed just as our conflicts and challenges have evolved with ever increasing complexity. Our dialogue must focus on strategies to resolve current crises, prevent future deterioration, and ensure that peace and prosperity finally take root equitably and sustainably. Further, an urgent need exists to promote critical reflection, earnest debate and mutual solidarity amongst all people. We must underpin these efforts by shepherding a collective shift from an exclusive focus on ‘national interest’ to a collective focus on ‘global responsibility’. There are no easy answers, and no nation on its own has the solution for the challenges of today and more importantly the challenges of tomorrow.

Since its inception the United Nations has convened a number of World Conferences. However, to this day there has not been a UN-sponsored World Conference focused explicitly on peace. Bringing the entire community of humanity under one forum to deliberate earnestly has in the past contributed to tangible landmark global commitments from governments, the private sector and non-state actors alike. Our institutions and processes often limit discussion but a global conference creates a space where all are placed on an equal footing. Many of the current achievements on human rights, social development, climate change, and gender were built on the fresh foundations created by global conferences and dialogue. Such foundations create paradigm shifts, which then lead to practical outcomes.

It is our hope therefore that the Republic of South Africa, in collaboration with other African nations and under the auspices of the African Union, can propose to the UN General Assembly to host the first ever UN Global Conference on Peace in 2019 in Durban, on the 25th anniversary of South Africa’s democracy.

In advance of such a UN Global Conference on Peace and to support a global debate on peace we intend to assemble a multi-disciplinary gathering of experts from around the world in 2017, two years prior to the UN gathering.

As we face our future together we remember that South Africa’s peaceful transition was the result of collective global action and the struggle and outcome gave inspiration and courage to many. Unanimous and collective opposition to apartheid, from Africa and beyond, were critical in supporting the emergence of a peaceful and democratic South Africa against expectations and great odds. We therefore call the entire world to join once more in a free and peaceful South Africa, in the same spirit of collective unity, to begin charting a way forward to deliver global peace.

Now is the time!

(End)