EU-Paris Summit - Time for EU To Wake Up, Unite, And Get Rid of Wall Street Influence In Their Affairs

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are meeting in Paris tomorrow to discuss strengthening of the euro zone economic governance as its debt crisis threatens to hit major countries.

France as well as other EU member States want EU president Herman Van Rompuy to wield new powers in an institutionalized Euro zone Council. Seen as a wily operator who can coax concessions from the most reluctant prime ministers, he would become the euro's voice in financial and economic matters.

EU states and the European Parliament are still haggling over new laws intended to force governments to keep their fiscal policies in synch, with common parameters covering everything from debt to taxation - or face financial penalties. This was meant to be completed in the first quarter of the year, but key states stand accused of seeking to dilute the the sanctions. Markets will judge the final statutes on how much teeth these laws actually have.

Meanwhile, Wall Street and many US based multi-national corporations trading on Wall Street who have been feeling the pinch of stricter European financial controls and regulations continued their negative PR campaign against the EU. This week the multi-national owned media giant Time Magazine has come out with a destructive article about Europe entitled "The end of Europe".

Time Warner, formerly AOL Time Warner is one of the world's largest communication corporations, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications Inc. and Time Inc. (along with the assets of a third company, Turner Broadcasting System form the current Time Warner, with major operations in film, television and publishing. Among the subsidiaries, CNN and HBO. It was also reported recently that Time Warner Cable Inc. will acquire Insight Communications Inc., the cable operator controlled by private-equity firm Carlyle Group, for about $3 billion, edging out a line of bidders that included Cablevision Systems Corp. The deal joins two of the 10 largest U.S. cable operators by subscribers, continuing consolidation in a business facing competition for TV subscribers from satellite operators and telecommunications companies, as well as Internet-based upstarts.

Time is the world's largest weekly news magazine, and has a domestic audience of 20 million and a global audience of 25 million. The Time Inc. division publishes approximately 150 titles worldwide. It is the leading magazine publisher in the U.S. and UK, and is understood to be profitable at US$5 billion in annual revenues. In 2005, Time Warner was among 53 entities that contributed the maximum of $250,000 to the second inauguration of President George W. Bush.

Its high time for the EU to wake up, unite,  and get rid of Wall Street influence in their affairs. Giving up more than 50 years of European progress for a narrow-minded nationalistic approach should never be the alternative. 

For more: EU-Digest