Poland and Hungary want their cake and eat it also: EU’s biggest challenge for 2018: Poland, Hungary- by Beata Stur

The conflict between the European Commission and Poland and Hungary could be the greatest challenge awaiting Brussels in the new year. According to Jon Henley, reporting for the Guardian, the two former communist bloc countries face the risk of becoming the EU’s “first rogue states”.

“How Europe deals with members deliberately flouting the core western liberal norms and values it strives to embody – social tolerance, respect for free speech, an independent judiciary – could dominate 2018 far more than Britain’s exit,” Henley wrote.

In December, Brussels triggered Article 7 of the EU Treaty against Poland over changes to the judiciary by the country’s ruling conservatives. The mechanism could ultimately lead to Poland losing its EU voting rights.

In the same month, the European Commission referred Hungary to the European Court of Justice over Viktor Orban’s “ongoing assault on political freedoms”.

Both governments have also met with criticism for refusing to take in refugees.

While the formal warning to Poland – which could strip the country of its EU voting rights, seems unlikely because it requires a unanimous vote of all member states, calls to make EU funds conditional on upholding the rule of law are more real.

Poland and Hungary are among the largest net recipients of EU funds. Countries such as Germany, France and the Nordic states support this approach.

Note EU-Digest: Like Britain, Hungary and Poland seem to think that you can have your cake and eat it also in the EU. "That is not the way the cookie crumbles". 

The Netherlands: Iran Rejects Dutch MP’s Claim on Tehran’s Christmas Gift

Dutch Parlimentarion Henk Krol

The Iranian embassy in The Hague has reacted to a Dutch MP’s throwing away of a Christmas gift sent by Iran, saying that the New Year’s congratulation messages have been sent to different figures regardless of their gender.

A video recently aired by POW channel showed Henk Krol, the parliamentary leader of 50PLUS party in the House of Representatives of the Netherlands, dumping a Christmas gift he had received from the Iranian embassy. Krol claimed in this video that the gift had been sent only to male members of the Dutch parliament.

In reaction to the move, Iran’s embassy in The Hague said many women have been among the recipients of the message of the Iranian Ambassador as well.

According to a Farsi report by IRNA, the embassy announced in its statement that the video of throwing away of the Christmas gift sent by Iran’s embassy has been released by a cheap and yellow media.

Iran’s embassy said that every year the embassy sends a greeting card and a small gift to Dutch officials and salient figures on the New Year’s Eve.

“This year, the number of recipients of the message increased and the congratulatory message was sent to the parliamentary figures as well. Unfortunately, this person, with an incomplete and negative outlook at the Islamic Republic of Iran, claimed that the embassy congratulations were sent only to men.

While the fact is that the New Year greetings have been sent to officials and personalities regardless of their gender, and many women have also been among the recipients of the greetings of the Iranian Ambassador,” reads the statement.

According to the statement, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also expressed regret at this ignorant act of the Dutch party figure.

Many Iranians living in the Netherlands have also denounced the move calling on this person to apologize.

Read More: Iran Rejects Dutch MP’s Claim on Tehran’s Christmas Gift

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

Christmas: Majority of Americans do not view Christmas primarily as a religious holiday - by Eugene Scott

Christmas was a big day for President Trump. His first Christmas as president gave him the opportunity to fulfill a campaign promise —technically
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Trump had promised his supporters — many of whom are upset at the increasing secularization of the Christmas holiday — that they would be able to say “Merry Christmas” again if they elected him.

On Sunday night, Christmas Eve, Trump tweeted: "People are proud to be saying Merry Christmas again. I am proud to have led the charge against the assault of our cherished and beautiful phrase. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!"

Although no American was barred from wishing others a “Merry Christmas” before Trump entered the White House, some of his supporters were frustrated, if not angered, by the number of politicians saying “Happy Holidays” in addition to “Merry Christmas.” President Barack Obama, Trump’s predecessor, wished Americans a “Merry Christmas” multiple times when he was president — and continues that tradition to this day.

But some within Trump’s base, especially the white evangelicals who voted for him in high numbers, are uncomfortable with America increasingly becoming a multifaith nation.

Evangelical leader Franklin Graham told Fox News that it is essential that people know that Christmas is a Christian holiday. “Christmas is really about the birth of Jesus Christ, and that's what we're all celebrating,” he said.

But the likelihood of Americans getting on “the same page” as Cobb and other Trump supporters about the meaning of Christmas is not good.

The majority of Americans do not primarily view Christmas as a religious holiday. According to Pew Research Center polls, only 46 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas as primarily a religious (rather than cultural) holiday, a 5 percent decrease from 2013.

And this doesn’t appear to be changing anytime soon, considering that millennials are even less likely than older adults to include a religious component in their Christmas celebration.

And most Americans recognize this, with a majority of adults — 56 percent — saying the religious aspects of Christmas are less emphasized in society than in years past.

When asked whether Christian symbols such as nativity scenes should be allowed on government property, the percentage of Americans who say such displays should not be allowed is growing — from 20 percent three years ago to 26 percent today.

Although most Americans gladly celebrate Christmas and probably will continue to wish others a “Merry Christmas,” for many Trump supporters, America won’t truly be great again until Christianity regains its central position in this increasingly multifaith and secular society.

“Christmas is all about Christ. I'm so excited that the president isn't afraid to mention the name of Jesus Christ,” he added.

But the data suggests that for many Americans, what would make the nation great is acknowledging the diversity of its citizens' values while allowing them the freedom to celebrate the birth of Christ as they please.

Note EU-Digest: Hopefully the Christian community will keep reminding those of other faiths and Christmas shoppers about, the reason for the holiday season.

Read more: Majority of Americans do not view Christmas primarily as a religious holiday

EU: Building a positive agenda for the Mediterranean – by Fathallah Sijilmassi

Today there are three main reasons why we need to mobilise all our efforts to ensure a true partnership between both sides of the Mediterranean.

Firstly, it has never been clearer that the challenges facing the Euro-Mediterranean region call for a collective and concerted response. From security threats to our endeavor of living together to the socio-economic challenges, everything now points to the fact that no response can be solely national or confined to a limited geographical area.

At a time when inward-looking attitudes and nationalist sentiments are on the rise, today we must say loudly and clearly that it is by working together that we will succeed, or else we will all fail.

This is the purpose of the roadmap for the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), adopted in January 2017 in Barcelona by the foreign affairs ministers from its 43 Member States. It is also in this spirit that the recent African Union – European Union (AU-EU) summit was held in Abidjan. The EU is also in a process of consolidation in view of the need to act collectively in response to the different challenges.

The stability and security of Europe, the Mediterranean and Africa are obviously closely linked.

Secondly, limiting the Southern Mediterranean to the sole task of managing the “negative agenda”, which must of course be firmly and decisively dealt with (terrorism, irregular migration, radicalism, etc.), would be an enormous injustice for the millions of Mediterranean people who are part of the spirit of openness and modernity and whose daily accomplishments are remarkable.

These women and men in the Southern and Northern Mediterranean are the region’s greatest asset and the finest ambassadors for the shared values that we seek to defend and promote. They should be at the centre of our attention and actions.

Thirdly, we must strengthen our collective political engagement to foster concrete actions.

Today the Mediterranean does not need a romantic vision of the glorious past of our sea, “mare nostrum”, a defeatist, anxiety-inducing conversation about the state of the region, or constant theories about the eternal need to restructure the partnership.

The institutions already exist. We must make greater use of them. The funding already exists. We must ensure that it is used fully and effectively for actions that strengthen the bonds between people and bring tangible results which meet their expectations.

It is on the basis of these three observations that the Union for the Mediterranean gives priority to action on the ground rather than to media headlines.

Under the direction of its two Co-Presidencies – the European Union and Jordan – and the action taken by its Secretariat, the activities of the UfM have enabled it to achieve three major strategic objectives in a challenging context in recent years:

    To become a platform for regional political dialogue;
    To bring together governments and regional cooperation actors (international organisations, NGOs, the private sector, local authorities, etc.); and
    To promote specific regional projects for the benefit of people.

The UfM embodies today the will to have a working framework for strengthening the regional cooperation in the Mediterranean. This framework addresses all the serious and unfortunately growing challenges of our region. It also allows us to do so with a global and balanced perspective that fully recognises the existence of important opportunities and addresses the root causes of the current problems we face, such as the challenges of youth employment, education, health, and justice.

From concrete projects for young people – the Euro-Mediterranean University of Fez, the Mediterranean Initiative for Jobs (Med4Jobs), the Sciences Po’s WOMED women’s leadership project, to name but a few – to sustainable development programmes in the areas of water, the environment, the blue economy, transport, urban development, energy and climate change, the opportunities are real and numerous.

Confidently building a positive agenda for the Mediterranean is critical, and it must be done with strength and conviction.

Read more: Building a positive agenda for the Mediterranean – EURACTIV.com

The Netherlands: US ambassador to Netherlands describes own words as 'fake news - Martin Belam'

The US ambassador to the Netherlands faced an excruciating moment on television when he denied ever saying that there were no-go zones in the Netherlands, calling the suggestion “fake news”.

Trump’s new choice for ambassador, Pete Hoekstra, who was only sworn in by the vice president, Mike Pence, on 11 December, was being interviewed for current affairs programme Nieuwsuur by reporter Wouter Zwart.

Zwart says: “You mentioned in a debate that there are no-go zones in the Netherlands, and that cars and politicians are being set on fire in the Netherlands.”

Hoekstra replies: “I didn’t say that. This is actually an incorrect statement. We would call it fake news.”

Hoekstra is then shown clips of him saying: “The Islamic movement has now gotten to a point where they have put Europe into chaos. Chaos in the Netherlands, there are cars being burnt, there are politicians that are being burnt ... and yes there are no-go zones in the Netherlands.”

Challenged about having called this “fake news”, Hoekstra then went on to deny to Zwart that he had in fact used the phrase “fake news”.

“I didn’t call that fake news. I didn’t use the words today. I don’t think I did.”

Hoekstra, who was born in Groningen in the Netherlands, was a Republican Congressman for Michigan between 1993 and 2011, and served as chair of the House intelligence committee for two years during that time.

Note EU-Digest: "No Mr. Hoekstra, we also don't believe that story of the Dutch boy putting his finger in the dike" 

Read more: US ambassador to Netherlands describes own words as 'fake news' | World news | The Guardian

USA: U.N. Defies Trump's Bullying and Threats by Passing Resolution on Jerusalem - by Kambiz Foroohar

The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly backed a measure critical of President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel despite U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley’s warning that the move could put funding for their nations and the global body at risk.

The nonbinding UN resolution passed on Thursday by a vote of 128-9, with 35 nations abstaining. Key U.S. allies backing the measure over Trump’s threats included the U.K., France, Italy, Japan and Germany. The U.S. was joined in opposition by countries including Guatemala, Nauru and Micronesia. Abstentions included Australia, Canada and Argentina.

“The United States will remember this day when it was singled out for attack in the General Assembly,” Haley said at the U.N. podium ahead of the vote. “We will remember it when so many countries come calling on us, as they often do, to pay even more. This vote will be remembered.”

That threat was repudiated by speakers from countries supporting the resolution, which says the status of Jerusalem must be resolved through negotiations. A similar resolution had 14 votes in favor in the 15-member Security Council last week, prompting Haley to exercise the first U.S. veto since 2011.

“We were all asked to vote no or face the consequences,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said before Thursday’s vote. “Some even threatened to cut development aid. This is bullying. It is unethical to think that the votes and dignity of member states are for sale.” 

Read more: U.N. Defies Trump's Threats by Passing Resolution on Jerusalem