Category: Євросоюз

The U.N. refugee agency says Europe needs to take a broader approach to the influx of refugees and not just expect a few countries to deal with the issue and its causes. Last week, the European Union cobbled together an action plan that focuses on setting up processing centers in North Africa for asylum-seekers fleeing conflict and persecution and economic migrants seeking better lives. The hope is to ease the brunt that front-line countries like Italy have to absorb. Facing growing political opposition, Italy has diverted several boatloads of refugee elsewhere. William Spindler, a senior spokesman for the U.N. High …

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The British government is planning to almost double the number of its troops in Afghanistan after a request from U.S. President Donald Trump for reinforcements to help tackle the fragile security situation there. Prime Minister Theresa May announced the government will send an extra 440 troops, which would bring Britain’s total to about 1,100, to help Afghan troops fighting Taliban and Islamic State insurgents. The extra troops will be taking part in a NATO-led training mission, called Resolute Support, to train and assist Afghan forces. They will be based in Kabul and will not be in a combat role. British …

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Bosnia’s autonomous Bosniak-Croat Federation approved a new law granting wider benefits to war veterans, in a pre-election sweetener that defied warnings by the International Monetary Fund that it may jeopardize long-term fiscal stability. In an urgent session called amid a protest staged by several hundred veterans of the 1992-95 Bosnian War, deputies in the 98-seat parliament approved the new legislation with 58 voting in favor. The measure ignores advice by the IMF, which postponed a final meeting last month to review Bosnia’s loan program that would have unlocked fresh aid, because of new spending measures by its two autonomous regions. …

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Bulgaria has committed to strengthening its banking sector, European Union officials said Tuesday, two days before a eurozone finance ministers meeting that could shed light on the Balkan country’s progress toward joining the euro. Bulgaria meets the nominal criteria to adopt the European common currency, with its lev currency pegged to the euro, low inflation and healthy public finances. But it is also the EU’s poorest country, and widespread graft and troubles at some of its banks have cast a shadow over its prospects of joining. Eurozone states and authorities have demanded that Sofia step up checks at its lenders and accept external …

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President Donald Trump’s four-nation European tour has allies fretting over the risk of damage he could do to the decades-old NATO alliance. They’re also worried about his potential embrace of Russia’s Vladimir Putin during a summit in Helsinki. The trip that begins Tuesday in Brussels will also take Trump to London, where Prime Minister Theresa May’s government is in turmoil over her plans for exiting the European Union. Trump has been pressing NATO countries to fulfill their goal of spending 2 percent of their gross domestic products on defense by 2024. During his presidential campaign, he suggested he might only …

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U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will only play a supporting role to President Donald Trump at this week’s NATO summit — an event that by definition is focused on heads of state from the trans-Atlantic alliance. But Mattis’ small part belies his high standing among NATO allies, which has only risen as they become increasingly bewildered by Trump’s policies on trade and Iran and anxious about his outreach to Russian President Vladimir Putin, European diplomats, officials and experts say. In recent months, it has become clear that Mattis has a limited ability to influence Trump, who is increasingly confident in …

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Britain is to almost double the funding it provides to countries in the Western Balkans to 80 million pounds ($106.06 million) and ramp up its number of security staff in the region to try and tackle organized crime gangs. With Britain set to leave the European Union next year, the U.K. government said the moves, which also include improving the Western Balkans countries’ cyber capability and extending the presence of the pan-Balkans Strategic Reserve Force, showed it remain committed to the region’s stability. “History shows that a stable and secure Western Balkans region means a more stable and secure Europe,” …

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The possibility of more Western sanctions against Moscow is the key risk for the Russian economy, as much as 21 percent of which has already felt the impact of existing sanctions, Russia’s Analytical Credit Ratings Agency said in a report Tuesday. Western sanctions are expected to weigh on Russia’s oil-dependent economy in the longer run, having dented incomes of Russian households, the Kremlin-backed ACRA said. The West first imposed economic and financial sanctions against Moscow in 2014 for its annexation of Crimea and its role in the Ukrainian conflict. Russia has responded with counter-sanctions, banning imports of a wide range …

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In spite of a ban, illegal ivory trading is still flourishing in the European Union, as traders use a loophole allowing for the exchange of very old pieces, an Oxford University study sponsored by a campaign group found. European law allows ivory obtained prior to 1947 to be traded freely. Ivory obtained after 1947 but before 1990 can be sold with a government certificate, while selling ivory obtained after the global ivory trade was banned is illegal. Campaign organization Avaaz purchased more than 100 pieces of ivory from 10 different EU countries to undergo carbon testing at Oxford University. Scientists …

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Britain’s former Brexit minister says Prime Minister Theresa May’s approach to the nation’s exit from the European Union is “a dangerous strategy.” David Davis stepped down from his post Sunday. In a resignation letter, Davis told May that her plan to create “a common rulebook” that would abide by the EU’s rules on free trade would leave Britain in — at best — “a weak negotiating position, and possibly an inescapable one.” He said the plan would make the idea of reestablishing British sovereignty from the EU “illusory rather than real.” May’s Cabinet agreed to her plan on Friday after a contentious …

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President Klaus Iohannis has fired Romania’s chief anti-corruption prosecutor over misconduct and incompetence accusations by her own government ministry, but has urged the struggle against rampant graft in the country to continue. In a Monday announcement, his office says that National Anti-Corruption Directorate Chief Prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi was dismissed to implement a ruling by Romania’s top court, which had ordered it over the accusations of incompetence. In a February report, Justice Minister Tudorel Toader had accused Kovesi of being authoritarian, and claimed that prosecutors under her command had falsified evidence and acquitted an inordinate number of defendants. He also …

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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has described his latest talks with North Korean officials as productive. He met with his Japanese and South Korean counterparts in Tokyo on Sunday before proceeding to Vietnam. Pyongyang was the first stop on Pompeo’s first around-the-world trip as America’s top diplomat. After Asia, he travels to the United Arab Emirates before heading to Belgium, where he will accompany U.S. President Donald Trump at the NATO summit in Brussels. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports. …

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Germany plans to use public money to support companies that invest in Africa, part of a new “Marshall Plan” with which it hopes to tackle the roots of the refugee crisis that has convulsed European politics since 2015. The aim was to reintroduce a scheme from the 1980s that made it easier for companies to write off losses on investments in Africa in order to moderate initial investment risks, Development Minister Gerd Mueller told Handelsblatt newspaper. “I am also going to push for provisions made for African investments to get more favorable tax treatment,” he said Sunday of the plan …

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Britain’s Brexit minister David Davis has resigned two days after the cabinet approved a plan to retain strong alignment with the European Union even after leaving the bloc, British media reported on Sunday.   The resignation will be a blow to Prime Minister Theresa May, who is trying to win over Brexit hardliners in her own Conservative Party ahead of a fresh round of negotiations with Brussels this month.   A long-time euroskeptic, Davis was appointed two years ago to head up the newly-created Department for Exiting the European Union after Britain voted to leave the European Union in a …

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One of Britain’s most vocal anti-EU cabinet ministers publicly endorsed Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan to keep Britain in a free trade zone for goods with the EU, a sign she has so far averted a revolt against a new proposal for a soft Brexit. May unveiled the plan at a closed door government meeting on Friday, siding with those in her divided Cabinet who favor closer ties with Europe while ordering those who support a cleaner break to back her policy or quit. Environment Secretary Michael Gove, one of the highest-profile Brexit campaigners in the Cabinet, took to TV …

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Corruption and the conflict with Russian-backed rebels in Ukraine’s east will top the agenda when a summit between that country and the European Union takes place Monday in Brussels. In May, the EU agreed to a $1.2 billion financial assistance package for Ukraine. The International Monetary Fund and EU are demanding deeper reforms to governance and the judiciary in return for the money; however, reforms to the court system have stalled, says Andrew Wilson, professor of Ukrainian studies at University College London. “You have what’s called the National Anti-Corruption Bureau. It’s totally separate from the corrupt police. It can do …

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Corruption and the conflict with Russian-backed rebels in Ukraine’s east will top the agenda at a European Union summit with Ukraine on Monday in Brussels. As Henry Ridgwell reports, the EU is pressuring Kyiv to make deeper reforms, but it is also facing disillusionment among some Ukrainians over the perceived benefits of closer ties with Europe. …

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Turkey’s government Sunday issued an emergency decree dismissing thousands of public servants for alleged links to terror groups. The decree, published in the Official Gazette, sacked 18,632 civil servants, including nearly 9,000 police officers, some 6,000 members of the military and hundreds of teachers and academics. Their passports will be canceled. Turkey has been under a state of emergency for nearly two years, declared after a failed coup attempt in July 2016. The government blames a U.S.-based cleric for orchestrating the coup and has sacked or arrested people suspected of links to him. The cleric, Fethullah Gulen, denies the allegations. …

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Nano technology researchers at the University of Cambridge are developing an intelligent toilet that might change the nature of medicine. It automatically analyzes a user’s urine to capture valuable medical data. VOA Correspondent Mariama Diallo reports. …

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Authorities conducted extensive forensic tests Saturday, looking for the source of a nerve agent that sickened two people thought to have handled a contaminated item from the March attack on a Russian ex-spy and his daughter. A police officer also underwent a precautionary test at a hospital to check for possible contamination related to the case, but Wiltshire police said late Saturday that he had been cleared. The man and woman poisoned a week ago are in critical condition at Salisbury District Hospital, which is also where Sergei and Yulia Skripal spent months being treated after they were poisoned. Authorities …

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