European Union

Plans for stricter monitoring and certification procedures to ensure full compliance and traceability of medical devices, such as breast or hip implants, were backed by Health Committee MEPs on Wednesday. MEPs also approved legislation to tighten up information and ethical requirements for diagnostic medical devices used for example in pregnancy or DNA testing. Both files were informally agreed with the Dutch Presidency of the Council.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plans for stricter monitoring and certification procedures to ensure full compliance and traceability of medical devices, such as breast or hip implants, were backed by Health Committee MEPs on Wednesday. MEPs also approved legislation to tighten up information and ethical requirements for diagnostic medical devices used for example in pregnancy or DNA testing. Both files were informally agreed with the Dutch Presidency of the Council.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Sugary drinks and energy drinks containing caffeine should not display claims that they help increase alertness or concentration, as this would encourage high consumption of sugar among adolescents, who are the largest group of energy drink consumers, said Health committee MEPs in a resolution voted on Wednesday.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Sugary drinks and energy drinks containing caffeine should not display claims that they help increase alertness or concentration, as this would encourage high consumption of sugar among adolescents, who are the largest group of energy drink consumers, said Health committee MEPs in a resolution voted on Wednesday.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Budgets Committee MEPs approved €1,824,041 in EU aid on Wednesday to support the reintegration in the labour market of 488 workers made redundant by several manufacturers of construction machinery in Wallonia. A further 300 young unemployed people should also benefit. The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) aid still needs to be approved by Parliament as a whole and by the Council of Ministers.
Committee on Budgets

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Budgets Committee MEPs approved €1,824,041 in EU aid on Wednesday to support the reintegration in the labour market of 488 workers made redundant by several manufacturers of construction machinery in Wallonia. A further 300 young unemployed people should also benefit. The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) aid still needs to be approved by Parliament as a whole and by the Council of Ministers.
Committee on Budgets

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

General : Local governance, stepping up intra-ACP trade and common management of ACP-EU migration were among the topics discussed by the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) at its 31st session, which closed on Wednesday 15 June, in Windhoek, Namibia.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

General : Local governance, stepping up intra-ACP trade and common management of ACP-EU migration were among the topics discussed by the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) at its 31st session, which closed on Wednesday 15 June, in Windhoek, Namibia.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

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The partnership between Ethiopia and the EU is based on the Africa-EU strategic partnership and the Cotonou Agreement, which defines relations between the EU and Africa collectively, and between the EU and ACP countries. Article 8 of the Cotonou Agreement provides the basis for political relations and dialogue between Ethiopia and the EU.

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Hillary Clinton won the District of Columbia primary on Tuesday with a resounding 79%, in what was the end of open primaries.

On Tuesday evening Hillary Clinton and Senator Sanders had a 90-minute private meeting with Bernie Sanders, Reuters reports. Sanders has yet to concede let alone endorse Clinton, but both campaigns described the meeting as “positive.” The meeting was joined by Sanders’ wife, Jane, Clinton’s campaign managers, John Podesta and Robby Mook, and the Vermont Senators campaign chief, Jeff Weaver.

The two candidates said they would jointly address issues such as minimum wage, campaign financing, access to College education and healthcare in a clear sign that Hillary Clinton is willing to heed Sanders’ policy agenda.

Michael Briggs from the Sanders’ campaign said they two candidates also discussed “the dangerous threat that Donald Trump poses to our nation.”

Meanwhile, following President Obama, left wing liberal Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts endorsed Hillary Clinton, in what is a clear signal the party is forming a common front against Trump.

However, Sanders is still demanding changes in the party, leaving little scope for compromise. Among other things he is demanding changes in the Democratic National Committee leadership, eliminating unelected superdelegates, and opening primaries to so-called “independents” (non-members).

In doing so, he remains true to his initial commitment to lead a “political revolution” in a system of nominations within the Democratic Party he has time and again called “rigged.”

Meanwhile, Sanders has begun deploying some of his crowdfunded money and national attention to boost the chances of progressive liberals campaigning to gain the nomination for a Democratic ticket to contest Senate seats. He is starting with $2,4 million.

Sanders earned nearly 10 million votes and 22 states during the nominating process. Several polls, including an Ipsos/Reuters one in May, suggest that 59% of Sanders’ followers are unwilling to “convert” to Clinton.

(Reuters, CNN, NBC)

The post Sanders begins policy negotiations with Clinton appeared first on New Europe.

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The spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians says a historic meeting of church leaders — the first in more than a millennium — is to take place despite a pullout by Russia, the fourth Orthodox church to say it won’t attend the June gathering in Crete.

Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, who ranks as “the first among equals,” said on Wednesday that he hopes the Russian church and three others who have chosen not to come will change their minds.

The week-long Holy and Great Council, which is to begin on Sunday, was meant to bring together leaders of 14 independent Orthodox churches to promote unity among the world’s 300 million Orthodox Christians.

The gathering on the island of Crete has been 55 years in preparation and planning.

The post Orthodox Synod to take place despite new pullout, by Russia appeared first on New Europe.

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Caste atrocities remain an everyday reality for millions of people in India. The Dalits, who are condemned at the bottom of the heap, feel that a new “sophisticated architecture” of inequality is also in place.

As reported by The Hindustan Times, they remain under-represented in public positions. But it is not just a tale of victimhood. Dalits today are more organised and connected. They see themselves as a part of an assertive movement of social justice. They have sympathy for Dalit parties, but criticise the failures. They worry caste is getting reinforced, rather than annihilated.

From a village in Unnao, Rawat has come a long way. He recently finished his PhD on contemporary Dalit movement. In an interview with The Hindustan Times, he said: “Twenty years ago, my teacher – a Tiwari – in the village used to mock us and say even if three generations of your family come together, you will not be able to study… I credit the state for this hostel room, for a fellowship, for creating a public university which enabled me to finish a PhD.”

Rawat is quick to underscore that that does little to compensate for the persistent discrimination. The National Crime Records Bureau data shows that the number of incidents of atrocities against Scheduled Castes increased from 39,408 in 2013 to over 47,000 in 2014. In UP, there were 5,784 incidents in 2012, 6,617 incidents in 2013, and 7,577 incidents in 2014.

“I did my fieldwork and across villages in MP’s Ratlam found persistent untouchability,” said Mhow.

The statistics do not capture the more insidious forms of prejudice – separate plates at a wedding, the decision not to rent out a house as soon as the tenant is found to be a Dalit, the quiet whispers in offices that someone has come from “quota” and the insistence that one’s son or daughter cannot marry ‘below’ caste.

But it is the new forms of inequality – for instance, in access to quality education – which worry younger Dalits more.

One well-known Dalit activist in Lucknow, Ram Kumar, said: “Since children of decision-makers don’t use public education, they do little to improve it. You are depriving Dalits of skills and education to compete at this stage itself.” He argued that in the old days, upper castes used the stick and law to prevent others from getting educated. “Now it is a more sophisticated architecture.”

According to Chandrabhan Prasad, a key Dalit thinker, the English language, urbanisation and capitalism will decrease the salience of caste. A new generation of Dalit entrepreneurs has risen. Others in the movement see it as positive, but then question the exclusionary and unrepresentative nature of the private sector. They also believe that this cannot be a substitute for state welfare and social reform, reported The Hindustan Times.

The post A new Dalit movement unfolds in India appeared first on New Europe.

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Romania will reopen the investigation of 1,104 killings of demonstrators during the 1989 uprising that led to the overthrow of the Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, AP reports.

Romania has failed to investigate the circumstances of the shooting with live ammunition against demonstrators on Dec. 17-30, 1989. Until October 2015 the investigation was regarded as classified. However, the interim prosecutor general Bogdan Licu moved to call the classification “unfounded and illegal.”

On Monday, June 13, the High Court of Causation and Justice ruled the investigation can formally reopen. The case made by the Prosecutor General also reflected the pressure by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, which ruled in April that Romania must pay restitution to families of the victims.

Military prosecutors have habitually attributed many of the deaths as caused by “friendly-fire” or soldiers affected by “fatigue and stress,” Romania-Insider reports.

(AP, Romania Insider)

The post Romania reopens probe on the killing of 1989 demonstrators appeared first on New Europe.

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Germany’s Justice Minister Heiko Maas says he wants to clamp down on polygamy, which many say is unofficially tolerated by local councils. But the minister has yet to propose any actual measures.

As reported by Germany’s international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle (DW), Maas has promised to prevent Muslims in Germany from maintaining multiple marriages.

“No one who comes to us has the right to put their cultural roots, or their religious beliefs, above our laws,” Maas told Germany’s Bild newspaper in an interview published on June 14. “For that reason multiple marriages cannot be recognised in Germany.”

Though polygamy is already outlawed in Germany, the newspaper alleged that German authorities “often look the other way” if a Muslim migrant brings several wives into the country.

According to DW, polygamy is not only illegal in Germany, it is a criminal offense, and authorities cannot register more than one woman as a wife to the same man, migrant or not. But some say Germany has offered de facto legitimacy to polygamy in the past.

Nevertheless, a migrant coming to Germany with more than one wife cannot legally have all of them legitimately recognised by the state. However, in cases where the husband dies, local authorities often simply divide his pension among several wives, even though he officially only had one.

Though Maas did not bring up such examples – and the Justice Ministry declined DW’s invitation to elaborate on the Bild report, his statement could be read as a warning to local authorities to stop such practices.

In a separate report, the Agence France-Presse (AFP) noted that Maas also wants to outlaw marriages involving a minor for fear that the underage individual has been forced into marrying.

According to Unicef, child marriages (where at least one spouse is under 18) account for 40% of all marriages in Afghanistan, from where one of the biggest groups of recent refugees to Germany come.

A justice ministry spokeswoman said on June 13 she did not have nationwide data, but stressed that “child marriages are not accepted in Germany, and they will not be recognised”.

The post Germany gets tough on religious polygamy appeared first on New Europe.

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A British Islamic Scholar visiting Australia has left the country on Tuesday evening following an outcry over his homophobic views.

Prime Minister Turnbull requested a review of his visa of Sheikh Farrokh Sekaleshfar as it was revealed the man had a record of homophobic hate preaching, inciting to violenece.

The Shiekh insists he was leaving Australia after consultations with the Muslim community rather than fear of being deported. Minister for Immigration Peter Dutton confirmed on Wednesday that the case had not been reviewed. However, Dutton welcomed his decision and said it would be impossible for him to return and that his visa has been cancelled.

Sheikh Farrokh Sekaleshfar was visiting Sydney in his capacity as a scholar, to address and audience at the Imam Husain Islamic Centre.

He is accused of making anti-homosexual comments at the University of Michigan in 2013, where he said that “Death is the sentence” for gay sex acts in public.

The Sheikh said his comments were made in an academic setting and were taken out of context, ABC reports. He regrets that they were filmed and published online. He also said he regrets the Orlando shooting and called Omar Marteen an “animal.”

If reelected, Turnbull vowed to keep people convicted of terrorism in jail even after their sentence has been served if a court rules that they continue to pose a threat. Opposition leader Bill Shorten was asking how a cleric holding such “despicable, abhorrent views of gay hate” was granted a visa.

(AP, ABC, Aljazeera, DW,  Reuters)

The post Homophobic British Islamic Scholar forced to leave Australia appeared first on New Europe.

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In response to growing speculation that Denmark would be the first to leave the European Union in a domino effect triggered by Brexit – shorthand for the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU, Denmark’s former Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt says it isn’t so.

When asked, at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women event in London, whether Denmark would leave the EU if Britain did, Thorning-Schmidt poured cold water on the suggestion, reported The Spectator.

The former Social Democrat politician, who is the current chief executive of Save the Children, said the majority of Danes want to remain in the EU – even though they voted against closer ties in a referendum in December.

“The Danish discussion is quite different from the British discussion. If you asked the Danes if they want to leave the EU or stay, you’ll get a majority that want to stay,” he said.

Although Thorning-Schmidt, concedes that a lot of Danes don’t like the EU, she argues that they understand deep down that the pros outweigh the cons. “Everyone knows that the EU is not perfect, but deep down I think a lot of Danish know how much we gain economically, culturally in terms of our freedom by being part of the EU.”

The post Brexit won’t lead to Dexit, says Denmark’s former PM appeared first on New Europe.

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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, 2016 - EP