Nato rules out military intervention in Syria
Updated: 2011-06-30 17:24:39
NEWS OPINION BLOGS AGENDA CONFERENCES BOOKS VIDEOS TWITTER HEADLINE NEWS Nato rules out military intervention in Syria ANDREW RETTMAN Today 18:24 CET EUOBSERVER BRUSSELS Nato head Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said there is to be no military intervention in Syria despite similar levels of government-sponsored violence as in . Libya Speaking in Vienna on Thursday 30 June after a meeting with foreign minister Michael Spindelegger , the Nato chief told press : We do not foresee any intervention in Syria . In Libya , we are working on the basis of a UN mandate with the support of countries in the region . The conditions on Syria are not similar . The military alliance said there is not enough support at the UN or in the region Photo : Nato Print Comment article Syrian tanks on Wednesday reportedly
NEWS OPINION BLOGS AGENDA CONFERENCES BOOKS VIDEOS TWITTER HEADLINE NEWS EU states appeal top court ruling ordering more transparency about transparency LEIGH PHILLIPS Today 18:13 CET EUOBSERVER BRUSSELS EU member states are set to launch an appeal of a lower court decision with the European Court of Justice hoping to prevent greater transparency in decision-making even about transparency rules . themselves Anxious that a recent landmark court ruling could radically open up to public scrutiny decision-making in the Council of Ministers the European Union's upper house' , or the institution representing the member states a full 20 EU countries have jumped aboard an appeal of the decision . The member states want to keep decision-making confidential Photo : EUobserver Print Comment article
NEWS OPINION BLOGS AGENDA CONFERENCES BOOKS VIDEOS TWITTER HEADLINE NEWS Lewandowski in climbdown over climate comments ANDREW WILLIS Today 17:45 CET EUOBSERVER BRUSSELS EU budget commissioner Janusz Lewandowski has clarified that he does believe in global warming , despite recent statements in which he appeared to question the validity of the phenomenon . The climbdown was posted on Lewandowski's homepage on Monday 27 June just days after a trio of MEPs called on European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso to sanction his Polish . colleague Environmental groups say burning coal is key driver of climate change Photo : wikipedia Print Comment article In order to clarify misunderstandings , built on unauthorised quotations , taken out of context , here is my true position on the
Home News News Failure of Single Payment Scheme exposed News Failure of Single Payment Scheme exposed 30 06 2011 15:45 webmaster 14 Global Print PDF RSS Feeds The Single Payment Scheme that administers farming subsidies under the Common Agricultural Policy has been exposed as failing in many of its key objectives , in a newly released report by the European Court of Auditors 29.06.2011 Stuart Agnew MEP the UK Independence Party's spokesman on Agriculture , commenting on the report , : said This report confirms that the Single Payment Scheme SPS has become almost totally divorced from reality and that it is a licence to print money for a small number of large scale operators , while the vast majority of smaller scale beneficiaries receive only very limited aid . nbsp The Court of Auditors
NEWS OPINION BLOGS AGENDA CONFERENCES BOOKS VIDEOS TWITTER HEADLINE NEWS Iron Curtain river' still divides the EU VALENTINA POP Today 09:30 CET EUOBSERVER DANUBE RIVER A floating conference on the Danube has highlighted the limits of cross-border co-operation in a region where the river used to represent the Iron Curtain . Sailing through the spectacular gorge called the Iron Gates the around 70 participants at the Danube Floating Conference on Saturday 25 June were amazed at the lack of traffic on the huge river . For several kilometres there was no other ship in . sight The floating conference passed through the Iron Gates' on the Danube Photo : Valentina Pop This part is quite empty , both on the Romanian and the Serbian side . There are not so many people and they are also pretty poor
NEWS OPINION BLOGS AGENDA CONFERENCES BOOKS VIDEOS TWITTER HEADLINE NEWS Commission unveils austerity' package for EU officials ANDREW RETTMAN Today 09:24 CET EUOBSERVER BRUSSELS The European Commission has proposed to get rid of 5 percent of EU officials and to make remaining staff work longer in a show of fraternity with crisis-hit member . states The proposals come as part of Brussels' blueprint for the EU budget for the 2012 to 2020 period , out on Wednesday 29 June The commission headquarters in Brussels . At least one in 20 staff will be sent packing Photo : EUobserver.com Print Comment article Commenting on the plan , commission head Jose Manuel Barroso said : European institutions should show solidarity with European citizens , in an era where rigorous cost savings and maximum
: NEWS OPINION BLOGS AGENDA CONFERENCES BOOKS VIDEOS TWITTER HEADLINE NEWS Comment Coal-friendly Poland : a bad climate leader for the EU KUBA GOGOLEWSKI Today 14:05 CET EUOBSERVER COMMENT If anybody in the EU had any illusions about how stern Poland's resistance to the EU climate policy can get , a reality check came on June 22. Poland opposed all the other EU countries to block the conclusions of the EU environmental ministers council . Were it not for Poland's opposition , the council would have adopted stricter carbon emission targets , endorsing the commission's 2050 Roadmap calling for a 40 percent cut in carbon emissions by 2030, a 60 percent cut by 2040 and a 80 percent cut by 2050, compared to 1990 . levels Coal plant near Belchatow in central Poland Photo : BiLK_Thorn Print
It’s not just that the European Commission wants an extra €46 billion; it also wants to spend a disproportionate share of the increase on itself. The percentage of its proposed EU budget dedicated to “administration” would rise from 5.7 to 6.1.
When Eurocrats say “administration”, they mean grotesqueries of this sort. Imagine for a moment how [...]
NEWS OPINION BLOGS AGENDA CONFERENCES BOOKS VIDEOS TWITTER HEADLINE NEWS EU calls for reforms in Zimbabwe amid diamond tensions ANDREW WILLIS 29.06.2011 18:30 CET EUOBSERVER BRUSSELS The EU and international partners have called on officials in Zimbabwe to speed up the implementation of a power-sharing agreement , also underlining their concerns following last week's bust-up in a Kimberley Process meeting on diamonds . Members of the Friends of Zimbabwe Group met in Brussels on Tuesday 29 June releasing a statement a day later in which they welcomed some progress towards a new constitution , democratic reforms and credible elections . A diamond on display in Antwerp's certification office Photo : EUobserver Print Comment article However , serious concerns remain . Continued violence ,
International law has ceased to be international. Where it used to be about relations among states, it is nowadays about human rights violations within states – which suits its practitioners down to the ground, as it gives them virtually unlimited jurisdiction.
For hundreds of years, we operated on the basis of the clearly understood principle that [...]
, : NEWS OPINION BLOGS AGENDA CONFERENCES BOOKS VIDEOS TWITTER HEADLINE NEWS Costly Denmark , bargain Bulgaria : big variations in EU prices ANDREW WILLIS 28.06.2011 18:16 CET EUOBSERVER BRUSSELS Prices for consumer goods and services vary by a factor of three across EU member states , with Denmark taking the gold medal for expensive shopping experiences . Inhabitants of the non-euro-using country were charged an estimated 143 percent of the EU27 average in 2010, according to a report published by the EU's statistics office , Eurostat , on Tuesday 28 June Prices in Denmark were the highest in the whole of the EU Photo : florriebassingbourn Print Comment article Fellow Scandinavian country , Finland , is the next most expensive EU member state on 123 percent of the EU average , followed by
NEWS OPINION BLOGS AGENDA CONFERENCES BOOKS VIDEOS TWITTER HEADLINE NEWS US names and shames EU countries on human trafficking ANDREW RETTMAN 28.06.2011 17:54 CET EUOBSERVER BRUSSELS The US has put Cyprus , Estonia and Malta on a watch list for failures to stop severe levels of human . trafficking The report , out on Monday 28 June said the absolute number of victims of severe forms of trafficking is very significant or is significantly increasing in the three EU members , but governments are guilty of failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat the problem . Valletta , Malta Women who cry out for help risk being punished by the police Photo : European Commission Print Comment article Six other EU states Bulgaria , the Czech republic , Greece , Hungary , Latvia and Romania
NEWS OPINION BLOGS AGENDA CONFERENCES BOOKS VIDEOS TWITTER HEADLINE NEWS Proposed rules for MEPs' second jobs seen as lax ANDREW WILLIS 28.06.2011 09:28 CET EUOBSERVER BRUSSELS Proposed rules to ensure that MEPs disclose how much they earn from second jobs make little distinction between high and low earners , and also place MEPs from newer member states at a disadvantage This is according to the latest text to be discussed by members of a ten-man working group on Tuesday afternoon 28 June set up by European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek in the wake of the recent Sunday Times cash-for-amendments scandal . Buzek's working group is scheduled to meet for the last time on Tuesday Photo : snorski Print Comment article The meeting is likely to be the last before the group publishes its final
: NEWS OPINION BLOGS AGENDA CONFERENCES BOOKS VIDEOS TWITTER HEADLINE NEWS Iceland : EU membership depends on fishery superpowers' ANDREW WILLIS 27.06.2011 17:38 CET EUOBSERVER BRUSSELS European fishery superpowers such as Spain hold the key to Iceland's membership of the European Union , Iceland's foreign minister has said . Ossur Skarphedinsson made the comments in Brussels on Monday 27 June where the formal opening of EU accession talks saw four negotiation chapters' opened and two closed immediately , a first in EU integration history . In total , there are 33 chapters which have to be negotiated . Spain and France are Europe's largest fishing powers Photo : Ross Thomson Print Comment article It will all rest with the Spaniards , Skarphedinsson told journalists after an
Being a British Eurosceptic in Brussels means spending a great deal of time being patronized by not-terribly-bright people. I’ve lost count of how many times a Euro-integrationist MEP has tried to put me right, adopting the tone one would take with a recalcitrant six-year-old. The conversations usually end with the federalist delivering some utter banality [...]
NEWS OPINION BLOGS AGENDA CONFERENCES BOOKS VIDEOS TWITTER HEADLINE NEWS Comment Beyond the European Dream' BRUNO KAUFMANN 27.06.2011 09:23 CET EUOBSERVER COMMENT Crisis , crisis , crisis . Once again political Europe is in the middle of an institutional turmoil . The possible default in Greece , bye-bye to Schengen and a European Summit with clueless leaders . And in the Guardian Martin Kettles offers the results of more than sixty years of the integration process : The nationalist right and the global markets have won . The internationalist social and Christian democrats have . lost' From April next year one million EU citizens from at least seven member states will be entitled to propose new EU legislation Photo : Flickr Print Comment article For Kettle , this is nothing less than the
NEWS OPINION BLOGS AGENDA CONFERENCES BOOKS VIDEOS TWITTER HEADLINE NEWS EU won't back down' in China aviation row ANDREW WILLIS 27.06.2011 09:23 CET EUOBSERVER BRUSSELS The European Union has said it will continue with plans to charge airlines for pollution credits from the beginning of next year , amid reports that China has frozen a multi-billion euro Airbus order in retaliation . Both China and the US are deeply unhappy with EU intentions to move the aviation sector into its emissions trading scheme ETS from 2012, but Brussels insists it will not alter legislation , agreed by MEPs and national governments in 2008. Chinese banknotes : billions' worth of expected Airbus orders failed to materialise in Paris Photo : yuan close up Print Comment article Whatever the Chinese or the Americans
NEWS OPINION BLOGS AGENDA CONFERENCES BOOKS VIDEOS TWITTER HEADLINE NEWS This WEEK in the European Union EUOBSERVER 26.06.2011 22:30 CET EUOBSERVER WEEKLY AGENDA 27 June 3 July 2011 This week the attention of the European Union as well as much of the rest of world will be fixed on the Greek . parliament The Athens assembly is due to debate and vote on further stringent austerity measures as it tries to control its avalanche of debt . A vote in favour of the cuts is needed in order to release the next tranche 12bn of the 110bn EU-IMF bailout agreed last year . Polish leader Tusk l takes over the EU presidency on 1 July Photo : consilium.europa.eu Print Comment article Without this fresh inflow of cash , Greece will not be able to repay debts it owes in July . A No vote would also stymie
Ruth Davis, the senior policy adviser at Greenpeace UK, is quoted in The Guardian about the deferral of a vote in the European Parliament on whether to increase the EU’s emissions reduction target from 20 to 30 per cent. Here is what she says:
This vote was postponed after the prime minister personally intervened so that [...]
NEWS OPINION BLOGS AGENDA CONFERENCES BOOKS VIDEOS TWITTER HEADLINE NEWS EU leaders call US bluff on 1967 borders in Israel ANDREW RETTMAN 25.06.2011 08:44 CET EUOBSERVER BRUSSELS EU countries have called on the US to get behind an initiative to revive Middle East peace talks based on a format disliked by . Israel The EU leaders in a communique at the summit in Brussels on Friday 24 June said they fully support the high representative's call for the Quartet to create a credible perspective for the re-launching of the peace process as a matter of urgency . Israeli soldiers remove young settler from anti-Palestinian protest Photo : delayed gratification Print Comment article The line refers to EU foreign relations chief Catherine Ashton's appeal to hold a meeting of the four parties the EU ,
Home News News UKIP administer last rites to euro News UKIP administer last rites to euro 24 06 2011 19:16 webmaster 96 Global Print PDF RSS Feeds VIDEO As EU Leaders met in Brussels to discuss the ongoing crisis in Greece , UKIP took to the streets to hammer home the message that the euro is . dead UKIP pallbearers , including UKIP Leader Nigel Farage , along with a priest administering the Last Rites , carried a coffin containing the euro around the streets of the European . Parliament UKIP has been predicting for years that Greece would be the first casualty of the euro , and finally the political elite are now seeing this prediction come true . Whilst Downing Street is trumpeting David Cameron's success at the summit in achieving a commitment that the UK would not be expected to
Where have all the Europhiles gone? Almost overnight, politicians in all three parties have stopped defending the euro bailouts. The best Newsnight could manage yesterday was Richard Corbett, a Labour MEP who lost his seat at the last election and now works for Herman Van Rompuy.
Martin Kettle, one of the most committed Euro-enthusiasts in Fleet [...]
Stand by for some choreographed bellicosity. Foreign Office officials want to distract attention from the fact that we are on the hook for £12.5 billion to bail out someone else’s currency. How to do it, Carruthers? I know: what about a row over the only bailout we’re not being forced to join – the Greek [...]
There has been a lot of discussion recently about the alleged undemocratic character of the austerity programs and bailout agreements for peripheral eurozone Member States. This is not the fundamental problem of the eurozone. Trade imbalances are not resolved, and … Continue reading →
When the press starts writing about budget negotiations, I always read the word “net contributor” at some point. And every time I read that word I am overocme by surprise and bafflement by the lack of either reflection or hypocrisy with which it is used both by journalists and politicians. First of all, the EU [...]
Spring is traditionally seen as the season of rebirth, renewal and regrowth. Yet in Brussels, despite the unseasonably warm weather, this could be the Spring of discontent. In recent months Portugal has been the third country to effectively request a bailout from the Eurozone and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – this after the former [...]
It seems that the position paper is about as standard issue as a BMW 320D or a Blackberry Bold for the public affairs professional in this town. You simply would not leave for a meeting without one. I think it’s time to change all that. It’s time to throw away the rather haggard old position [...]
From our bent bananas to nutritious and safe Spanish cucumbers we love our fruit and vegetables here in the Brussels bubble. So much so it seems that our elected representatives are intent on waving them at us in the European Parliament, as Francisco Sosa Wagner MEP (non-aligned, Spain) showed yesterday. Well, it makes for a good [...]