EU - Not all is bad: 5 great laws the EU nailed down in 2015 for its citizens

Divided we fail, United we gain

The EU is probably the most popular scapegoat for politicians. For some, it is a symbol of neo-liberal economic politics, for others, a bureaucratic nightmare that issues self-preserving legislation at a record pace.

David Cameron and the Christian Social Union even want to introduce a national veto, illustrating the trust that Brussels has haemorrhaged in "certain circles".

But not all is bad, As a matter of fact - if we did not have the EU, things could be quite awful for all of us, as we would not have any more controls over corporate manipulations, affecting our daily life, and even the food we eat. Also, local government's hanky panky in making "under-the-table" tax deals with multi-national corporations, already quite a problem, would probably go completely out of control.

1)  Every year, around 30,000 people are killed in traffic accidents on European roads. New EU legislation will require car manufacturers to build their vehicles with devices that automatically notify the emergency services in the event of an accident.

2) Use of Internet Data and privacy laws: EU data-protection reform comes into force in the spring and is implemented by member states over the next two years. Companies like Google and Facebook will now have to provide clear terms and conditions, with understandable symbols. In this way, citizens will have more useful information that will let them decide what information they want to make available. "Simple symbols will make it clear for everyone what companies can and cannot do with your data," said MEP Jan Philipp Albrecht (Greens), rapporteur for the data protection directive.

3)  Booking holidays and weekend breaks on the web continues to increase in popularity. Travel agents and providers have recognised this trend and have started to link their flight deals to car rentals, hotels and other deals. The total cost of the package being bought is not always clear to the consumer and there is sometimes a lack of protection.

Come the spring, new rules will mean that such offers are classed as package holidays. That means that consumers will be better protected. A standard 14-day return policy will be guaranteed and there will be more transparency and comparative deals on offer. If travel providers go bankrupt, then customers will always be paid back their money.

4) Banks often like to keep their customers in the dark about fees and Brussels has moved to make that a thing of the past. New legislation will now mean that customers will be given more clear information about the fees charged when making purchases with credit cards. The maximum charge for credit cards will be 0.3% of the value of the transaction and the maximum for debit cards will be 0.2%.. You are encouraged to question your banks about their charges and if you don't like what they tell you contact the European Ombudsman.

5) In the EU, around 100 billion plastic bags are used annually, about 8 billion of which end up being carelessly dumped in the oceans, where they have a huge impact on the environment and eco-systems. "In the North Sea, 94% of birds' stomachs contain plastic," reported the European Commission.

Brussels decided in 2015 to make the member states massively reduce their production and use of plastic bags, giving the 28 countries the choice of binding targets or pricing. EU states were given the choice of either ensuring that no plastic bags are given away free by 31 December 2018 or reaching the goals of 90 bags maximum per person per year by 2019 and 40 bags maximum by 2025.

Divided we fail, United we gain .

EU-Digest

Netherlands - Refugees: Netherlands drafting EU-Turkey refugee swap deal

The Netherlands, which holds the EU presidency until the end of June, is preparing a plan that would swap migrants in Greece for 250,000 refugees in Turkey, a senior lawmaker on Thursday told the Dutch daily De Volkskrant.

Diederik Samson, leader of the social-democratic PvdA party and a key partner in Prime Minister Mark Rutte's coalition government, said a core group of EU member states were working with the Netherlands in order to hash out a deal, including Germany, Sweden and Austria.

If the plan goes ahead, Turkey would accept migrants stranded in Greece in exchange for 250,000 refugees to be relocated across participating member states, directly from Turkey.

In 2015, Greece witnessed more than 800,000 migrants arrive by boat. Many of them had fled their war-torn countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Turkey hosts more than 2.5 million Syrian refugees, according to figures from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).

Read more: Netherlands drafting EU-Turkey refugee swap deal | News | DW.COM | 28.01.2016

Suriname: Guyana alleges Suriname’s Coast Guard harassing Amerindians, fishermen – by Denis Chabrol

Guyanese Press reports indicate that Guyana is probing reports that Suriname’s Coast Guard has been harassing Guyanese fishermen and Indigenous Indians who traditionally fish in the Corentyne River, Minister of State Joseph Harmon said Tuesday night.

He said Suriname’s Ambassador to Guyana has been already summoned to the Foreign Ministry about reports that the Guyanese Indigenous Indians at Orealla were being taxed at least GYD$10,000 to fish in the Corentyne River.

A number of the Indians has been recently released from the custody of Surinamese Coast Guard.

Harmon told Demerara Waves Online News late Tuesday night that Guyana would be registering its objection to ensure that its rights under international law are protected.

The Minister of State said the matter would be further addressed by Foreign Affairs Minister, Carl Greenidge when he returns from meeting in Ecuador. “There are wider issues of the use of the river that we have to deal with so the question of Orealla and the Amerindian people is one aspect of how the Surinamese have been treating with that river,” he said.

Harmon said fishermen were being pulled in and their passports and identification cards demanded.

With Suriname in the throes of a severe economic crisis, which has resulted in that eastern South American neighbour asking the World Bank for help, Harmon said Surinamese personnel appeared bent on exploring all available means to earn a quick dollar. “You can’t now impose almost a tax on them for that because that is what it amounts to,” he said.

The Minister of State said the encounters between the Indigenous Indians and the Surinamese Coast Guard have been reported to the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples.

Guyana Empowered People’s Action Network (GEPAN) says several Arawaks, who were fishing in the Corentyne River, were detained earlier this month by Surinamese Coast Guard personnel and returned the following day after they were warned against doing so again.

GEPAN President, Anna Correia has since written to Foreign Minister Greenidge detailing the incident as was related to her by former Toshao (Village Chief), Flloyd Edwards. “A group of villagers were fishing during the course of last week on the Corentyne River when they were stopped by the Surinamese Patrol and taken to Suriname where they were detained for several hours. Their families were not informed of the arrest and they were only able to return after having overnighted in Suriname. Attempts from the fishermen to explain to the patrol that they are Amerindians from Orealla who have strong ties with their Surinamese Arawak cousins of Apura, proved futile,”  states the letter dated January 26, 2016.

The Corentyne River borders the neighbouring countries.



 Almere Digest

Netherlands-Iran: Dutch begin looking for trade opportunities in Iran - by Janene Pieters

Now that the economic sanctions against Iran are lifted, Dutch companies are starting to look for trade opportunities with the Middle Eastern country. Although Minister Lilianne Ploumen of Foreign trade warns that companies will still face obstacles in Iran, there is much expectation for the opening of the market, broadcaster NOS reports.

“Iran’s economy is simply too large to ignore, with the oil, gas and financial reserves”, former ambassador in Tehran and business consultant Ronald Mollinger said to the broadcaster.

Iran was an important trading partner for the Netherlands in the past. In 2009 and 2010 the Netherlands imported nearly a billion euros in mineral resources from the country. Exports to Iran amounted to almost 600 million euros. But the economic sanctions against the country put a stop to this. Now that the sanctions are lifted – even though part of them were only conditionally lifted – there is a great desire to strengthen those bonds again, according to NOS.

Iran has the second largest gas reserves and the fourth largest oil reserves in the world. There are also many opportunities for the agricultural industry and water management.

Shell already indicated that it wants to return to the country. Dredging company Boscalis showed interest in building ports in Iran. Greenhouse builder Van der Hoeven already explored possibilities of becoming active in the Iranian agricultural sector.

Minister Ploumen of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation warns that companies should not expect to immediately and without problems set up shop in Iran. “It will take some time before Iran is reconnected to the international payment traffic”, she said to NOS.



 “A number of sanctions that were proclaimed in the past due to human rights violations in Iran also remain intact. It will therefore give limitations.” She also warned that the sanctions can be put back in place if the country does not cut back on its nuclear activities as agreed with the international community.



Read more Dutch begin looking for trade opportunities in Iran - NL Times

Gay Rights: Netherlands to teach asylum seekers about LGBT rights - by Janene Pieters

The Ministry of Education is launching an initiative in which all asylum seekers in all asylum centers in the Netherlands will be taught about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights. The same information material that is used in schools will also be used for this, Dutch newspaper Trouw reports.

“We must not be naive. Asylum seekers come from countries where women’s rights are not always respected, where gay rights are not a given. We are making it clear that discrimination is not tolerated”, Education Minister Jet Bussemaker said.

According to the Minister, schools have good experiences with the so-called Gay straight alliance method, in which students, teachers and directors provide information about LGBT people and create “a safe atmosphere in which students can be themselves” .

Bussemaker wants this method to also be applied in the asylum centers. “This can be done in various ways: in classrooms, in discussion groups, each center will find an approach that works. We provide educational materials to promote social security, to start the difficult discussion and also to to bring gay asylum seekers in contact with the Dutch LGBT community.”

Bussemaker wants gay interest group COC, which helps schools with LGBT information, to also be involved in providing information to asylum seekers. She is also approaching “Pink in blue, the organization for gay police officers. In the coming weeks the minister will hold a conference with the central agency for the reception of asylum seekers COA, aldermen and the COC, among others, to make arrangements.

This follows a number of incidents of LGBT asylum seekers being harassed in asylum centers, including a gay Iraqi couple being forced to flee the shelter in Apeldoorn after being attacked by fellow residents and reports of routine harassment in the Heumensoord asylum camp in Nijmegen. One gay asylum seeker in the center in Haarlem told Het Parool in December that he is forced to keep his sexual orientation secret in the center for fear of attacks.

Amsterdam decided to to shelter LGBT asylum seekers separately following a number of threats and incidents. The PvdA faction in Rotterdam asked mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb to do the same.

Read more: Netherlands to teach asylum seekers about LGBT rights - NL Times

Political Revolution?: The People Have Woken Up - Political Establishment in Europe And US Is In Trouble - by RM

French revolution 1789 until 1799

When you look at it closely there really is not much difference today between the EU and US when measuring the  public opinion in both areas as to how their ruling political establishment is perceived.

Polls show they both consider them unreliable and "in the pocket" of  private interest groups and lobbyists.

In a way this reaction is also a refreshing development. Slowly but surely in both America and in many countries around Europe people are waking up to the fact that many politicians within their political establishment, on both the left and the right, are not really representing the people who elected them anymore, but rather their own interests.

In fact, most of the polls taken on this issue seem to indicate that many voters now feel that they have been completely sold out by their political elite.

They are also angry about the steady takeover of their liberties by unregulated global corporate forces, and the fact that their elected Governments are doing very little to stop it.

Hence we see the rise of  a new breed of somewhat unorthodox people successfully entering the political arena in the US - like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. Same is happening in Europe, with the likes of Geert Wilders in the Netherlands, Marie Le Pen in France, Nigel Farage in Britain, Victor Orban in Hungary, Alexis Tsipras in Greece, and .Pablo Iglesias in Spain, to mention just a few.

Could this be the beginning of a total shake-up and possibly even a peoples revolution changing the existing "fault-lines" of today's political and economic structures in both the USA and the EU ?

It looks like the party has only just begun.

EU-Digest

Refugee Crisis: The EU’s Turkey Connection -Turkey is not living up to the bargain - by Holger Schmieding

Turkey matters. But Europe has to tread carefully as Turkey itself is in a precarious situation. I see a good chance that Europe (specifically Germany) and Turkey can work out a deal that will lead to a slower flow of refugees from Turkey into Greece.

One year ago, almost all eyes were on Russia and its war against Ukraine. Now, Europe’s attention needs to focus more on Turkey.

Almost as in the case of Russia, Europe may not like the government it has to deal with. But it has to deal with it nonetheless.

Last year, Turkey allowed 800,000 refugees to cross into Greece, mostly in the second half of the year. At the same time, the stream of boat people from northern Africa into Spain or Italy, which had made headlines earlier on, played a much smaller role.

This shows that, if transit countries police their sea borders, as Morocco and Mauritania have done in the past two years with some crucial support from Spain, the inflow of refugees can be reduced significantly.

Turkey itself is in a precarious position driven by significant domestic tensions. As a mostly Sunni country, it could become a more frequent target for IS terrorists from next door.

That risk has increased since Turkey seems to have hardened its initially rather permissive stance toward support for IS.

The conflict with the strong Kurdish minority in Turkey’s southeast has flared up badly again. Protests of the urban middle class against the authoritarian tendencies of President Recep Erdogan may easily erupt again as well.

With a current account deficit of 5% of GDP, Turkey’s economy is vulnerable to sudden capital outflows. Serious trouble within Turkey, a country with some 80 million inhabitants, would be a nightmare scenario for Europe.

Read more: Refugee Crisis: The EU’s Turkey Connection - The Globalist