EU's New President: Pro-EU Juncker wins parliamentary endorsement for powerful EU job

Luxembourg’s former conservative premier Jean-Claude Juncker won the endorsement on Tuesday of the European Parliament to become president of the powerful European Commission for the next five years.

Despite sharp opposition from Britain and Hungary, Mr Juncker had been put up as a candidate for the job by 26 of the European Union’s (EU’s) 28 leaders, but needed a majority of at least 376 votes in parliament to take up the post.

He mustered 422 votes in favour — with 250 votes against, 47 abstentions and 10 spoiled ballots — which was a little short of the 480 legislators that make up the three main groups: the conservatives, the social-democrats and the liberals.

Ahead of the ballot, Mr Juncker made a heartfelt plea to revive both Europe’s economy and spirit as he laid out his vision for the future.

"Europe has lost much of its credibility, the gap between the EU and its citizens has grown," he said.

The vote paves the way to an extraordinary EU summit on Wednesday in Brussels that will allow EU leaders to complete a jigsaw of appointments for the next few years, including a new EU foreign policy chief as well as a successor to Herman van Rompuy as EU Council president.

Read more: Juncker wins parliamentary endorsement for powerful EU job | Europe | BDlive

EU-US Trade negotiations: Germany emerges rightfully as most vocal opponent of potentially "bad" EU-US trade deal

"say no to the potentially bad EU-US Trade deal"

Could EU-US Trade Agreement become the biggest corporate scam in history?

At one point in the past Chancellor Angela Merkel said she wished "for nothing more than a free-trade agreement between the USA and the EU". But she did not wish for it to become a lop-sided agreement favoring mainly US multi-national corporations.

To the dismay of many in Brussels and Washington, Germans are now taking a very different view. That is putting Europe's biggest exporter in the unusual situation of becoming one of the most vocal opponents of what is advertised by the US as potentially the world's biggest trade deal.

Today European concerns about the threat to food and the environment have found their strongest voice in Germany, amplified by the country's influential Green party and anger at reports of US spying.

The difficulty of selling the benefits of a deal, which could generate ( the US says - but nobody knows from which hat they pulled that)  $100 billion a year in economic growth for both the EU and the United States, is a sign of the challenge for governments seeking to contain a growing hostility to the talks and the corporate influence in this potential deal.

"We do not want this sort of agreement," said Ska Keller, a 32-year-old Parliamentarian who gained prominence at home during European elections in May by putting the trade deal at the centre of her campaign. "I don't expect anything positive to come out of the negotiations," she told Reuters.

The trade deal is bad for Europe. It is advertised as creating more jobs and economic wealth, but nothing is said about where the wealth is going to and the uncontrolled power it is giving to tax evading multi-national corporations ( mainly American) and damage to the health of European citizens by allowing the consumption of genetically modified foods and the use of GM in agriculture and life-stock into this deal.  Only five EU countries presently  grow GM crops at all — Spain, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia.

Speaking ahead of a protest in Dublin against GM foods on Saturday,  an Irish official said that food standards are much higher in the EU than the US.

“You want trade between these countries but our standards are much higher than for the US. In the US the whole thing is run by multinational companies who are really only interested in the bottom line and money.

“The standard of food in Europe is much higher than it is there. My biggest concern would be is that you would have GM products all over the place and no body is going to know about it.
 
Political parties, focus groups, special interest groups throughout Europe should use every method at their disposal to stop this agreement from being adopted without major modifications, which includes removing corporate influence as part of the political process and decision making in administration this deal, establishing a permanent ban on the use of GM processes and products in the EU, and being far more specific in showing where and how new jobs will be produced and to whom and where the income generated will be going to.

In the case of the NAFTA agreement between the US, Canada and Mexico, similar optimistic predictions were made about economics and job creation,  as are being made today in relation to this new potential EU-US trade deal, but the actual results of the NAFTA agreement have been dismal, except for multi-national corporations which are making out like bandits as a result of the corporate loopholes in that treaty. 

EU-Digest

Religion: Muslims have deeper problems than Bill Maher's caustic critique - by David Horsey

If Allah exists, can he possibly approve of the savagery exhibited by the militant Sunni army that has swept down from Syria to capture a third of Iraq? Can he be OK with Boko Haram, the Muslim rebel group in Nigeria that kidnapped hundreds of teenage girls and threatens to sell them into slavery? Could he be approving of the Taliban burning schools in Afghanistan and forcing women back into cultural captivity?

And another question: Can Americans talk about the wickedness of some of those who claim to be doing the will of Allah without slipping into a condemnation of all Muslims or, conversely, shying away from any critique of the dark side of Islamic culture for fear of appearing politically incorrect?

That last question is at the heart of the current media kerfuffle over comedian Bill Maher’s unrestrained criticism of Islam. An ardent atheist, the host of HBO’s “Real Time” slams Islam as the worst belief system of them all. A staunch liberal himself, he scoffs at fellow liberals who condemn abuses of human rights around the world but refuse to admit that, in many parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, “Islam is the problem.”

But Maher is comedian, not a journalist or a diplomat, and his aggressive satire does dig into uncomfortable truths that many would rather avoid. And the truth is that Islam has a deep problem. It is not a problem with the faith as a philosophy of life nor as it is lived out by millions of peaceful Muslims; it is a problem with the way fundamentalist interpretations of the faith have found violent, inhumane and oppressive expression in so many places.

It is the same problem Christianity had for centuries, from the Crusades to the Salem witch trails and through all the blood, battles and burnings in between. During much of that time when Christians were busy killing one another and anyone who was not like them, Islam went through an enlightened period. A pan-national system allowed a relatively tolerant, multiethnic and religiously diverse culture to flourish in the Middle East and North Africa.

Those days are long gone.

Note EU-Digest: This is not only a problem of Islam. Christianity has for centuries, from the Crusades to the "Salem witch trail"s and through all the blood, battles and burnings in between. During much of that time when Christians were busy killing one another and anyone who was not like them, Islam went through an enlightened period. A pan-national system allowed a relatively tolerant, multi-ethnic and religiously diverse culture to flourish in the Middle East and North Africa under the Ottomans. 

So maybe instead of arguing which "religion" has the upper-hand over the other maybe when we go to a Mosque or Church we should try and remember that this does not give us extra points but rather that it reminds us that WE are not the "center" of the universe. Spiritually a most liberating and humbling thought in coming to grips with the fact that we are all basically totally insignificant creatures.

Read more: Muslims have deeper problems than Bill Maher's caustic critique - Los Angeles Times

Corporate Influence: Poll: 99% of people polled say corporations wield too much power

In the latest EU-Digest poll which ran through the month of June on: "Do Corporations Have Too Much Influence On Global Governance ?" -  99% of the people polled said corporations wield too much power.

In our new July EU-Digest poll the question focuses on the possibility of Britain leaving the EU.
Should Britain Quit the EU ?

EU-Digest

"Britain on road to disaster": Cameron’s EU ‘debacle’ proves he is a threat to British economy, says Miliband

 David Cameron poses a “real and present danger” to the economy because his doomed bid to block Jean-Claude Juncker leads Britain towards an exit from the European Union that could put up to three million jobs and thousands of businesses at risk, Ed Miliband said today.

Note EU-Digest:  When will Britain understand that the "power" of the British Empire has come to an end and that their only chance to remain a valuable player on the world's political and economic scene is in participation with the other 27 members of the EU.

Read more: Cameron’s EU ‘debacle’ proves he is a threat to British economy, says Miliband | The Times

Soccer World Cup: Netherlands beat Mexico 2-1 to qualify for quarters

Netherlands qualified for the quarter-finals defeating Mexico 2-1 when Klaas-Jan Huntelaar made the decisive goal on a penalty kick in extra time here on Sunday. Earlier, the first half ended goalless but just after the second half began Mexico made a breakthrough when Giovani dos Santos netted a goal in the 48th minute.

However, Wesley Sneijder leveled the score 1-1 just two minutes before the end and The Netherlands emerged victorious in the fourth minute during an extra time.

The Netherlands is the third team to reach the quarter-finals after Brazil and Columbia.

Read more: Netherlands beat Mexico 2-1 to qualify for quarters - thenews.com.pk

The Banking Industry:Out-of-control Central Banks are Buying Up the Planet - by Ellen Brown:

When the US Federal Reserve bought an 80% stake in American International Group (AIG) in September 2008, the unprecedented $85 billion outlay was justified as necessary to bail out the world’s largest insurance company.

Today, however, central banks are on a global corporate buying spree not to bail out bankrupt corporations but simply as an investment, to compensate for the loss of bond income due to record-low interest rates. Indeed, central banks have become some of the world’s largest stock investors
.
Central banks have the power to create national currencies with accounting entries, and they are traditionally very secretive. We are not allowed to peer into their books. It took a major lawsuit by Reuters and a congressional investigation to get the Fed to reveal the $16-plus trillion in loans it made to bail out giant banks and corporations after 2008.

What is to stop a foreign bank from simply printing its own currency and trading it on the currency market for dollars, to be invested in the US stock market or US real estate market?  What is to stop central banks from printing up money competitively, in a mad rush to own the world’s largest companies?

Apparently not much. Central banks are for the most part unregulated, even by their own governments. As the Federal Reserve observes on its website:

[The US Fed] is considered an independent central bank because its monetary policy decisions do not have to be approved by the President or anyone else in the executive or legislative branches of government, it does not receive funding appropriated by the Congress, and the terms of the members of the Board of Governors span multiple presidential and congressional terms.

As former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan quipped, “Quite frankly it does not matter who is president as far as the Fed is concerned. There are no other agencies that can overrule the action we take.”

Read more: Out-of-control Central Banks are Buying Up the Planet | Alternet