Italy - Elections: Italian scientists speak up in support of EU - by Ersilia Vaudo Scarpetta

As Italy's elections loom amid a hike in euroscepticism, the country's scientific community is raising its voice - saying Europe's a place where they can find opportunities.

At ESTEC, the European Space Agency's research and technology centre in the Netherlands, scientists of 22 different nationalities work together to design and test satellites. And one in five is Italian.

"In other countries researchers are better paid than in Italy, so they prefer to stay at home. While in Italy those who want to do research are often forced to look for opportunities abroad," said Franco Ongaro, ESTEC Director.

Europe's a hot topic in Italy's elections, with the campaigning divided between pro-EU parties and populist movements, who accuse the block of limiting national sovereignty.

"Alone we wouldn't be as successful as we are with the 22 countries together. If we can land on a comet 500 million kilometres away after a 10-year journey, it is thanks to the alchemy of these differences, coming together to pursue common objectives," commented Ersilia Vaudo Scarpetta, Chief Diversity Officer at the European Space Agency.

Read more: Italian scientists speak up in support of EU | Euronews

EU: Visegrad: The clash of the euro visions - by Katya Adler

After Brexit could come Nexit, Dexit and Frexit, we thought, as a wave of anti-establishment euroscepticism washed across the continent.

But shock at the ongoing political disorder in the UK following the Brexit vote, plus a sense of uncertainty in Europe provoked by the Trump presidency, have served to solidify EU membership in most countries.

Now the battle is no longer about survival but over the direction the European Union should take. And in whose name.

The celebrated assumption in Brussels has been that Merkel and Macron, or M&M as I like to call them, would become the EU's golden couple - breathing life back into the Franco-German motor of Europe, getting the engine of EU integration purring once again, once troublesome Britain was out of the way.

But the spoke in the wheels of that EU motor-vehicle scenario comes from central Europe and the so-called Visegrad group of former communist states: Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Otherwise known as the V4.

Hungary's foreign minister once told me they see themselves as the "bad boys" of Europe. Pushing back against Brussels edicts, such as the migrant quotas.

Eurosceptic they are not. V4 economies have benefited hugely from EU subsidies.

Brussels-sceptic would be a more accurate description. With a common, though varying degree of dislike for EU centralisation.

The Visegrad 4 certainly do not share the post-World War Two vision of the EU espoused by mainstream decision-makers in western Europe, in countries like Germany, France and Italy.

The governments in Hungary and Poland have made front-page news over the last few months for thumbing their nose at EU laws, lectures and mores.

Their vision for Europe is one where the nation state is strong and independent.

Agoston Mraz, CEO of the Hungarian government-sponsored Nezopont Institute, told me fighting empires is a Hungarian tradition: first the Turks 500 years ago; then the Austrian Empire; followed by the Nazis and the communists in the 20th Century. Now, he said, they were resisting attempts to build a European empire.

He believes a clash of "euro visions" between the V4 and EU-integrationists is inevitable. And that the V4 view of Europe is catching on.

The EU certainly worries that the self-declared illiberal democracy of Hungary's domestically popular Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, is inspiring others.

Ultimately, though, the EU vision division is no binary matter.

Look at Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands and you'll see there are nuanced positions between the Orban/Macron extremes.

As the UK exits the EU it leaves behind a gaping hole - not just in the EU budget - but also in terms of balance of power.

It's not clear yet who will fill the vacuum - the federalists, the pragmatists or more nationalist-minded governments.

Note EU-Digest: History tells us that a nationalist trend has always led to disaster for Europe, so whatever the Eastern European say, lets keep on a Federalist course and dear Europeans in the East : take it or leave it.

Read more: Visegrad: The clash of the euro visions - BBC News

Hungary ‘should be kicked out of EU’ - by Armend Nimani

Europe’s cultural divisions deepened yesterday after Luxembourg called for Hungary to be kicked out of the EU because of the country’s hard stance on Muslim refugees and migrants.

The row has further poisoned relations between liberal western European countries and eastern Europe three days before a crucial summit on the future of the EU after Britain’s vote to leave in June.
Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg’s foreign minister, demanded the suspension or expulsion of Hungary over its authoritarianism and anti-migrant razor wire fences on its Balkan borders.

“We cannot accept that the EU’s fundamental values are being massively violated,” he told the German newspaper Die Welt.

“Anyone, like Hungary, who builds fences against refugees fleeing war or breaches press freedom and the independence of the justice system should be temporarily, or if needed, for ever excluded from the EU.”

Note EU-Digest: If the EU would do this they should include Poland in the process - unfortunately it does not have the power and guts to do so.

Read more: Hungary ‘should be kicked out of EU’ | World | The Times & The Sunday Times

EU Security Services: Border Security 2018

Following the success of the previous sell-out events, SMi Group’s Border Security Conference returns in 2018 with its biggest and best agenda to date.

 In addition, with free-movement a critical and divisive focus of Brexit negotiations, as well as a new administration in the White House, this year's event is more topical and relevant than ever.

With rapid globalisation impacting every continent, added pressures to borders around the world need addressing. Border Security 2018 will provide amplatform for leading representatives of industry and government to discuss the political and technological solutions being utilised to secure national borders.

Read more: Border Security 2018 — EUbusiness.com | EU news, business and politics

European Social Rights: EU to proclaim 'pillar' of social rights in Gothenburg- by Nikolaj Nielsen

European leaders are meeting in Sweden to discuss social issues as part of an effort to boost jobs and growth.

The half-day summit on Friday (17 November) in Gothenburg will bring together heads of state and government, as well as the EU institutions.

Billed as an event to "strengthen the EU's social dimension", the leaders will discuss, among other things, the future of education and culture.

The European Parliament, the EU Council representing member states, and the European Commission will also proclaim a European Pillar of Social Rights, whose first preamble calls for a Europe with full employment, balanced economic growth, social progress, and a quality environment.

In a statement on Thursday, Sweden's prime minister Stefan Loefven said the event would broadly focus on how to improve people's lives.

 Read more: EU to proclaim 'pillar' of social rights in Gothenburg

EU - Tribalism: Back to the past? 98 European Union Member States? - by Jordi Angusto

Scotland, Veneto, Lombardy, Catalonia… these are all EU regions demanding greater self-government, in some cases including independence from their home states but never from the EU. An apparent paradox given that their demands have increased along with the EU’s own growth in power. But there is no contradiction.

The EU has super-imposed a new order that sits uneasily with the previous settlements between regions and nation states, both in political and economic terms. An incompatibility requiring an adjustment at EU level rather than at states’ level if we still want “an ever closer union”. Both in Italy and Spain, North to South fiscal transfers were designed as a stabilising mechanism to recycle trade imbalances. It meant the North’s trade surplus financing the South’s trade deficit fiscally: a closed mechanism that made sense while trade and fiscal flows were symmetrical, as was the case before the EU single market and the euro; but hard to justify once the flows are asymmetrical. As a case in point: before the euro, Catalonia used to have a trade deficit with the rest of the world and a huge trade surplus with the rest of Spain; nowadays, it enjoys a 6% GDP trade surplus with the rest of the world while that with the rest of Spain has been halved. But fiscal transfers to the rest of Spain remain untouched, at 8% of GDP.

Both in Italy and Spain, North to South fiscal transfers were designed as a stabilising mechanism to recycle trade imbalances. It meant the North’s trade surplus financing the South’s trade deficit fiscally: a closed mechanism that made sense while trade and fiscal flows were symmetrical, as was the case before the EU single market and the euro; but hard to justify once the flows are asymmetrical. As a case in point: before the euro, Catalonia used to have a trade deficit with the rest of the world and a huge trade surplus with the rest of Spain; nowadays, it enjoys a 6% GDP trade surplus with the rest of the world while that with the rest of Spain has been halved. But fiscal transfers to the rest of Spain remain untouched, at 8% of GDP.

As the Catalonia/North Italy demands for lower fiscal transfers have given the impression that they are selfish and opposed to the solidarity required in any society, it’s worth analysing those fiscal transfers both under moral and efficiency principles.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker expressed recently his fears around an unmanageable EU of 98 states. However, with 28 members holding veto rights for main questions, the EU is already unmanageable. The question is not the number of states but the institutional architecture. For policy reasons, the EC is used to working with the 272 existing regions in the EU and only few of those are ready to assume full self-government. Finding a satisfactory solution for those regions that are ready and willing to do so and reforming the EU’s architecture to make it more social, democratic and manageable is a daunting challenge that must be tackled. Anybody willing to take it up?

 Read more: 98 European Union Member States?

EU: Macron’s vision for Europe is progressive

Earlier this week, the French President Emmanuel Macron laid out his vision for the next stage of European Union (EU) integration, offering up a model that is indeed utopian and is a natural progression of the experiment that has been under way since the days France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium came together to create the nascent European Economic Community in more than five decades ago.

But the reality now is that the EU is struggling to achieve the lofty goals envisioned by those who created the body. Now, the EU is strained by Britain’s decision to leave, and by the pressures brought to bear by eastern and central European nations who struggle with the full democratic and social requirements of membership of the bloc. The euro too is in need of reform, and some of the 19 nations who use the common currency include both the strongest economically and the most heavily indebted.

But Macron has a vision. It includes a European Central Bank able to issue its own bonds, a finance minister responsible for the bloc’s budget, and a joint defence strategy. Yes, Macron’s visions is a bold one — and one that one day the EU will adapt — just not right now. Germany and its newly re-elected Chancellor Angela Merkel will like the sentiment of greater political and social integration, resetting the natural balance of the EU back under a Paris-Berlin axis. But it will be a hard sell to Merkel who must force a coalition at home to appease the forces and voters of the right. Neutrality too is enshrined in the constitution of Ireland, so a common defence strategy or European army would run counter to its principles.

And for the next year, Brussels and its eurocrats will be consumed by the mechanisms and effects of Brexit.So unfortunately Macron's vision will be put on hold, but hopefully not forgotten.

Read more: Macron’s vision for Europe is progressive | GulfNews.com

EU: Macron In Greece Calls for Democratic Conventions to Rebuild EU - by Gregory Viscusi

Emmanuel Macron Rebuilding Confidence and Unity in Europe

French President Emmanuel Macron called for a series of “democratic conventions” across Europe as he vowed that his generation would rebuild citizens’ trust in the European Union.

“Are you afraid of a European ambition that will enable us to win back our sovereignty, our democracy, our confidence?” he asked. “Have this crazy ambition. I promise you we will succeed.”

Speaking at the Pnyx, a hill that was the center of Athenian democracy almost 2,500 years ago, Macron began speaking a few words of Greek to pay tribute to the founders of the city state. Switching to French, and with a stunning view of the Acropolis behind him, he promised to unveil a “road map” by the end of the year for introducing greater democracy into the EU and the euro zone.

Rjecting the calls of populist parties to retreat behind national borders, Macron said “true sovereignty” over the economy and borders can only be achieved at the EU level. “Real sovereignty can only be built through Europe, by combining our forces, not by each one of us turning in on ourselves,” the French leader said. “Our challenges are no longer at the national level. Nations have their place, but the real scale is Europe.”

Macron, 39, has shown a sense of symbolism since his May election: choosing the European rather than the French anthem the night of his victory, hosting Russia’s Vladimir Putin at Versailles, and treating U.S. President Donald Trump to a bone-crunching handshake at NATO. He chose Greece as his first state visit because it’s the birthplace of democracy and because its 2010 bailout laid bare the dysfunctions in the euro area that Macron has vowed to fix. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, 43, spoke before Macron, who littered his speech with citations from the Athenian statesman Pericles.

In his election campaign, Macron frequently linked French and European issues, saying France needed to reform its economy to win the confidence of Germany and other northern countries to win them over to accepting greater European integration.

“Our generation can found Europe again by starting with a deep critical study of what went wrong,” Macron said. “We can’t leave it to those who hate Europe.”

Macron, who defeated anti-EU candidate Marine Le Pen in May, said the conventions across the EU he’s calling for would “decide what Europe we want.”

The EU had lost the trust of its citizens, he said, by focusing on “absurd” rules because it had lost the confidence to pursue grander ambitions.

After meeting Tsipras earlier Thursday, Macron said he expects Greece to be able to exit its bailout program when it expires next August and that he supports easing Greece’s debt load. Macron took 40 French company leaders with him to Athens, saying their interest in investing in Greece is a sign of confidence in the country’s recovery.

In his speech, Macron reiterated his call for a common budget for the euro zone with an “executive that is answerable to an elected euro parliament.” He also called for political parties to present Europe-wide lists in the 2019 EU Parliament elections.

Note EU-Digest: Kudos to President Emmanuel Macron for taking this initiative.  We have all had enough of the naysayers who want to go back to the so-called "good old Days" with  borders, different currencies, trade walls, and strife,  The European dream can only become a reality by purpose, unity and independence from foreign interference and political entanglement . 

Read more: Macron Calls for Democratic Conventions to Rebuild EU - Bloomberg

Spain Terrorist Attacks: King Felipe joins thousands on anti-terrorism march

Hundreds of thousands marched in Barcelona in a show of unity on Saturday evening, with chants of “I am not afraid”, after two terrorist attacks in the Spanish region of Catalonia last week left 15 dead.

The march was led by shopkeepers and residents of the city’s central boulevard, Las Ramblas, where a van ploughed into pedestrians on 17 Aug, killing 13 and injuring over 100.

The crowd applauded representatives of the police, fire services and medical professions, who were also prominent.

Spain’s King Felipe VI, prime minister Mariano Rajoy and the head of Catalonia’s regional government, Carles Puigdemont, dressed in dark suits, walked in the throng as people cheered while carrying red, yellow and white roses – the colours of Barcelona.

Read more: Spain attacks: King Felipe joins thousands on anti-terrorism march | World news | The Guardian

Germany: Trump's anti-German stance is stupid and dangerous-by Fred Kaplan

The fallout from President Trump’s disastrous trip to Europe continues to poison the trans-Atlantic climate. His comments about Germany have been particularly toxic—and, beyond that, stupid, reflecting no understanding of the country’s strategic importance or its dreadful history.

Chancellor Angela Merkel stated the matter plainly in a speech on Sunday in Bavaria. Europeans “must take our fate into our own hands,” she said, because the “times in which we could rely fully on others … are somewhat over.” This, she added, “is what I experienced in the last few days”—a reference to Trump’s behavior in Brussels and Rome, where, among other bits of rudeness, he declined to pay even lip service to the pledge, enshrined in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, that the United States would defend any member of NATO that comes under attack.

As if in piqued response, Trump tweeted on Tuesday, “We have a MASSIVE trade deficit with Germany, plus they pay FAR LESS than they should on NATO and military. Very bad for U.S. This will change.” While overseas, Trump had reportedly told Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Union, “The Germans are bad, very bad. Look at the millions of cars that they’re selling in the USA. Horrible. We’re gonna stop that.” Press Secretary Sean Spicer denied the report, which appeared in Der Spiegel, but Trump’s Tuesday tweet undercut the denial and underscored his complaint. It wasn’t some loose remark, he seemed to be saying; he meant it.

But Trump’s ire is misplaced or unwise on several levels. First, yes, Americans buy a lot of German cars, but this isn’t because Germany is dumping BMWs and Volkswagens on the U.S. market; it’s because a lot of Americans like those cars. Second, as my colleague Daniel Gross has pointed out, lots of those German cars are made in the United States; a BMW plant in South Carolina—the company’s biggest plant in the world—churns out 400,000 cars a year.

The thing is, Trump knows this. When Merkel visited Washington in March, she brought along the CEOs of BMW, Siemens, and Schaeffler, an industrial-parts manufacturer, who met with Trump for an hour, briefing him on their $300 billion investment in the American economy and the 750,000 American jobs that their plants had created. By all accounts, Trump was impressed.

Perhaps the most wondrous thing about the world that took form after World War II has been the absence of war between the longstanding rivals in Europe—not just the absence of wars but the disappearance of the notion that European wars were inevitable. This feat didn’t come about by some miracle or accident. It was the result of painstaking effort to build an alliance based on shared values and common interests, requiring trillions of dollars in aid and investment, the maintenance of massive military bases, and—in particularly trying times—a crisis or two that risked another, far more cataclysmic war. It is this alliance—and the international order on which it stands—that Trump’s tantrums and indifference are endangering.

European leaders realized last week (you could see it on their faces as they watched Trump speak)—that the alliance will be in some degree of abeyance as long as this guy is president.

It may be no coincidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s chief foreign-policy goal is to restore the old Soviet Union. He can do that only if the European Union is weakened and the ties between the United States and Europe are severed. He may have reason to believe that his dream might come true. Whatever the probes reveal about Trump’s ties or obligations (or lack of any connections whatever) to Russia, his signs of indifference to the fate of Europe are no doubt causing Putin to salivate more than he thought he ever would.
 

Read more: Trump's anti-German stance is stupid and dang

EU: Post-Trump, post-Brexit, the EU may end up more unified than ever - by Joshua Keating

EU- United we stand - divided we fall

As France’s next president, Emmanuel Macron, took the stage outside the Louvre on Sunday night to the strains of Beethoven’s “Ode To Joy,” the European Union anthem, it was easy to view the centrist, pro-EU technocrat’s victory over the right-wing populist Marine Le Pen as an endorsement by the French public of the European project.

This would be a little misleading. Between Le Pen, François Fillon, and Jean-Luc Mélenchon—the second-, third-, and fourth-place candidates in the first round of the election—and various fringe parties, more than two-thirds of French voters went for euro-skeptic candidates. Those candidates’ supporters went for Macron in the second round less because of enthusiasm for him than the fact that most of them, though not as many as in previous elections, considered Le Pen unacceptable.

The contradiction at the heart of the EU—that a project dedicated to the spread and promotion of democracy continues despite the will of most European—that a project dedicated to the spread and promotion of democracy continues despite the will of most Europeans—has not gone away.

The project persists in large part because, as the French election demonstrated, its opponents can’t agree on what an alternative should look like. And while it’s still early days, the global political events of the past year may have unexpectedly strengthened the EU by giving it something to stand against.

A few months ago, the EU looked on the verge of collapse. The Greek financial crisis and a massive influx of migrants had opened up fissures between members. Then came Brexit, which European leaders warned could set off a race to the exits.

Then came the election of Donald Trump, a president who threatened to abandon the traditional U.S. support for European integration and publicly attacked German Chancellor Angela Merkel while praising Vladimir Putin. All the while, populist, nationalist parties, many with murky links to the Kremlin, were surging in the polls in a number of countries.

But in 2017, the wave has crested a bit. In the Netherlands’ March election, far-right candidate Geert Wilders had a disappointing finish. A pro-European center-right party won parliamentary elections in Bulgaria, and a pro-European president won in EU applicant state Serbia. Merkel appears in good shape ahead for her re-election bid in September, and even if her center-left opponent, Martin Schulz, could squeak out a victory, he’s also a strong backer of European integration.

Brexit will undoubtedly reduce the global economic clout of the union, but it could also make the EU politically stronger by removing one of the staunchest opponents of European integration. For instance, the EU is moving to coordinate defense budgets and military command structures, a process Britain often opposed, viewing it as a back-door means of creating a transnational European army. European governments have also been able to agree on a common negotiating stance over Britain’s exit remarkably quickly. Feeling a little more stable after Macron’s victory, European leaders may be more confident in enforcing tough terms on Britain to dissuade any other wayward members from getting similar ideas.

As for Trump, in practice he has turned out to be neither as anti-Europe or as pro-Russian as Brussels feared. He’s reportedly warming to the idea of striking a trade agreement with Europe rather than the bilateral deals that he, and particularly nationalist adviser Steve Bannon, said he preferred during the campaign.

Trump has had an impact on European politics by providing establishment politicians with a counterexample to run against. Trump and Le Pen have each praised each other, and she even paid a visit to Trump Tower—though not to Trump himself—in January. She even went as far as to describe them as part of a common global movement. But 82 percent of French voters have a negative view of Trump, according to a poll released last week, so it wasn’t exactly surprising to see anti–Le Pen ads warning French voters not to “Trump themselves” or to see Macron touting the support of Barack Obama.

A Trump-led movement is not one the Frenchor any of the Europeans particularly want to be part of.

The European public may still be suspicious of Europe, and European leaders—who are viewed as distant and undemocratic—still need to do a much better job of articulating a positive vision of what they’re for. But thanks to Brexit and Trump, it’s now at least easy for those leaders to articulate what they’re against. 

Read more: Post-Trump, post-Brexit, the EU may end up more unified than ever.

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: Rome summit tries to restart EU momentum - by Eszter Zalan

The EU 27 leaders recommitted their vows to European integration in Rome on Saturday (25 March) amid warnings that the bloc's unity remains fragile. 

The heads of state and government met in the same Renaissance-era palace where the six founding countries signed the Treaty of Rome on 25 March, 1957, to establish the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom).

Read more: Rome summit tries to restart EU momentum

Thousands join pro-Europe rallies across Germany and EU

Thousands of people have joined rallies across Germany and other European countries to show their support for the idea of a united Europe.

The weekly protests began last year as an attempt to counter growing nationalist sentiment on the continent, often expressed in opposition to the European Union.

Protesters in Berlin, Frankfurt, Cologne and dozens of other locations danced, sang and waved the EU flag — 12 stars on a blue background — during the rallies Sunday.

The protests are organized on social media by a group calling itself Pulse of Europe .

The group says it isn’t tied to any particular political party.

EU=Digest

France - Presidential Elections: Macron outlines plans for multi-speed Europe – by Aline Robert

In his program unveiled yesterday (2 March), Emmanuel Macron focussed on Europe. The eurozone is held back by “shame” and we must “dare to go for a multi-speed Europe”, he said.

The En Marche presidential candidate, currently riding high in the polls, unveiled his plans at length on Thursday. In a highly-centrist, pro-European programme, François Hollande’s former advisor did something rare in French politics: expressed his faith in the European Union.

Macron’s programme is right in line with the European Commission’s White Paper. Hardly surprising, given his contacts and high popularity in the EU executive.

Holding forth to an impressive crowd of some 400 journalists, including Chinese television and almost all of the foreign correspondents in Paris, Macron began by stressing the need to boost France’s credibility by restoring its public finances. This he hopes to achieve in the first six months of his mandate, before initiating a real investment plan and greater solidarity in the eurozone.

“The French-German axis is the core of the reactor, both in the eurozone and the EU. It is a pre-requisite for any progress,” he said. “I propose to restore the credibility of France in the eyes of Germany, to convince Berlin in the next six months to adopt an active investment policy and move towards greater solidarity in Europe. We need it because the future of Europe is at stake.”

“Since 2008 we have failed to build Europe. Since 2008 we have had a lost generation that has seen only a vacuum of plans. Our duty is to rebuild the European dream,” Macron added, stressing the need for a mulita-speed Europe.

Read More: Macron outlines plans for multi-speed Europe – EURACTIV.com

EU: Immigrants and refugees: Le Pen, Petry and Wilders all trying to cure the symptoms not the cause - by RM

The European Destruction Team

Senior members of Alternative for Germany cut short a meeting Monday with the Central Council of Muslims, accusing the group of failing to renounce religious beliefs that they claim clash with the German constitution.

The confrontation came days after the party — known by its acronym AfD — launched a campaign against the construction of a mosque in the eastern state of Thuringia, joining up for the first time with the group known as the Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West.

When you read all the nonsense the so-called right-wing nationalist parties, specially those in France, Germany and the Netherlands are saying, reporting and announcing, you can only wonder if the electorate has gone crazy, or if the existing political leadership just does not have it together anymore?

This is the reason why Europe has a refugee problem

The large flow of immigrants to Europe is certainly not because they find Europe such a wonderful or great place to be living in, but mainly because we, together with our so-called "allies",  have bombed their cities, homes and countries into oblivion.

As the saying goes - "you always harvest what you sow".

Geert Wilders (Holland), Marine Le Pen (France) and Frauke Petry (Germany) have taken full advantage of the fact that our present European political leadership have never dared to tackle the true cause, as to why all these refugees came to Europe.

Obviously the electorate, which had been kept in the dark by their political leaders on the true cause  and reasons of the refugee influx into Europe, unfortunately resulted in the fact they started  listening to the garbage coming out of the mouths of Wilders. Le Pen and Petry,.

They put the blame of the refugee problem on national Government policies, related to immigration and refugees, not on the real cause of the refugee problem re: the military involvement of EU countries in the Middle East wars.

Instead the Ultra-Right focused on Islamophobia, decay of national economy/sovereignty. and the functioning of the  EU,  without producing any plan to back-up their arguments .

It is a sad state of affairs and will not get better unless the EU and its member states take a more independent direction and stance when it comes to military alliances and foreign policies.

If the nationalist succeed in breaking up the EU - no country in Europe will be able to stand-up on their own against the manipulations of the USA, China or Russia. It is as simple as that.

EU-Digest ©

EU: Juncker to unveil post-Brexit plan for the EU

On Wednesday (1 March) European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker will unveil his plan for the EU’s future after Britain’s departure, his spokesman said.

Juncker’s so-called “White Paper” will be presented to the European Parliament after Commissioners get a first look at it today (28 February), the spokesman said.

European Union leaders will then consider Juncker’s plan at a summit on 9-10 March, before coming up with their own post-Brexit roadmap at a special meeting in Rome on 25 March.

Britain’s shock June 2016 vote to leave the EU — coupled with crises involving the economy and migration — has plunged the 28-nation EU into a deep bout of soul-searching.

At a special summit in Italy to mark the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome which founded the EU, the bloc’s leaders will issue a special declaration with new plans for future.

Read more:Juncker to unveil post-Brexit plan – EurActiv.com

EU lawmakers call for ‘Federal Union’ of European states

RT reported that the leaders of the lower chambers of parliament of Germany, Italy, France, and Luxembourg have called for a European “Federal Union” in an open letter published in Italian newspaper La Stampa on Sunday.

In the letter, four representatives of EU governments – Claude Bartolone of the French National Assembly, Laura Boldrini of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, Norbert Lammert of the German Bundestag, and Mars Di Bartolomeo of the Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies – say that closer cooperation is essential for dealing with problems that no one EU state can tackle on its own, such as immigration, terrorism, and climate change.

“Now is the moment to move towards closer political integration — the Federal Union of States with broad powers. We know that the prospect stirs up strong resistance, but the inaction of some cannot be the paralysis of all. Those who believe in European ideals, should be able to give them a new life instead of helplessly observing its slow sunset,” the letter read.

The letter’s authors also warn that the European integration project is currently more at risk than ever before, with high unemployment and immigration problems driving populist and nationalist movements. The EU must also come to grips with the fact that, last June, the United Kingdom decided to leave the union after holding a national referendum, aka Brexit, becoming the first member nation to opt out of the bloc.

On Sunday, a number of EU states, including Germany, France and Italy, called for the UK to pay a hefty price as a “divorce settlement.”

The letter was published in the run-up to a meeting of parliamentary leaders in Rome on March 17 to mark the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, which established the European Economic Community (EEC). The treaty’s signing by six countries– Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, West Germany and the Netherlands – in 1957 eventually paved the way for the Maastricht Treaty and the European Union in 1991.

EU-Digest

The Netherlands: Green party wants lower employer costs, higher environmental taxes in €27 billion plan -byJanene Pieters

Jesse Klaver: A New Breed European 
Politician from the Netherlands

The Groenlinks party (Greens) in the Netherlands plans to make a radical tax reform the core of a new coalition agreement after the parliamentary elections in March, party leader Jesse Klaver announced on Wednesday evening. He plans to shift a total of 27 billion euros in costs by increasing taxes on things that are bad for the environment and making it cheaper for employers to hire low-wage workers, the Financieele Dagblad reports.

"Things we don't want, we make more expensive and what we do want, jobs, we make cheaper", Klaver said at a gathering in Oosterpoort, Groningen on Wednesday. He called his plans "the biggest tax reform ever".

"We are going to change the Netherlands. And if you want to do that, you start with the tax system, the dullest, most impenetrable, most boring topic you can think of", Klaver said, according to FD. "But it is not dull and boring. It is the beginning of change for the Netherlands. It is our firm commitment. Tax reform should be the core fo a new coalition agreement."

GroenLinks plans to put an end to employers' contribution for low-income workers. According to Klaver, this will reduce unemployment because it will be cheaper for businesses to employ people. Employers currently pay up to 20 percent premium for low-income workers. According to Klaver, scrapping that would mean a burden reduction of 20 billion euros.

That will create many jobs, especially in the lower end of the labor market. Which is where they are needed the most, according to the GroenLinks leader. "Ultimately, populism is not the result of cultural differences, but of socio-economic differences. The benefits of globalization are unevenly distributed. This large system change can ensure that everyone will benefit equally."

GroenLinks wants to make the system more sustainable with higher taxes on CO2 emissions and the consumption of gas. The party plans to raise corporation tax, but is waiting for calculations from the central planning office CPB before talking amounts. GroenLinks also wants differentiated kilometer tax, higher taxes on assets, elimination of environmentally unfriendly exemptions, a tax on packaging, an increase in insurance and banking tax and to tackle tax evasion.

Note: EU-Digest: Jesse Klaver (39): Another new generation European politician from the Netherlands, with fresh ideas, who wants to be the next PM following the Dutch General elections on March 15. In the latest polls his party - (Green left) rose to 16 seats if the election was held today, compared to the 4 seats the party is presently holding.

Read more: Green party wants lower employer costs, higher environmental taxes in €27 billion plan | NL Times

EU leaders forced to unite in new Trump reality - by Eszter Zalan

United We Stand Divided We Fall

EU leaders pledged the need for unity and for Europe to stand on its own two feet at their meeting in Valletta on Friday (3 February), during a discussion on how to handle US president Donald Trump, whom EU council chief Donald Tusk described earlier this week as a "threat" to the EU.

Leaders emphasized the importance of the transatlantic relationship, and said they would work together with Trump on common interests, but move toward more independent European action on issues where the EU and the US administration disagree.

"We work on the basis of our shared values, [...] there are areas where we agree, like fighting international terrorism, and where we don’t agree," German chancellor Angela Merkel said after lunch, which summed up the mood toward Trump among EU leaders after a turbulent week of heavy criticism from Europe and concern over the US president's first days in office.

Merkel said that this is an opportunity for Europe to redefine itself and become more self-reliant. 

"The general debate concentrated on where we stand, we have to act together," Merkel said, adding that it could lead to boosting investment in defense capabilities in the EU but also in Germany. "We have our destiny in our own hands."

Some EU leaders heavily criticised Donald Trump's decision to ban refugees and people arriving to the US from seven Muslim-majority countries.

Others, like Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban ( whose country represents the new face of corruption in Europe), slammed those who criticized Trump. Before arriving at the Valletta summit, Orban said that the US has the right to decide its own border control policy, and that he is puzzled at the "neurotic European reactions" over the travel ban.

Read more: EU leaders forced to unite in new Trump reality