Posts tagged eu

Hundreds of angry protesters have booed French President Nicolas Sarkozy, forcing him to take shelter in a bar as he campaigned in the Basque country ahead of April’s presidential election.

Some in the crowd then threw eggs at the bar guarded by riot police in the south-western town of Bayonne.

Mr Sarkozy described the protesters - Basque nationalists and supporters of his rival Socialist candidate Francois Hollande - as “hooligans”.

He left the bar after about an hour.

The Basque region straddles south-western France and northern Spain.

Sarkozy ‘saddened’

Mr Sarkozy was met in Bayonne by a hostile crowd, who jeered him and shouted insults.

Some chanted “Nicolas kampora”, which in the Basque language meant “Nicolas get out”.

Mr Sarkozy was also showered with campaign leaflets calling for greater Basque autonomy.

Riot police had to be deployed around the Bar du Palais, where the president took refuge.

Visibly angry, Mr Sarkozy later denounced “the violence of a minority and their unacceptable behaviour”.

“Here, we’re in France, on the territory of the French republic, and the president of the republic will go everywhere. And if that doesn’t please a minority of troublemakers, too bad for them”, he said.

He also said he was “saddened to see Hollande’s Socialist militants associating with [Basque] separatists in violent protests to terrorise ordinary people who want just one thing: to meet and talk with me”.

A senior member of Mr Hollande’s campaign team later said that while the party leader condemned any violence, no Socialist was involved in the Bayonne incident, the AFP news agency reports.

Opinion polls show that Mr Sarkozy is lagging behind Mr Hollande, although the current president is narrowing the gap.

(Source: BBC)

Since the European colonial state of southern Bavaria Sachs (formerly known as the insolvent Hellenic Republic) no longer even pretends to be anything less than a pass-thru funding colony of its creditors, said creditors (European banks and various insurance companies) are about to send out the first group of colonial scouts in the form of German tax collectors. Also, since as reported previously, Greece will literally have to collect taxes to fund the Second “bailout package”, which is merely a front for on ongoing Greek bailout of European banks (recall that it is Greece who is partially funding the bailout Escrow Account), said tax collectors will assist their Greek counterparts (who will rather likely miss their quote of becoming 200% more efficient in 2012) in collecting money from Greek citizens to pay off German banks. If in the process a few (or all) bars of gold end up missing, so be it.

From Athens News:

More than 160 German financial services executives are willing to come to Greece in order to strengthen the Greek tax mechanism, according to a report to be published in the German magazine ‘Wirtschafts Woche’, which will be released on Monday.

The magazine cites German deputy finance minister Hans Bernhard Beus, who explains that a key factor is the knowledge of a foreign language - some of them speak Greek - while the return to active duty of retired tax collectors should not be ruled out.

Many come from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, whose finance minister, Norbert Walter-Borjans, compares Greece’s with 90s East Germany, noting that even the East Germans at the time were suspicious towards the West. “In Greece suspicion will be greater, in part because of the inappropriate language used by some in Germany,” he said.

The article also refers to a confidential report from the European Commission, according to which the mechanism of tax collection in Greece is especially problematic.

What “problematic”? If it is not clear by now that the Greeks will happily do nothing to change their predicament (and in fact have exhibited a soaring appreciation for their new stepmother-tongue), this will be literally easier than stealing rehypothecated candy from an insolvent baby.

Ironically, the popular German response in the form of comments at German daily Spiegel is widely adverse to this latest now blatantly open attempt at colonization by a few German “leaders”, who just like in every other insolvent developed country, operate solely at the behest of their banker funders.

We fear that such incursions into national sovereignty will only accelerate… until they are finally halted, very violently, and very tragically.

WikiLeaks: US targets EU over GM crops

US embassy cable recommends drawing up list of countries for ‘retaliation’ over opposition to genetic modification

The US embassy in Paris advised Washington to start a military-style trade war against any Euroxpean Union country which opposed genetically modified (GM) crops, newly released WikiLeaks cables show.

In response to moves by France to ban a Monsanto GM corn variety in late 2007, the ambassador, Craig Stapleton, a friend and business partner of former US president George Bush, asked Washington to penalise the EU and particularly countries which did not support the use of GM crops.

“Country team Paris recommends that we calibrate a target retaliation list that causes some pain across the EU since this is a collective responsibility, but that also focuses in part on the worst culprits.

“The list should be measured rather than vicious and must be sustainable over the long term, since we should not expect an early victory. Moving to retaliation will make clear that the current path has real costs to EU interests and could help strengthen European pro-biotech voices,” said Stapleton, who with Bush co-owned the Dallas/Fort Worth-based Texas Rangers baseball team in the 1990s.

In other newly released cables, US diplomats around the world are found to have pushed GM crops as a strategic government and commercial imperative.

Because many Catholic bishops in developing countries have been vehemently opposed to the controversial crops, the US applied particular pressure to the pope’s advisers.

Cables from the US embassy in the Vatican show that the US believes the pope is broadly supportive of the crops after sustained lobbying of senior Holy See advisers, but regrets that he has not yet stated his support. The US state department special adviser on biotechnology as well as government biotech advisers based in Kenya lobbied Vatican insiders to persuade the pope to declare his backing. “… met with [US monsignor] Fr Michael Osborn of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, offering a chance to push the Vatican on biotech issues, and an opportunity for post to analyse the current state of play on biotech in the Vatican generally,” says one cable in 2008.

“Opportunities exist to press the issue with the Vatican, and in turn to influence a wide segment of the population in Europe and the developing world,” says another.

But in a setback, the US embassy found that its closest ally on GM, Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the powerful Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the man who mostly represents the pope at the United Nations, had withdrawn his support for the US.

“A Martino deputy told us recently that the cardinal had co-operated with embassy Vatican on biotech over the past two years in part to compensate for his vocal disapproval of the Iraq war and its aftermath – to keep relations with the USG [US government] smooth. According to our source, Martino no longer feels the need to take this approach,” says the cable.

In addition, the cables show US diplomats working directly for GM companies such as Monsanto. “In response to recent urgent requests by [Spanish rural affairs ministry] state secretary Josep Puxeu and Monsanto, post requests renewed US government support of Spain’s science-based agricultural biotechnology position through high-level US government intervention.”

It also emerges that Spain and the US have worked closely together to persuade the EU not to strengthen biotechnology laws. In one cable, the embassy in Madrid writes: “If Spain falls, the rest of Europe will follow.”

The cables show that not only did the Spanish government ask the US to keep pressure on Brussels but that the US knew in advance how Spain would vote, even before the Spanish biotech commission had reported.

(Source: Guardian)

The EU will spend three million Euros to research ‘the potential of insects as an alternative source of protein.’

Research projects will be selected this year.

Food experts agree that insects would probably have to be disguised for European audiences, so the insect ‘food’ could be used as an additive in burgers and other fast food.

The UN’s Food Standards Authority says of the research: ‘While insects have not traditionally been used for food in the UK or elsewhere in the European Union, it is estimated that about 2.5 billion people across the world have diets that routinely include insects.

‘While many insects are regarded as pests, the UN’s Food and Agriculture authority is interested in promoting edible insects as a highly sustainable source of nutrition.’

Some worms contain three times as much protein as beef per ounce, while four crickets have as much calcium as a glass of milk.

Daniel Creedon, a chef who serves ants, locusts and bees in honey at the London Archipelago restaurant, said: ‘If insects start coming into the food chain they are probably going to have to be disguised. ‘

‘Food producers will probably get away with describing it as animal based proteins. Not many people will buy a locust burger.’

Website Treehugger said: ‘It is not hard to imagine the development of an insect-based food additive that enriches burger and nugget protein levels.

‘Burgers with processed insect meal could be sold by chains under claims such as “higher in protein”, “healthier fats”, and “eco-burger”’

Eighty per cent of countries on Earth already eat insects, and more than 1,000 insect species are often eaten by human beings.

Unlike conventional livestock, insects and bugs need little space and can be bred in sealed buildings under natural light where they live off waste, paper and algae.

The idea has previously been backed by the UN and EU as a way to tackle food shortages.

Some academics believe that the expense and environmental cost of raising livestock means that insect-eating will be inevitable - and it has been claimed that by the end of this decade, insect-eating will be widespread.

Prof Marcel Dicke of Wageningen University in the Netherlands said: ‘The most important thing is getting people prepared, getting used to the idea. Because from 2020 onwards, there won’t be much of a choice for us.’

(Source: Daily Mail)

Photo: Kevin Rudd and British foreign secretary William Hague in London. (AFP: Adrian Dennis)

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd says Australia will follow the European Union’s lead in banning Iranian oil imports - but admits the scale of those imports at present is “negligible”.

On Monday the EU imposed a ban on Iranian oil imports from July in an effort to increase pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program.

Speaking in London, Mr Rudd said Australia would be taking parallel action.

“On the question of Iran, let me be absolutely clear [regarding] the actions taken in Brussels yesterday on sanctions by the European Union, we in Australia will undertake precisely the same parallel action for Australia,” he said.

But this might be more of a symbolic gesture.

Mr Rudd was asked of Australia’s reliance, if any, on Iranian oil imports.

“They have become negligible over time,” he admitted, while saying “this is not a piece of idle philanthropy on the part of Australian foreign policy.”

The EU absorbs about 20 per cent of Iran’s oil exports.

Tehran denies its nuclear program is for military purposes, insisting it is for civilian use.

On Tuesday Iran said it expected the EU to backtrack on the embargo and repeated a threat to close the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane if the West succeeds in preventing Tehran from exporting crude.

“The West’s ineffective sanctions against the Islamic state are not a threat to us. They are opportunities and have already brought lots of benefits to the country,” intelligence minister Heydar Moslehi told the official IRNA news agency.

The tone in the Islamic Republic was defiant, even sceptical.

“The global economic situation is not one in which a country can be destroyed by imposing sanctions,” Mr Moslehi said, repeating Iran’s stance that with the EU in economic and monetary crisis, it needs Iran’s oil more than Iran needs its business.

A spokesman for the oil ministry said Iran had had plenty of time to prepare for the sanctions and would find alternative customers for the 18 per cent of its exports that up to now have gone to the 27-nation European bloc.

“The first phase of this (sanctions action) is propaganda, only then it will enter the implementation phase. That is why they put in this six months period, to study the market,” Alireza Nikzad Rahbar said, predicting the embargo could be rescinded before it takes force completely.

“This market will harm them because oil is getting more expensive and when oil gets more expensive it will harm the people of Europe,” state TV quoted him as saying.

“We hope that in these six months they will choose the right path.”

The embargo will not kick in completely until July 1 because the bloc’s foreign ministers who agreed the ban at a meeting in Brussels were anxious not to penalise the ailing economies of Greece, Italy and others to whom Iran is a major oil supplier.

(Source: abc.net.au)

The latest quarterly Business Outlook by Deloitte Access Economics forecasts that Europe will be the key to growth globally and locally this year.

The report, titled “Eurogeddon”, warns that 2012 could easily bring a deep recession and widespread bank failures in Europe.

Deloitte Access Economics director Chris Richardson says there is a 50-50 chance that Europe will muddle through the crisis.

“If it doesn’t then yes, Australia has something like a rerun of the global financial crisis - unemployment up, profits down, Government budget hit for six,” Mr Richardson said.

“Probably not a recession; a technical recession, thanks to magnificent momentum in mining, but a tough time nonetheless.”

Mr Richardson says the European Central Bank is containing the situation by pumping money to the banks in the form of discount loans.

“The money that Europe’s central bank is pumping out is working very effectively as sticky tape,” Mr Richardson said.

“It is going to the banks, but the banks in turn are passing indirectly some of it back to governments and that combination is holding Europe together.”

But even if the sticky tape does hold, Deloitte still expects Europe’s problems to weigh on parts of the Australian economy.

More finance jobs are likely to go, the unemployment rate is expected to rise to 5.5 per cent, and Mr Richardson, who describes Europe as a “seething cauldron of risk”, says the effects already are being seen in workplaces around Australia.

“You’re getting employers who are giving employees overtime rather than taking on new people,” he said.

For the Australian economy, China is key.

Mr Richardson says it would react quickly to any implosion in Europe, but its coffers are not as full as they were during the global financial crisis.

“Europe is a bigger customer for China than the United States is, and there are risks about that,” he said.

“At some stage China will have an ugly year and when they do it will be pretty bad news for Australia.”

Westpac chief economist Bill Evans is more confident that China can withstand Europe’s problems.

“China’s very much a domestically driven economy,” Mr Evans said.

“Whilst we’re expecting that the growth in China in the first half of the year - mainly because of these domestic tightening policies - to be around about a 6.5 per cent momentum, I think by the second half of the year, it will be more like eight.”

While Australian Government debt is relatively low, Mr Richardson is concerned that household debt as a proportion of GDP remains amongst the highest in the world.

“It is not something that I see as an immediate problem but yes, it remains an area of vulnerability for Australia if bank failures in Europe start to happen and credit tightens up once more,” he said.

The Federal Government is still committed to achieving a surplus next year, but warns it will be tough.

Mr Richardson believes the Government must be prepared to ditch that ambition given the severity of Europe’s debt woes.

“If Europe blows then the surplus is a goner, and so it should be,” Mr Richardson said.

“Basically you should use the budget to help defend against the downturn, but even if Europe doesn’t blow, it is getting hard to get the surplus.”

All thoughts for Treasurer Wayne Swan to consider as he returns to work and begins putting together the budget.

(Source: abc.net.au)

European Union governments have given their preliminary approval to a ban on Iranian crude oil imports, aiming to choke off Tehran’s chief source of income and pressure it to hold back its disputed nuclear activities.

But an EU diplomat said that to protect Europe’s economy, struggling with a two-year-old debt crisis, they agreed to delay full implementation of the oil embargo until July 1.

The embargo still has to be formally approved by foreign ministers of the EU’s 27 member states, who meet in Brussels on Monday.

The ministers are also expected to approve sanctions against the central bank of Iran, although they may provide a list of specific exemptions to the restrictions.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton says she hopes financial sanctions will persuade Tehran to return to negotiations with Western powers, which she represents in talks with Iran.

Tehran denies its nuclear program is aimed at developing weapons, saying it is for peaceful purposes.

“I want the pressure of these sanctions to result in negotiations,” she told reporters before the ministers’ meeting.

“I want to see Iran come back to the table and either pick up all the ideas that we left on the table … last year … or to come forward with its own ideas,” she said.

Tehran says its nuclear program aims to meet its rising energy needs, but the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency said last year it had evidence that suggested Iran had worked on designing a nuclear weapon.

EU sanctions follow fresh financial measures signed into law by US president Barack Obama on New Year’s Eve and mainly targeting the oil sector, which accounts for some 90 per cent of Iranian exports to the EU.

The European Union is Iran’s second-largest oil customer after China.

Reuters

(Source: abc.net.au)

Croatians went to the polls Sunday (local time) in a nationwide referendum on EU membership, a vote that political leaders see as key for the future of the Balkan country 20 years after independence.

Surveys show that some 60 per cent of Croatians back entry into the European Union, paving the way for the former Yugoslav republic to formally join the bloc in 2013.

Polling stations opened across the country at 0600 GMT and will close 12 hours later at 1800 GMT. The electoral commission is to release the first partial results at 1900 GMT.

Croatia’s leaders say entering the bloc has been a strategic goal since Zagreb won its hard-fought independence following the 1991-95 war with rebel Serbs and will confirm a break from the volatile Balkans region.

The importance of EU membership is one of the few issues on which all major Croatian political parties agree.

Of the six former Yugoslav republics Slovenia is the only EU member, although Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Bosnia all have aspirations.

“I will vote for the EU since I believe it is good for Croatia, it offers an opportunity… for the Croatian people to prove themselves,” prime minister Zoran Milanovic told national television on the eve of the vote.

President Ivo Josipovic labelled the vote’s outcome “one of the most important decisions in Croatia’s history”.

The referendum needs a simple majority regardless of the turnout.

In the 1990s, when other post-communist countries in central and eastern Europe were strengthening their democracies and paving their way towards EU integration, Croatia’s EU aspirations were halted by the 1991-95 war and its legacy.

It was not until 2000 that the election of pro-European rulers enabled Croatia’s transformation into a genuine parliamentary democracy eligible for EU candidate status.

However long and often thorny accession talks that opened in 2005 dampened enthusiasm for the EU.

Many of the criteria imposed by Brussels, notably full cooperation with the UN war crimes court, were seen as a form of blackmail and going against national interests.

‘Vote yes’

In a surprise move late on Saturday former general Ante Gotovina, whose flight from the UN tribunal hampered Croatia’s EU bid, urged citizens to cast a ‘yes’ vote.

Gotovina, still seen as a national hero by many in Croatia, is held in the prison of The Hague-based court that sentenced him to 24 years. His conviction in 2011 sparked a surge of anti-European sentiment in Croatia.

The current economic crisis within the bloc has further eroded EU support in Croatia, so for many, Sunday’s vote will be a pragmatic one.

“I will vote ‘yes’ since it’s the lesser of two evils. I have no illusions, but we are too small to remain outside,” said Anita Markovic, a 22-year-old student.

Croatia signed an EU accession treaty in December that paved the way for its entry to the bloc next year.

Apart from clearing the referendum in Croatia, the treaty will also have to be ratified by all current member states of the EU.

AFP

(Source: abc.net.au)

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said it will seek to increase its resources by $500bn (£325bn) to help stabilise the global economy.

The extra money could be used to help countries in the eurozone struggling to pay their debts.

But the IMF said it may need up to $1tn “in the coming years”.

The $500bn includes the recent European commitment to commit 150bn euros (£125bn; $194bn) to the IMF, the 187-nation body said.

“Based on staff’s estimate of global potential financing needs of about $1tn in the coming years, the Fund would aim to raise up to $500bn in additional lending resources,” the IMF said.

“At this preliminary stage, we are exploring options on funding and will have no further comment until the necessary consultations with the Fund’s membership have been completed.”

The IMF currently has a a total borrowing capacity of about $590bn, and the Fund’s lending commitments are at a record $250bn.

With Europe pledging the bulk of the extra funding, the IMF will have to discuss with its other members how to get the remaining resources.

European funding

At a summit in December, most of the European Union vowed to add about 200bn euros to the IMF’s resources - which in turn could be lent to stricken nations such as Greece or to the eurozone bailout fund.

But the UK decided not to take part in the scheme to support the eurozone, so the EU failed to reach their target.

Last year, UK MPs voted to increase the UK’s annual subscription to the IMF from £10.7bn to £20.1bn as part of an overall increase in the IMF’s funding base agreed in principle in 2009.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron has said it is “in our interests” to support the IMF but has stressed that additional money would not support a eurozone bailout.

And the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, has said: “The UK has always been willing to consider further resources for the IMF, but for its global role and as part of a global agreement,”

On Tuesday, IMF head Christine Lagarde said that she welcomed the “commitment of European members to contribute to the Fund’s resources”.

“To this end, Fund management and staff will explore options for increasing the Fund’s firepower, subject to adequate safeguards,” she said in a statement.

(Source: BBC)

EU ‘propaganda’ is being handed out to teachers to indoctrinate pupils at a young age, it has emerged.

A Brussels official responsible for providing classroom material to UK schools admitted a desire to teach youngsters about the ‘values of EU membership’ from a young age, before they are ‘misinformed’.

The revelation that aggressively pro-European leaflets were being handed out at an education fair to ‘brainwash’ pupils has been heavily criticised.

UKIP deputy leader and education spokesman Paul Nuttall MEP told the Express: ‘It is what we always suspected but could never prove. Now we can. They [the EU] are effectively using our cash to brainwash our children. And it has to stop.’

A video has emerged of Judith Schilling, the European Commission’s publication manager, handing out EU-focused leaflets at the Education Show in Birmingham.

She tells an interviewer: ‘Everybody has now picked up on the idea that we will never succeed to convince people about the value of being a member of the European Union if we do not start early enough with the young people before they form prejudices and are misinformed by other sources.’

Mr Nuttall said he has written to Education Secretary Michael Gove and Schools Minister Nick Gibb saying the teaching programme appears to breach the law banning promotion of ‘partisan political views’ in schools.

Pupils must be given a balanced presentation of issues, he said.

Mr Nuttall has also called for the European Commission to be made to halt its schools programme pending an inquiry and to order schools to stop using such aids.

Ukip leader Nigel Farage said: ‘It is vital that such an important issue, which is essentially the deliberate political indoctrination of our children, be dealt with in as open and as transparent a way as possible.’

It comes after the EU was accused of trying to ‘brainwash’ children after pupils all over the country were given pencil cases with its logo emblazoned across it.

The brightly-coloured pencil cases featuring the EU’s 12-star logo were handed out to schoolchildren following an event encouraging teachers to forge links with the Commission.

The one-day conference was staged by Staffordshire County Council and was attended by 50 teachers to raise awareness of the EU in schools, it was reported.

On the Commission London HQ website, visitors can click ‘to enjoy our little movie’ about its free educational publications.

The video shows Ms Schilling speaking about the various teaching tools being provided by the Commission.

The free material includes the ‘Passport to the EU’, containing ‘fun’ information about the 27 member states. ‘I’ve been told by many teachers that they love it and the children love it,’ says Ms Schilling.

There is also a ‘mini language guide’ with samples of the EU’s 23 official languages, which she said was useful for primary schools.

For ‘slightly older’ readers is ‘The EU: What’s in it for me?’ explaining ‘how we benefit from membership of the EU in our daily life, everything between lower roaming charges and cleaner bathing water’.

Both booklets are still available in British schools, the Express found.
Mark English, a spokesman for the EU Commission in the UK, told the Express: ‘The Commission distributes information to teachers and schools only when invited. Some material refers to benefits that the EU brings and gives evidence for this. Others have different views and schools are free to invite them, too.

‘The Commission does not seek to mislead and invites those who systematically promote an anti-EU agenda through the media also to make their arguments based on the facts.’

Tory MEP Emma McClarkin said: ‘This looks like a licence to force-feed pupils a very one-sided, starry-eyed version of what the EU is and does for its people. We fear it will be a carte blanche to push the federalist agenda that is so close to the hearts of the Eurocrats.’

(Source: Daily Mail)