Category: Євросоюз

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Tuesday for an integrated European Union military, echoing language used by French President Emmanuel Macron last week that infuriated U.S. President Donald Trump. Merkel told the European Parliament such an army would not undermine the U.S.-led military alliance NATO but would be complementary to it, remarks that were met with loud applause in the legislature though also with boos from nationalist members. “The times when we could rely on others are over. This means we Europeans have to take our fate fully into our own hands,” Merkel said. “We should work on a vision …

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NATO is developing new high-tech tools, such as the ability to 3-D-print parts for weapons and deliver them by drone, as it scrambles to retain a competitive edge over Russia, China and other would-be battlefield adversaries.  Gen. Andre Lanata, who took over as head of the NATO transformation command in September, told a conference in Berlin that his command demonstrated over 21 “disruptive” projects during military exercises in Norway this month.  He urged startups as well as traditional arms manufacturers to work with the Atlantic alliance to boost innovation, as rapid and easy access to emerging technologies was helping adversaries narrow …

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The Russian-controlled branch of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine said Tuesday that it would not participate in the establishment of a unified church there as Kyiv seeks to cut spiritual ties with Moscow. The announcement came after a planned meeting between top pro-Moscow clerics and President Petro Poroshenko fell through. In a historic decision last month, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, considered the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians worldwide, agreed to recognize the Ukrainian Orthodox Church’s independence from the Moscow Patriarchate. The decision sparked rage in Moscow and prompted the Russian Orthodox Church to cut all ties with the Istanbul-based Ecumenical …

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Europe needs to diversify its energy supplies to cut its dependency on Russia, U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Tuesday. Perry, on a visit to Hungary, said that Russia needs to be prevented from using “energy as a coercive weapon,” like when it sometimes temporarily cuts winter gas supplies affecting mostly eastern Europe. Perry also said the United States has “the perfect right” to maintain sanctions on Russia related to its annexation of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine. “This is really pretty simple from my perspective,” Perry said. “Be a good neighbor and respect the rule of law, and Russia …

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German states have drafted a list of demands aimed at tightening a law that requires social media companies like Facebook and Twitter to remove hate speech from their sites, the Handelblatt newspaper reported Monday. Justice ministers from the states will submit their proposed revisions to the German law called NetzDG at a meeting with Justice Minister Katarina Barley on Thursday, the newspaper said, saying it had obtained a draft of the document. The law, which came into full force on Jan. 1, is a highly ambitious effort to control what appears on social media and it has drawn a range …

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The Greater Paris region will become a low-emission zone from next summer, which will limit the circulation of old diesel cars, the regional authority decided on Monday. The Metropole du Grand Paris council said on its Twitter feed it had voted to ban diesel cars registered before Dec. 31, 2000 from the area within the A86 second ring-road, which includes Paris and 79 municipalities around it, a region with 5.61 million inhabitants. The ban will use France’s new “Crit’Air” vignette system, which identifies cars’ age and pollution level with color-coded stickers. Cars with the Crit’Air 5 sticker (1997 to 2000-registered …

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Britain and the European Union appeared to be inching toward agreement on Brexit on Monday, but British Prime Minister Theresa May faced intensifying pressure from her divided Conservative government that could yet scuttle a deal. Britain leaves the EU on March 29 — the first country ever to do so — but a deal must be sealed in the coming weeks to leave enough time for the U.K. and European Parliaments to sign off. May faces increasing domestic pressure over her proposals for an agreement following the resignation of another government minister last week. The British leader had been hoping …

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Two separatist-controlled regions of eastern Ukraine announced the winners of leadership elections on Monday that were dismissed by Kyiv and its international allies as a sham exercise engineered by Russia to install puppet regimes. The polls took place Sunday in the shadow of a conflict between Ukraine and Russian-backed rebels that has killed more than 10,000 people since 2014 and poisoned relations between the two neighbors. The Donetsk region’s acting head Denis Pushilin, whose predecessor was killed in an explosion in August, was confirmed as leader with 61 percent of the vote while the acting chief of Luhansk region, Leonid …

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Romania’s president said Monday his country isn’t ready to take over the European Union’s rotating presidency on Jan. 1 and called for the government to step down. President Klaus Iohannis said “things have gone off the rails,” and that there was “a political necessity to replace the government,” which he called “an accident of Romanian democracy.” Viorica Dancila, a little-known politician became premier in January, but has little executive power as Liviu Dragnea, chairman of the ruling Social Democratic Party, basically runs the government. Dragnea can’t be prime minister because of a conviction for vote-rigging. “It’s the 12th hour [and] …

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Calculations are shifting in European capitals on whether Donald Trump is likely to serve a second term as U.S. president. The consensus in Europe ahead of last week’s midterm elections was that he would most likely serve only one term in the White House, but the expanded Republican majority in the Senate is prompting a re-consideration. That, in turn, is leading some European officials to argue that they will not be able just to wait out Trump for two years for a return to business as usual with a more traditional and Atlanticist Washington, but need to rethink now about …

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Voters in the Kremlin-backed Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine cast ballots Sunday for local government leaders in what Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called a “fake election.” Denis Pushilin, the 37-year-old acting leader of Donetsk, was elected with over 61 percent of the vote with almost all ballots counted, according to the local electoral commission. Leonid Pasechnik, the acting leader of Luhansk, took 68 percent of the vote. The United States and European Union have both denounced the election as illegal and a deterrent to a negotiated settlement. “The people in eastern Ukraine will be better off with a …

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The leader of the German Social Democrats’ youth wing said Monday that Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition with the SPD would not survive the next year.  The awkward alliance has been marred by disputes about immigration and the fate of the domestic spy chief since it took office in March, coming close to collapse twice. Voters punished both Merkel’s conservatives and the SPD in two recent regional elections.  SPD youth wing leader Kevin Kuehnert, who campaigned against the conservative-SPD tie-up from the outset, said the SPD would be closely watching what happens when Merkel steps down as leader of her Christian Democrats (CDU) in December.  “Next year is full of …

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Armistice Day, the last official day of World War I, is annually observed on Nov. 11. For this, the 100th commemoration, a British film director and the UK’s official arts program marked the day with artwork called “Pages of the Sea,” which honors soldiers who fought in World War I. Arash Arabasadi reports. …

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U.S. President Donald Trump wrapped up his visit to France on Sunday after attending events commemorating the end of World War I a hundred years ago. In addition to participating in the Armistice Day ceremony in Paris with about 70 other world leaders, Trump visited an American military cemetery outside Paris before flying back to the United States. As VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports, Trump’s visit was marked by some controversy. …

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Voters in the Kremlin-backed regions of eastern Ukraine are voting Sunday for local government leaders. The elections have been denounced by Kyiv, Washington and the European Union. Federica Mogherini, the European Union foreign policy chief, said her group found the polls “illegal and illegitimate and will not recognize them.” “These particular elections are a mockery,” said Kurt Volker, the U.S. special envoy to Ukraine. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and has supported the insurgency in eastern Ukraine. .         …

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Poland is celebrating the 100th anniversary of its rebirth as an independent state on Sunday with a multitude of events across the country, including marches, Masses, and the national hymn being sung in more than 600 public places. The national white-and-red flag fluttered from buildings and buses, dignitaries and regular citizens placed flowers and wreaths at memorials to the father of Polish independence, Marshal Jozef Pilsudski, and the historic Sigismund Bell, reserved only for the most important national events, rang out over Krakow. Poland regained its independence at the end of World War I in 1918, reborn from the ashes …

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Russia’s Foreign Ministry is complaining that the interrogation of a website editor at a U.S. airport shows authorities are persecuting Russian journalists. Alexander Malkevich, editor of the USA Really website, reportedly was detained and questioned for several hours Friday at a Washington airport and told that his site must register in the U.S. as a foreign agent. The website is funded by the sponsors of the Russian “troll factory” accused of interference in the 2016 U.S. vote. Malkevich was released and traveled to Paris, according to state news agency RIA-Novosti. A ministry statement on Sunday said the incident was “evidence …

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At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month — precisely 100 years after fighting halted in the first world war — leaders from 70 nations gathered at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France, to remember the millions who died in the conflict. …

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French police arrested two topless female protesters Sunday on the Champs-Elysees where France was holding a ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War. One of the women was apprehended within just a few meters of the motorcade of U.S. President Donald Trump as it approached the site. She had the words “Fake Peacemaker” written across her chest. Femen, the radical feminist activist group, based in Paris, appeared to take responsibility for the demonstration. Femen leader Inna Shevchenko wrote on Twitter: “FEMEN activists ‘welcomed’ the cortege of @realDonaldTrump twice on his way to Arc de …

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European Council head Donald Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, on Saturday denounced the euroskeptic populists governing Poland as “contemporary Bolsheviks” who threaten the nation’s independence, but can be defeated. Tusk, seen as a likely contender in Poland’s 2020 presidential election, spoke in the city of Lodz on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the country regaining its statehood at the end of World War I after 123 years of foreign rule. He honored the statesman who restored Polish independence and as chief of state went on to defeat the Bolsheviks’ Red Army in 1920, Marshal Jozef Pilsudski. He …

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