EU Green Transition: EU's green transition 'will have slightly positive economic effect'

EU's move towards a carbon-neutral economy to tackle climate change will have a "slightly positive" economic effect, it's been claimed.

Valdis Dombrovskis, the EU's economy commissioner, speaking to Euronews in Berlin, admitted the green transition would have winners and losers but that it should be done in a "socially acceptable way".

EU countries reached a deal last month on making the bloc climate neutral by 2050.

Read more: The Brief: EU's green transition 'will have slightly positive economic effect' | Euronews

IRAN-US relations: In menacing Iran’s cultural sites, Trump threatens to commit ‘a war crime’

 The Trump administration has yet to offer any evidence backing its claim that last week’s killing of a senior Iranian official was legal under international law. Now the US president has also threate…

Read more at:
https://www.france24.com/en/20200106-in-menacing-iran-s-cultural-sites-trump-threatens-to-commit-a-war-crime

Internet: Pompeo warns that the U.S. will NOT share intelligence with countries using Huawei 5G infrastructure

* Mike Pompeo said any country that did so would be cut off from intelligence

Germany has so far joined UK, France and Netherlands in defying U.S. calls

Washington warns Huawei is a vassal of Beijing and poses an espionage threat 

Read more at: Pompeo warns that the U.S. will NOT share intelligence with countries using Huawei 5G infrastructure | Daily Mail Online

China en Rusland eensgezind: liquidatie Iraanse generaal lost niets op

De ministers van Buitenlandse Zaken spraken met elkaar én met hun Iraanse ambtgenoot over de Amerikaanse moordaanslag op generaal Soleimani.

Read more at:
https://nos.nl/artikel/2317306-china-en-rusland-eensgezind-liquidatie-iraanse-generaal-lost-niets-op.html

Iran-US Relations: Is the US On the Verge of a War with Iran?

Trump: we will help Saudi Arabia
in their struggle against Iran

"The main question is not whether Soleimani is responsible for carnage in the region (he is) or whether he has blood on his hands (he does), but whether Soleimani’s assassination increases or decreases the risk of a wider conflict between Washington and Tehran. Does this strike put American soldiers, diplomats, and citizens in the region at risk?"

The answers are as obvious as the day is long. The strike on Soleimani is a gigantic leap forward on the escalation ladder, a move so dramatic that Iran will be forced to respond. And it will do so at a time and place of its choosing. The 60,000-70,000 U.S. military forces in the Middle East are now all potential targets of Iranian retaliation, the extent to which Washington can’t fully estimate. The State Department’s travel advisory urging all U.S. citizens to leave Iraq immediately is an indication that the Trump administration recognizes that Americans on Iraqi soil could very well be sitting ducks for some kind of violent response.

Note EU-Digest: The Washington Post  reported that several European diplomats said Friday that they were not aware of any warning from Washington ahead of the strike on Soleimani in Baghdad, though the mission was almost certain to increase the security risk for hundreds of European troops and for other European citizens in the region.The Netherlands government advised all its citizens in Iraq to leave the country. Once again as he did with pulling troops out of Syria it shows he does not have any respect for his Allies and the lives of their troops, who have always supported the US, and put their lives at risk. it is high time the EU tells the US Trump Administration that " the party is over", and that they should start fighting their own ridiculous wars around the world.

Read more at: Are We On the Verge of a War with
ran? | The National Interest

EU in Defense mode on Trade: In Trade War, EU Is Force to Be Reckoned With-Netherlands Warns

The European Union will act as one if the U.S hits France with tariffs and must stop being naive with powers like China, the Dutch Finance Minister warned.

Adding to growing calls for the bloc to do more to boost its economic sovereignty, Wopke Hoekstra said in an interview that the EU shouldn’t sit idly as countries like China subsidize their companies, or Donald Trump’s administration turns against its member states.

Faced with a global stage that’s increasingly dominated by the U.S. and China, the EU has come under pressure from some members to ensure a level playing field for its companies so that they can better compete with rivals that receive a helping hand from their governments.

“It is simply unacceptable that we are playing by the rules and some others just do whatever they like and by state support have the ability to outcompete some of our companies,” Hoekstra said recently.

“If we lookat the airline industry it’s bizarre that a great company like Air France-KLM is competing in a completely unlevel playing field with some of the carriers from outside the EU.”

His comments follow a recent initiative by the Netherlands calling on the EU to overhaul its competition framework by granting the European Commission powers to perform checks on companies that could potentially distort markets.

The Dutch push comes as a new executive has just taken the EU’s helm in Brussels and as the issue of protecting the region’s industry is gaining more prominence amid the rise of economic nationalism across the world, including with Trump’s America first policies in the U.S.

Read more at: In Trade War, EU Is Force to Be Reckoned With, Netherlands Warns - Bloomberg

Spain: Spanish PM could end political impasse on weekend

Spanish lawmakers will this weekend begin debating whether to renew Pedro Sanchez as prime minister and end months of political deadlock in the major European Union country.

Read more at:
https://www.thelocal.es/20200101/spain-parliament-debate-could-end-political-impasse