Category: Євросоюз

The British government saw its flagship Brexit legislation pass through Parliament on Wednesday, but remains locked in a tussle with lawmakers over the direction of the country’s departure from the European Union. The EU Withdrawal Bill was approved after Prime Minister Theresa May’s government narrowly won a key vote. The House of Commons rejected by 319-303 a proposal to require Parliament’s approval before the government agrees to a final divorce deal with the EU, or before walking away from the bloc without an agreement. Later in the day, the withdrawal bill, intended to replace thousands of EU rules and regulations …

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In 1986, Margaret Thatcher arrived in Israel for the first official visit to the Jewish state by a serving British prime minister. Asked at a news conference why Britain’s queen had never visited, she snapped back, “I am here.” The Iron Lady’s response got a chuckle, but it did not satisfy the Israelis. For 70 years successive Israeli governments have tried to persuade Britain to send a Royal on an official visit — something both Buckingham Palace and Downing Street have been reluctant to do. They have feared an official visit would drag Buckingham Palace into a diplomatic quagmire and …

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As the United States and China teeter on the brink of an all out trade war and tit-for-tat tariffs loom, a European businesses lobby is urging Beijing to stop dragging its feet on reforms and using unfair trade policies to pamper Chinese companies.   Each year, foreign trade groups in China roll out a laundry list of concerns about market access, regulatory hurdles and other policies that tilt the playing field in the world’s second largest economy.   This year, for the first time ever, the European Chamber of Commerce’s annual survey of the business climate found that 61 percent of …

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Despite opposition in Congress, Turkey will receive its first F-35 Joint Strike fighter jet this week, Pentagon and aviation industry officials tell VOA. Lockheed Martin, maker of the F-35, will hold a ceremony Thursday in Fort Worth, Texas, for Turkey’s new jets, according to a company spokesperson. Both House and Senate versions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) contain restrictions on Turkey’s participation in the F-35 program. U.S. lawmakers are concerned about Ankara’s imprisonment of an American pastor and its plans to buy the Russian S-400 air defense system, which they say would “degrade the general security” of the …

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British Prime Minister Theresa May told members of parliament Wednesday the United States’ practice of housing children in cages is extremely troubling and inappropriate. “The pictures of children being held in what appear to be cages are deeply disturbing. This is wrong. This is not something that we agree with,” May said. May also said she would raise the issue with U.S. President Donald Trump when she meets with him in Britain next month. The Trump administration has been the target of a growing chorus of criticism as images of migrant children in cages inside U.S. Border Patrol processing stations …

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Eight European Union countries will meet in Brussels Sunday to discuss Europe’s largest migration crisis since World War II, a development that could affect the increasingly heated political disagreements among EU nations over the controversial issue. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker called the meeting, which is expected to be attended by Austria, Bulgaria, Italy, France, Germany, Greece, Malta and Spain. The leaders will explore how to stop migrants from relocating to different EU countries after claiming asylum in one of the Mediterranean countries they initially entered. The meeting will precede an EU summit later this month at which leaders will …

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Laura was barely 18 when a palm reader told her she could make $180 a month working in beetroot farms in Russia — an attractive sum for a girl struggling to make a living in the town of Drochia, in Moldova’s impoverished north. That she had no passport, the fortune teller said, was not a problem. Her future employers would help her cross the border. “They gave me a [fake] birth certificate stating I was 14,” Laura, who declined to give her real name, told Reuters in an interview. That was enough to get her through border controls as she …

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Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, welcomed on Tuesday the adoption by Ukraine’s parliament of a law to create an anti-corruption court, but said lawmakers needed to amend it to guarantee the court’s effectiveness. Creating an independent and trustworthy court dedicated to handling corruption cases is one of the key conditions for Ukraine to receive further funding under its $17.5 billion aid-for-reforms program from the IMF. Earlier in June, parliament passed the law after months of delay, but the draft contained an amendment that activists said would undermine the reform by allowing appeals on existing cases to …

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Chancellor Angela Merkel coolly rebuffed U.S. President Donald Trump’s assertion that migrants were behind a surge in crime in Germany, pointing to statistics that showed crime was in fact down. “My answer is that the interior minister presented the crime statistics a short while ago and they speak for themselves,” Merkel told a news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron when asked about a recent flurry of tweets from Trump. “We are seeing a slight positive development. We must always do more to fight criminiality. But they were very encouraging numbers,” she added. Statistics published last month showed that overall …

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European Union leaders will try to reassure Germany and Italy over migration at a summit next week as a stand-off in Berlin threatens Chancellor Angela Merkel’s ruling coalition. The EU could take steps to stop asylum seekers moving on from the country in which they are registered and start deciding asylum requests at centers to be established beyond EU borders in the future, according to a draft summit statement. The proposed steps come ahead of the June 28-29 summit in Brussels at which EU leaders will attempt to agree on a joint migration policy three years after more than 1 …

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Russia has announced retaliatory measures in response to the U.S. move to impose tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum. Economic Development Minister Maxim Oreshkin said a statement on Tuesday Moscow has decided to apply retaliatory measures in line with the World Trade Organization’s rules to compensate for damage incurred by the U.S. tariffs. Oreshkin said that additional tariffs will be applied to a range of U.S. imports, but he declined to immediately name them. He added that the tariffs will be applied to the U.S. goods that have domestic equivalents to avoid hurting the national economy. The European Union, India, …

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Italy’s new right-wing interior minister Matteo Salvini said his department has to look into “the Roma question” in Italy — a comment the opposition said reminds them of Italian fascism. Salvini said Monday he wants to take a census of Italy’s Roma population. “Unfortunately, we will have to keep the Italian Roma because we can’t expel them,” Salvini told Telelombardia television. Center-left politicians immediately jumped on Salvini’s comments, likening it to ethnic cleansing. “You can work for security and respect for rules without becoming fascistic,” lawmaker Ettore Rosato tweeted. “The announced census of Roma is vulgar and demagogical.” But Salvini …

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France’s finance minister promised to cut red tape on companies, open up more financing for them and create incentives for employee profit-sharing under a new bill presented on Monday. The proposed law is part of President Emmanuel Macron’s pro-business reform drive that has already eased labour laws and cut companies’ and entrepreneurs’ taxes. “The law’s ultimate objective is more growth and the creation of a new French economic growth model,” Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire told reporters. Le Maire said that by 2025 the overhaul of French corporate law was expected to boost overall gross domestic product by one percent …

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The remains of fascist dictator Francisco Franco could soon be removed from a state-funded mausoleum under a plan by Spain’s new socialist government to transform the monument into a place to remember the civil war rather than glorify the dictatorship. This would be the latest of a raft of high-profile measures launched by Spain’s new Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to cement his power and lure left-wing voters ahead of a general election due by mid-2020. Sanchez, who toppled his conservative predecessor Mariano Rajoy in a confidence vote last month, controls less than a quarter of the seats in parliament. “The …

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U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein warns the rise of extreme nationalism is threatening global peace and security. Zeid spoke at the opening of the U.N. Human Rights Council’s three-week session in Geneva. Delegates attending the U.N. Human Rights Council’s 38th session gave Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein a standing ovation as he finished his last speech before he leaves his post at the end of August. The end of his mandate seemingly freed the rights chief to be even more outspoken than usual. Zeid particularly deplored the rise of extreme nationalism promoted by what he described …

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A pop-up “Corruption Park” has opened in Ukraine to highlight the scale of the problem with interactive exhibits and displays of ill-gotten gains including a $46,000 crystal falcon. One of the first things visitors see in the EU-funded show is a tent shaped like the gold loaf of bread found in the house of ex-president Viktor Yanukovych after he fled Ukraine in 2014. Elsewhere, they can inspect a $300,000, limited-edition BMW seized from a corrupt official, and a copy of a 8-million-euro chandelier that, the display says, could have paid for a family’s electricity bill for 64,000 years. In another …

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Discarded life jackets on a beach in Greece inspired an artwork by a teenager who wanted to learn more about the refugee crisis. Seventeen-year-old Achilleas Souras hopes his project, called SOS – Save Our Souls, inspires others to learn more about their plight. Mike O’Sullivan reports from Los Angeles. …

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The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) says thousands of migrants trekking through the Balkans are “in desperate need of basic humanitarian services and support.” IFRC said Monday, “More than 5,600 people have reached Bosnia and Herzegovina since the beginning of January, compared with just 754 across the whole of 2017.” “We are concerned that people are not receiving the assistance they need,” said Simon Missiri, IFRC regional director for Europe. “People are keen to keep moving and are reluctant to access state services for fear of being detained.” Missiri said, “Red Cross Societies in the …

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German authorities have arrested the chief executive of Volkswagen’s Audi division, Rupert Stadler. He was arrested Monday as part of an investigation about cars Audi sold in Europe that are believed to have been equipped with software that turned emissions controls off during regular driving. Last week, Munich prosecutors raided Stadler’s home on suspicion of fraud and improprieties of documents. Volkswagen Audi said “the presumption of innocence remains in place for Mr. Stadler.” Volkswagen has pleaded guilty to emissions test cheating in the United States. CEO Martin Winterkorn was charged in the United States, but he will unlikely face those …

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With the World Cup in full swing, fans from across the globe are arriving in Russia, many visiting for the first time, after long journeys from South America, Africa and Asia. Many Russians say the fans have already transformed their home cities. Henry Ridgwell reports from Red Square in Moscow. …

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