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May 18, 2016

EU-US TTIP trade deal under threat over the Feta factor (and much more)

TTIP: Putting Dracula in charge of the blood bank
A food fight between Europe and the US could block a massive free trade deal.

Products like Feta cheese, Gorgonzola, Champagne and Parma ham currently enjoy protection under which only they can be sold by that original name in the EU.

But with the controversial and much protested against Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) those products would not enjoy that protection in the United States.

In addition US companies would be able to sell their products in Europe under TTIP, even if they did not meet the same standards as local foodstuffs – for example Feta cheese from Greece can only be made with goat and sheeps milk.

The Americans say it is unacceptable protectionism and producers can use trademarks, though the US considers names like Feta to be generic and so not protectable by trademarks.

The Europeans say no protection means no trade deal.

With over 1,200 food products and close to 2,000 wine names having “so-called ‘geographical indicator’ status“https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographical_indication negotiations could be bruising.

Already Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan and French President François Hollande are threatening vetos if the issue is not resolved.

The matter is being discussed this week by the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council.

Note EU-Digest: in reality this massive trade proposal called TTIP is a threat to our climate, health and democracy. NAFTA proved to be a failure, and now the US is trying to shove TTIP, which has been negotiated with very little transparency, down the throat of the EU.  Come on EU,  show some "cojones", and tell the US where they can shove their TTIP proposal. 

Read more: TTIP trade deal under threat over the Feta factor | euronews, economy

European High Speed Railways: Thalys celebrates 20 years of service with all tickets going for € 20.00

Thaly's - European High Speed Train Network
Great offer from the Thaly/s High speed European train services.

They are celebrating their 20th operational year of high speed train service all over Europe

To celebrate this anniversary every ticket to any of their destinations is on sale for 20.00 on May 20 only. A ticket purchased on the 20th,. however, can  be used from May 20  through September 20, 2016..  

May 16, 2016

Half of Europeans think Britain will leave the EU "but poll shows all of them think their country should stay in" – by Vince Chadwic

BREXIT
Half of Europeans in eight EU countries think Britain will vote to leave in the June 23 referendum, according to a poll published Monday.

The Ipsos MORI survey also found that almost half of those questioned think their country should follow Britain’s lead and hold a referendum on EU membership.

The online survey of between 500 and 1,000 adults under the age of 65 in eight countries, plus the U.K., found 45 percent want an EU referendum, and 33 percent would vote to leave if given the choice today.

In Italy, 48 percent would vote to leave in a hypothetical referendum, compared to 41 percent in France and 39 percent in Sweden. Only 22 percent of Poles and 21 percent of Spaniards would vote to go.

“A topic that unifies [Poles] to a large degree is our membership of the European Union,” Polish President Andrzej Duda told Polsat news in a recent interview. “There are no serious politicians today who say that we should leave the European Union.”

Do you think your own country should hold an EU referendum?

 










Blue Yes - Red No
 In the event of an EU referendum in your own country, how would you vote?











Blue Remain: Red: Opt out

SOURCE: Ipsos MORI Brexit poll May 9

Read more: Half of Europeans think Britain will leave the EU – POLITICO

Euroskepticism’s empty promises - not able to spell out their alternatives to European integration

With so much effort aimed at dismantling the European project, it is time to ask the Euroskeptics to spell out their alternatives to European integration. Of course, many conservative and libertarian Euroskeptics, such as Daniel Hannan, stress that their goal is not to destroy political cooperation on the continent, or even to return to protectionism.

What they want is to return to a Europe made up of sovereign, democratic and self-governing nation states that are cosmopolitan and open to trade, investment, and, to a large degree, to immigration.

Boris Johnson, for example, famously identified himself as being “about the only politician … who is actually willing to stand up and say that he’s pro-immigration.” The EU, argue the skeptics, is neither a necessary nor sufficient guarantee of such openness. The EU, they say, is a distortion that opens market and migrant flows within Europe, while jealously guarding itself against competition from overseas.

Born out of the ashes of World War II, the aim of the European integration project was to make war between Europe’s leading nations impossible. It would do this by tying them together economically and politically, in what should have become a European federal state.

The EU’s critics like to emphasize that the premise is outdated, and that the animated policy debates in the 1940s and 1950s are now obsolete. As L.P. Hartley’s proverbial quote goes, the past is a foreign country — they do things differently there.

In reality, any alternative to being strong and united as one in Europe, is doomed to eventualy  backfire, 

Unfortunately many shortsighted Euroskeptics seem to believe that "charity starts at home".

Read more: Euroskepticism’s empty promise – POLITICO

May 15, 2016

Sweden: Eurovision Song Festival - Ukraine Wins Song Festival in stockholm with "1944"

Music, kitsch and politics took centre stage at the 61st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm on Saturday night.

The competition was won by Ukraine with 534 points.

The country’s candidate, 32-year-old jazz singer Jamala, had called on Europeans to support her to show they were “not indifferent to suffering” in Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.

She said her song, “1944”, was not only about the deportation of the Crimean Tatar population during World War II, but also about the events of the past two years in the peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.

Australia came second with 511 points with “The Sound of Silence” by Dami Im, while Russia – a pre-contest favourite, was third with Sergei Lazarev’s “You Are The Only One” on 491 points.

The final was broadcast to an estimated 200 million viewers in Europe and beyond – including, for the first time, in the United States.

Read more: Jamala’s ‘political’ song wins Eurovision for Ukraine in Stockholm | euronews, world news

May 14, 2016

Turkey’s Erdogan Clears Path to Dictatorship – by Dr. Alon Ben-Meir

Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is a professor of international relations at the Center for Global Affairs at NYU. He teaches courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies filed the following report on Turkey:

"The forced resignation of Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu suggests only one thing — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is totally absorbed by his lust for power, will tolerate no one in his government to deviate from any of his political positions. Prime Minister Davutoglu was no exception.

Although the Turkish constitution grants the Prime Minister executive powers while leaving the role of the president largely ceremonial, this is not what Erdogan had in mind when he asked then-Foreign Minister Davutoglu to form a new government following the last election.

Erdogan’s ambition and aggressive drive to spread his Islamic agenda are what has determined every political move he made. Seeking to constitutionally transfer the executive authority of the country to the Presidency is the final step to legally consolidate his power, albeit he was already exercising such power throughout his tenure as Prime Minister for 11 years.

For more than 15 years, Davutoglu served Erdogan with the utmost loyalty — first as his top foreign policy adviser, then his Foreign Minister, and for the past two years as his hand-picked Prime Minister. Erdogan chose Davutoglu for this post precisely because he expected him to continue to be his “Yes man.”

Being that as Prime Minister, Davutoglu would assume leadership of the AK Party, Erdogan expected him to push for the transformation of the largely ceremonial Presidency into the most powerful executive position in Turkey, which Davutoglu pursued in a lukewarm manner as this would constitutionally diminish his own powers considerably.

Not surprisingly, once Erdogan assumed the Presidency, he continued to chair cabinet meetings and even established a shadow cabinet with a handful of trusted advisers. He pointedly sidelined Davutoglu, who quietly resented Erdogan’s usurpation of the role and responsibility of the prime minister as if nothing had changed.

The premiership became a ceremonial post and the ceremonial presidency became the all-powerful office without a formal constitutional amendment to legally grant him the absolute authority he is now exercising.

I have known Davutoglu from the time he was the chief adviser to Erdogan and I found him to be a man of integrity and vision, always a moderating force, and committed to making Turkey a stabilizing regional power and a significant player on the international scene.

I had many opportunities to talk to Davutoglu face-to-face about Israeli-Turkish relations, as I was actively involved behind the scenes to mitigate their conflict in the wake of the Mavi Marmara incident.

On another occasion, I arranged for Israeli-Syrian peace negotiations to take place with Turkish mediation, not only because of its proximity and (at that time) good relations with both Syria and Israel, but also because I felt that Davutoglu would be the ideal interlocutor.

Moreover, by playing such a role, Davutoglu was also very consistent with his commitment to realize his political philosophy of having “zero problems with neighbors,” which initially led to Turkey’s friendly and cooperative relations with most of its neighbors.

Erdogan’s ambition to become the kingpin of the region through his brazen political approach, however, did nothing but create problems with every neighboring country. A former top Turkish official told me that had

]Davutoglu been given the flexibility to carry out his foreign policy vision, Turkey’s regional standing would be completely different today.

During the past two years, however, several conflicts between the two began to surface. Whereas Davutoglu sought to renew the peace negotiations with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in the search for a solution, Erdogan not only refused but vowed to wage war until the last PKK rebel is killed. In addition, although Davutoglu said nothing publicly about Erdogan’s systematic attack on the free press, the jailing of journalists, and human rights violations, he disagreed with these unlawful measures and failed in his efforts to quietly persuade his boss to ease the pressure on the press.

Erdogan’s insistence on silencing any criticism and the constant chipping away of what is left of Turkey’s democracy has basically sealed off (contrary to what is being said publicly) any prospect for Turkey to become an European Union member, which Davutoglu sought to realize with zeal.

On top of all that, Erdogan is now seeking to strip Kurdish lawmakers of their political immunity to make it possible to charge them with being aligned with the PKK who are fighting for semi-autonomous rule, to which Davutoglu surreptitiously objected. It is now being left to the next prime minister to engineer this unlawful scheme to meet Erdogan’s draconian will.

Finally, while Davutoglu was busy in his effort to achieve an agreement with the E.U. to take back illegal migrants in exchange for visa-free entry for Turkish nationals to the Schengen region, Erdogan publicly belittled Davutoglu’s efforts to deprive him of any political gains that he could derive from his success.

The leader of the opposition Republican People’s Party, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, condemned the way Davutoglu was forced out, stating that “Davutoglu’s resignation should not be perceived as an integral party issue. All democracy supporters must resist this palace coup.”

Interestingly enough, in what was seen as a farewell speech to the parliament, Davutoglu stated that “No one has ever heard a word against our president from my mouth, my tongue, my mind — and no one will.”

To me and many other observers, Davutoglu’s words expressed the precise opposite of what he appeared to be saying: that Erdogan is beyond criticism. There was no better diplomatic way of putting it lest he be accused by Erdogan of treason, as customarily befalls anyone who opposes his political positions on any issue.

Due to the turmoil throughout the Middle East, the influx of millions of Syrian refugees and the battle against ISIS, Turkey’s role has become increasingly important. Although the United States and the E.U. have grown weary of Erdogan’s absurd conduct, they feel compelled to deal with him, however distasteful that might be.

Leave it, of course, to Erdogan to drain every ounce of blood from Western powers to serve his personal agenda.

When the constitution is used as a tool for power grabbing, when conspiracy theories justify a cruel witch-hunt, when people are terrified to speak publicly about politics, when journalists are detained without trial, when the academic community is regularly attacked, when human rights are grossly violated, and when democratic principles are trampled upon, this is not a mere travesty for Turkey, it is a tragedy.

With the departure of Davuto?lu, and a rubber-stamp AK Party, Turkey has become a de facto dictatorship, and there is now no one to stand in Erdogan’s way. It is a sad day for the Turkish people, as the country is now governed by a ruthless dictator with no checks and balances, no accountability, and with no prospect of any change for the better as long as Erdogan remains in power.

The Turkish people should once again take to the streets but this time they should remain persistent until Erdogan relents or resigns. Otherwise, Turkey will continue to rapidly race toward an ever bleaker future where freedom will be a thing of the past and an authoritarian regime led by a ruthless leader sets in."

EU-Digest

May 13, 2016

European Refugee Crises: European Parliament Will Not Let Turkey Use Refugee Deal for Blackmail - by Ilyas Akengin

On Tuesday, the European Parliament issued a statement saying that most of its members disagreed with the European Commission for proposing to ease visa requirements for Turkey even though the country has not yet fulfilled all the benchmarks necessary for visa regime liberalization.

"Now, it is up to the Turkish government to continue working on fulfilling all the set benchmarks. We should once again state that the European Parliament is not going to be blackmailed by the Turkish president on the EU-Turkey agreement on migrants," Iliana Iotova said.

LIBE held a meeting on May 9, at which it declared that Turkey should not be discriminated against but neither should it receive preferential treatment.

"Last but not least, the Parliament does not agree in general with the EC approach, where the European Union is trying to outsource its problems to any third country," Iotova added.

In mid-March, the European Union and Ankara agreed on a deal under which Turkey pledged to take back all undocumented migrants who arrive in the European Union through its territory in exchange for legal Syrian refugees currently residing in Turkey, on a one-for-one basis. In return, the 28-member bloc pledged to accelerate Turkey’s EU accession bid and introduce a visa-free regime between Turkey and the Schengen area.

Turkey is yet to meet five out of the 72 total requirements, notably those related to data protection and anti-terrorism laws, among other issues.