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Archiv: EU governmental councils
Europe’s unelected leader: Ursula von der Leyen’s coronation is an insult to democracy.
Ursula von der Leyen has been confirmed as the next president of the EU Commission, winning a vote in the European Parliament by 383 to 327.
But despite the involvement of MEPs, the process that put von der Leyen in place was nothing short of a coronation.
Netanyahu accuses Europeans of appeasing Iran like they did Germany in the ’30s
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, offers Iran relief from sanctions in exchange for its scaling back of parts of its nuclear program until 2025.
The United States, which under former President Barack Obama was the driving force behind the deal, pulled out last year under President Donald Trump and snapped back sanctions on Iran and third parties that do business with the Islamic Republit.
Arrival and doorstep by Federica MOGHERINI, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, at the Foreign Affairs Council, taking place on 15 July 2019, in Brussels.
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UK, France, Germany call for dialogue with Iran
Ahead of the foreign affairs council on Monday 15 July, the foreign ministers of the UK, France, and Germany issued a joint statement calling for dialogue between all parties involved.
The EU’s scurrilous anti-democratic dealings prove once again that it is beyond reform
(05.07.2019)
There has been plenty of earnest talk since the financial crisis about reform and facing up to the challenge from the populist and authoritarian right. The appointments have shown that most of it was hot air
The EU is a sham democracy, and its pitiful new leaders are the proof
Thank you, Eurocrats, for being yourselves. The best cure for Europhilia is always to observe the EU’s big beasts at their unguarded worst, wheeling and dealing in their natural habitat, unencumbered by any attachment to democracy, accountability or even basic morality.
The spectacle of the past few days made for compulsive watching: we witnessed rare footage of the secretive process that propels so many retreads and second-rate apparatchiks into positions of immense power in Brussels and Frankfurt, utterly disregarding public opinion.
French ECB Presidential Hopeful Tells Germans He’s Their Friend
(28.06.2019)
France’s top contender for the presidency of the European Central Bank is appealing to Germans to treat him as one of their kind.
Speaking — in German — to an audience of family businesses in Berlin on Friday, Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau highlighted his cultural and ideological links to the country. He said he shares German values, such as solidity, stability and realism, and understands the nation’s fears over financing other countries’ debts.
Weidmann Is Top Dog Again in ECB Race After Shifting Policy View
(Published: February 17, 2018, 12:00 AM EST | Updated: June 28, 2019, 7:00 AM EDT)
On the eve of a meeting of European Union leaders to discuss the bloc’s top policy positions, Bloomberg’s poll of economists shows the Bundesbank president edging out his French rival Francois Villeroy de Galhau. Finnish central-banking veteran Erkki Liikanen tied with Villeroy for second place. Current Finnish Governor Olli Rehn took fourth, overtaking France’s Benoit Coeure.
Macron: new ECB leader will not be picked at summit
French president Emmanuel Macron said arriving at the EU summit on Sunday that the decision on Mario Draghi’s successor at the helm of the European Central Bank will only be taken after the political posts such as the presidents of the EU commission and EU council.
EU summit: Centre-left Timmermans tipped for top post
EU leaders will gather in Brussels shortly for talks to decide who should get the EU’s top jobs, including a new Commission president.
Reports say the current favourite to head it is Dutch centre-left politician Frans Timmermans. He is a Commission first vice-president.
EU surveillance state: This week the Justice and Home Affairs Ministers debated increasing the surveillance in their Member States. US authorities could soon also wiretap legally in Europe. #5G #DataRetention #eEvidence #cloudACT
AG William Barr Doesn’t Want The Government Spying On The President But Thinks It’s OK If It Spies On Everyone Else
Let me restate that: William Barr is opposed to certain, very narrow subsets of domestic surveillance. Specifically, Barr doesn’t think the government should have spied on Trump and his campaign staff, if that’s what actually happened, which Barr doesn’t actually seem to know.
But if you’re literally anyone else, domestic surveillance is just another name for national security, whether you’re a random Verizon customer or one of the world’s most useful websites.
The Wikimedia Foundation sued the federal government over domestic surveillance back in 2015. The suit lives on four years later …
Security Union: Commission receives mandate to start negotiating international rules for obtaining electronic evidence
Today, EU Member States agreed to give two mandates to the Commission to engage in international negotiations to improve cross-border access to electronic evidence in criminal investigations.The Council agreed to provide the Commission with negotiating mandates for negotiations with the United States and for the Second Additional Protocol to the Council of Europe “Budapest” Convention on Cybercrime.
Why are Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel clashing over who should be the next European Commission president?
Each political group in the European parliament – the centre-left socialists, the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), the liberals, greens etc, propose a lead candidate. In theory, the candidate from the group that comes top becomes the president.
But this system isn’t written into the treaties, and has only been used once in 2014 – it’s not clear whether it will survive. Member states don’t like it because it takes power away from them and gives it to the parliament, and they’re under no legal obligation to follow it.
This is highly potentially highly significant: Sanchez and Macron are trying to get a social democrat (Frans Timmermans) to block Weber’s bid for the Presidency of the European Commission. The UK media are (of course) largely ignoring this.
Portugal’s Costa says Weber should not be Commission chief
(28.05.2019)
The interview took place late Monday, just after Costa had a conference call with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, the Netherlands‘ Mark Rutte and Belgium’s Charles Michel.
The European Parliament is a democratic facade for a system dominated by unelected bureaucrats
In the speech I made on that occasion, I tried to point out that democracy was not achieved simply by holding elections; what mattered was what the elections were to, and for. Were we electing representatives to a body by which we agreed to be governed? Or were we simply providing a democratic facade for a political system dominated by unelected bureaucrats and central bankers, who exercised a power of government over us to which we had not consented?
Spain still ready to vote against Brexit unless it sees changes on Gibraltar
“Following my conversation with Theresa May, our positions remain distant. My Government will always defend the interests of Spain. If there are no changes, we will veto Brexit,” he tweeted as he landed in Havana for a two-day visit to Cuba.