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(B2) Cent militaires supplémentaires de la 6e Brigade de chasseurs (Jägerbrigade) ont été mis en alerte pour faire face à la situation des réfugiés dans le Tyrol. 1650 soldats sont déjà déployés dans tout le pays en appui de la police, pour des missions d’assistance aux réfugiés et de sécurité, précise-t-on à Vienne. Ce qui témoigne de la gravité de la situation.

Le service d'espionnage de la Stasi a recruté l'agent Gaby, qui fait carrière au sein du service de renseignement ouest-allemand : le BND. Elle atteint le poste de directrice adjointe du service politique URSS, elle fournit à la STASI des analyses sur les intentions de l'ouest vis-à-vis de l'Union Soviétique. Curieusement, c'est par le biais du BND, que la STASI avait une vue d'ensemble des activités des alliés : 
"Les rapports [de Gaby] nous donnaient aussi des pistes sur de possibles agents du BND à l'est. Plus important, nous avions une vue plus large du monde au travers de ce que le BND appelait les informations au "ruban jaune", au sujet desquelles on sait très peu de choses. C'était le résultat de l'espionnage par le BND des propres alliés de la République Fédérale. La plupart de ces informations provenait d'une station d'écoute allemande, nom de code "Eismeer" (mer polaire), située près de Conil et Cadiz sur la côte atlantique de l'Espagne. Cette station d'écoute avait été créée dans les années 30, quand le régime nazi entretenait d'étroites relations avec l'Espagne de Franco. L'opération, qui portait le nom de code de "Delikatesse", consistait à espionner les lignes de communication  entre l'Afrique de l'Ouest et l'Europe et entre l'Amérique du Nord et du Sud, qui étaient utilisées par la CIA et les ambassades américaines. Toutes les transcriptions du BND qui concernaient des partenaires de la RFA portaient un ruban jaune afin de s'assurer qu'elles ne soient pas transmises accidentellement, de peur que les Alliés n'apprennent ce que la RFA avait entendu. La RFA, avec ses services secrets possédant les compétences techniques et des officiers de police munis d'outils de décryptage, pouvait théoriquement décoder les signaux de 14 nations alliées. Elle entretenait un partenariat très étroit avec les services secrets turcs, et pendant la guerre des Malouines en 1982, c'était le seul service capable de décoder les messages radios argentins pour le compte des Britanniques. L'efficacité technologique des services secrets ouest-allemands, et notre capacité à nous en servir grâce à Gaby et à d'autres sources, nous permettait de nous reposer sur eux. L'Allemagne de l'ouest faisait le sale travail d'espionner les USA, et nous volions leurs informations."
Markus Wolf, in "Memoirs of a spymaster : the man who waged a secret war against the West" pp 149-150

Le président LR et son homologue UDI étaient lundi soir les invités d'un meeting de la campagne des régionales en Pays de la Loire.

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Speeches by Donald TUSK, President of the European Council.

Download this video here.

Bár a megroppant bizalmat jelentős részben sikerült helyreállítani, Athén és a hitelezők között rendületlenül folyik a kötélhúzás a görög kormány által bevállalt gazdasági és pénzügyi reformok teljesítése körül. Ennek jeleként a soron következő görög kölcsönök folyósítása egyelőre várat magára.

La tête de liste PS pour les élections régionales en Ile-de-France, Claude Bartolone, a annoncé qu'il allait «saisir la commission des sondages», après la publication ce lundi d'une étude Opinionway pour...

Quelque 47% des Français estiment qu'Alain Juppé serait «un bon président de la République», très loin devant les autres personnalités politiques, qui décrochent, selon une enquête Viavoice à paraître...

A közkívánat ellenére ismét a képernyőkön az Európai Unió legidegölőbb folytatásos teleregénye.

A közkívánat ellenére ismét a képernyőkön az Európai Unió legidegölőbb folytatásos teleregénye.

Malgré les violences qui frappent à nouveau Bangui depuis le mois de septembre, un calendrier électoral a été annoncé lundi par les autorités centrafricaines. Les législatives et la présidentielle se tiendront le 27 décembre.

Good evening and welcome to the Eurogroup press conference.
First of all we discussed the Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive (BRRD) and specifically the setting up of the Single Resolution Board (SRB). Ms Elke König was with us and informed us on all the preparations they are doing to have the SRB up and running on the 1 January 2016. A lot of work has to be done - the organisation has to be put up, rules and regulations have to be designed etc., so we were very impressed by the work she has done so far and hope to welcome her in the Eurogroup on a more regular basis. There were two issues that she draw to our attention:

1. Setting up of the national credit lines. That will also be on the agenda of tomorrows Economic and Financial Affairs Council;
2. Timely ratification of the Intergovernmental Agreement and transposition of the BRRD by all the Member States.

I am happy to inform you that the Dutch Senate will vote on the last part of legislation tomorrow (10 November 2015) so knock on wood. Then we will have our work done, and all that in preparation for 1 January 2016, of course.

The second issue on our agenda was Greece. We were informed by the Commission, the ECB and the IMF on the state of play, and by the ESM. A lot of progress and work has been done in terms of programme implementation, further development and it has been a very cooperative process. This has been emphasised by all sides. So that was very good news.

We've also taken stock of the ongoing recapitalisation exercise with Greek banks. There too a lot of work has been done and the size of the recapitalisation is smaller than expected earlier, and actually the speed of the process is also going quite smoothly so far. The next thing to do is to have all the financial sector measures in place before the completion of the recapitalisation process. Our Greek colleague Efkleidis Tsakalotos gave his commitment to get that done. There are open issues which you may have heard about which have to do with nonperforming loans, and more specifically household insolvency. So more work needs to be done to get an agreement also on those issues. Implementation needs to be finished over the course of the coming week. All of that is necessary to finalise the process of the recapitalisation. As you remember €10 billion has already been put in a segregated account in the ESM, which is ready if needed and when needed for the recapitalisation process, but of course the agreed conditions need to be met.

So there are two key issues - one is about the governance of the banks, and the other key issue still to be resolved is about household insolvency. So those conditions are to be met in the coming days. We have mandated the Euro Working Group to reconvene at the latest at the beginning of the next week to take stock of the compliance report from the institutions. Hopefully the whole first set will be implemented, but also some of the key issues regarding the governance of the banks will be put in place. And then at the beginning of the next week the EWG can assess that and come to a positive conclusion, which will then be followed by an ESM Board of Governance meeting because they in the end have to take the decisions to make available the €10 billion, or less if less is needed at that point. So that's the process that we've outlined for the coming days and we are all committed to get that done in time. 

Let me quickly mention a couple of other issues on our agenda. We were informed, on the basis of the autumn forecast, of the ongoing economic recovery in the euro area. The recovery will continue despite some global economic issues which we are all aware off. There was great consensus that at the same time we need to use this period and the benign circumstances to push forward structural reforms to get higher potential growth in the euro area. 

On the future of the monetary union, we had an initial exchange of views on the follow-up to the 5 Presidents' report. In October the Commission presented its first proposals on economic governance and today we had a first round of debate on that, and specifically on external representation. Not much I can say about that. It was a first round, and on some other issues like the Fiscal Board and the Competitiveness Authorities. The debate on those governance issues will be on the Ecofin agenda tomorrow, so we'll pick up on that from there. 

These were the main highlights from me.

Támogatóközpontokat létesítene az EU a nyugat-balkáni menekülő-útvonal mentén. Magyarország kimarad az érdemi tárgyalásokból.

Támogatóközpontokat létesítene az EU a nyugat-balkáni menekülő-útvonal mentén. Magyarország kimarad az érdemi tárgyalásokból.

La tête de file FN de la région Île-de-France , Wallerand de Saint-Just s'est moqué sur Twitter du rappeur Booba. Il espère une réponse du rappeur, habitué à répondre du tac au tac.

A hotspot koncepció korlátaival szembesülve az EU28-ak most a tranzitországokban mérlegelik támogató központok létrehozását a menekültek fogadásával megbirkózni képtelen Görögország tehermentesítése és a menekültek mozgásának lelassítása érdekében – jelentette be a belügyminiszterek informális ülését követően Jean Asselborn, luxemburgi miniszter és Dimitrisz Avramopulosz, az EU menekültügyi biztosa.

Le Conseil de sécurité de l’ONU se réunit lundi pour examiner la situation au Burundi, où près de 200 personnes sont mortes depuis fin avril. Pour Thierry Vircoulon, de l'International Crisis Group, cette crise pourrait s'enliser. Entretien.

The Council, in full cooperation with the Commission, having in mind the necessity to safeguard the functioning of the Schengen area and to reduce migratory pressures, agreed the following measures to implement fully the orientations already agreed by the European Council and the Council in compliance with EU acquis. It decided:

1.             to encourage Member States and relevant third countries to intensify ongoing efforts to substantially increase reception capacities, for which the Council welcomes rapid identification by the Commission of additional financial support for affected countries and for the UNHCR;

2.             that the establishment of hotspots in Italy and Greece will be intensified, with support of the Member States, the Commission, Frontex and EASO, so that all of these function by end of November 2015 as previously agreed;

3.             that all participating Member States will speed up the relocation process, notably by communicating their capacities for first relocations and by nominating as appropriate relocation liaison officers to Italy and Greece, preferably by 16 November 2015. In parallel, Italy and Greece will substantially accelerate the preparatory steps necessary for relocation. The Council and the Commission support Italy and Greece in their decisions to register migrants before further handling their case on the mainland, in particular with Eurodac machines provided by Member States. Member States endeavour to fill by 16 November 2015 the remaining gaps in the calls for contribution from Frontex and EASO, which will simplify the profiles required and the appointing procedures;

4.             that Member States, with the full support of the Commission and Frontex, will substantially improve the return rate. Member States should also provide return experts for the pool of European Return Liaison Officers for rapid deployment;

5.             that Member States, to overcome the potential lack of cooperation of migrants as they arrive into the European Union and while fully respecting the fundamental rights and the principle of non-refoulement, will make use of possibilities provided by the EU acquis, such as (1) asylum procedures at borders or transit zones; (2) accelerated procedures; (3) non-admissibility of subsequent asylum applications by the individuals concerned; (4) coercive measures, including, as a last resort, detention for a maximum period necessary for the completion of underlying procedures. In addition to existing guidelines on systematic fingerprinting, the Commission is invited to issue, in cooperation with EASO and Frontex, further practical guidance on the consequences of the registering obligations in the light of the Dublin rules, the relocation decisions and the international readmission obligations.

Furthermore, the Council agrees to explore the concept of processing centres in countries where the hotspot approach has not been implemented, supported by the Commission and relevant EU agencies, in order to organise access to international protection and/or for the purpose of return;

6.             to fully support the Commission in pursuing contingency planning of humanitarian assistance for the Western Balkans, in light of the approaching winter. The Union civil protection mechanism should be used to the maximum possible extent. The Council encourages Member States to provide further assistance through this mechanism;

7.             as regards controls for entry and exit at external borders, to assist the Member States concerned in respecting their legal obligation to perform adequate controls, to manage and to regain controls of the external borders and increase coordination of actions relating to border management. This will involve a range of supporting measures by Frontex, gradually extending, as necessary, to the deployment of Rapid Border Intervention Teams (RABITs) in accordance with EU rules;

8.             to support the upscaling by 1 December 2015 of the Poseidon Sea Joint Operation in Greece within the current operational plan;

9.             to conduct at the December Justice and Home Affairs Council, on the basis of the 8th bi-annual reporting by the Commission, a thorough debate on the functioning of the Schengen area (1 May 2015 - 31 October 2015) and on the lessons learned from temporary reintroductions of controls at internal borders;

10.         to invite Europol to accelerate the establishment of the European Migrant Smuggling Centre (EMSC) to strengthen its capacity to support Member States in better preventing and fighting against migrant smuggling. The EMSC will encompass the Joint Operational Team (JOT) Mare initiative and further extend Europol actions, including with a focus on the Western Balkans area, in close cooperation with all relevant EU agencies, and in particular Frontex and Eurojust. The swift and effective deployment of officers at the hotspots on key migratory routes should be a component of this approach;

11.         to invite Member States, in coordination with the Commission, to set up by 1 December 2015 a network of single operational contact points on migrant smuggling, as set out in the EU Action Plan against Migrant Smuggling 2015-2020, while stepping up their efforts to intensify investigation and prosecution of migrant smugglers and traffickers;

12.         to continue examining pending legislative proposals on a crisis relocation mechanism and on safe countries of origin as already planned, as well as on other priority actions such as on the adaptation of the Dublin system and on the gradual establishment of an integrated management system for external borders;

13.         to invite the Commission and the High Representative to press for practical results on return and readmission in their bilateral dialogues, notably during the upcoming high-level meetings with Afghanistan, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, Tunisia and Turkey. By its next meeting on 3-4 December, the Council expects a first progress report on these dialogues. This will allow to exchange views on the appropriate incentive packages to be used vis-à-vis third countries;

14.         that the first European Migration Liaison Officers (EMLOs) should be deployed as a matter of priority to Ethiopia, Niger, Pakistan and Serbia by the end of January 2016;

15.         to reiterate the importance of Member States' resettlement activities to address the migration crisis, noting progress on this so far including at EU level. The Council agrees that further efforts should be made to enhance resettlement opportunities with an emphasis on certain priority third countries. It invites the Commission to continue its work on resettlement as a matter of priority;

16.         in order to secure concrete steps on border control, on the prevention of irregular migration and on the fight against trafficking and smuggling of migrants, to support accelerating the fulfilment of the visa liberalisation roadmap with Turkey towards all participating Member States and the full implementation of the readmission agreement, in the context of the enhanced cooperation foreseen in the action plan;

17.         to define, as a matter of urgency, a common information strategy addressed to asylum seekers, migrants, smugglers and traffickers aiming at (1) discouraging migrants to embark on perilous journey and to have recourse to smugglers, (2) explaining how EU rules on the management of external borders and international protection operate, including resettlement, relocation and return, (3) disseminating counter-narratives to the ones being used by the traffickers and smugglers of migrants, (4) informing about criminal prosecutions against traffickers and smugglers and (5) informing about return operations. As part of an information strategy geared at reducing pull factors, it should be clearly explained that migrants must register in their first Member State of arrival; that, under EU law, asylum seekers have no right to choose the Member State responsible for examining their application; and that migrants without a need of protection will be swiftly returned. Furthermore, a clear message should be passed that migrants cannot refuse to cooperate with the relevant national authorities. Henceforth, all necessary measures will be taken by Member States to prevent, deter and draw the consequences of such movements and non-cooperation. The Commission will pull together in the coming days a dedicated team from all relevant institutional actors to deliver on these objectives and will inform about the implementation at the Council meeting on 3-4 December 2015; 

18.             to support the Presidency's decision to upgrade the activation of the Integrated Political Crisis Response (IPCR) from information-sharing to full activation mode including by providing information to feed the ISAA process, by contributing to the identification of operational gaps and by supporting communication activities, thereby improving political coordination and decision-making process at EU level. In this framework, on the basis of the needs and gaps identified in the ISAA reports, roundtables will be convened regularly for the management of the migration crisis, bringing together appropriate expertise in order to allow a timely policy coordination and response at EU level, in particular on the implementation of interlinked measures on borders, reception capacities, hotspots and returns, on financial and human resources pledges and on operational and logistical priorities.

The Council (Competitiveness) took stock of the serious challenges faced currently by the European Steel industry. 

The EU steel sector suffers from major global overcapacity in production, which pushes down prices and encourages trade distorting behaviour from competing regions. High energy costs are eroding margins. And the resulting closure of steel plants is costing thousands of jobs. 

The Council agreed on the gravity of the situation as well as on the need to take concrete actions that will help ensure the long-term viability of a modern European steel sector. 

The Council also considered that these measures should be part of a comprehensive approach aiming at creating competitive framework conditions for EU industry as a whole, including through a predictable and consistent regulatory environment as well as measures to stimulate innovation, since many of the issues faced by the steel sector are shared by other energy intensive industries. 

Taking into account the results of the Council discussion, the Presidency considers that the following concrete actions should be taken as a matter of priority: 

• To intensify or launch discussions involving all important steel producers in the context of the OECD Steel Committee and through the Commission's bilateral steel dialogues with third countries like China, Russia, Belarus, Turkey and India.
• To make full and timely use of the full range of EU trade policy instruments to ensure a global level playing field and to address restrictive measures in third countries in particular as regards the steel sector.
• To take a constructive approach when it comes to the modernisation of Trade Defense Instruments that further streamline and expedite their operation, increase transparency, predictability, effectiveness and enforcement.
• To further improve access for the EU steel industry to third markets, including through public procurement, through bilateral and multilateral negotiations and implementation.
• To make full use of the Investment Plan for Europe to upgrade and modernise the steel sector through use of the European Investment Advisory Hub and the European Fund for Strategic Investments.
• To make best use of the possibilities given under the revised State Aid rules to support Energy Intensive Industries in R&D&I, training, environment, employment and ETS costs.
• To improve the competitiveness of sectors most at risk of carbon leakage, including the steel industry, by considering, as part of the reform of the European emissions trading system (“EU ETS”):
  - a more focused mechanism for free allocation of allowances, for example through a tiered approach;
  - elements to minimise the need for a cross-sectoral correction factor by the end of ETS phase IV, while creating the right incentives for industrial innovation and enhancing the possibility to increase production levels, in line with the conclusions of the October 2014 European Council.
• To support the swift implementation of the European Energy Union to ensure access to secure, affordable and climate-friendly energy.
• To fully exploit the possibilities under the forthcoming Communication on the Circular Economy.
• To make best use of the available EU instruments and funding, such as the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund and the European Social Fund, for upskilling workers and facilitate their re-integration into the labour market in case of mass redundancies in any industrial sector, including the steel industry.

To follow up on this extraordinary meeting of the Competitiveness Council, it has been agreed to call for a special High Level stakeholders' conference, involving the social partners, to review the current situation and consider policy actions, in the context of the ongoing work of the High Level Group on Energy Intensive Industries.

The implementation of the 2013 European Steel Action Plan should be assessed in the context of that meeting.