European Union

General : "The Cotonou Agreement remains unique in the world, and whatever form the next partnership takes, it will have to be tailored to today’s world, and include wider civil society participation and stronger parliamentary oversight and diplomacy », said Michèle RIVASI (Greens/EFA, FR), EU Co-President ad interim of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) meeting in Windhoek, Namibia, for its 31st session.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

General : "The Cotonou Agreement remains unique in the world, and whatever form the next partnership takes, it will have to be tailored to today’s world, and include wider civil society participation and stronger parliamentary oversight and diplomacy », said Michèle RIVASI (Greens/EFA, FR), EU Co-President ad interim of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) meeting in Windhoek, Namibia, for its 31st session.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Using energy more efficiently is one of the easier ways to cut your bills. Many household appliances, such as lamps, televisions and vacuum cleaners, carry a standardised label to help assess their energy efficiency, The European Commission is now proposing to simplify this labelling system to make it even easier for consumers to compare. Parliament's energy committee approved the plan on 14 June. Check out our infographic to find out how energy consumption is measured and how much it costs.
Committee on Industry, Research and Energy

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Using energy more efficiently is one of the easier ways to cut your bills. Many household appliances, such as lamps, televisions and vacuum cleaners, carry a standardised label to help assess their energy efficiency, The European Commission is now proposing to simplify this labelling system to make it even easier for consumers to compare. Parliament's energy committee approved the plan on 14 June. Check out our infographic to find out how energy consumption is measured and how much it costs.
Committee on Industry, Research and Energy

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

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There is little doubt over what Gibraltar will vote in the upcoming referendum on the U.K’s EU membership on June 23rd.

The only poll published in Gilbraltar suggests a turnout of 85% with more than 88% favoring EU membership. Locally, there is both motivation and strong opinions.

Local unions, business organizations, and civic groups openly support Remain. Their main concern is the free circulation of people and goods.

A big share of Gibraltar’s service force are Spaniards; the Rock depends on this workforce for nearly all labor-intensive services, including tourism, insurance, online gambling, ship bunkering, and financial services. Locals are also afraid of losing their thousands of daily visitors, who come to shop, gamble, simply visit, or for business.

In turn, Spanish workers fear their level of pay may decrease and their social security contributions may be compromised in the event of Brexit, Gibraltar Chronicle reports.

Spain’s foreign minister José Manuel García-Margallo has already made clear that the Spanish government will ask for shared sovereignty over Gibraltar if Brexit prevails, El Pais reports.

(Gibraltar Chronicle, El Pais)

The post Gibraltar: the part of Britain where Remain is 80%+ appeared first on New Europe.

On 16 June, the former NATO secretary general and the EU high representative Javier Solana will present the main findings of the study on the EU security and defence, which will feed in the future own-initiative report on the EU defence union to be drafted by Urmas Paet (ALDE, EE).
Further information
Draft agenda
Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

On 15 June, Security and Defence MEPs will hold a workshop on Russian military presence in the Eastern Partnership Countries (Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine and South Caucasus). Together with the researchers they will debate the effects of this military presence and future perspectives.
Further information
Workshop programme
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Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

General : The public health committee votes this Wednesday on whether to veto plans by the European Commission to allow sugary and energy drinks to claim that caffeine helps to boost alertness and concentration on their labels. They will also vote on stricter monitoring and certification procedures for medical devices. MEPs meet MPs from African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP) in order to discuss migration flows, while the foreign affairs committee looks at the situation of Palestinian refugees.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

General : The public health committee votes this Wednesday on whether to veto plans by the European Commission to allow sugary and energy drinks to claim that caffeine helps to boost alertness and concentration on their labels. They will also vote on stricter monitoring and certification procedures for medical devices. MEPs meet MPs from African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP) in order to discuss migration flows, while the foreign affairs committee looks at the situation of Palestinian refugees.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Google+ Share on LinkedIn+var sbFBAPPID = '457641991045477';The volume of world defence market rose to $65 billion in 2015, surpassing the 2014 figures by more than 10%, the consulting company IHS Inc. said in its Global Defence Trade Report. HIS estimates it is one of the sharpest surges in the global arms trade in last 10 years, which is provoked by the increase in arms purchases by Saudi Arabia. During 2015, the total value of import of arms of the kingdom increased by 50%, reaching an estimated level of $9,3 billion. Furthermore, demand for weapons also increased in the Middle East and countries of the South-Eastern Asia.

 

The surge in weapon purchases by Saudi Arabia was provoked mainly by two factors: Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen, and confrontation with its regional rival Iran. In the past year, according to Bloomberg, the kingdom acquired Eurofighter Typhoon jets, F-15 warplanes and Apache helicopters, as well as precision-guided weapons, drones and surveillance equipment. However, analysts warn it will not it be a long-standing trend, as a drop in oil prices, which is unlikely to rise in the next three years, will push Saudi Arabia to cut back on procurements.

In February, the European Parliament has adopted a resolution calling for an EU-wide arms embargo against Saudi Arabia over its operation in Yemen, until alleged breaches of international humanitarian law in this war-torn country have been investigated.

At present, the top 5 largest arms importers, according to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, are India (14% of global arms imports), China (4,7%), Australia (3.6 per cent), Pakistan (3.3 per cent), Vietnam (2.9 per cent), whereas the five largest exporters in 2010–14 were the United States, Russia, China, Germany and France.

The post Saudi Arabia induces surge in Global Arms Sales appeared first on New Europe.

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“We offer our deepest condolences to the victims of the horrendous shooting in Florida on Saturday night. This was an attack on our freedom, it is an affront to what we stand for, to all our values,” stressed Mina Andreeva, deputy spokesperson of the European Commission while opening Monday’s midday press briefing in the Berlaymont building in Brussels.

“Today our thoughts are with the families of those who lost their loved ones and the EU will continue to promote and defend our shared values of equality and non-discrimination,” concludes Andreeva.

Previously, High Representative / Vice-President Federica Mogherini remarked on Sunday that the attack that claimed so many lives is “a tragedy not only for the American people, but for the whole world as all the massacres of people killed for their faith, for their sexual orientations, for their beliefs, in many countries are.”

“We stand together in solidarity with the people of America, and especially with the LGBTI community which this hateful terror attack targeted,” adds Mogherini, offering clear support to the LGBTI community on behalf of the EU. “As the European Union, we are committed to keep ensuring cooperation of our services on all levels, and standing proudly together. We share the same values of equality and non discrimination. And together we will continue to promote and defend those values.”

By these statements, the European Commission condemned Saturday’s Pulse Orlando nightclub attack when a gunman wielding an assault-type rifle opened fire, killing at least 50 people and wounding many. Since early Sunday, officials and public figures from across the world, are expressing condemnation and shock over the Florida mass shooting.

The shooter, Omar Mateen, 29, a US citizen of Afghan descent, was killed in an exchange of fire with the police after taking hostages at the club.

The post EU Commission on Orlando attack: “This was an attack on our freedom” appeared first on New Europe.

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With two weeks left before U.K’s referendum on EU membership polls are getting attention, but are hardly illuminating.

Two polls were published on Sunday, one by the Sunday Times, one by The Observer.

The Sunday Times polls has Leave 1% ahead (YouGov); the Observer has Remain 2% in the lead (Opinium). On Friday, the Independent published a poll (ORB) that gave Leave a resounding 10% lead (ORB: 55-45%); the Independent poll did not allow undecided voters to weigh in the result and was an online poll.

Telephone polls favor Remain; internet polls either favor Leave or have the two sides neck-and-neck. The discrepancy of results between the two methodologies is smaller but remains significant. The debate on methodology is heated because of polling failure during the general elections.

All polls find there will be extremely high participation, BBC reports; some polls suggest that Leave has more motivated voters likely to show up on Election Day, France 24 reported on Friday.

And at least three polls suggest that for those who support Leave immigration is the most important issue, followed by the economy.

(BBC, The Independent, Sunday Times, France 24, Reuters)

The post UK Referendum polls: online Leave, by phone Remain appeared first on New Europe.

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The global number of nuclear warheads dropped last year, though none of the nine nuclear powers showed any signs of giving up their atomic weapons, an arms watchdog said Monday.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) says in its annual report on June 13 that there were 455 fewer nuclear warheads at the start of 2016 among nine nuclear states than a year earlier.

It said the United States, Russia, Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel, and North Korea had a total of 15,395 nuclear warheads at the start of 2016, including 4,120 that were deployed operationally.

It said the total number of nuclear warheads in those countries at the start of 2015 was 15,850.

Of those 4,120 were deployed warheads, meaning warheads placed on missiles or on bases with operational forces. All of those warheads were deployed by the U.S., Russia, Britain and France, SIPRI said.

The institute said global nuclear arsenals have been shrinking since their Cold War-peak of nearly 70,000 warheads in the mid-1980s, mainly due to sharp cuts in Russian and U.S. nuclear forces.

“At the same time, both Russia and the USA have extensive and expensive nuclear modernization programs under way,” SIPRI said.

Countries with much smaller nuclear arsenals have started to deploy new delivery systems or announced their intention to do so, the report said, highlighting China, India and Pakistan.

It said that Israel, which neither confirms nor denies having nuclear weapons, is testing “a long-range nuclear-capable ballistic missile.”

North Korea is believed to have built up to 10 warheads, but it remains unclear whether the reclusive communist country has produced or deployed any operational weapons, SIPRI said.

“North Korea claims to have designed and built a nuclear warhead that is sufficiently compact and robust for delivery by a ballistic missile,” the report said. “However, there is no open-source evidence to indicate whether it has actually done so.”

SIPRI is a Stockholm-based independent think tank, partly funded by the Swedish government. Created in 1966, its research is focused on global security, arms control and disarmament. (with AP, Reuters)

The post US, Russia reducing their nuclear arsenal: SIPRI report appeared first on New Europe.

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Darius Vâlcov, Minister of Finance

 

Dan Șova, Minister of Transport

 

Dan Voiculescu, media mogul, senator, head of the Conservative Party

 

Dan Diaconescu, journalist, TV presenter, businessman, media mogul and founder of the now defunct People’s Party – Dan Diaconescu

 

Elena Udrea, Minister of Regional Development and Tourism, 2014 presidential candidate

 

George Becali, former MEP, businessman

 

Marian Vanghelie, Mayor of Bucharest’s 5th Sector, the city’s poorest district

 

Gheorghe Nichita, Mayor of Iași

 

Nicușor Constantinescu, President of Constanța County Council

 

Radu Mazăre, Mayor of Constanța

 

Sorin Oprescu, Mayor of Bucharest

The post Spring cleaning in Romanian politics appeared first on New Europe.

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Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has canceled his visit to Brussels, as well as separate talks with American officials after reports in a pro-government newspaper that the EU and U.S. ambassadors to Serbia are fueling street protests against his rule.

Serbia is in a deep economic crisis. To comply with the terms of the IMF deal, Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic’s new government – which is still being formed after an April 24 election – must cut a public sector which now employs 750,000 people, more than 10 percent of Serbia’s total population.

Vucic, a former ultranationalist turned pro-EU reformer, was scheduled to travel later this month to Brussels for the formal opening of EU membership talks and to the U.S. on an inaugural Air Serbia flight to New York where he was to hold bilateral talks with American officials.

The cancellation comes amid increasing pressure by Russia, a traditional Serb Slavic ally, against Serbia joining the EU and NATO. Vucic made an unannounced visit to Russian President Vladimir Putin last month which resulted in calls by Moscow to “include people who are determined to maintain and strengthen further relations between Serbia and Russia” in the new Serbian government.

Vucic’s office did not immediately return calls from the Associated Press on official details of the cancellation.

Belgrade’s Informer daily, which is close to Vucic and is considered his mouthpiece, said last week that the U.S. ambassador Kyle Randolph Scott and EU envoy Michael Davenport are actively working on “radicalizing” street protests against his rule, trying to trigger “chaos” in the country.

Both the European Commission and Scott vehemently denied they have anything to do with recent street protest by thousands in Belgrade against the shady demolitions in an area of the capital marked for a United Arab Emirates-financed real estate project which is supported by Vucic.

The citizens’ protests have become a challenge to Vucic, who faces accusations of autocratic rule despite promising to take Serbia toward EU integration.

Vucic is to meet the U.S. and EU ambassadors later Monday. (with AP, Reuters)

The post Serbian prime minister scraps visit to Brussels in protest appeared first on New Europe.

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Federica MOGHERINI, participates at the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation (CBTO) Ministerial Meeting, taking place on 13 June 2016, in Vienna.

Download this video here.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

On 15 June, SEDE will hold an exchange of views on the security situation in Ukraine and the reform of the civilian security sector with Kęstutis Lančinskas, Head of Mission of EUAM Ukraine, Kenneth Deane, Director, CPCC, EEAS and Mykola Tochytskyi, Head of the Mission of Ukraine to the EU.
Further information
Draft agenda and meeting documents
Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP