Coronavirus: Why Dutch lockdown may be a high-risk strategy

As coronavirus spreads rapidly the Dutch official stance has been criticised as cold-hearted.

Read more at:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52135814

Migration Policy EU: - While EU split on migration widens - by Jess Smee

Illegal immigration poses an ongoing political crisis for the European bloc and politicians' failure to act has left Europeans reportedly more concerned about immigration than climate change.

Will November's change of leadership in the European Commission help improve its track record on the humanitarian emergency?

Large numbers of migrants continued to arrive on European shores this summer and hundreds of people died en route so far this year.

But while immigration dominates the headlines, Europe is divided on how to respond, meaning that the issue tops the to-do list for incoming European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Pressure is rising on Europe to take a firm stance on the extended emergency.

In August, Greece underscored its calls for the EU to share the burden of new arrivals amid a sharp increase in migrants landing on Greek islands in recent weeks.

Deputy minister for citizen protection Giorgios Koumoutsakos even warned that the country had "exhausted its capacity" to cope with the newcomers - and called on the rest of Europe for help.

And as well as loud complaints from the front-line nations, Europe is struggling to bridge increasingly polarised political positions on immigration.

Read more at: EU split on migration widens

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Italy: Venice introduces entry fee for tourists to increase income for City upkeep

Venice starts charging tourist fees to pay 
for increasing cost city maintenance

The legendary northern Italian city of Venice moved closer to cementing its status as an open-air museum than a functioning urban landscape with permanent residents after it introduced a programme where visitors to the city must now be issued a ticket to visit.

Beginning on May 25 the visitors of the city of canals will begin paying a €3 entry fee, which will later rise to €6 in 2020.

The Venetian government eventually plans to create a variable entry fee ranging from €3-to-€10 depending on the number of tourists in the city. Visitors who attempt to avoid paying the entry fee will face a stiff €450 municipal fine.

The plan is to exempt hotel guests, as they already pay a city tax, and children under the age of 6,

Over the past decade, Venice has been so inundated with tourists that local residents have had difficulty coping with the increasing crowds and sky-high property prices that continue to climb. Local residents that have lived in Venice for generations have been forced to leave the city as scores of cruise ship visitors and day=trippers have effectively taken over.

An estimated 14 million tourists visit Venice just for a day, which brings little-to-no benefit to the local economy. Instead, tourism burden local authorities are left with excessive costs for the cleaning and maintenance of the city’s centuries-old infrastructure.

Read more: Venice introduces entry fee for tourists

EU Headscarf policy: European countries consider differing bans on the headscarf

It is not just in Austria where young girls could soon be banned from wearing headscarves in classrooms.

The leader of Germany's liberal Free Democratic Party, the FDP, has also proposed a ban in the North Rhine-Westphalia region - and nationwide.

A tweet quoting party leader Christian Lindner said "A ban on girls under the age of 14 is proportionate and strengthens personal development."

While the FDP wants to bring a debate on the issue to Germany's parliament, Austria's new coalition government has proposed a ban on headscarves for girls aged under 10 in schools.

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said his goal was to confront any development of what he termed "parallel societies" in Austria.

European countries have different policies on the headscarf. While Austria's ban could come in next year, in Germany and Switzerland they already apply to some female teachers, but not to schoolgirls.

Meanwhile in France, children are not allowed to wear headscarves, kippas or larger crosses in the classroom. Only small religious signs are allowed.

But Italy, Belgium and Switzerland allow individual schools to decide.

Read more: European countries consider differing bans on the headscarf | Euronews

EU - when will the EU sit up and smell the roses when it comes to its relations with the US - by RM

EU-US Relations on collision course

When President Trump sits around the table with his policy advisors you can be sure that the EU is not on top of the agenda.

Just compare last weekends state visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to the Trump Estate in Palm Beach Florida to the "sober, cold shoulder" reception by Trump given to European Heads of State, Angela Merkel and Theresa May in Washington DC.

That probably says it all as to how President Trump ranks Europe in his thought process.

Trump has also said that he trusts German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin equally. Does that imply that the United States will pursue a policy of equidistance between the EU and the Kremlin?

Everything is possible .

It is not an idle question. Trump has made it obvious that established partnerships, alliances, rules, and protocols mean little to him. In his tweets, he rants about the media, attacks independent judges, targets individuals and companies, and belittles international organizations.

But even though the US under Trump is now a very unattractive ally for Europe, writing off the US as a European partner – which some in Europe would like to do sooner rather than later – would probably be a major mistake.

In the meantime, maybe Mr. Trump and his advisors should start to read-up on how important the EU and the US are to  each others economic well being.

• Total US investment in the EU is three times higher than in all of Asia.
• EU investment in the US is around eight times the amount of EU investment in India and China together.
• EU and US investments are the real driver of this EU-US  transatlantic relationship, contributing to growth and jobs on both sides of the Atlantic. It is estimated that a third of the trade across the Atlantic actually consists of intra-company transfers.
• The transatlantic relationship also defines the shape of the global economy as a whole. Either the EU or the US is the largest trade and investment partner for almost all other countries in the global economy.
• The EU and the US economies account together for about half the entire world GDP and for nearly a third of world trade flows.

Nevertheless, it is also very important for the EU to realize, if they haven't already, that they can't continue to be a "lackey" of the US, having to say "how high", whenever  the US says "jump". .

But first,  before issuing an avalanche of "directives", the EU Commission, which has been running a pretty colorless "operation", should set itself a primary goal, which is to get all the member countries of the EU running in the same direction.This is not the case at present.

They can do this by initiating some basic changes as to how the EU operates, in order to make it more homogeneous and people friendly including:

* Having the President of the EU Commission, who is presently appointed,  instead elected by popular vote in all EU member states.
* Develop an independent foreign policy for the EU, which is not aligned with any other country's foreign policy.
* Develop an independent EU Military defense force, which includes a central EU command and is not aligned with any other foreign military force.  

It is  no secret that NATO (which includes many EU member states)  and which was initially intended, after WW2, to protect Europe from Soviet aggression during the cold that followed, was gradually expanded by the US into a US government policy controlled global strike force.

Its purpose being to support US foreign policy in military operations around the world.

For the past past 16 years, however, mainly focusing on Afghanistan and the Middle East.

So far the results of these NATO military operations in Afghanistan and the Middle East (Iraq, Syria, Libya) have been a complete disaster.

In the meantime, NATO and US military campaigns in the Middle East over these past 16 years have also resulted in hundreds of thousands of people killed, created millions of displaced persons, flooding the EU and Turkey with refugees,and created major economic and social hardship.

Last but not least, the turmoil surrounding these wars  in the Middle East also resulted in the birth of the so-called Islamic State, which in reality is an assortment of former Iraqi soldiers, disturbed Islamic radicals and young indoctrinated Islamic fanatics from Europe and other parts of the world who have made terrorism their trade mark around the globe.   

Unfortunately, there is very little time left for the EU to change cours in this turbulent world..

The EU  must be warned, however, that if they fall apart into smaller states again, these individual states will become "chopped meat" in serving US, Russian and Chinese interests and ambitions to obtain global dominance

If BREXIT wasn't a wake-up call, Mr. Trumps foreign policy "tap-dance" with Russia and China certainly is a signal for the EU Commission to sit up straight and smell the roses.

EU-Digest

EU Economy: What will the European economy look like in 2017? - by Lizzie O'Leary and Stephen Beard

There were three big electoral events affecting the global economy in the second half of 2016.

The biggest event  by far, of course, occurred in the U.S. on November 8th. The other two were in Europe and are set to have repercussions well into 2017: the vote for Brexit in the U.K. and the "no" vote in the Italian referendum.

Marketplace European Bureau Chief Stephen Beard joined Lizzie O’Leary to take a look at Europe moving into the New Year.

Read more: What will the European economy look like in 2017?