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European Union (EU)

“Towards A Second Forum For Left, Green And Progressive Forces”

November 27, 2017 Staff, transform-network.net , ,
By Staff of Transform! Europe - The aim was to focus on the progressive alternatives to the authoritarian, patriarchal, and anti-social policies of many European governments and European Union, and workers’ diminishing rights. We stand for social and sustainable policies so as to prevent the absolute destruction of the environment and to defend a Europe of Peace. Based on our discussions, and the strong consensus that has emerged therefrom, it is clear that the time has come to help build a space enabling leftist, green and progressive forces from all over Europe to jointly face the challenge of crafting a strategic proposal for developing an alternative model of European integration; one that is horizontal, egalitarian, socially advanced, in solidarity with peoples from other parts of the world, one that fosters a new, fairer international order, and one that is capable of countering current attempts to build an ultra-liberal, authoritarian Europe, displaying a complete lack of solidarity and even xenophobia. What is needed is a powerful consensus that can stave off the advance of the reactionary and fascist forces. To build concrete alternatives, we need to talk, to engage in dialogue, to pool ideas and projects so that we can reach out to the workers that the extreme right is trying to attract, and show them that there is hope, that there are forces, diverse and plural in nature, but which nonetheless all share progressive, feminist, ecologist and leftist values.

US Calls Venezuela Global Threat At UN As EU Approves Arms Embargo

November 17, 2017 Lucas Koerner, venezuelanalysis.com , , ,
By Lucas Koerner for Venezuela Analysis - The US chaired an informal meeting at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Monday to discuss the situation in Venezuela despite a boycott from leading members such as China and Russia. “The crisis in Venezuela today poses a direct threat to international peace and security. Venezuela is an increasingly violent narco-state that threatens the region, the hemisphere, and the world,”Washington’s ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, declared during the session. Also present at the meeting were Organization of American States Secretary General Luis Almagro and UN High Commissioner Human Rights Prince Zeid bin Ra’ad, both vocal critics of the government in Caracas. The meeting was also boycotted by Bolivia and Egypt, who objected to Washington’s interference in Venezuelan internal affairs. “The situation in Venezuela is an issue that is entirely the responsibility of Venezuelans and of course does not constitute a threat to international peace and security,” said Bolivian UN Ambassador Sacha Llorenty at a press conference alongside his Russian, Chinese, and Venezuelan counterparts Monday. Thanking the other nations for their support, Venezuelan UN Ambassador Rafael Ramirez denounced the US for “abusing its prerogatives” as a permanent UNSC member “to impose its geopolitical agenda” in violation of the UN Charter.

Greece Could Leave The EU: Why The Grexit Option Deserves Consideration

September 23, 2017 Michael Nevradakis, www.mintpressnews.com ,
By Michael Nevradakis for Mint Press News - With the Greek psyche itself the victim of a relentless shaming campaign, the idea of Greece “going it alone” begins to seem outlandish and quixotic. It is not. But it is as much tied to a revival of spirit and self-esteem as to the nuts and bolts of economic transformation. Eight years into the deepest economic depression that an industrialized country has ever experienced, we are now being told that Greece is a “success story.” Having accepted the “bitter medicine” prescribed by the “troika”—the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund—the storyline today is that Greece is on the road to recovery, firmly within the European Union and the eurozone. This narrative was recently echoed by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in his annual speech at the Thessaloniki Trade Fair, Greece’s equivalent to the State of the Union address. In this speech, Tsipras triumphantly declared that talk of “Grexit”—or a Greek departure from the eurozone and the EU—has been replaced by that of “Grinvest.” Within such a context, there is seemingly no room for discussions about whether it is in Greece’s best interest, even after so many years of implementing the troika’s austerity diktats, to consider a departure from the eurozone and the EU. Indeed, the narrative is that the people of Greece overwhelmingly have never supported the prospect of “Grexit.”

Emmanuel Clinton And The Revolt Of The Elites

May 10, 2017 Pepe Escobar, www.informationclearinghouse.info , ,
By Pepe Escobar for Information Clearing House - May 08, 2017 "Information Clearing House" - So in the end the West was saved by the election of Emmanuel Macron as President of France: relief in Brussels, a buoyant eurozone, rallies in Asian markets. That was always a no-brainer. After all, Macron was endorsed by the EU, Goddess of the Market, and Barack Obama. And he was fully backed by the French ruling class. This was a referendum on the EU – and the EU, in its current set-up, won. Cyberwar had to be part of the picture. No one knows where the MacronLeaks came from – a last minute, massive online dump of Macron campaign hacked emails. WikiLeaks certified the documents it had time to review as legitimate. That did not stop the Macron galaxy from immediately blaming it on Russia. Le Monde, a once-great paper now owned by three influential Macron backers, faithfully mirrored his campaign’s denunciation of RT and Sputnik, information technology attacks and, in general, the interference of Russia in the elections.

EU Utilities Pledge To Stop Building Coal Plants In 2020

April 7, 2017 Anamaria Olaru, www.eurelectric.org , ,
By Anamaria Olaru for Eurelectric - In a statement adopted by the Board of Directors, the sector reiterates its commitment to deliver on the Paris Agreement. In addition, it announces its intention not to invest in new-build coal-fired power plants after 2020. “The power sector is determined to lead the energy transition and back our commitment to the low- carbon economy with concrete action,” said EURELECTRIC President and CEO of the Portuguese energy group EDP, António Mexia. “With power supply becoming increasingly clean, electric technologies are an obvious choice for replacing fossil fuel based systems for instance in the transport sector to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” he added.

“This European Union Is A Project By And For Powerful Multinationals”

January 13, 2017 Marc Botenga, www.spectrezine.org ,
By Marc Botenga for Spectrezine - How on earth should we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Maastricht Treaty? If you look today at the European Union, or at the eurozone... what precisely is there to celebrate? Even Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker spoke in his recent State of the Union address of an “existential crisis.” I don’t very often agree with him, but on this occasion he’s definitely right. So there’s a crisis. That could not be otherwise, as some of us were already saying 25 years ago. Because, despite all of the promises of a social Europe, discussion here in Maastricht twenty-five years ago had nothing to do with European cooperation meant to improve things for you and me. Powerful lobbying groups such as the European Round Table of Industrialists had prepared the Treaty, elaborated it, rehearsed it.

EU To Vote On Legality Of Investor State Dispute Settlement In Trade

November 21, 2016 Ante Wessels, www.blog.ffii.org , ,
By Ante Wessels for FFII - Members of the European Parliament want the EU’s Court of Justice to check whether a parallel legal system in the trade agreement with Canada (CETA) is compatible with the EU treaties. The parallel legal system, known as ISDS / ICS, is only accessible to foreign investors. Eighty-nine members tabled a resolution. The Parliament will vote next week, Wednesday 23 November 2016. According to associations of judges (one, two), academics (letter from over 100 law professors) and NGOs (ClientEarth, two pager), the ISDS / ICS parallel legal system is not compatible with the EU treaties.

Gas Pipelines Threaten EU Climate Goals, Critics Contend

September 15, 2016 Terry Macalister, www.truthdig.com , ,
By Terry Macalister for Truth Dig - LONDON—Civil society campaigners have accused the European Union of pouring unprecedented amounts of state aid into a huge energy project that runs counter to its own climate change objectives. Critics say funding the construction of new gas pipelines from the Caspian region is also causing misery to communities living along the 3,500 kilometre route, while helping to prop up an autocratic regime in Azerbaijan. The concerns about the Southern Gas Corridor project come amid expectations that the European Investment Bank (EIB), which is owned by European Union member states

Internet Wins! EU Regulators Publish Guidelines Protecting Net Neutrality

August 31, 2016 Staff, www.accessnow.org ,
By Staff of Access Now - Brussels, Belgium – This afternoon, the Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communication (BEREC) released the final version of its implementation guidelines for the Telecoms Single Market Regulation (TSM). The TSM, a law with provisions for Net Neutrality in the European Union, was adopted last October, but BEREC was charged with clarifying how it should be implemented and closing loopholes that could be exploited to harm internet users.

A New Left In Poland?

August 21, 2016 Lorenzo Marsili, www.euralter.com , , , ,
Interview with Marcelina Zawisza and Maciej Konieczny by Lorenzo Marsili in European Alternatives. “We are not the old Left. It is more than clear if you look at our faces, our age, the way we speak and our new way of making politics”. In ultra-conservative Poland, something is moving. We meet some of the founders of Razem (“Together”) a new political party emerging from social movements and strongly inspired by the experience of Podemos in Spain. We discuss their project and the Polish scenario: from the surprising social policies of the current authoritarian government to the liberal opposition defending freedom of information but forgetting about inequalities. And the meaning of launching a new party from the bottom-up today.

The European Revolt Against The Neoliberal EU

July 26, 2016 Catarina Principe, www.therealnews.com ,
By Catarina Principe for The Real News Network - What started off as a financial crisis in Europe has now turned and become a crisis of the eurozone. There has been unprecedented wave of mass strikes, signifying the discontent of the working classes. In Greece, for example, people elected the leftist SYRIZA Party and voted no to austerity debt deal offered to them by the Troika. In France, there has been consistent strikes against efforts to reverse labor rights by the so-called socialist government.

Brussels: TTIP Game Over Actions Stop Negotiations

July 14, 2016 Staff, www.flushthetpp.org , ,
By Flush the TPP. Brussels, Belgium - As the 14th round of TTIP negotiations commenced, fair trade activists began their 'games' to raise awareness of the anti-democratic nature of the agreement and to slow its progress. Early on, there were actions to 'rebrand' the negotiations, a tactic also known as 'brandalism.' On the first day of negotiations, with the help of the animal kingdom, activists found that the negotiations had been moved. Nevertheless, hundreds of activists succeeded in making a lot of noise outside with a casserole demonstration. Some of the negotiators unwittingly carried the TTIP Game Over message inside.

How Globalization Divides Us

July 12, 2016 Kristen Steele, www.localfutures.org , , ,
By Kristen Steele for Local Futures. United Kingdom - When I woke up on June 24th and checked the news, I cried. Along with millions of people around the world. I’m a diehard believer in independence, freedom, democracy, and strong local economies. For some, the Brexit result represented those things. If that had been the reality, I would’ve supported it too. But like every other choice offered in the global economy these days, Brexit was a false one. Getting out of Europe does nothing to address the real problems in UK society—or the world. We’re still headed down the same destructive path together, but now more fractious and divided than ever. My colleague Lawrence Bloom[1] summed it up perfectly: the referendum was like choosing between cabins on the Titanic.

Growing Opposition Forces EU Into ‘Humiliating Climbdown’ On CETA

July 6, 2016 Deirdre Fulton, www.commondreams.org ,
By Deirdre Fulton for Common Dreams - Previously, the deal was slated for a kind of "fast-track" process that would not have required nation-by-nation approval. As such, trade campaigners celebrated Tuesday's news, saying the Commission's reversal reflects growing opposition to CETA as well as the similarly toxic TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the U.S. and Europe.

Brexit And The Derivatives Time Bomb

July 3, 2016 Ellen Brown, www.ellenbrown.com , , ,
By Ellen Brown for Web of Debt, Sovereign debt – the debt of national governments – has ballooned from $80 trillion to $100 trillion just since 2008. Squeezed governments have been driven to radical austerity measures, privatizing public assets, slashing public services, and downsizing work forces in a futile attempt to balance national budgets. But the debt overhang just continues to grow. Austerity has been pushed to the limit and hasn’t worked. But default or renegotiating the debt seems to be off the table. Why? According to a June 25th article by Graham Summers on ZeroHedge: . . . EVERY move the Central Banks have made post-2009 has been aimed at avoiding debt restructuring or defaults in the bond markets. Why does Greece, a country that represents less than 2% of EU GDP, continue to receive bailouts instead of just defaulting? Summers’ answer – derivatives: [G]lobal leverage has exploded to record highs, with the sovereign bond bubble now a staggering $100 trillion in size. To top it off, over $10 trillion of this is sporting negative yields in nominal terms. . . . Globally, over $500 trillion in derivatives trade [is] based on bond yields. But Brexit changes everything, says Summers.
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