EU: France sets out an ambitious programme for its presidency of the European Union

France took over the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union on Saturday with an ambitious programme for a "powerful" and "sovereign" Europe, but this is likely to be disrupted by the new outbreak of COVID-19 and the April presidential elections.

At midnight (23:00 GMT on Friday), France took over from Slovenia, which had held the presidency of the EU Council since 1 July, and will be replaced in the second half of the year by the Czech Republic.

As a symbol of this handover, the Eiffel Tower and the Elysée Palace were lit up at the same time in blue, the colour of Europe.

Read more at: France sets out an ambitious programme for its presidency of the European Union | Euronews

EU -Vaccines - Oxford/AstraZeneca: Spain joins France, Germany and Italy in pausing Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine

France, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia and Cyprus announced they will stop administering the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine pending an assessment by the EU’s medicine regulator. Spain said it will stop using the AZ vaccine for at least two weeks.

The benefits of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine in preventing Covid outweigh the risks of side effects, the European Medicines Agency said in a statement. The World Health Organization (WHO) has said there is no proven link to blood clots and that people should not panic.

Read more at: Spain joins France, Germany and Italy in pausing Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine – as it happened | World news | The Guardian

France versus Radical Islam: : French MPs back controversial law aimed at cracking down on Islamic radicalism

French MP's on Tuesday approved a contreversial law on stopping intenet hate speech and separatism and ending foreign funding of religious groups.

Read more at: French MPs back controversial law aimed at cracking down on Islamic radicalism | Euronews

EU-US Relations: The Total Failure of the Militarization of U.S. Foreign Policy and the consequences for the EU - by RM

The fall of the Soviet Union handed the U.S. a unique opportunity, as the surviving superpower, to lead the world toward a period of greater cooperation and conflict resolution through the use of diplomacy, global organization, and international law. This great opportunity to change US foreign policy doctrine was completely squandered by successive US presidents, who chose "the stick above the carrot" and consequently making the world a more dangerous place today.

The differences between the foreign policies of the EU, based on cooperation, trade , the environment,and Human Rights, and that of the United States became especially aparent during the Trump Administration, when Europe started staking out separate, clashing positions, on everything, from telecommunications to energy. The EU and US both issued sharp disagreements on the basic building blocks of foreign relations—namely, how the international system should work. French President Emmanuel Macron seized the spotlight, and sent the hearts of European federalists aflutter, by calling for “a European way” while raising the possibility of a French-led European nuclear deterrent, a precondition for any true independence from the United States.

If opinion polls are to go by, we are already separated. Nowhere is this felt more acutely than in Germany, the most important country in Europe. In January, Pew Research released a poll showing that 57 percent of Germans hold an outright unfavorable view of the United States. A few months earlier, in September, the European Council on Foreign Relations reported that 70 percent of Germans want their country to remain neutral in any conflict between Moscow and Washington.

For some European, Anglo-Saxon capitalism is seen as ruthless and rootless, mowing down the social order in the service of individual greed. For others, the United States’ dominance of the West breeds resentment, especially in an era of globalization, when even the slightest shocks from across the Atlantic hit the EU's bottom line or derail its diplomacy.

With the US Biden Administration in charge soon, the overall relationship between the two Transatlanic Super Power partners certainly will get off to a better start, but the US administration must certainly not expect that the status quo is re-established. Take note America, your former "lap dog" now considers itself an independent partner with its own voice.

EU-Digest

EU: France may impose third national lockdown if Covid cases continue to rise

France has not ruled out imposing a third nationwide lockdown if coronavirus cases continue to rise, its health minister said Sunday, as the country braces for a possible post-Christmas spike.

We will never exclude measures that are necessary to protect the public," Olivier Veran told the Journal du Dimanche.

Read more at: France may impose third national lockdown if Covid cases continue to rise

America's Latest Export: The Conspiracy Theorists Crazies have crossed the Atlantic and QAnon is now in Europe–by Mark Scott

If you don't know what QAnon is this is how wikileaks divines the cult - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAnon.

At first glance it’s not a natural fit. The U.S. conspiracy theory — now with millions of acolytes worldwide — alleges a vast deception to undermine U.S. President Donald Trump. It blends anti-government, anti-lockdown and anti-Semitic rhetoric with unfounded beliefs about a vast pedophile ring run by the global elite. Its followers adhere to a quasi-religious belief that a great savior — aided by “Q,” an anonymous government insider from whom QAnon gets its name — will protect followers from the dark forces behind the conspiracy.

In the U.S., discussion about QAnon has broken into the political mainstream. When Trump was asked to disavow the group at a recent town hall event, he first said he knew “nothing about QAnon” but then added: “I do know that they are very much against pedofiles.

Despite its digital roots, this conspiracy based, populst, ultra -right-wing QAnon has extended its reach into the real world, with attendees at protests against anti-coronavirus measures and supportive of conspiracy theories spreading its talking points across Europe, the U.S. and other parts of the world.

Read more at: QAnon goes European – POLITICO

EU-France-Turkey relations: France recalls envoy after Turkey scolds Macron over Muslims -by Daren Butler, Geert De Clercq

France recalled its ambassador on Saturday after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said his counterpart Emmanuel Macron needed mental help over his attitude towards Muslims.

The French leader this month declared war on “Islamist separatism”, which he believes is taking over some Muslim communities in France.

Read more at: France recalls envoy after Turkey scolds Macron over Muslims | Reuters

Paris's Louvre reopens on Monday after lockdown losses of 'over €40 million'

The Louvre in Paris, the world's most visited museum
and home to the Mona Lisa, reopens on Monday but with coronavirus
restrictions in place and parts of the complex closed to visitors.

Read more at:

Paris's Louvre reopens on Monday after lockdown losses of 'over €40 million'

NATO: France and Turkey fracture Nato on Libya - "as Erdogan plays a dangerous game he could lose"- by Andrew Rettman

"Who cares about the EU or NATO ? Trump  agrees with me"

Nato is to investigate French allegations that Turkish warships targeted a French one in a confrontation over the Libya conflict, which has divided allies.

"The incident in the Mediterranean [Sea] was addressed in the meeting by several allies", Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said after Nato defence ministers held video-talks on Thursday (18 June).

"We have made sure that Nato military authorities are investigating the incident to bring full clarity to what happened," he said.

Turkish warships locked their weapons systems on to a French frigate called the Courbet, which was part of a Nato monitoring mission called Sea Guardian, on 10 June, according to France.

And they did it in order to slip through yet another illegal shipment of arms to Turkey's ally in the Libya civil war, the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA), France said.

Note EU-Digest:  Curious - Whenever, or each time we put the President of Turkey's name ,Erdogan into the "Labels" column of our blog (EU-Digest), we were posting, the blog reported an error, and we had to go back and re-post the entire content of the blog, and rewrite the "labels"  removing Erdogan's name for it to work. Does this mean censorship by either some internal or external "source", or is it a real technical error? This is not the first time it happened when other sensitive issues were published.

Read more at:
France and Turkey fracture Nato on Libya

EU - Coronavirus latest: France, Germany propose vast recovery fund

Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron propose a major European rescue fund, to come from an increased long-term EU budget

Read more at:
Coronavirus latest: France, Germany propose vast recovery fund | News | DW | 18.05.2020

France and Netherlands call for tougher EU trade conditions

Bloc urged to enforce environmental and labour standards through tariffs

Read more at:
https://www.ft.com/content/e14f082c-42e1-4bd8-ad68-54714b995dff

Coronavirus panic buying in Japan, France, Netherlands, and Poland

As the coronavirus spreads, Business Insider sent some of its international editors to take photos inside local stores where items are low in stock.

Read more at:
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-panic-buying-france-japan-netherlands-poland-2020-3

France: Thank God for France’s Sense of European Realism

French President Emmanuel Macron's restrictive stance on EU membership for the Western Balkans injects a much-needed dose of realism into EU affairs.

Read more at:
https://www.theglobalist.com/france-emmanuel-macron-germany-eu-expansion-western-balkans/

Coronavirus latest: Rescue flight lands in France as European cases rise to 23

European coronavirus cases have risen to 23 as a plane carrying 254 evacuees from Wuhan landed in France — including 36 people with symptoms.

Read more at:
https://www.euronews.com/2020/01/22/watch-live-who-director-general-statement-on-coronavirus-outbreak

Internet: Pompeo warns that the U.S. will NOT share intelligence with countries using Huawei 5G infrastructure

* Mike Pompeo said any country that did so would be cut off from intelligence

Germany has so far joined UK, France and Netherlands in defying U.S. calls

Washington warns Huawei is a vassal of Beijing and poses an espionage threat 

Read more at: Pompeo warns that the U.S. will NOT share intelligence with countries using Huawei 5G infrastructure | Daily Mail Online

NATO: Macron spars with US and Turkey over Nato - by Nikolaj Nielsen

EU Defense Force: Europe needs to control it's own destiny

The presidents of France, Turkey and the United States sparred over Nato as the 29 leaders of the 70-year old alliance gathered in London.

In a late night tweet on Tuesday (3 December), French president Emmanuel Macron entrenched his views on the future of the fraying alliance.

"We can't put money and pay the cost of our soldiers' lives without being clear on the fundamentals of what Nato should be," he said.

The position follows his earlier comments describing Nato as "brain dead", given Turkey's October invasion into north-east Syria, displacing tens of thousands of people.

After US president Donald Trump abandoned the Kurdish militias, who had fought alongside US and French troops in the struggle against the Islamic State, Turkey moved in.

Note EU-Digest: Macron is right on this one. US President Trump pulled out of Syria without consulting any of his NATO partners, except possibly Turkey, and created a chaos at the border between Syria and Turkey. It is high time the EU gets off the lap of the US and creates its own military defense force, which focuses on the interests of Europe.

Read more at: Macron spars with US and Turkey over Nato

France unveils new model for EU enlargement - by Andrew Rettman

Western Balkan countries should still become EU members, but via a new, step-by-step process, France has said.

The "gradual association" idea was the basis for a "reformed approach to the [EU] accession process", set out in an informal, six-page paper circulated to EU diplomats by France on Friday (15 November) and seen by EUobserver.

Read more at: France unveils new model EU enlargement

France - Secularism: Macron condemns those who use secularism to 'sow hatred and division'

Macron spoke about the French concept of "laïcité" or secularism, at the inauguration of a European Centre for Judaism.

Read more at: https://www.euronews.com/2019/10/30/macron-condemns-those-who-use-secularism-to-sow-hatred-and-division

European Migration Agreement:

Key EU countries agree on sea migrant redistribution scheme

Read more at:
https://p.dw.com/p/3Q6GI

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Britain - Brexit: President Macron dampens Johnson's plans to renegotiate Brexit

Macron dampens Johnson's plan to renegotiate Brexit

Read more at:
https://p.dw.com/p/3OJzz

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