In a letter sent to Manfred Weber – the chairman of the European People’s Party (EPP), the largest political organization in the EU Parliament, Council, and Commission – Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban officially announced that his political party, Fidesz, would resign from the center-right group.
Orban’s decision to pull Fidesz out of the faction came after the EPP, which has dominated EU politics for over 20 years, moved to enact a new rule change that would have paved the way for Fidesz to be suspended from its ranks.
Reas more at:
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Showing posts with label EU-US relations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label EU-US relations. Show all posts
December 9, 2019
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.
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.
August 17, 2019
EU-US Relations: Trump Seems to Hate the EU. Is It Because He Already Had a George W. Bush Florida Orange Juice Moment? by Ivan Dikov
Trump and his administration have been
especially hateful of the EU with respect to Brexit, and their impudent
encouragement of the UK to leave the Union, and on top of that to even
do so without a Brexit deal, the so called hard or no-deal Brexit.
The latest of the Trump Administration’s EU bashing came this week
from Trump’s National Security Adviser John Bolton who advertised a
no-deal Brexit with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the British
public with the prospects of a fast US-UK trade deal.
Bolton,
however, also shyly admitted that such a deal wouldn’t probably take
the form of a comprehensive all-out agreement but would likely be
negotiated “in pieces” and stages.
Critics have reacted that to get even that, the UK would have to give the Trump Administration a lot of concessions and backing on all sorts of top-level global political issues.
Diplomatic tone and manners aside, it
has got to be pointed out categorically that downgrading, diminishing,
or even destroying the EU does not make sense from the point of view of
America’s best interests. This is so self-explanatory that there is no
need go into much detail here. It suffices to remind everybody that the
West rests on two pillars – North America and (Western) Europe – the USA
and the EU, respectively. And if one of those two pillars sabotages or
undermines the other, that could lead to the collapse of the entire
structure.
The fact that Brexit could
actually prove a blessing, rather than a curse to the EU but
effectively removing the countless British vetoes to the deepening and
widening of EU integration is a whole other story.
Trump
first seriously raised eyebrows on the other side of the Atlantic with
his campaign speeches, and his first post-inauguration interview in
January 2017, in which he openly bashed the European Union.
For additional information, including advertising rates - e-mail:Freeplanet@protonmail.com
February 5, 2019
EU-US Relations: Europeans fear Trump may threaten not just the transatlantic bond, but the state of their union - by Dan Balz and Griff Witte
As President Trump prepares to deliver
his second State of the Union address, the leaders of the United
States’ closest allies in Europe are filled with anxiety
.
Read more: Europeans fear Trump may threaten not just the transatlantic bond, but the state of their union - The Washington Post
.
They
are unsure of whom to talk to in Washington. They can’t tell whether
Trump considers them friends or foes. They dig through his Twitter feed
for indications of whether the president intends to wreck the European
Union and NATO or merely hobble the continent’s core institutions.
Officials
say Trump, by design or indifference, has already badly weakened the
foundation of the transatlantic relationship that American presidents
have nurtured for seven decades. As Sigmar Gabriel, a former German
foreign minister, put it: “He has done damage that the Soviets would
have dreamt of.”
European leaders worry that
the next two years could bring even more instability, as Trump feels
emboldened, and they are filled with fear at the prospect that Trump
could be reelected. The situation has left the continent facing a
strategic paradox no one has managed to crack.
“We can’t live with Trump,” Gabriel said. “And we can’t live without the United States.”
In more than two dozen interviews in London, Paris and Berlin — the
three European capitals at the heart of the Western alliance —
government officials, former officials and independent analysts
described a partnership with Washington that, while still working
smoothly at some levels, has become deeply dysfunctional at others.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime
Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron have tried
different strategies, but all have struggled to develop consistent and
reliable relationships with Trump. Lacking a better alternative, the
dominant European approach has been to wait him out and hope the damage
can be contained.
In all three capitals, there
is talk about somehow trying to go it alone, if necessary — to chart
Europe’s course. Merkel stated it as bluntly as anyone when she said in a
Munich beer hall that Europe must “take our destiny into our own
hands.”
That
was two years ago this spring, and since then, Europe has taken only
cautious steps in that direction — proposals for a European army being
one example. Despite modest increases in European defense spending, the
United States continues to account for over two-thirds of military
spending among NATO members. Europe struggles to keep big, multilateral
initiatives alive without American support.
European
officials continue to work as hard as ever to preserve relationships
with the president and the administration, despite fears and
frustrations.
“We manage,” said a senior
European politician, who like others in government spoke on the
condition of anonymity to freely discuss a sensitive relationship.
“Governing by tweets is not the same as governing by diplomatic
engagement. It’s a different process. But it’s something we accept and
adapt to. I don’t think that our surprise on a daily basis is any
greater than that of his own administration.”
Others,
often those who are no longer in government, express a less sanguine
view. They see a president ticking through his campaign promises and
notice uncomfortably that Europe is on the wrong end of many of them.
Littered among the wreckage, as seen by the
Europeans: an all-but-ruined Iran nuclear deal, tit-for-tat tariffs, a
global climate accord that is missing the world’s largest economy, a
possible arms race triggered by the cancellation of a key nuclear
treaty, and a unilateral retreat from Syria without even a courtesy call
to allies that work alongside U.S. forces.
More than any one issue, however, there is the sense that Trump and Europe are fundamentally at odds.
Note EU-Digest: Hopefully the EU will be able to defend itself over the coming two years or less against this loud-mouth, uncouth ego-maniac, spoiled bully, before he is either locked-up, or impeached.
Note EU-Digest: Hopefully the EU will be able to defend itself over the coming two years or less against this loud-mouth, uncouth ego-maniac, spoiled bully, before he is either locked-up, or impeached.
July 19, 2018
EU, US relations sinking further after divisive Trump tour - by Raf Casert
After a week of the worst barrage of insults yet from U.S. President
Donald Trump, the European Union is looking westward toward the White
House less and less.
Making it worse, Trump spent Monday cozying up to EU adversary Vladimir Putin in an extraordinary chummy summit with the Russian leader in Helsinki.
Never mind. In an age when Trump has made political optics all-important, on Tuesday the EU struck back. Key EU leaders were in the far east in Japan and China looking for the trust, friendship and cooperation they could no longer get from a century-old ally.
Trump's embrace of Putin and the EU's Asian outreach highlight the yawning rift, widening more by the day, in a trans-Atlantic unity that has been the bedrock of international politics for the better part of a century, as countless graves of U.S. soldiers buried in European soil bear witness to.
Trump's abrasiveness and "America First" insistence had been a given even before he became president. Europe's increasing resignation to letting go of the cherished link to the White House is much more recent.
After last week's brutal NATO summit where Trump derided Europeans as freeloaders, EU chief Donald Tusk spoke on Tuesday of "the increasing darkness of international politics."
"This Helsinki summit is above all another wake-up call for Europe," said Manfred Weber, the German leader of the EPP center-right group in the European Parliament, the legislature's biggest.
"We Europeans must take our fate in our own hands."
It was a startling sentiment coming from someone who hails from the same German Christian Democrat stock as Angela Merkel, Helmut Kohl and Konrad Adenauer, staunch supporters of the trans-Atlantic link over the past three-quarters century.
There have been other signs of the growing European detachment from the White House, especially after Trump pulled out of the global climate agreement and the Iran nuclear deal the EU brokered.
"With friends like that, who needs enemies?" Tusk asked two months ago.
Soon, Trump had also piled on economic punishment with punitive tariffs on European steel and aluminum.
Then came the NATO summit. Already viewed with apprehension, reality turned out to be worse.
First, Trump called Germany, the powerhouse of the European Union, "captive" to Russia. Then he suggested that Britain should "sue" the EU over Brexit terms. Finally, he finished off by calling the 28-nation bloc a trade "foe."
"For Trump, the categories of friend, ally, partner, opponent, enemy don't exist. For him there is only his own ego," said the head of the German parliament's foreign affairs committee, Norbert Roettgen.
So little wonder the EU has turned for friends elsewhere — and found one Tuesday in Japan, where the bloc said it put in place "the largest bilateral trade deal ever."
Up to two years ago, that was supposed to be the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP, trade deal between the EU and the United States. But Trump quickly let it be known that such an international agreement would not happen on his watch.
"This is an act of enormous strategic importance for the rules-based international order, at a time when some are questioning this order," Tusk said at a joint news conference in Tokyo with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
"We are sending a clear message that we stand together against protectionism."
Despite it all, until last week there had remained hope that on the most critical of geopolitical security issues, Trump would remain true to American ideals. Instead, he unleashed unprecedented criticism at the NATO summit.
Fully extracting itself from the United States, though, is a daunting challenge for Europe.
Militarily, with the exceptions of France and Britain, the European allies have lived under the nuclear umbrella of the United States since World War II. Defense cooperation outside of U.S-dominated NATO is only now taking off and the blocked Brexit negotiations make such a prospect fraught with uncertainty.
That military dimension, and the bond between Europe and the United States, have a special resonance in nations like Poland and the Baltic states, which had long been under the thumb of Moscow before the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Hence, Monday's Helsinki summit was seen with apprehension that Trump might make dramatic concessions to Putin and leave parts of Europe with too little protection. In Poland, the 1945 Yalta Conference is seen as a symbol of political treason because, without Poland's participation and against Poland's will, it put the country under Soviet control for decades, until 1989.
Read: EU, US relations sinking further after divisive Trump tour
Making it worse, Trump spent Monday cozying up to EU adversary Vladimir Putin in an extraordinary chummy summit with the Russian leader in Helsinki.
Never mind. In an age when Trump has made political optics all-important, on Tuesday the EU struck back. Key EU leaders were in the far east in Japan and China looking for the trust, friendship and cooperation they could no longer get from a century-old ally.
Trump's embrace of Putin and the EU's Asian outreach highlight the yawning rift, widening more by the day, in a trans-Atlantic unity that has been the bedrock of international politics for the better part of a century, as countless graves of U.S. soldiers buried in European soil bear witness to.
Trump's abrasiveness and "America First" insistence had been a given even before he became president. Europe's increasing resignation to letting go of the cherished link to the White House is much more recent.
After last week's brutal NATO summit where Trump derided Europeans as freeloaders, EU chief Donald Tusk spoke on Tuesday of "the increasing darkness of international politics."
"This Helsinki summit is above all another wake-up call for Europe," said Manfred Weber, the German leader of the EPP center-right group in the European Parliament, the legislature's biggest.
"We Europeans must take our fate in our own hands."
It was a startling sentiment coming from someone who hails from the same German Christian Democrat stock as Angela Merkel, Helmut Kohl and Konrad Adenauer, staunch supporters of the trans-Atlantic link over the past three-quarters century.
There have been other signs of the growing European detachment from the White House, especially after Trump pulled out of the global climate agreement and the Iran nuclear deal the EU brokered.
"With friends like that, who needs enemies?" Tusk asked two months ago.
Soon, Trump had also piled on economic punishment with punitive tariffs on European steel and aluminum.
Then came the NATO summit. Already viewed with apprehension, reality turned out to be worse.
First, Trump called Germany, the powerhouse of the European Union, "captive" to Russia. Then he suggested that Britain should "sue" the EU over Brexit terms. Finally, he finished off by calling the 28-nation bloc a trade "foe."
"For Trump, the categories of friend, ally, partner, opponent, enemy don't exist. For him there is only his own ego," said the head of the German parliament's foreign affairs committee, Norbert Roettgen.
So little wonder the EU has turned for friends elsewhere — and found one Tuesday in Japan, where the bloc said it put in place "the largest bilateral trade deal ever."
Up to two years ago, that was supposed to be the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP, trade deal between the EU and the United States. But Trump quickly let it be known that such an international agreement would not happen on his watch.
"This is an act of enormous strategic importance for the rules-based international order, at a time when some are questioning this order," Tusk said at a joint news conference in Tokyo with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
"We are sending a clear message that we stand together against protectionism."
Despite it all, until last week there had remained hope that on the most critical of geopolitical security issues, Trump would remain true to American ideals. Instead, he unleashed unprecedented criticism at the NATO summit.
Fully extracting itself from the United States, though, is a daunting challenge for Europe.
Militarily, with the exceptions of France and Britain, the European allies have lived under the nuclear umbrella of the United States since World War II. Defense cooperation outside of U.S-dominated NATO is only now taking off and the blocked Brexit negotiations make such a prospect fraught with uncertainty.
That military dimension, and the bond between Europe and the United States, have a special resonance in nations like Poland and the Baltic states, which had long been under the thumb of Moscow before the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Hence, Monday's Helsinki summit was seen with apprehension that Trump might make dramatic concessions to Putin and leave parts of Europe with too little protection. In Poland, the 1945 Yalta Conference is seen as a symbol of political treason because, without Poland's participation and against Poland's will, it put the country under Soviet control for decades, until 1989.
Read: EU, US relations sinking further after divisive Trump tour
June 28, 2018
EU-US Relations: EU President Donald Tusk warns EU leaders to ″prepare for the worst″ in EU-US relations
He laid out the agenda for discussions at the important meeting, with migration topping the list.
Transatlantic relations
Writing on the issue of transatlantic relations, Tusk said the EU must be prepared for "worst-case scenarios" as US President Donald Trump's policies have been increasingly at loggerheads with the bloc's values.
"It is my belief that, while hoping for the best, we must be ready to prepare our union for worst-case scenarios," Tusk wrote. "Despite our tireless efforts to keep the unity of the West, transatlantic relations are under immense pressure due to the policies of President Trump."
Trump has decided to withdraw his country from the Paris climate deal and the Iran nuclear deal, despite repeated pleas by the EU to stick with them.
One EU official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told DPA news agency that such "negative" decisions were starting to "look like a pattern" where the US has "no friends, no enemies" and where preserving the international rules-based structure was not a focus.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will share his views on EU-NATO cooperation at the meeting.
Read more: Donald Tusk warns EU leaders to ″prepare for the worst″ in EU-US relations | News | DW | 27.06.2018
December 1, 2017
THE EU NEEDS A FRIENDLY DIVORCE FROM THE US: "before Donald Trump finalizes building his Autocracy in the U.S."
 |
| Is the Trump Autocracy becoming a reality? |
"Fortunately for him, he did not need to campaign hard for reelection. His has been a popular presidency: Big tax cuts, big spending, and big deficits have worked their familiar expansive magic. Wages have grown strongly in the Trump years, especially for men without a college degree, even if rising inflation is beginning to bite into the gains. The president’s supporters credit his restrictive immigration policies and his TrumpWorks infrastructure program".
"The president’s critics, meanwhile, have found little hearing for their protests and complaints. A Senate investigation of Russian hacking during the 2016 presidential campaign sputtered into inconclusive partisan wrangling. Concerns about Trump’s purported conflicts of interest excited debate in Washington but never drew much attention from the wider American public".
"Allegations of fraud and self-dealing in the TrumpWorks program, and elsewhere, have likewise been shrugged off. The president regularly tweets out news of factory openings and big hiring announcements: “I’m bringing back your jobs,” he has said over and over. Voters seem to have believed him—and are grateful".
"Most Americans intuit that their president and his relatives have become vastly wealthier over the past four years. But rumors of graft are easy to dismiss. Because Trump has never released his tax returns, no one really knows".
"Anyway, doesn’t everybody do it? On the eve of the 2018 congressional elections, WikiLeaks released years of investment statements by prominent congressional Democrats indicating that they had long earned above-market returns. As the air filled with allegations of insider trading and crony capitalism, the public subsided into weary cynicism. The Republicans held both houses of Congress that November, and Trump loyalists shouldered aside the pre-Trump leadership"
"Those citizens who fantasize about defying tyranny from within fortified compounds have never understood how liberty is actually threatened in a modern bureaucratic state: not by diktat and violence, but by the slow, demoralizing process of corruption and deceit. And the way that liberty must be defended is not with amateur firearms, but with an unwearying insistence upon the honesty, integrity, and professionalism of American institutions and those who lead them. We are living through the most dangerous challenge to the free government of the United States that anyone alive has encountered. What happens next is up to you and me. Don’t be afraid. This moment of danger can also be your finest hour as a citizen and an American."
Note EU-Digest: Our European political leaders should take the time to read this excellent article from the Atlantic and act upon it, before they and the people of Europe, get sucked into this rapidly developing US quagmire.
Read the full report re: the playbook Donald Trump could use to set the country down a path toward illiberalism.
EU-Digest
May 30, 2017
EU-US Relations: Trump 'weakened' West, hurt EU interests says German FM
The sharp words from Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel on Monday came after Trump concluded his first official tour abroad, which took him to Saudi Arabia, Israel, Brussels and then Italy for a G7 summit.
They followed Chancellor Angela Merkel's warning on Sunday that the United States and Britain may no longer be completely reliable partners.
Germany's exasperation was laid bare after the G7 summit that wrapped up on Saturday with the US refusing so far to sign up to upholding the 2015 Paris climate accord.
Note EU-Digest: With an unpredictable nationalist in the White House, it is better too late than never for the EU to focus on its own interests rather than those of the US, which are totally opposite to those of the EU. Specially in the area of Global Warming, Trade, and Middle East policies.Compliments to Germany for clearly pointing this out to the other members of the EU.
Read more: Trump 'weakened' West, hurt EU interests: German FM | USA News | Al Jazeera
April 6, 2017
European Union - EU boss threatens to break up US in retaliation for Trump Brexit support - by Nick Gutteridge
The remarks are diplomatic dynamite at a time when relations between Washington and Brussels are already strained over Europe’s meagre contributions to NATO and the US leader’s open preference for dealing with national governments.
A spokesman for the bloc later said that the remarks were not meant to be taken literally, but also tellingly did not try to pass them off as humorous and insisted the EU chief was making a serious comparison.
Speaking at the centre-right European People Party’s (EPP) annual conference in Malta yesterday afternoon, the EU Commission boss did not hold back in his disdain for the White House chief’s eurosceptic views.
“If he goes on like that I am going to promote the independence of California, Ohio and Austin, Texas in the US.”
Mr Juncker's comments did not appear to be made in jest and were delivered in a serious tone, although one journalist did report some "chuckles" in the audience and hinted the EU boss may have been joking. The remarks came in the middle of an angry speech in which the top eurocrat railed widely against critics of the EU Commission.
And reacting to the furore which followed them, EU Commission deputy chief spokesman Alexander Winterstein explained: "You will have seen that this is not the first time the President draws this analogy and I think he’s making a point that is as simple as it is valid.
"He does not suggest that certain states should secede from the United States and at the same time I think he considers it also not terribly appropriate for other heads of states to suggest that member states of the EU leave the EU. So I think that’s the comparison that he’s drawing."
Read more: more: European Union - EU boss threatens to break up US in retaliation for Trump Brexit support | Politics | News | Express.co.
March 4, 2017
European Parliament votes to end visa-free travel for Americans - by Jon Sharman
The European Parliament has voted to end visa-free travel for Americans within the EU.
It comes after the US failed to agree visa-free travel for citizens of five EU countries – Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland and Romania – as part of a reciprocity agreement. US citizens can normally travel to all countries in the bloc without a visa.
The vote urges the revocation of the scheme within two months, meaning Americans will have to apply for extra documents for 12 months after the European Commission implements a “delegated act” to bring the change into effect.
The Commission discovered three years ago that the US was not meeting its obligations under the reciprocity agreement but has not yet taken any legal action. The latest vote, prepared by the civil liberties committee and approved by a plenary session of parliament, gives the Commission two months to act before MEPs can consider action in the European Court of Justice.
Australia, Brunei, Japan and Canada were also failing in their obligations, but all four have lifted, or are soon to lift, any visa restrictions on travel for EU citizens
The Commission is legally obliged to act to suspend the visa waiver for Americans, but the European Parliament or the Council of the European Union have the chance to object to the “delegated act” it uses to do so.In December, MEPs pressed for the move in order to “encourage” Washington to play its part, according to a statement by the parliament.
But Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos warned of “consequences”, including potential “retaliation” and a drop in visitor numbers precipitating substantial losses for the continent’s tourism industry.
In December, MEPs pressed for the move in order to “encourage” Washington to play its part, according to a statement by the parliament.But Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos warned of “consequences”, including potential “retaliation” and a drop in visitor numbers precipitating substantial losses for the continent’s tourism industry.
But Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos warned of “consequences”, including potential “retaliation” and a drop in visitor numbers precipitating substantial losses for the continent’s tourism industry.
Just days ago the Council said it would liberalise the visa regime for citizens of Georgia travelling into the EU.
Georgians can now, subject to final approval of the regulation, stay in any EU country for 90 days in any period of 180 days without needing a visa.
Carmelo Abela, Malta’s minister for national security, said: “This agreement will bring the people of Georgia and the EU closer together and will strengthen tourism and business ties. It follows the completion of the necessary reforms by Georgia, addressing document security, border management, migration and asylum.”
Last month it was reported that the EU was considering the adoption of a US-style electronic travel permit scheme – a move that could create a new administrative hurdle for British tourists after Brexit.
Read more: European Parliament votes to end visa-free travel for Americans | The Independent
February 16, 2017
EU collecting intelligence on Donald Trump re: business activities and staff relations with Russian officials:- by Kurt Eichenwald
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| Donald Trump: "everyone is lying except me" |
The sources said the interceptions include at least one contact between former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn and a Russian official based in the United States. It could not be confirmed whether this involved the telephone call with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak that has led to Flynn’s resignation, or additional communications. The sources said the intercepted communications are not just limited to telephone calls: The foreign agency is also gathering electronic and human source information on Trump’s overseas business partners, at least some of whom the intelligence services now consider to be agents of their respective governments. These operations are being conducted out of concerns that Russia is seeking to manipulate its relationships with Trump administration officials as part of a long-term plan to destabilize the NATO alliance.
Moreover, a Baltic nation is gathering intelligence on officials in the Trump White House and executives with the president’s company, the Trump Organization, out of concern that an American policy shift toward Russia could endanger its sovereignty, according to a third person with direct ties to that nation’s government.
These operations reflect a serious breakdown in the long-standing faith in the direction of American policy by some of the country’s most important allies. Worse, the United States is now in a situation that may be unprecedented—where European governments know more about what is going on in the executive branch than any elected American official. To date, the Republican-controlled Congress has declined to conduct hearings to investigate the links between Trump’s overseas business partners and foreign governments, or the activities between Russia and officials in the Trump campaign and administration—the very areas being examined by the intelligence services of at least two American allies.
Some details about Trump’s business partners were passed to the American government months ago. For example, long before the president’s inauguration, German electronic surveillance determined that the father of Trump’s Azerbaijani business partner is a government official who laundered money for the Iranian military; that information was shared with the CIA, according to a European source with direct knowledge of the situation.
Of equal concern to our allies is Trump’s business partner in the Philippines, who is also the special representative to Washington of that country’s president, Rodrigo Duterte. This government official, Jose E.B. Antonio, is the head of Century Properties, which in turn is a partner with the president’s business in the construction of Trump Tower at Century City in Makati, Philippines. According to people with direct knowledge of the situation, a European intelligence service has obtained the contracts and other legal documents in the deal between the Trump Organization and Antonio. That deal has already resulted in large payments to Trump’s business, with millions of dollars more on the way—all coming from an agent of the Philippine president.
The financial relationship between an American president and the Philippine government comes at a time when the historic alliance between the West and the Southeast Asian country is under great stress.
Since the election last year of Duterte, a campaign of slaughter has gripped the Philippines, with death squads murdering thousands of suspected drug users in the streets. The carnage, which intelligence officials have concluded is being conducted with Duterte’s involvement, has been condemned throughout the Western world; the Parliament of the European Union and two United Nations human rights experts have urged Duterte to end the massacre.
Duterte has responded by signaling his government could tilt its alliances away from the West, instead turning to China as its primary ally. Such a move could be devastating, given that the American armed forces maintains large military bases there. The situation with the Philippines “is already an enormous challenge,” one official with direct knowledge of the European intelligence operations said. “President Trump’s business there is a complicating factor that we are trying to assess.”
The information gathered by the Western European government has been widely shared among the NATO allies, although it is not clear how much has been provided to American intelligence officials. One source said that members of British Prime Minister Theresa May’s staff had been briefed on the surveillance findings prior to her meeting last month with Trump and that officials within the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel have also obtained the details.
These intelligence operations against the United States come as a result of allied concern about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s designs to damage NATO and whether Trump intends to follow a policy path that would embolden Russia. In addition, they are apprehensive about whether a newly strengthened Moscow would use its energy weapon—Western Europe obtains almost 40 percent of its natural gas from Russia—to push aggressive policies with little objection from the Trump White House
fficials in the Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania are particularly concerned. Given Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, they fear that, should the Trump administration drop sanctions intended to punish Moscow’s military adventurism, their nations’ futures could also be at risk. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he will "protect" Russian speakers wherever they are; only 17 percent of Ukraine’s population is ethnic Russians. However, ethnic Russians make up 24 percent and 27 percent of the populations of Estonia and Latvia, respectively, according to the Foreign Policy Research Institute, an American think tank. And even though only 6 percent of Lithuania’s population is ethnic Russian, its government brought back military conscription, which had been abandoned seven years earlier, following Moscow’s military invasion of Ukraine.
While nothing improper has been detected, the Baltic nation also launched an investigation by its intelligence service into the relationship between Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and his longtime personal friend, Igor Sechin, the head of the Kremlin-controlled oil company Rosneft. Sechin and Rosneft are on the blacklist of people and entities designated for sanctions following Russia’s incursion into Ukraine. He was Tillerson’s main business partner when he worked as the chief executive of Exxon Mobil and is a powerful figure in Russia who is both a former member of the FSB (the federal security service that is the primary successor to the Soviet Union’s KGB) and the former head of presidential administration in charge of the security services.
“Sechin’s power derives from his relationship with Putin,” according to a 2008 State Department cable sent from the embassy in Moscow. “As Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration in charge of the security services, there was little doubt about Igor Sechin's power. He was widely regarded as a very influential member of Putin's inner circle, perhaps even the most influential, with the requisite FSB background to advance the President's (and his own) agenda.”
That influence, and the role Sechin could play in gaining greater power for Russia through oil sales if sanctions are dropped by the Trump administration, is what made him a primary target in the Baltic state’s intelligence investigation of Tillerson. Yet, back in America, the name Sechin was not even mentioned during Tillerson’s confirmation hearings before the Senate.
U.S. Allies Conduct Intelligence Operation Against Trump Staff and Associates, Intercepted Communications
February 11, 2017
EU tells Trump to mind his own business
The European Union has urged the United States to respect the principle of “non-interference” in each other’s affairs.
“We do not interfere in US politics […] And Europeans expect that America does not interfere in European politics,” Federica Mogherini, the EU’s top diplomat, told reporters in Washington on Friday.
She later repeated her remarks at the Atlantic Council, a think tank that promotes strong transatlantic ties.
The two-day trip was Mogherini’s first visit to the US capital since Donald Trump became president three weeks ago.
Her remarks followed comments by Theodore Roosevelt Malloch, Trump’s frontrunner to become ambassador to the EU, that the bloc is anti-American and that he would prefer for the US to trade bilaterally with European countries.
Malloch echoed statements by Trump in the past who had repeatedly praised Brexit and efforts by populists in other EU countries to leave the European Union.
Mogherini said the new administration had not decided on a new US ambassador to the EU yet.
While in Washington, Mogherini had talks with senior members of the Trump administration, including Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
“We had very good meetings about common interests and common priorities”, the former Italian Foreign Minister said. “I have the impression that policies in Washington at this moment are still in the making.”
Mogherini underlined the intention of both sides to work together closely, but she also acknowledged disagreements on topics like multilateralism, free trade and “maybe some human rights issues”.
Mogherini also said she was reassured in her talks with the Trump administration that the US was committed to the full implementation of the Iran nuclear deal.
“I heard the intention to make sure that the deal will be a hundred percent implemented”, she said.
Read more: EU tells Trump to mind his own business | Euronews
“We do not interfere in US politics […] And Europeans expect that America does not interfere in European politics,” Federica Mogherini, the EU’s top diplomat, told reporters in Washington on Friday.
She later repeated her remarks at the Atlantic Council, a think tank that promotes strong transatlantic ties.
The two-day trip was Mogherini’s first visit to the US capital since Donald Trump became president three weeks ago.
Her remarks followed comments by Theodore Roosevelt Malloch, Trump’s frontrunner to become ambassador to the EU, that the bloc is anti-American and that he would prefer for the US to trade bilaterally with European countries.
Malloch echoed statements by Trump in the past who had repeatedly praised Brexit and efforts by populists in other EU countries to leave the European Union.
Mogherini said the new administration had not decided on a new US ambassador to the EU yet.
While in Washington, Mogherini had talks with senior members of the Trump administration, including Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
“We had very good meetings about common interests and common priorities”, the former Italian Foreign Minister said. “I have the impression that policies in Washington at this moment are still in the making.”
Mogherini underlined the intention of both sides to work together closely, but she also acknowledged disagreements on topics like multilateralism, free trade and “maybe some human rights issues”.
Mogherini also said she was reassured in her talks with the Trump administration that the US was committed to the full implementation of the Iran nuclear deal.
“I heard the intention to make sure that the deal will be a hundred percent implemented”, she said.
Read more: EU tells Trump to mind his own business | Euronews
February 3, 2017
EU-US Relations: EU political party leaders team up to reject Trump ambassador to EU – by Georgi Gotev
Manfred Weber, the leader of the EPP group in the European Parliament, and Guy Verhofstadt, his colleague from ALDE, co-signed a letter to Council President Donald Tusk yesterday (2 February), proposing that the EU rejects Malloch as US ambassador to the EU.
Note EU-Digest: Hopefully EU President Donald Tusk will take positive action on this letter, which is supported by the majority in the EU parliament.
EU-Digest
January 13, 2015
Anti-Terrorism March: Absence of top U.S. official at Paris march disappoint European allies - should US Ambassador France be recalled?
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| More than 1 million people demonstrate in Paris |
President Barack Obama spent the weekend at the White House. Vice President Joe Biden was in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. Secretary of State John Kerry was on a long-planned trip to India. Attorney General Eric Holder was in Paris attending a security summit, but did not make an appearance at the march on Sunday.
The Obama administration was instead represented by U.S. ambassador to France Jane Hartley.
That decision sparked criticism of the administration, including from Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who called it a mistake for the U.S. to not have higher level representation at a rally supporting the nation’s oldest ally.
More than a million people walked the boulevards of Paris Sunday in what French officials called the largest demonstration in their country’s history.
The rally was aimed at showing unity following terror attacks by Islamic militants that left 17 people dead.
The procession was led by some 50 world leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The White House has yet to explain why it decided to forgo high-level representation at the march. The president’s overseas travel is usually planned well in advance given the enormous security apparatus that accompanies him. The vice president has a lighter security footprint and can sometimes travel overseas more quickly.
Asked about the criticism, Kerry said, “I really think that this is sort of quibbling a little bit.” Still, the State Department announced that Kerry would be traveling to Paris this week to show solidarity with the French people.
A European parliamentarian when asked about this obvious Faux-Pas by the US State department: said: "European are very disappointed that a top US official did not attend the solidarity demonstration against global terrorism in Paris, This is not expected from a country considered by many as the " leader of the Western World and one of the closets friends and allies of Europe."
"Shouldn't US Ambassador in France be recalled ?"
EU-Digest
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