Showing posts with label European Elections. Show all posts
Showing posts with label European Elections. Show all posts
5/26/19
European elections: Knife-edge battle between Populists Utra-Rghtwingers and Pro-Europe supporters
Turnout up in France as 21 countries vote in knife-edge EU poll Tens of millions of Europeans in 21 countries are voting Sunday in the European Parliamentary election in a continent-wide battle between eurosceptic populists and proponents of closer EU unity.
5/21/19
Austria - Far-right parties under scrutiny in Austria and Britain
The Europe Report: Far-right parties under scrutiny in Austria, UK A political earthquake has shaken Austria, just one week before the EU elections. We update you on the resignation of Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, the now ex-leader of the far-right Freedom Party. Strache quit after a secretly-filmed videotape emerged showing him proposing various illicit deals in return for shady investments by a woman posing as a Russian oligarch's niece.
Read more at:
6/2/14
European Elections Likely to Complicate Trade Talks With U.S. - by William Mauldi
This week’s European Union
election results are likely to complicate the European push to
negotiate a trade agreement with the U.S., according to people following
the talks.
The elections for the European Parliament showed gains for nationalist parties and politicians who want the EU to play a smaller role in the affairs of individual countries on the continent. The legislative body, which has gained greater clout in recent years, has to approve trade deals hammered out by EU officials in Brussels.
The most vocal supporter of a trade deal with the U.S., the center-right European People’s Party, is expected to hold 213 seats in the new Parliament, down from 274 seats. In turn, a swell of new, largely unaffiliated lawmakers will join the body, many of them skeptical of the EU’s scope and powers.
“The new members of the European Parliament will be more critical and demanding during the trade negotiations,” said the EU ambassador to the U.S., João Vale de Almeida.
Regulations coming out of Brussels are a frequent target of so-called euroskeptic parties, and the broader regulations that EU officials are hoping to agree upon with their Washington may face similar resistance. Another risk is the rise of anti-American rhetoric from growing groups on the far right and left.
Marine le Pen, the head of the National Front party that dominated the elections in France, called on President Francois Hollande this week to pull the country out of the talks to form an U.S.-E.U. trade bloc, known as the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP.
The tone of the negotiations with the U.S. could be affected by which leaders are chosen for the EU’s executive body and the key trade commissioner positions in Brussels, observers say.
Last year, President Barack Obama and European leaders formally launched negotiations to form the trade bloc.
The trade and investment pact is billed as a way to clear the economic hangover of the financial crisis, set trade rules that serve as an example for emerging markets including China and reinvigorate transatlantic ties at a time when Russia is asserting itself in neighboring countries.
Almost immediately, the spying disclosures of former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden soured the talks. Officials agreed to handle spying and most privacy issues outside the trade talks.
Read more: European Elections Likely to Complicate Trade Talks With U.S. - Real Time Economics - WSJ
The elections for the European Parliament showed gains for nationalist parties and politicians who want the EU to play a smaller role in the affairs of individual countries on the continent. The legislative body, which has gained greater clout in recent years, has to approve trade deals hammered out by EU officials in Brussels.
The most vocal supporter of a trade deal with the U.S., the center-right European People’s Party, is expected to hold 213 seats in the new Parliament, down from 274 seats. In turn, a swell of new, largely unaffiliated lawmakers will join the body, many of them skeptical of the EU’s scope and powers.
“The new members of the European Parliament will be more critical and demanding during the trade negotiations,” said the EU ambassador to the U.S., João Vale de Almeida.
Regulations coming out of Brussels are a frequent target of so-called euroskeptic parties, and the broader regulations that EU officials are hoping to agree upon with their Washington may face similar resistance. Another risk is the rise of anti-American rhetoric from growing groups on the far right and left.
Marine le Pen, the head of the National Front party that dominated the elections in France, called on President Francois Hollande this week to pull the country out of the talks to form an U.S.-E.U. trade bloc, known as the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP.
The tone of the negotiations with the U.S. could be affected by which leaders are chosen for the EU’s executive body and the key trade commissioner positions in Brussels, observers say.
Last year, President Barack Obama and European leaders formally launched negotiations to form the trade bloc.
The trade and investment pact is billed as a way to clear the economic hangover of the financial crisis, set trade rules that serve as an example for emerging markets including China and reinvigorate transatlantic ties at a time when Russia is asserting itself in neighboring countries.
Almost immediately, the spying disclosures of former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden soured the talks. Officials agreed to handle spying and most privacy issues outside the trade talks.
Read more: European Elections Likely to Complicate Trade Talks With U.S. - Real Time Economics - WSJ
5/28/14
EU Unity or Diversity - Cameron, Hollande argue over Europe's future
France and Great Britain work well together. In military matters, the
cooperation between Paris and London runs smoothly. The two nuclear
powers are in the same boat. After the EU election this also applies -
at least theoretically - to another issue: in both countries right-wing
populists gained the best results Europe-wide, putting both governments
in dire straits.
The United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) with its charismatic leader Nigel Farage will send 24 representatives to the new EU Parliament. Prime Minister Cameron's ruling conservatives won only 19 seats.
In France, the situation is even more dramatic: the right-wing National Front of Marine Le Pen took 24 seats - eleven more than the ruling Socialists. London and Paris are now searching for political answers to these landslide victories, but the solutions couldn't be more different.
“We need change in Europe,“ said Cameron. For the conservatives change means: “Europe should concentrate on what matters, on growth and jobs. We need an approach that recognizes that Brussels has got too big, too bossy, too interfering.” Cameron's demand: Europe only where necessary. And that means, the prime minster indicates, much less EU than before.
Cameron needs allies and advocates implementing his program, preferably in the EU Commission. Even if Cameron is not saying it openly on this particular evening, he wants to prevent Jean-Claude Juncker, who now advocates even closer cooperation in Europe, from becoming president of the EU Commission.
“We need people in the leadership who will be working for a Europe which is open, competitive and flexible - and not about the past.”
Read more: Cameron, Hollande argue over Europe's future | Europe | DW.DE | 28.05.2014
The United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) with its charismatic leader Nigel Farage will send 24 representatives to the new EU Parliament. Prime Minister Cameron's ruling conservatives won only 19 seats.
In France, the situation is even more dramatic: the right-wing National Front of Marine Le Pen took 24 seats - eleven more than the ruling Socialists. London and Paris are now searching for political answers to these landslide victories, but the solutions couldn't be more different.
“We need change in Europe,“ said Cameron. For the conservatives change means: “Europe should concentrate on what matters, on growth and jobs. We need an approach that recognizes that Brussels has got too big, too bossy, too interfering.” Cameron's demand: Europe only where necessary. And that means, the prime minster indicates, much less EU than before.
Cameron needs allies and advocates implementing his program, preferably in the EU Commission. Even if Cameron is not saying it openly on this particular evening, he wants to prevent Jean-Claude Juncker, who now advocates even closer cooperation in Europe, from becoming president of the EU Commission.
“We need people in the leadership who will be working for a Europe which is open, competitive and flexible - and not about the past.”
Read more: Cameron, Hollande argue over Europe's future | Europe | DW.DE | 28.05.2014
European Parliament: Will the Euro-skeptics unite in Brussels?
The mainstream media likes to lump together under the label “far
right” all European political parties opposed to the European Union and
to pro-immigration policies. Because I see big differences among these
parties, I have always rejected this approach.
The question is now one of more than academic and rhetorical significance. The so-called far right parties will have substantial representation in the newly-elected European parliament. If these various parties find enough in common to unite, they could play quite a significant role.
To this end, Marine Le Pen, head of France’s Front National Party, has been wooing leaders of “far right” parties throughout Europe. The results have been mixed.
Nigel Farage of Great Britian’s UKip Party has refused to work with the Front National. He reiterated his stand today, stating that a deal with Le Pen’s party “isn’t going to happen.” Farage added, “We’ve got to find a group of people that we think are part of our political family with views that are consistent with classical liberal democracy.” (emphasis added). The Front National manifestly is not such “a group of people.”
Le Pen’s outreach program was far more successful when it came to Geert Wilders and his Freedom Party in Holland. Wilders agreed last year to ally his party in the Euro-elections with the Front National and with Austria’s extremist anti-EU party.
The alliance struck me as unnatural. For example, Wilders is a friend of Israel; the Front National has a long history of anti-semitism.
Lucas Hartong, the most senior member of the European parliament from Wilders’ party, also found the alliance unnatural. He refused to campaign in the EU elections and warned that Wilders’ alliance with the Front National and the Austrian extremist bunch would prove to be an electoral disaster.
Exit polling indicated that Hartong was right. It showed Wilders’ party finishing fourth in the elections. Now it appears that the party came in third (or maybe tied for second) and will take 4 of 26 seats. Still disappointing, but not disastrous.
Wilders’ party suffered when Jean Le Pen, father of the Front National and of Marine, decided to speak out on election eve. The aging racist opined that the Ebola virus will solve Europe’s problem with immigration from Africa.
Read more: Will the Euro-skeptics unite in Brussels? | Power Line
The question is now one of more than academic and rhetorical significance. The so-called far right parties will have substantial representation in the newly-elected European parliament. If these various parties find enough in common to unite, they could play quite a significant role.
To this end, Marine Le Pen, head of France’s Front National Party, has been wooing leaders of “far right” parties throughout Europe. The results have been mixed.
Nigel Farage of Great Britian’s UKip Party has refused to work with the Front National. He reiterated his stand today, stating that a deal with Le Pen’s party “isn’t going to happen.” Farage added, “We’ve got to find a group of people that we think are part of our political family with views that are consistent with classical liberal democracy.” (emphasis added). The Front National manifestly is not such “a group of people.”
Le Pen’s outreach program was far more successful when it came to Geert Wilders and his Freedom Party in Holland. Wilders agreed last year to ally his party in the Euro-elections with the Front National and with Austria’s extremist anti-EU party.
The alliance struck me as unnatural. For example, Wilders is a friend of Israel; the Front National has a long history of anti-semitism.
Lucas Hartong, the most senior member of the European parliament from Wilders’ party, also found the alliance unnatural. He refused to campaign in the EU elections and warned that Wilders’ alliance with the Front National and the Austrian extremist bunch would prove to be an electoral disaster.
Exit polling indicated that Hartong was right. It showed Wilders’ party finishing fourth in the elections. Now it appears that the party came in third (or maybe tied for second) and will take 4 of 26 seats. Still disappointing, but not disastrous.
Wilders’ party suffered when Jean Le Pen, father of the Front National and of Marine, decided to speak out on election eve. The aging racist opined that the Ebola virus will solve Europe’s problem with immigration from Africa.
Read more: Will the Euro-skeptics unite in Brussels? | Power Line
5/25/14
European Parliament: Final Results EU Elections Watch LIVE
The last European elections had a turnout of just slightly over 43%. The results of the elections will be announced at 10pm GMT today Sunday May 25 when the rest of the EU countries will have voted on who all will take up the 751 seats of the European Parliament.
EU-Digest
EU-Digest
5/24/14
European elections day 3: polls open in Latvia, Malta and Slovakia
Saturday marks the penultimate day for Europe
to decide on who it wants in charge and voting continues into a second
day in the Czech Republic, whilst Latvia, Malta, Slovakia and the French
overseas territories will also head to the polls.
At the start of day three, up to 90 million of the 388 million eligible could have cast their vote in the largest democratic exercise outside of India. But, unlike India which saw an impressive turnout of 66%, the last European elections had a turnout of just 43%.
The number of voters could play into the hands of anti-EU parties which have seen a rise in support since the economic and financial crisis struck.
One of the countries most affected by the crisis, Ireland only recently exited its EU-IMF bailout. Surveys indicate that trust in the European institutions is 23 percentage points lower than before the rescue plan was implemented.
The results of the elections will be announced at 10pm GMT on Sunday when the rest of the EU countries will have voted on who will take up the 751 seats of the European Parliament.
At the start of day three, up to 90 million of the 388 million eligible could have cast their vote in the largest democratic exercise outside of India. But, unlike India which saw an impressive turnout of 66%, the last European elections had a turnout of just 43%.
The number of voters could play into the hands of anti-EU parties which have seen a rise in support since the economic and financial crisis struck.
One of the countries most affected by the crisis, Ireland only recently exited its EU-IMF bailout. Surveys indicate that trust in the European institutions is 23 percentage points lower than before the rescue plan was implemented.
The results of the elections will be announced at 10pm GMT on Sunday when the rest of the EU countries will have voted on who will take up the 751 seats of the European Parliament.
Read more: European elections day 3: polls open in Latvia, Malta and Slovakia | euronews, world news
European Parliamentary Elections: Ireland and Czech European election exit-polls
Voters in Ireland and the Czech Republic have been to the polls on the
second day of voting for the European elections. Over four days, some
388 million Europeans are eligible to vote for 751 members of the
parliament.
In Ireland, 41 candidates were chasing eleven seats in the European Parliament. Local authority elections were also held on Friday as polling stations reported turnout of over 30 percent in some areas although turnout in Dublin was lower, at about 25 percent.
Voter resentment over EU-imposed limits on public spending were expected to see a boost for anti-austerity candidates from Ireland's Sinn Fein.
In the Czech Republic a total of 21 MEPs were to be elected, with the populist ANO party poised for victory ahead of the leftwing Social Democrats.
Some 388 million Europeans are eligible to vote for 751 members of the parliament, which is an equal co-legislator with member governments on most EU laws.
Latvia, Malta and Slovakia have their polls on Saturday, while Germany, France, Italy and the remaining EU countries are to vote Sunday. There are no official results anywhere in the EU until 23:00 in Brussels (2100 UTC) on Sunday.
Read more: Ireland and Czech European election exit-polls | News | DW.DE | 23.05.2014
In Ireland, 41 candidates were chasing eleven seats in the European Parliament. Local authority elections were also held on Friday as polling stations reported turnout of over 30 percent in some areas although turnout in Dublin was lower, at about 25 percent.
Voter resentment over EU-imposed limits on public spending were expected to see a boost for anti-austerity candidates from Ireland's Sinn Fein.
In the Czech Republic a total of 21 MEPs were to be elected, with the populist ANO party poised for victory ahead of the leftwing Social Democrats.
Some 388 million Europeans are eligible to vote for 751 members of the parliament, which is an equal co-legislator with member governments on most EU laws.
Latvia, Malta and Slovakia have their polls on Saturday, while Germany, France, Italy and the remaining EU countries are to vote Sunday. There are no official results anywhere in the EU until 23:00 in Brussels (2100 UTC) on Sunday.
Read more: Ireland and Czech European election exit-polls | News | DW.DE | 23.05.2014
5/23/14
Ireland - European Elections: Rate of voting in Local, European elections rises
With just three hours to go before polling stations close the number
of people voting in the Local Authority and European Elections is
increasing.
Voter turnout at polling stations in some parts of the country is reported to be well above 30%.
There are also two Dáil by-elections taking place in the Dublin West and Longford Westmeath constituencies.
The polls will close at 10pm tonight.
The turnout is rising well above 30% in Waterford, Kilkenny and in parts of Cork, Galway and Limerick.
In Longford and Westmeath where voters are also selecting a new TD the turnout is again around 30%.
In Dublin, figures are lower and many areas in the city and county are averaging in the mid-twenties.
In some parts of Donegal more than 40% of the electorate have voted already.
Read more: Rate of voting in Local, European elections rises - RTÉ News
Voter turnout at polling stations in some parts of the country is reported to be well above 30%.
There are also two Dáil by-elections taking place in the Dublin West and Longford Westmeath constituencies.
The polls will close at 10pm tonight.
The turnout is rising well above 30% in Waterford, Kilkenny and in parts of Cork, Galway and Limerick.
In Longford and Westmeath where voters are also selecting a new TD the turnout is again around 30%.
In Dublin, figures are lower and many areas in the city and county are averaging in the mid-twenties.
In some parts of Donegal more than 40% of the electorate have voted already.
Read more: Rate of voting in Local, European elections rises - RTÉ News
5/21/14
EU-Digest Poll European Parliamentary Elections
Our EU Digest Poll in relation to this weeks EU Parliamentary Elections which was closed today showed the following results.
The Poll shows a potential strong showing by the so-called Eurosceptic parties while traditional pro-EU political parties will remain in power.
Our new poll which runs through June 22 asks the question:
"Do Corporations Have Too Much Influence On Global Governance?"
EU-Digest
The Poll shows a potential strong showing by the so-called Eurosceptic parties while traditional pro-EU political parties will remain in power.
Our new poll which runs through June 22 asks the question:
"Do Corporations Have Too Much Influence On Global Governance?"
EU-Digest5/20/14
European Parliamentary Elections: Netherlands' Geert Wilders cuts up EU flag in Bruxelles - by Nikolaj Nielsen
 |
| The Mouse which roared |
In a publicity stunt amid the dozen or so cafes at Place Luxembourg, overlooked by the parliament’s tall glass structures, Wilders cut out a yellow star before unfolding the Dutch flag in its place.
The nationalist, who runs the Dutch Freedom Party, is convinced he will be able to form a new group of eurosceptic MEPs following the upcoming European Parliament elections. He wants the Netherlands to leave the Union, regain its sovereignty, and shut down its borders to asylum seekers.
His other goal - to pull apart the EU from within by forming the anti-EU faction in parliament - will require at least 25 MEPs from seven EU member states.Wilders says he will be meeting with other eurosceptic politicians next week in Brussels to work out a deal.
“It is our task to try to work together to overstep our differences, to not get into fights about our leadership, to overstep ‘our shadows’ as we say in the Netherlands,” he said.
He was short on details.
Note EU-Digest: Europe gets a taste of the type of politicians which represent the Eurosceptic group running in the elections for the European Parliament.
Read more: EUobserver / Netherlands' Geert Wilders cuts up EU flag
5/19/14
A vote for Ukip is a vote against Europe, nothing more - by Simon Jenkins
The truest thing Nigel Farage has said in the countdown to Thursday's European election is, "I was tired", when apologising for unfortunate remarks on Romanian immigration.
Farage's tiredness tells us much about his rise to fame, not least his
lonely status as leader, spokesman, policy chief, disciplinarian,
candidate selector and celebrity all-in-one. It is a wonder the whole
Ukip enterprise has not already evaporated in a whirl of heat.
But Farage's Ukip is not a political party, nor is it just a one-man band, though its leader's relaxed style and affability speak volumes for modern political craftsmanship. Ukip is simply a point of view; one that has always existed in countries with fluid societies and open economies. It is a view widely held by people whose jobs are insecure and whose communities seem under siege that was articulated with more racism, though less panache, by Enoch Powell at the end of the 1960s.
What has given this view sudden electoral potency is a quite separate disillusionment with the ever greater European union. Even decades of immigration from the non-white Commonwealth never had the dynamism that Farage has been able to generate over Europe's open borders. He's given latent xenophobia the elixir of respectability in opposing the EU – exploiting the uncritical complacency of the pro-Europe lobby.
Tarnishing Ukip as a racist party or castigating it as extreme has proved woefully counter-productive. People who oppose European integration do not like being branded racist. Ukip may be absurdly ramshackle; its policies may be as chaotic as its organisation. This is not at issue. As the vehicle for a point of view, Ukip is specific: it wants Britain "out of Europe". A vote for Ukip on Thursday is not a vote for an MEP or a party, let alone a government. It is the closest to a referendum on Europe that Britain has been allowed this century, and it will be seen as such.
But Farage's Ukip is not a political party, nor is it just a one-man band, though its leader's relaxed style and affability speak volumes for modern political craftsmanship. Ukip is simply a point of view; one that has always existed in countries with fluid societies and open economies. It is a view widely held by people whose jobs are insecure and whose communities seem under siege that was articulated with more racism, though less panache, by Enoch Powell at the end of the 1960s.
What has given this view sudden electoral potency is a quite separate disillusionment with the ever greater European union. Even decades of immigration from the non-white Commonwealth never had the dynamism that Farage has been able to generate over Europe's open borders. He's given latent xenophobia the elixir of respectability in opposing the EU – exploiting the uncritical complacency of the pro-Europe lobby.
Tarnishing Ukip as a racist party or castigating it as extreme has proved woefully counter-productive. People who oppose European integration do not like being branded racist. Ukip may be absurdly ramshackle; its policies may be as chaotic as its organisation. This is not at issue. As the vehicle for a point of view, Ukip is specific: it wants Britain "out of Europe". A vote for Ukip on Thursday is not a vote for an MEP or a party, let alone a government. It is the closest to a referendum on Europe that Britain has been allowed this century, and it will be seen as such.
Read more: A vote for Ukip is a vote against Europe, nothing more | Simon Jenkins | Comment is free | theguardian.com
5/16/14
EUROPE – What makes the EU tick?
The EU was not always as big as it is today. When European countries started to cooperate economically in 1951, only Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands participated.
Over time, more and more countries decided to join. The union reached its current size of 28 member countries with the accession of Croatia on 1 July 2013.
The creation of the single market and the corresponding increase in trade and general economic activit transformed the EU into a major trading power. The EU is trying to sustain economic growth by investing in transport, energy and research, while also seeking to minimise the environmental impact of further economic development.
The EU's economy — measured in terms of the goods and services it produces (GDP) — is now bigger than the US's: EU GDP in 2012: €12 945 402 million.
With just 7% of the world’s population, the EU's trade with the rest of the world accounts for around 20% of global exports and imports.
Around two-thirds of EU countries’ total trade is done with other EU countries.
Trade has been hit by the global recession, but the EU remains the world’s largest player accounting for 16.4% of global imports in 2011. The EU is followed by the United States with 15.5% of all imports, and China with 11.9%. The EU was also the biggest exporter, accounting for 15.4% of all exports - compared with 13.4% for China and the 10.5% for the United States.
The EU's also has a unique institutional set-up:
Led by its President – currently Herman Van Rompuy – and comprising national heads of state or government and the President of the Commission, it meets for a few days at a time at least every 6 months.
Law making: There are 3 main institutions involved in EU legislation:
In principle, the Commission proposes new laws, and the Parliament and Council adopt them. The Commission and the member countries then implement them, and the Commission ensures that the laws are properly applied and implemented.
Read more: EUROPA and the European project
Over time, more and more countries decided to join. The union reached its current size of 28 member countries with the accession of Croatia on 1 July 2013.
The creation of the single market and the corresponding increase in trade and general economic activit transformed the EU into a major trading power. The EU is trying to sustain economic growth by investing in transport, energy and research, while also seeking to minimise the environmental impact of further economic development.
The EU's economy — measured in terms of the goods and services it produces (GDP) — is now bigger than the US's: EU GDP in 2012: €12 945 402 million.
With just 7% of the world’s population, the EU's trade with the rest of the world accounts for around 20% of global exports and imports.
Around two-thirds of EU countries’ total trade is done with other EU countries.
Trade has been hit by the global recession, but the EU remains the world’s largest player accounting for 16.4% of global imports in 2011. The EU is followed by the United States with 15.5% of all imports, and China with 11.9%. The EU was also the biggest exporter, accounting for 15.4% of all exports - compared with 13.4% for China and the 10.5% for the United States.
The EU's also has a unique institutional set-up:
- the EU's broad priorities are set by the European Council, which brings together national and EU-level leaders
- directly elected MEPs represent European citizens in the European Parliament
- the interests of the EU as a whole are promoted by the European Commission, whose members are appointed by national governments
- governments defend their own country's national interests in the Council of the European Union.
Led by its President – currently Herman Van Rompuy – and comprising national heads of state or government and the President of the Commission, it meets for a few days at a time at least every 6 months.
Law making: There are 3 main institutions involved in EU legislation:
- the European Parliament, which represents the EU’s citizens and is directly elected by them;
- the Council of the European Union, which represents the governments of the individual member countries.
- The Presidency of the Council is shared by the member states on a rotating basis.
- the European Commission, which represents the interests of the Union as a whole.
In principle, the Commission proposes new laws, and the Parliament and Council adopt them. The Commission and the member countries then implement them, and the Commission ensures that the laws are properly applied and implemented.
Read more: EUROPA and the European project
5/8/14
Far Right Dangers in Britain: Ukip support surges in run-up to Britain's European elections - by Ellen Mauro
The UK Independence Party (Ukip), once dismissed as a group of
"fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists" by British Prime Minister David
Cameron, appears set to trounce the country's mainstream political
parties in Britain’s elections for the European Parliament later this month.
According to the latest opinion poll, published in Britain's Sunday Times newspaper and conducted by UK statistics firm YouGov, far-right Ukip - a relative new kid on the block of British politics - would score 31 per cent of the vote among the respondents if the European elections were held when the poll was taken.
The poll showed Ukip would come in three points ahead of the Labour Party, while Cameron's Conservatives would trail in third place with 19 per cent of the vote.
Citizens of European Union member states head to the polls every five years to elect members of the European Parliament. The body’s main role is to approve new EU laws, which override national laws of member states.
The stakes are particularly high this year as it’s the first time in many countries that far-right, anti-EU parties are likely to pose a major challenge to traditional parties.
Given that trend, Ukip’s impressive result in the YouGov poll isn’t a shock. What is perhaps surprising, though, is that the party still managed to finish in first place after a slew of bad press in recent weeks.
Read more: Ukip support surges in run-up to Britain's European elections - World - CBC News
According to the latest opinion poll, published in Britain's Sunday Times newspaper and conducted by UK statistics firm YouGov, far-right Ukip - a relative new kid on the block of British politics - would score 31 per cent of the vote among the respondents if the European elections were held when the poll was taken.
The poll showed Ukip would come in three points ahead of the Labour Party, while Cameron's Conservatives would trail in third place with 19 per cent of the vote.
Citizens of European Union member states head to the polls every five years to elect members of the European Parliament. The body’s main role is to approve new EU laws, which override national laws of member states.
The stakes are particularly high this year as it’s the first time in many countries that far-right, anti-EU parties are likely to pose a major challenge to traditional parties.
Given that trend, Ukip’s impressive result in the YouGov poll isn’t a shock. What is perhaps surprising, though, is that the party still managed to finish in first place after a slew of bad press in recent weeks.
Read more: Ukip support surges in run-up to Britain's European elections - World - CBC News
5/5/14
European Elections: "An EU of multinationals, of harmonisation – makes people uneasy. People like difference and identity." - by Jon Henley
 |
| Is EU taken over by Multi-National Lobbyists ? |
Among the cheeses are tomme from Savoie, crottins de chèvre from Aveyron, and great roundels of brie from nearby Meaux, alongside case upon case of chablis, Pouilly-Fumé, Nuits-Saint-Georges. And today, in amiable conversation with a local cheesemaker, there is Aymeric Chauprade, academic, author, consultant, and leading candidate in the European elections for Marine Le Pen's freshly fumigated Front National.
Here's the problem, explains an immaculately suited Chauprade, who besides degrees in maths and international law has a doctorate in political science from the Sorbonne: all this – he gestures around him as the throng prods, nibbles, squeezes, swills and swallows – is at risk.
"American farmers and 'big food' will rule; our regulations and standards will count for nothing," Chauprade continues. "This is an EU that has no respect for national specificities; it's an EU of bureaucrats, of ever greater normalisation, in the service of big banks and corporations. It is not the EU we want."
Understandably, this message plays well here. But not only here.
Across the EU, insurgent parties from right and left are poised to cause major upset, finishing at or near the top of their respective national votes. As a result, rejectionist parties look set to send their largest contingent of anti-European MEPs ever to the European parliament: perhaps 25% of the assembly's 751 members. (Down from 766 in the current parliament.)
Disillusion with the EU, certainly, is at record highs across the continent. The surveys are unequivocal: 60% of Europeans "tend not to trust" the EU now, against 32% in 2007; in 20 of the 28 member states a clear majority feels the EU is going "in the wrong direction"; for the first time, Eurosceptics outnumber supporters by 43% to 40%.
"In our analysis, the real turning point came in the late 1980s, when the big industrialists started laying down the plans for the future of Europe," says Dennis de Jong, a leading MEP from the impeccably leftwing but fiercely Euro-critical Dutch Socialist party. "Until that moment, the EU seemed like a logical post-war development. But industry, not ordinary people, has driven much of what's happened since, from opening internal borders to the euro.
This EU – the EU of multinationals, of harmonisation – makes people uneasy. People like difference. They like identity."
Read more: The enemy invasion: Brussels braced for influx of Eurosceptics in EU polls | World news | The Guardian
5/2/14
European Elections: Candidates spar in live EU TV debate
With flashes of wit, much earnestness and a certain reluctance to go
for the jugular of their opponents, four candidates for the European
Commission presidency broke new ground on Monday night by holding a live
televised debate designed to drum up public interest in the May 22-25
elections for the European parliament.
If social media are one measure of that interest, the debate may have worked. Halfway through the 90-minute programme, broadcast from the Dutch city of Maastricht, an organiser announced that 10,000 tweets a minute were coming in.
The harder question to answer is whether any candidate did enough to convince potential voters that the elections will truly make a difference in a EU blighted by a long recession, mass unemployment and a squeezed welfare state.
Although the debate never turned nasty, Ska Keller, the Greens candidate, got in a sharp jab at Jean-Claude Juncker, the centre-right candidate, when she accused him of “presiding over a tax haven” during his time as prime minister of Luxembourg. An indignant Mr Juncker rejected the charge and managed later to slip in the image-softening remark that one reason why he favoured a EU-wide minimum wage was that he remembered his father’s tough life as a steelworker.
Guy Verhofstadt, a former Belgian prime minister who is the centrist, liberal candidate, turned his fire on José Manuel Barroso, the outgoing Commission president, saying Mr Barroso had never taken a decision without first flying to Berlin and Paris to get the green light. “The Commission needs to lead,” he thundered.
He also put Mr Juncker on the spot by challenging him to explain why his centre-right group still included Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian prime minister, who caused outrage last weekend by suggesting Germans denied the existence of Nazi concentration camps. But Mr Juncker hit back with the succinct sentence: “I was sickened by the statements of Mr Berlusconi.”
Martin Schulz, the centre-left candidate, made a valiant effort to distinguish himself from the other three by repeating on several occasions that he was against a Europe of “banks and speculators”.
When the debate moved on to Europe’s insurgent far-right parties, he spoke with some passion in saying he found it “unimaginable” as a German that “a Nazi party could sit in the European parliament and make propaganda for the party of Adolf Hitler”.
Read more: Candidates spar in live EU TV debate | Brussels blog
If social media are one measure of that interest, the debate may have worked. Halfway through the 90-minute programme, broadcast from the Dutch city of Maastricht, an organiser announced that 10,000 tweets a minute were coming in.
The harder question to answer is whether any candidate did enough to convince potential voters that the elections will truly make a difference in a EU blighted by a long recession, mass unemployment and a squeezed welfare state.
Although the debate never turned nasty, Ska Keller, the Greens candidate, got in a sharp jab at Jean-Claude Juncker, the centre-right candidate, when she accused him of “presiding over a tax haven” during his time as prime minister of Luxembourg. An indignant Mr Juncker rejected the charge and managed later to slip in the image-softening remark that one reason why he favoured a EU-wide minimum wage was that he remembered his father’s tough life as a steelworker.
Guy Verhofstadt, a former Belgian prime minister who is the centrist, liberal candidate, turned his fire on José Manuel Barroso, the outgoing Commission president, saying Mr Barroso had never taken a decision without first flying to Berlin and Paris to get the green light. “The Commission needs to lead,” he thundered.
He also put Mr Juncker on the spot by challenging him to explain why his centre-right group still included Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian prime minister, who caused outrage last weekend by suggesting Germans denied the existence of Nazi concentration camps. But Mr Juncker hit back with the succinct sentence: “I was sickened by the statements of Mr Berlusconi.”
Martin Schulz, the centre-left candidate, made a valiant effort to distinguish himself from the other three by repeating on several occasions that he was against a Europe of “banks and speculators”.
When the debate moved on to Europe’s insurgent far-right parties, he spoke with some passion in saying he found it “unimaginable” as a German that “a Nazi party could sit in the European parliament and make propaganda for the party of Adolf Hitler”.
Read more: Candidates spar in live EU TV debate | Brussels blog
European Elections: Europe's main broadcasters snub EU presidency debate - by Dave Keating
On 10 May, Europe's main television stations will broadcast the
Eurovision Song Contest – the annual song competition staged by the
European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
But five days later, a first-of-its-kind political debate between candidates to be the next European Commission President, staged by the EBU, will be relegated to special interest channels or news networks.
The EBU is the umbrella organisation for all national public broadcasters in Europe, and the intent was for the debate to be aired on at least second-tier stations. However most broadcasters have opted to air the debate on obscure stations.
Until this week, it appeared that the debate would not be broadcast in France at all, with all French broadcasters refusing to air it. Yesterday TV5 announced it would carry the debate. However TV5 is technically not a French broadcaster but rather a ‘global broadcaster in the French language'.
German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF have decided to feature the debate on a little-watched special interest channel called Phoenix. British public broadcaster BBC has decided to feature the debate on BBC Parliament, a little-watched 24-hour channel monitoring the British Parliament, similar to C-Span in the United States.
As of today (2 May), five member states have no plans to air the debate at all – Hungary, Slovenia, Latvia, Estonia and Cyprus. Swedish broadcaster SVT will not air the debate live, but will run a recorded version at some point before the election. Spain and Italy will air the broadcast on their 24-hour news stations. The debate will be aired in two non-EU countries – Canada and Ukraine.
Deutsche Welle, an international 24-hour news network in the German language, will also air the debate, along with European cable news station Euronews.
Read more: Europe's main broadcasters snub EU presidency debate | European Voice
But five days later, a first-of-its-kind political debate between candidates to be the next European Commission President, staged by the EBU, will be relegated to special interest channels or news networks.
The EBU is the umbrella organisation for all national public broadcasters in Europe, and the intent was for the debate to be aired on at least second-tier stations. However most broadcasters have opted to air the debate on obscure stations.
Until this week, it appeared that the debate would not be broadcast in France at all, with all French broadcasters refusing to air it. Yesterday TV5 announced it would carry the debate. However TV5 is technically not a French broadcaster but rather a ‘global broadcaster in the French language'.
German public broadcasters ARD and ZDF have decided to feature the debate on a little-watched special interest channel called Phoenix. British public broadcaster BBC has decided to feature the debate on BBC Parliament, a little-watched 24-hour channel monitoring the British Parliament, similar to C-Span in the United States.
As of today (2 May), five member states have no plans to air the debate at all – Hungary, Slovenia, Latvia, Estonia and Cyprus. Swedish broadcaster SVT will not air the debate live, but will run a recorded version at some point before the election. Spain and Italy will air the broadcast on their 24-hour news stations. The debate will be aired in two non-EU countries – Canada and Ukraine.
Deutsche Welle, an international 24-hour news network in the German language, will also air the debate, along with European cable news station Euronews.
Read more: Europe's main broadcasters snub EU presidency debate | European Voice
3/9/14
End of Europe? Not So Fast, Mr. Putin: by Lyric Hughes Hale
This month marks the 50th anniversary of the appearance of the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show,
a watershed in the history of U.S.-European relations. With the
"British Invasion" Europe rebounded from war in the American
imagination, and became a place that captured the hearts and minds of
the young. No longer grey and dreary and bombed out, it was suddenly
cool, a cultural leader and a place everyone wanted to go.
Today, the perception of Europe from the U.S. side can be summarized in the following lines from a poem by Mark Bibbins that appeared in the New Yorker a couple of weeks ago: Europe: you swear it exists because you once had sex in it, and ideas.
Europe has not been seen as a geopolitical force by most Americans. Their attention has been riveted by war in the Middle East, Asia's economic rise, and now Russia.
This attitude pervades not just public perceptions, but the private musings of U.S. government officials. A diplomatic kerfuffle, accelerated by social media, caused smirks on this side of the Atlantic. It was reported that U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland exclaimed "f**k the E.U." to Ukraine's ambassador to Washington. She was expressing her disappointment, as well as the Administration's dismay, at the handling of the Ukrainian crisis by the Europeans. German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her outrage (not at the Ukrainian situation, but at the diplomatic leak). In a world of increasing risks and dangers, Europe seems self-absorbed, lacking both the innovation capability of the U.S. and China's commercial energy. It appears unable to capitalize on and manage potentially positive events on its borders, let alone globally. Angela Merkel seems to be more of a corporate crisis manager than a leader of 500 million Europeans.
The European Union is brand new. Van Middlaar counsels forbearance. "A political body cannot emerge in a single moment: it takes time." His book is a tour de force of European political philosophy. An entire chapter is devoted to the Greek model, another to the Roman, all to illuminate the grand European experiment that he has witnessed first hand. As for the euro crisis:
When a storm becomes too fierce and the wind blows your boat towards the open sea, it is better to have a good compass than an anchor, better to rely on your sense of direction than on rules. So the euro crisis, like the others before it, is forcing the circle of member states to politicize itself, to increase its capacity to act and take responsibility. The power of the European telos is such that it is revived by every crisis. In the confusion, the hope of redemption gives way to an even more fundamental desire: to face the future together. But this opening-up to new experiences demands the abandonment of any notion of returning to a particular port.
So will Europe become, as Kishore Mahbubani has suggested, geopolitically irrelevant? The Ukrainian crisis reminds us that Europe matters. If Asia succeeds economically, but reverts to war, then Europe's experiment, which all will agree has created a successful and lasting peace within its borders, will bring with it a prosperous and sustainable future.
Read more: End of Europe? Not So Fast, Mr. Putin | Lyric Hughes Hale
Today, the perception of Europe from the U.S. side can be summarized in the following lines from a poem by Mark Bibbins that appeared in the New Yorker a couple of weeks ago: Europe: you swear it exists because you once had sex in it, and ideas.
Europe has not been seen as a geopolitical force by most Americans. Their attention has been riveted by war in the Middle East, Asia's economic rise, and now Russia.
This attitude pervades not just public perceptions, but the private musings of U.S. government officials. A diplomatic kerfuffle, accelerated by social media, caused smirks on this side of the Atlantic. It was reported that U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland exclaimed "f**k the E.U." to Ukraine's ambassador to Washington. She was expressing her disappointment, as well as the Administration's dismay, at the handling of the Ukrainian crisis by the Europeans. German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her outrage (not at the Ukrainian situation, but at the diplomatic leak). In a world of increasing risks and dangers, Europe seems self-absorbed, lacking both the innovation capability of the U.S. and China's commercial energy. It appears unable to capitalize on and manage potentially positive events on its borders, let alone globally. Angela Merkel seems to be more of a corporate crisis manager than a leader of 500 million Europeans.
The European Union is brand new. Van Middlaar counsels forbearance. "A political body cannot emerge in a single moment: it takes time." His book is a tour de force of European political philosophy. An entire chapter is devoted to the Greek model, another to the Roman, all to illuminate the grand European experiment that he has witnessed first hand. As for the euro crisis:
When a storm becomes too fierce and the wind blows your boat towards the open sea, it is better to have a good compass than an anchor, better to rely on your sense of direction than on rules. So the euro crisis, like the others before it, is forcing the circle of member states to politicize itself, to increase its capacity to act and take responsibility. The power of the European telos is such that it is revived by every crisis. In the confusion, the hope of redemption gives way to an even more fundamental desire: to face the future together. But this opening-up to new experiences demands the abandonment of any notion of returning to a particular port.
So will Europe become, as Kishore Mahbubani has suggested, geopolitically irrelevant? The Ukrainian crisis reminds us that Europe matters. If Asia succeeds economically, but reverts to war, then Europe's experiment, which all will agree has created a successful and lasting peace within its borders, will bring with it a prosperous and sustainable future.
Read more: End of Europe? Not So Fast, Mr. Putin | Lyric Hughes Hale
2/20/14
European Financial Industry: Germany, France back EU tax on derivatives - by Jean-Baptiste Vey
France and Germany
agreed that a planned pan-European tax on financial transactions should
cover all derivatives products, a source close to French Finance
Minister Pierre Moscovici said on Wednesday.
President Francois Hollande and Chancellor Angela Merkel said after a joint meeting of their two cabinets in Paris that they wanted other EU partners to agree on such a levy by European Parliament elections in May.
France and its banks have in the past warned that imposing a transactions tax across the board of financial products could damage Europe's financial sector. But Germany has in recent days suggested a compromise under which different components of the tax could be phased in over time.
While Hollande and Merkel signalled their will for the 11 countries who back the tax to conclude a deal on it by the European elections, it was still not clear how high the final tax would be and when it would be applied to specific products.
Asked whether he favoured a phase-in of the tax as suggested by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble - starting with share trades first - Hollande said such details would be worked out in minister-level discussions.
"The main thing is that it happens. If we seek the perfect product, I know there are some people who will go so deep into details that there will never be a financial transactions tax. I prefer an imperfect tax to no tax at all," he said.
Note EU-Digest: every politician in the European Union should keep in mind that we elected them to defend the interests of the voters and not only the interests of the financial, banking industry, or specific corporate interest groups.
Read more: Germany, France back EU tax on derivatives - French source | Reuters
President Francois Hollande and Chancellor Angela Merkel said after a joint meeting of their two cabinets in Paris that they wanted other EU partners to agree on such a levy by European Parliament elections in May.
France and its banks have in the past warned that imposing a transactions tax across the board of financial products could damage Europe's financial sector. But Germany has in recent days suggested a compromise under which different components of the tax could be phased in over time.
While Hollande and Merkel signalled their will for the 11 countries who back the tax to conclude a deal on it by the European elections, it was still not clear how high the final tax would be and when it would be applied to specific products.
Asked whether he favoured a phase-in of the tax as suggested by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble - starting with share trades first - Hollande said such details would be worked out in minister-level discussions.
"The main thing is that it happens. If we seek the perfect product, I know there are some people who will go so deep into details that there will never be a financial transactions tax. I prefer an imperfect tax to no tax at all," he said.
Note EU-Digest: every politician in the European Union should keep in mind that we elected them to defend the interests of the voters and not only the interests of the financial, banking industry, or specific corporate interest groups.
Read more: Germany, France back EU tax on derivatives - French source | Reuters
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)