Agrégateur de flux

A CNN egyik alapítója, Reese Schonfeld szerint a Nyugat hatalmas hibát követ el azzal, hogy Vlagyimir Putyint a "gonosz megtestesülésének" és elsőszámú ellenségképnek nyilvánítja.

2015 promises to be a year of change. With elections fast approaching in Finland, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Spain, Poland and Ireland voters seem to want to reject the status quo. While everyone is talking about the Greek debt negotiations and the rise of Podemos in Spain, in the North of Europe, an important election has skipped many people’s radar.

Finland, Europe’s tough fiscal hawk, is likely to face a change of government after Sunday’s election. The change is likely to come about due to a slowing Finnish economy and what Prime Minister Alexander Stubb called a “lost decade” with recession entering into its third consecutive year, unemployment growing and competitiveness declining. Thus similar to other struggling economies in Europe, Finland is experiencing economic hardships which in the eyes of nearly all parties can only be resolved through harsh labour market reforms and fiscal austerity. In contrast, however, to the trend in the South where such policies led to public discontent and a steep increase in popular support for anti-EU parties, Finland is experiencing a revival of the established parties, while the Finnish anti-EU party, the Finns, however, is falling behind their landslide successes from the previous election in 2011.

Will they vote for anti-establishment?

Watch out – The Finns are coming…

Despite the decline in popularity of his anti-establishment party, Timo Soini, the Finn´s leader, might well end up on top as the winner of the Finnish election-dilemma as part of a coalition in a government led by the Central Party. To be more specific, in the event of an “equal” split of votes between the four largest parties (all four are polled to receive around 15%-25% of the votes), a coalition of three will need to be formed. While, the current governing parties have already turned down the idea of working together again, that would leave the Finns as the most likely alternative to become the third partner in a Central Party-led government.

Mr Juha Sipilä, the Central Party’s leader and likely to become Finland’s new Prime Minister currently leading with 24.9% of the votes, is not opposed to the idea so long as its partners agree with his political agenda. Not to mention that the current Prime Minister Alexander Stubb has reiterated that the Finns are much better than the reputation preceding them abroad, showing that he would also be open to support them as a coalition partner. As a result, anti-EU forces might find themselves in the Finnish government, despite the fact that voters are rallying around the established parties and support for reactionary parties is fading.

The Finn’s leader Timo Soini

… to Europe!

A coalition including the Central Party and the Finns is expected to be less pro-European as the current government. Mr Sipilä, though successful in business, is not renowned for his international experience and although his party might consider itself pro-European difficult compromises will need to be made with the Finns, who are opposing new bailout programmes, the Euro and further deepening of European relations.

In Brussels the event of a coalition between the Central Party, the conservative National Coalition Party and the Finns will mainly impact Finland’s position and negotiation leeway in the Council. Mr Sipilä’s hands in negotiations will be more tied than Mr Stubb’s or Mr Katainen’s have been. On the one hand he would have to demonstrate his support for a deeper EU to its European partners – to whom Finland will grow more and more economically dependent the longer sanctions against Russia prevail. On the other, he would have to reassure his coalition partner Finland is maintaining high levels of sovereignty and remaining critical towards the Eurozone.  In particular on the latter, however, Mr Sipilä demonstrate strength by continuing to back strict rules and austerity measures – policies that all Finnish parties support both for their own country and for Europe. Finland is therefore expected to remain “Europe’s fiscal hawk”. Moreover more than before Finland will be likely to defend EU disintegration positions and align itself to the UK defending sovereign interest and the principle of subsidiarity.

Anglo-Finnish cooperation is already well established in the European Parliament, where the Finns have joined the British-led European Conservatives and Reformists Group demonstrating a conservative yet mainstream political agenda. As the elections are likely to make Prime Minister Stubb’s party a junior coalition partner, we neither expect that the outcome will neither affect the focus of the National Coalition as part of the EPP nor workings of the Finnish Vice-President of the Commission Jyrki Katainen nor drastically change the focus of his political agenda in Europe.

All in all, the Finnish elections may not change the tone in Brussels tremendously on their own, but they will provide insights on how anti-establishment parties are likely to affect national politics and therefore affect London’s, Copenhagen’s, Berlin’s and Madrid’s positioning in Brussels.

Is Europe Finnish(ed)?

The Finnish “case study” is helpful in understanding and dealing with the fast growing support for anti-establishment movements across the Continent. In the North, Sweden, Denmark and Norway are watching closely as growing support for their respective populist parties is making it harder for their mainstream parties to continue ignoring them. While Norway is currently being led by a coalition of conservatives and the populist Progress party, the Sweden Democrats came third in the September 2014 elections in Sweden and Denmark’s Danish People’s Party is gaining influence and support before the upcoming elections in autumn.

In the Centre of Europe, the Finns’ positioning and agenda seem familiar to a still domestically unwelcome anti-Euro party in Germany, the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). Bernd Lucke, the party’s leader, will eye developments in the North closely to assess whether the Finnish outcome might be a valuable example on how he could achieve his power aspirations in Germany.

In the South, Spain is also experiencing a similar trend with new anti-establishment parties, even though its popularity appears to be fading the closer we get to parliamentary elections in December. Podemos could grasp a large part of the votes, leaving no party with a majority to form a government.

Although anti-establishment parties are experiencing a slow in their popularity across Europe, all eyes will remain on them.  The success of Podemos, Syriza, the Finns, the UK Independence Party and others will furthermore force the establishment to make concessions and re-orientate their position on a great variety of issues such as European integration, social, economic and fiscal policies.

While the traditional separation of power between centre-right and centre-left parties will continue to dominate Europe, anti-establishment parties are likely to make this election year way more thrilling and unpredictable than previous ones. Let’s see what happens!

Announcement:

We will keep you up-to-date with all our coverage of this election year with upcoming analysis of the UK and the consequences of a possible Brexit as well as following the election developments in Denmark, Portugal, Poland and Spain.

 

Martin Bresson, Joachim Wilcke, Ilektra Tsakalidou

Ante Kotromanović, Minister of Defence of the Republic of Croatia and Jorge Domecq, Chief Executive of the EDA met yesterday to exchange views ahead of the June 2015 European Council and to discuss Croatia’s participation in EDA projects.

Minister Kotromanović underlined the important role of the Agency in fostering cooperation between Member States and improving their capabilities. He said: "We see the Agency as an important platform and mechanism for strengthening and further development of European defence capabilities. As a new EDA member, Croatia recognises the possibilities the Agency can provide to Member States, and we're analysing programmes in which we see the potential for cooperation. Those projects will have our full support.” The Minister also emphasised capacities and significance of the Croatian defence industry sector and its achievements. “I strongly believe we need to support participation of small and medium enterprises in cooperative programmes, where dual-use programmes have great importance and potential".

“Croatia has joined the European Defence Agency not even two years ago. Notwithstanding this short period of time, Croatia is actively participating in some of our key projects as for example the military implementation of the Single European Sky. The role of the Agency is to act as an interface between the European Commission and the national Ministries of Defence to ensure that the military views are well taken into account in the modernisation of the European skies. At the same time, we also inform the Member States of the latest developments in Brussels. The Agency can furthermore provide valuable support to the national defence industry and in particular small and medium sized enterprises by providing information on funding for dual-use research”, Jorge Domecq stated during his visit in Zagreb.

The visit also included meetings with other high-level officials of the Croatian Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and the Croatian Chamber of Economy. It is part of a series of visits by Mr. Domecq to all EDA Member States following his appointment as EDA Chief Executive and ahead of the Ministerial Steering Board on 18 May 2015. So far, Mr. Domecq visited Spain, Lithuania, Latvia, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, the Netherlands, Ireland, France, Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Slovenia.

More information

• News "EDA Chief Executive visits Czech Republic" (13 April 2015)
• News "Jorge Domecq in Bulgaria to discuss defence cooperation" (8 April 2015)
• News "EDA Chief Executive travels to Romania" (8 April 2015)
• News "EDA Chief Executive meets French Minister of Defence" (30 March 2015)
• News "Jorge Domecq exchanges views with Irish Minister of Defence Simon Coveney T.D." (25 March 2015)
• News "EDA Chief Executive visits The Netherlands" (23 March 2015)
• News "Discussions on European defence in Portugal" (19 March 2015)
• News "Jorge Domecq meets German Secretary of State" (19 March 2015)
• News "Belgium and EDA discuss future defence cooperation" (18 March 2015)
• News "Jorge Domecq in the UK for cooperation talks" (25 Feb 2015)
• News "Latvia and EDA discuss cooperation opportunities" (19 Feb 2015)
• News "EDA Chief Executive visits Lithuania" (17 Feb 2015) 

Source : © Union européenne, 2015 - PE

Guinea’s history of electoral violence may not be over. Tension is building around the presidential poll scheduled for this October and the local elections planned for early next year. The opposition – principally Cellou Dalein Diallo's Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea and Sidya Touré’s Union of Republican Forces – is concerned about possible fraud. Threatened protests should be taken seriously: in 2013, about 100 people died during electoral unrest.

Szaúd-Arábia június 25-től megnyitja mintegy 532 milliárd dolláros tőzsdei kereskedelmét a külföldi befektetők előtt, melynek részeként lehetővé teszik, hogy külföldi intézményi befektetők is vásároljanak szaúdi részvényeket.

Earlier this week, we reported that rather than the 12 new judges initially requested by the European Court of Justice to help with its burgeoning workload, EU member states are about to approve 28 instead thanks to a classic fudge that has more to do with national pride than legal efficiency. As is our practice at Brussels Blog, we thought we’d offer up some more details on how this deal came about, including some of the correspondence between the court and those responsible for making the decision.

The choice to double the size of the ECJ’s general court – the second-highest in the EU – was made only because, for years, national governments couldn’t decide where the 12 new judges would come from. So they decided to name one new jurist from each of the EU’s 28 members instead.

The issue had been deadlocked for three years, but during Greece’s turn at the EU’s rotating presidency last year, Theodoros Sotiropoulis, the courtly Greek ambassador to the EU at the time, dropped an unsubtle hint to the ECJ: you’ll get 28 judges, or you’ll get none. Here’s a copy of that letter (the handwritten Greek at the beginning and end of the letter is due to the fact the ECJ president, Vassilios Skouris, is also Greek):

Read more

Petíciós kezdeményezés indult a magyar iskolákon zajló oktatás kapcsán. A kérvényezők azt szorgalmazzák, hogy az iskolaügyi tárca növelje a magyar nyelvet érintő órák számát az intézményekben – a kilátásba helyezett változtatások szerint ugyanis sokkal kevesebb tér jut a jövőben a magyar nyelv oktatására, mint korábban. A petícióval egyben a magyar intézmények mozgásterének növeléséért is állást foglalhatunk, a változások értelmében ugyanis a magyar intézmények kevesebb választható órával rendelkeznek, mint a szlovák nyelven tanító iskolák. A kitöltött íveket a petíciós bizottság tagjainak továbbíthatjuk.

Petíció letöltése

Petíció a minőségi magyar iskolákért

Trotz einer prekären wirtschaftlichen Lage mit einem jährlichen Wachstum von lediglich drei bis vier Prozent, einer hohen landesweiten Armutsrate von 37 Prozent, einer instabilen Drei-Parteien-Koalition an der Regierung und Nachbarländern, in denen totalitär regierende Präsidenten dominieren, funktioniert Demokratie in Kirgisistan. Es gibt Meinungsfreiheit ohne Einschränkungen und die Zivilgesellschaft ist äußerst aktiv. Langfristig wird das kirgisische Demokratiemodell dann eine Chance haben, wenn die sozioökonomischen Probleme der Bürger gelöst werden können.

Date: Dimanche 21 Février 2016Résumé: Françoise Sivignon, présidente de Médecins du monde, sera l’invitée de "Générations d’idées".

While studying Ambassador Ward’s article, Cuba and Venezuela: Assessing United States sanctions in the  Hemisphere , and thinking abo

Chinese Wanshan WS2600 Special Wheeled Chassis

Colombia’s attempt to end five decades of bloodshed could be at risk, after local Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) units appeared to have breached a four-month-old unilateral ceasefire by ambushing a military patrol 14 April, reportedly killing eleven soldiers and wounding another twenty. The deadliest guerrilla action since the peace negotiations began two and a half years ago is not likely to lead to a collapse of the talks, but the parties and the international community must now move quickly to prevent them from unravelling.

Press Release
April 16, 2015
Contact: Yakira Heller
NGO Monitor
058-668-9603


Statement on BDS Law Decision in the High Court

Jerusalem - The decision of Israel's High Court of Justice (April 15) to uphold the central provisions of the "Anti-Boycott Law" marks an important milestone in the response to political warfare. This complex and carefully reasoned decision highlights and places limitations on activities of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that pursue boycott campaigns in Europe and America, using false and distorted legal and factual claims. These discriminatory economic attacks are central to the "Durban Strategy" (adopted in the NGO Forum of 2001 UN Durban Conference) of demonizing and isolating Israel through BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanctions), lawfare (legal attacks), and other strategies.




As is clear from the court decision and the legislation itself, the anti-boycott law is a response to the central role of political advocacy NGOs in support of boycott campaigns through patently false legal statements and efforts to deny Israelis the basic right to self-defense. NGO Monitor has repeatedly emphasized the importance of informed public debate and full transparency, including the role of funder-enablers, in combating this political warfare.

At the same time, we note that the decision of Israel's highest court is consistent with court decisions and laws in Europe and the United States. Invoking claims of free speech does not legitimate discrimination, defamation, and the exploitation of legal processes to interfere with commercial transactions, artistic performances, academic activities, and other targets of BDS warfare.

NGO Monitor, an independent research institution, was founded in 2002 in the wake of the World Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa. At this conference, 1,500 NGOs formulated the "Durban Strategy" which aims to isolate Israel through measures such as boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaigns, lawfare, delegitimization and demonization.

NGO Monitor (www.ngo-monitor.org), is the leading source of expertise on the activities and funding of political advocacy NGOs involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict. NGO Monitor provides detailed and fully sourced information and analysis, promotes accountability, and supports discussion on the reports and activities of NGOs (non-governmental organizations) claiming to advance human rights and humanitarian agendas.
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mail@ngo-monitor.org
www.ngo-monitor.org

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