France presents new immigration bill

French President Emmanuel Macron's government presented a controversial immigration bill to the Cabinet on Wednesday, amid criticism from migrant organizations and members of Macron's own party.

Macron has faced pressure to act on immigration after he won the 2017 presidential election, which saw 34 percent of the second round vote go to far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen, who had campaigned on immigration concerns.

The new legislation includes plans to: 

• Introduce fines of €3,750 ($4,620) or a 1-year jail term for people who illegally cross borders within the EU
• Double the time asylum-seekers can be held in detention to 90 days
• Halve the amount of the time asylum-seekers have to appeal if their refugee status is denied
• Hasten the deportationx of those asylum-seekers deemed to be economic migrants
• Cut the average waiting time on asylum applications from 11 months to six 

Interior Minister Gerard Collomb has said the law is "balanced" and "aligned with European procedures," arguing that if France did not tighten its laws it would attract refugees put off by tougher rules elsewhere in Europe.

Read more: France presents new immigration bill | News | DW | 21.02.2018

Netherlands Parliament Recognizes Armenian Genocide - but Government so far takes no action

The lower house of the Dutch parliament, local known as the Tweede Kamer, passed two resolutions on Thursday with a majority vote one recognizing the Armenian Genocide, the other calling on its foreign minister to visit Armenia in April to observe the anniversary of that crime.

According to NLTimes, both motions were submitted by ChristenUnie party parliament member Joel Voordewind. All four coalition parties supported the motions.

The Netherlands has not recognized the Genocide thus far, however, the majority of the parliament voted on Thursday to change that course and officially recognize the events of 1915 as Genocide.

Note: This is a very controversial issue which happened more than 100 years ago and the Netherlands Government would act wisely to refrain from taking any further action on the issue until more research is avaible.

EU-Digest

Swiss government proposes paying everyone €2,234.90 a month - by Gianluca Mezzofiore

GET MONEY FOR DOING NOTHING

Swiss residents are to vote on a countrywide referendum about a radical plan to pay every single adult a guaranteed income of €2,234.90  a month. 

The plan, proposed by a group of intellectuals, could make the country the first in the world to pay all of its citizens a monthly basic income regardless if they work or not. 

But the initiative has not gained much traction among politicians from left and right despite the fact that a referendum on it was approved by the federal government for the ballot box on June 5.

Under the proposed initiative, each child would also receive € 130.82 a week.

The federal government estimates the cost of the proposal at € 97.43 billion a year. 

Around € 138.05 bn would have to be levied from taxes, while € 49.62 bn would be transferred from social insurance and social assistance spending.

The group proposing the initiative, which includes artists, writers and intellectuals, cited a survey which shows that the majority of Swiss residents would continue working if the guaranteed income proposal was approved. 

 'The argument of opponents that a guaranteed income would reduce the incentive of people to work is therefore largely contradicted,' it said in a statement quoted by The Local.  

However, a third of the 1,076 people interviewed for the survey by the Demoscope Institute believed that 'others would stop working'.

And more than half of those surveyed (56 percent) believe the guaranteed income proposal will never see the light of day.  

EU-Digest

EU-US Trade Negotiations: Concerns rise over US-EU trade talks - as Europe demonstrates against talks - by Andrew Walker

There are rising concerns in Europe over negotiations to liberalise trade with the United States.

The project, the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP, aims to remove a wide range of barriers to bilateral commerce.

Opponents are planning demonstrations and protests across Europe today October 11, with large numbers of events in Germany, France, Spain and Italy,

In Britain, events are planned in at least 15 cities and towns.

One campaigner involved in planning the day of action said she expected at least 400 local actions in about 24 European countries.

The EU and the US launched the negotiations last year and the aim is to stimulate more trade and investment, and, in the process, to produce more economic growth and employment.

One aim of the negotiations is to reduce the costs to business of complying with regulations. A firm in, say Europe, that wants to export to the US often has to comply with two sets of rules.Critics say the result of this would be lower standards of protection for workers, consumers and the environment. Food safety is a particular concern among European opponents of the negotiations.

In the EU, campaigners say that consumers could be faced with more genetically modified food, hormone treated beef and chicken meat that has been rinsed with chlorine.

Another major concern is the provisions under discussion to enable foreign investors - for example American firms investing in the EU - to sue a host government in some circumstances if they are hit by a change in policy.

That turned out to be so controversial that the European Commission decided to hold a public consultation. There were 150,000 responses which the Commission is still analyzing.

The conduct of the negotiations is also contentious. Campaigners say they are secretive and undemocratic. They also dispute TTIP advocates' claims about the economic benefits.

Overall these negotiations have proven to be extremely controversia and should not be allowed to be shoved down the throats of European Citizens.

Read more: BBC News - Concerns rise over US-EU trade talk