EU-DIGEST

12/8/19

EU: Finland to get youngest prime minister in its history

Finland's transportation minister Sanna Marin was selected by her Social Democratic party on Sunday to become the country's youngest prime minister ever, taking over after the resignation of Antti Rinne.

China-US relations: U.S. bill on China's Xinjiang violates international law, regional official says

Recent U.S. legislation on Xinjiang is a severe violation of international law and gross interference in China's internal affairs, the governor of the far western region said on Monday, accusing the United States of launching a smear campaign.

Read more at:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-china-xinjiang/u-s-bill-on-chinas-xinjiang-violates-international-law-regional-official-says-idUKKBN1YD05C

EU-US Relations: Trump escalates fight over tax on tech giants - by Naomi Jagoda and Emily Birnbaum

The long-running fight between the U.S. and Europe over how to tax American tech giants is heating up.

The Trump administration on Monday proposed retaliating against France for a tax on digital services, floating $2.4 billion in tariffs, and Paris is vowing to hit back.

The dispute is raising pressure on international negotiators to develop a framework for taxing tech companies whose businesses span the globe. But as the complicated talks unfold, the U.S. is threatening to launch more investigations.

Read more at: Trump escalates fight over tax on tech giants | TheHill

EU Asylum Policy: Searching for solidarity in EU asylum policy

Article 80 of the Lisbon Treaty says European Union policies must by governed by the principles of solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility.

It is an article that Spanish socialist MEP Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar often repeats in the face of the major backlash among member states when it comes to overhauling the EU's complex asylum system.

As chair of the European Parliament's civil liberties committee (Libe), Aguilar is faced with a daunting task to pressure capitals into applying article 80 in practice.

Read ,more at: Searching for solidarity in EU asylum policy

12/7/19

NATO: Macron spars with US and Turkey over Nato - by Nikolaj Nielsen

EU Defense Force: Europe needs to control it's own destiny

The presidents of France, Turkey and the United States sparred over Nato as the 29 leaders of the 70-year old alliance gathered in London.

In a late night tweet on Tuesday (3 December), French president Emmanuel Macron entrenched his views on the future of the fraying alliance.

"We can't put money and pay the cost of our soldiers' lives without being clear on the fundamentals of what Nato should be," he said.

The position follows his earlier comments describing Nato as "brain dead", given Turkey's October invasion into north-east Syria, displacing tens of thousands of people.

After US president Donald Trump abandoned the Kurdish militias, who had fought alongside US and French troops in the struggle against the Islamic State, Turkey moved in.

Note EU-Digest: Macron is right on this one. US President Trump pulled out of Syria without consulting any of his NATO partners, except possibly Turkey, and created a chaos at the border between Syria and Turkey. It is high time the EU gets off the lap of the US and creates its own military defense force, which focuses on the interests of Europe.

Read more at: Macron spars with US and Turkey over Nato

British Elections - Voodoo Economics: Sterling soars against dollar as traders bet on Johnson election win

The Pound raced to a seven-month high against the dollar on Wednesday as City traders bet that Boris Johnson was on course for victory in the general election.

Sterling jumped above $1.30 to hit 1.311, its highest level since May, while the euro rate moved above €1.18 from close to parity in the ummer when the Conservative leadership contest triggered a fresh round of Brexit uncertainty.

Read more at: Sterling soars against dollar as traders bet on Johnson election win | Business | The Guardian

12/6/19

EU Poll: Most Italians want to remain part of the European Union, poll finds

The majority of Italians would like to keep their EU membership, but half are also yearning for a "strongman" leader, according to the latest national Censis poll.

Read more at:
https://www.thelocal.it/20191206/most-italians-want-to-be-part-of-the-european-union-poll-finds

USA - Economy: Trump perfectly orchestrates the stock market’s rise whenever momentum wanes

Price action, internal momentum and volume aren’t great, but that doesn’t matter when the president wields his baton.

Read more at:

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/trump-perfectly-orchestrates-the-stock-markets-rise-whenever-momentum-wanes-2019-12-05

EU: France pension reform strikes: Transport chaos on day 2

People took to the streets in France for a second day of nationwide general strikes. Protests over Macron's pension proposals turned violent on Thursday with people starting fires and clashing with police.

Read more at:
https://www.dw.com/en/france-pension-reform-strikes-transport-chaos-on-day-2/a-51551486

USA: Why is tourism to the United States on the decline? - Gun Violence

The decrease isn't steep, but any decline is seen as alarming, given the overall rise in global tourism.

One of the major reasons for this decline in tourism to the US is the fear of gun violence in America, which is widely publicized around the world.

Read more at:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2019/09/06/more-people-are-traveling-world-than-ever-number-coming-america-is-dropping/

12/5/19

North-Korea - US relations strained: Dotage of a dotard': North Korea renews attack on Donald Trump

It is the first time in over a year North Korea has been openly critical of the US president.

Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-50682235

USA: Trump impeachment:Pelosi to instruct U.S. House to draft articles of impeachment against Trump

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, citing Donald Trump's "failure to faithfully execute the law," said Thursday she will ask the chair of the judiciary committee to proceed with articles of impeachment against the U.S. president.

Read more at:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/impeachment-inquiry-judiciary-committee-1.5385092

12/4/19

The Netherlands-USA Relations - Global Warming - Tampa Teams Up With Netherlands to Deal With Climate Change - by Dalia Dangerfield

The Bay Area and the Netherlands are teaming up to raise awareness on climate change.

Tampa working with Netherlands on climate change
Tampa Chief of Staff John Bennett toured Netherlands to get ideas
Tampa to develop action plan with ideas

Tampa Chief of Staff John Bennett was invited to the Netherlands by Dutch Leaders to learn how their country deals with climate change.

"When you're riding around the country, it looks like any other country, but when you know what you're looking at, you're like 'wow that's a neat project," Bennett said.

The Netherlands is very vulnerable to floods and storm surge. Their answer includes using natural resources as a defense. Something Bennett agrees with.

"Lets use nature as much as possible instead of putting more infrastructure in place," Bennett said.

Read more at: Tampa Teams Up With Netherlands to Deal With Climate Change

Canada-USA Relations: Trudeau says relationship with U.S. 'extremely strong' despite Trump 'two-faced' comment

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada's relationship with the United States is "extremely strong" — despite President Donald Trump calling him "two-faced" after the Canadian prime minister was caught venting on camera as world leaders gathered in London at the NATO summit.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says Canada's relationship with the United States is "extremely strong" — despite President Donald Trump calling him "two-faced" after the Canadian prime minister was caught venting on camera as world leaders gathered in London at the NATO summit.

Read more at: Trudeau says relationship with U.S. 'extremely strong' despite Trump 'two-faced' comment | CBC News

USA: Trump impeachment hearings live updates - by Felicia Sonmez, John Wagner and Colby Itkowitz

Three constitutional scholars summoned by Democrats are testifying Wednesday that President Trump’s conduct toward Ukraine rises to the level of impeachment, as the inquiry moves to a new phase with the first hearing by the House Judiciary Committee, a panel prone to theatrics and partisan brawls.

Another law school professor, tapped by Republicans, is cautioning against impeachment. The focus has shifted from the House Intelligence Committee, which voted along party lines Tuesday to approve a 300-page report that concluded Trump had “compromised national security to advance his personal political interests.”

At the heart of the Democrats’ case is the allegation that Trump tried to leverage a White House meeting and military aid, sought by Ukraine in the face of Russian military aggression, to pressure President Volodymyr Zelensky to launch investigations of former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter, as well as an unfounded theory that Kyiv conspired with Democrats to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

12/3/19

USA: Repubican Vengance infecting US Diplomatic Corps - as U.S. diplomat claims a Trump appointee fired him for Mentioning Obama

A former U.S. diplomat says he was fired from his job as the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in London just for mentioning Barack Obama in a speech.

Lewis Lukens spent three decades in the U.S. foreign service, including stints as the U.S. ambassador to Senegal and Guinea-Bissau and the acting ambassador to the United Kingdom in 2017.

However, GQ magazine reports that Lukens was fired in October 2018, after his boss learned he had included an Obama anecdote in a speech to university students in England.

At the time of the speech,President Donald Trump had recently attacked British leaders like former Prime Minister Theresa May and London Mayor Sadiq Kha

However, a week after the speech, Lukens’ boss, U.S. Ambassador Woody Johnson, a Trump political appointee, fired Lukens. It was just seven months ahead of when Lukens was scheduled to leave for a new assignment.

The reason? Lukens had mentioned Obama in his speech to the students, GQ reported. That’s an apparent no-no for many of Trump’s political appointees, whom Lukens said don’t trust the full-time diplomats.

USA: Impeachment report outlines what it calls 'significant misconduct' by Donald Trump

News: The House intelligence committee has released a sweeping impeachment report outlining evidence of what it calls Donald Trump's wrongdoing toward Ukraine, findings that will serve as the foundation for debate over whether the 45th U.S. president should be removed from office.

Read more at:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/impeachment-report-released-1.5382623

French-Turkish Relations: France’s Macron accuses Turkey of ‘sometimes working with IS group proxies’

French President Emmanuel Macron accused Turkey on Tuesday of working with Islamic State proxies and said Ankara’s ambiguity towards the group was detrimental to its NATO allies fighting in Syria and…

Read more at: https://www.france24.com/en/20191203-france-s-macron-accuses-turkey-of-sometimes-working-with-is-group-proxies-at-nato-summit

12/2/19

France-US relations: US mulls retaliation to French tech tax -

The list of items that could be hit with tariffs includes cheese, sparkling wine, make-up and handbags.

Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-50636521

Global Warming:Why we strike again – by Greta Thunberg, Luisa Neubauer and Angela Valenzuela

Facing grim science and growing activism, world leaders are increasingly recognising the urgency of the climate crisis. Yet nothing has been done.

Read more at
https://www.socialeurope.eu/why-we-strike-again

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