European Union

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The renegotiation on British demands for a new relationship with the EU were being held until the late in the morning on Friday and resumed in the afternoon. At the time of writing, it is unknown how long they will last.

On Friday morning, a British diplomat summarized the negotiating agenda for the BBC to five points: i) the process of altering EU’s binding treaties to accommodate British excemptions; ii) how “any” member state – rather than Britain alone – can trigger an “emergency brake” on migrant welfare; iii) for how long could Britain impose restrictions on in-work benefits for migrants; iv) whether child benefit curbs can be applied retrospectively; v) whether Britain can be exempt from the “ever-closer” union commitment.

The Finnish and Spanish Prime Ministers, Juha Sipilä and Mariano Rajoy, stated that a deal was possible within Friday. The Dutch Mark Rutte said going through Saturday may be necessary. All three countries warmly support a deal, with Ireland joining in and Germany playing the role of the broker.

Thus far, there are three clusters of objections to Britain’s demands: the Federalists (Belgium and France), those demanding a fair welfare deal for their citizens (Visegrad), and Greece’s tactical objection to a deal, linking the issue with migration policy.

Federalist objections

Belgium’s Prime Minister, Charles Michel, made abundantly clear that if Britain were to leave the EU there would be no renegotiation. “There is no second chance. The deal with the U.K is final,” he tweeted on Friday afternoon, February 19.

A treaty change that exempts the UK from the “ever-closer union” objective and makes provisions for non-eurozone members is nearing consensus. But, this will be no obstacle to everyone else. And that was also clear both by Belgium and by France.

François Hollande spoke on Thursday evening of a take-it-or-leave-it deal, making clear that he was not going to open the door to renegotiating exceptions for every EU member state.  Hollande was especially clear that the City could not carve its own heaven in the EU while Mario Draghi was expected to broker a compromise.

Asylum crisis and Britain

Britain was not the only item on the agenda, with the Council debating the asylum crisis. Chancellor Angela Merkel proposed a summit between the EU and Turkey, on March 6. But, it was Greece that linked the two agendas. Greece made clear that it will veto any agreement with Britain unless EU peers pledged to open borders and keep them open until the EU Summit with Turkey. It is this or “no deal.”

Several EU member states have been closing their borders and Greece is worried that its territory may become a bottleneck for refugees transiting. Austria seems to succumb to the pressure following Germany’s lead.

welfare

Poland’s Europe Minister, Konrad Szymański, was reassuring that negotiations were ongoing on child benefits, but an agreement on Cameron’s demand for emergency brake was possible.

Poland appears to be leading the cluster of post-2004 EU member states, mainly from Eastern Europe, that are objecting to welfare cuts. A particularly sore point seems to be child benefits not being extended unless the child resides in the U.K. The fold back position apparently is that child benefits for children not residing in the U.K should be capped at the level appropriate to the standard of living in the member state where the child resides. Poland has said that any measure cannot in any case be applied retroactively to EU migrants already residing in Britain.

The “emergency break” will restrict in-work benefits for EU migrants in the UK, that is, mostly tax returns for those who make below a specified income benchmark. The question is of course for how long could a break be kept on to be considered “an emergency.” On Thursday evening, Cameron suggested 13 years, aggravating the Visegrad 4 (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland), as well as Romania and Bulgaria.

(AFP, Guardian, BBC, Daily Telegraph)

The post Britain faces a take-it-or-leave deal appeared first on New Europe.

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Croatia’s newly elected Foreign Minister, Miro Kovac, told Germany’s international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) that the top priority of the new government is to normalise relations with their neighbours.

Speaking about the refugee crisis and Germany’s attempts to find a solution, Kovac noted that there is no European solution, but a number of solutions at the national level. He explained: “Croatia has been very cooperative with its neighbours. At the same time, we think that if our Greek friends are unable to secure the external borders of the EU, then we will support the proposal made by Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar to control the wave of refugees at the border between [FYROM] and Greece. Our current solution will not be sustainable much longer. We have to drastically reduce the numbers of refugees. I repeat: our cooperation with our neighbours can only function as long as Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and Austria continue to take in refugees. But migrants and refugees must be clearly told that they cannot all come to Europe. The EU, likewise, needs to be more active in the countries from which the refugees are coming as well as the nations at their borders”.

As regards Croatia’s foreign policy agenda, Kovac said strengthening inter-European relations is important. “We have to work on our inter-European cooperation much more intensively,” he explained. “What I mean is that, first and foremost, we need to strengthen the role of Croatia within the EU, while also strengthening our understandings within Central and Southeastern Europe. Second of all, it’s necessary to activate our cooperation with our neighbours.”

According to Kovac, Croatia needs to redefine itself and win back its image of trustworthiness. “We need to finally realise in what position we find ourselves in the EU, what our possibilities are and what we can do,” he said.

As regards the countries bordering Croatia but are not EU members, Kovac said his country has a greater responsibility and greater opportunities. “It’s also important for the Croats living in Bosnia and Herzegovina, who could redefine themselves as a motor of European Integration,” he said.

The post Miro Kovac: ‘Normalising ties with our neighbours’ appeared first on New Europe.

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At a critical point in time, Pope Francis took a critical stand on the Zika virus epidemic, saying that birth control “isn’t an absolute evil” and is in fact “the lesser of two evils” for women.

Theologically, the Pontiff evoked the precedent of Pope Paul VI that had allowed nuns in Africa to use birth control due to the threat of rape. But, in 2010, his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI allowed condoms if these were intended to avoid HIV infection.

However, Pope Francis compared abortion to killing someone, which he called “absolute evil.”

The epidemic is spreading precisely in South America, where Pope Francis is touring. The Pope appealed for medical research to tackle the disease.

Several high ranking clergy in Brazil, El Salvador, and the United State have been making exactly the opposite claim to the Pope. They suggest that contraception is a sin “no matter what.”

However, the Catholic Church has categorically denied women with Zika the right to an abortion, even if there is a medical link between the virus and microcephaly.

The crisis

Microcephaly causes skulls to remain underdeveloped. if a pregnant woman contracts the virus, children are likely to be born with an underdeveloped head and a severe neurological disorder for which there is no known treatment (Guillain-Barre syndrome). Some women in the region are reportedly begging online for abortion pills, in countries where these are forbidden.

Zika could trigger spike of illegal abortions, putting thousands of women’s health at risk. In Guatemala, it is calculated that women resort of inadequately trained health providers in a ratio of three-to-one, especially in rural areas, fearing social stigma, cost, lack of access to doctors. In 2014, 10% of all maternal deaths in Latin America were due to unsafe abortion. The debate is on across Latin America, including Brazil that has an estimated 1,5 million cases of infected subjects, but an adequate policy response could take years.

A 2014 US study suggests that up to 56% of pregnancies in Latin America and the Caribbean region are unwanted, due to poverty and sexual violence. While the World Health Organization is warning women in Latin America against pregnancy, 24 million women in the region do not have access to modern birth control methods. Moreover, abortion is often illegal, which may trigger a spike in illegal procedures placing the lives of thousands of women at risk.

The Women-on-Web Dutch group is sending so-called morning-after abortion pills, although this is controversial because of anti-abortion laws in predominantly Catholic Latin America.

Poor women are more vulnerable.

The primary channel of spreading the disease is the Aedes aegypti mosquito, whose habitat is in the tropics. Besides Latin America, WHO experts have said that this particular mosquito is present in most of Africa, parts of southern Europe, and parts south Asia.

The second channel is human-to-human, through sexual intercourse. And this is where contraception could make a difference.

(The Independent, CNN, National Catholic Review)

The post Pope on the Zika epidemic: contraception ok, abortion evil appeared first on New Europe.

The Foreign Affairs (AFET) Committee invited Members of national parliaments to attend an interparliamentary committee meeting, which will focus on the current priorities in CFSP/CSDP and the way towards the NATO Summit in Warsaw. The meeting will include a general debate with VP/HR Mogherini, an exchange of views with Nabih Berri, Speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, a discussion with NATO Secretary Genera and with UN Special Representative for Libya.
Location : Brussels JAN 2Q2
Further information
Draft programme
List of participants
Practical information
Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

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Many women and girls who had been abducted in Nigeria by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram are returning to find themselves being rejected by their family and community, according to a report released on February 16 by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) and the human rights group International Alert.

As reported by TakePart, a digital news magazine, people are treating the former captives with mistrust over fears the women have become radicalised supporters of the extremists. But the suspicious behaviour of family members tends to become explicit persecution if the former captives bore children after being sexually assaulted by Boko Haram militants.

The babies may be innocent, but they are seen by locals as being infected with “bad blood” from their rapist Boko Haram fathers, according to the report. “There is a belief that, like their fathers, the children will inevitably do what hyenas do and ‘eat’ the innocent dogs around them,” wrote the report’s authors.

Rejected, many of the women are being pushed into poverty and forced to turn to prostitution in order to earn money to provide for their babies.

“These findings show a pressing need to do more to reintegrate those returning from captivity by Boko Haram,” Kimairis Toogood, International Alert’s peace-building adviser in Nigeria, said in a statement. “Many of these girls already face lasting trauma of sexual violence and being separated from their families, so we must ensure they get all the support they need when they finally return.”

Approximately 2,000 women and girls have been abducted since 2012, but international awareness was only raised in late April 2014 after Boko Haram kidnapped nearly 300 girls from a school in the town of Chibok, in northeastern Nigeria.

The post Girls abducted by Boko Haram are rejected by their family appeared first on New Europe.

The militant Kurdish group TAK has admitted carrying out an attack that killed 28 people in Ankara last week. The Turkish government had blamed the PKK and its Syrian offshoot the YPG for the bomboing. Some commentators still see the YPG as the mastermind. Others say it is innocent and suspect a deliberate strategy behind the Turkish government's rhetoric.

After the most recent attack in Ankara observers fear Turkey could hit back with an offensive in Syria, provoking an open confrontation between Moscow and Ankara. How will the two countries react?

The EU summit in Brussels is turning into a showdown on the Brexit issue. Will Prime Minister David Cameron manage to secure enough concessions from his EU partners to persuade his countrymen to stay in the EU?

The Nobel Peace Prize winner and Polish popular hero Lech Wałęsa is once again facing allegations that he worked for the communist secret service. Files have surfaced which reportedly confirm this. Will Polish history have to be rewritten?

Apple chief Tim Cook has refused to help the FBI disable the security features of an iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernadino attackers. In an open letter he said he would defy a court order to cooperate with the intelligence service. Is Apple right to insist that its mobile phones must not be broken into?