Category: Євросоюз

British Prime Minister Theresa May is under pressure to return millions of dollars given by Russian oligarchs and their lobbyists to her ruling Conservative party. One of the biggest donors is the wife of a former Russian deputy finance minister, once nicknamed “Putin’s banker.” When May took office 18 months ago she promised that Britain’s Conservatives would “sup with a long spoon” and distance themselves from Russian donors, but electoral commission records analyzed by Britain’s Sunday Times newspaper show Russian-linked donations have continued. Contributions have also been given to the Conservatives by British lobbyists and PR firms working for Russian …

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A new Polish law banning almost all trade on Sundays has taken effect, with large supermarkets and most other retailers closed for the first time since liberal shopping laws were introduced in the 1990s after communism’s collapse. The change is stirring up a range of emotions in a country where many feel workers are exploited under the liberal regulations of the past years and want workers to have a day of rest. But many Poles experience consumer freedom as one of the most tangible benefits of the free market era and resent the new limit.   In Hungary, another ex-communist …

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French President Emmanuel Macron took a jibe Sunday at President Donald Trump for withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement.   Macron did not name Trump while speaking at the first meeting of the International Solar Alliance in New Delhi. But while hailing the “solar mamas,” a group of women trained as solar engineers, he said the women had continued their mission to promote solar energy even after “some countries decided just to leave the floor and leave the Paris agreement.”   Trump announced last June that the U.S. was withdrawing from the Paris accord, which aims to slow the rise …

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France’s far-right National Front party has definitively severed its ties to firebrand founder Jean-Marie Le Pen as it tries to revive its fortunes.   The party also re-elected his daughter, Marine Le Pen, to a new term as president at party congress where she was its only candidate for the post. A new 100-member governing council was also named.   The party tweeted Sunday that more than 79 percent of members who participated in a vote approved new party statutes that included abolishing Jean-Marie Le Pen’s position of party president for life.   The party expelled him in 2015 over …

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U.S. President Donald Trump says the United States is prepared to counter any future meddling in the 2018 and 2020 U.S. elections. But what would a U.S. counterattack look like, and is the Russian political system vulnerable to the same attacks that befell the 2016 elections? VOA’s Jane Bojadzievski takes a look at what that might mean for U.S. relations with Russia. …

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China said Sunday it does not intend to ignite a trade war with the U.S. because the move would be disastrous for the entire world. “There are no winners in a trade war,” Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan said on the sidelines of China’s annual parliamentary session. “China does not wish to fight a trade war, nor will China initiate a trade war, but we can handle any challenge and will resolutely defend the interests of our country and our people,” Zhong said. President Donald Trump signed proclamations Thursday imposing a 25 percent tariff on imported steel and a 10 …

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Former White House adviser Steve Bannon’s surprise address Saturday at a key far right party meeting in France gives a boost to its struggling leader, Marine Le Pen. While other European far-right movements are surging on anti-immigrant platforms, France’s National Front is weakened and divided. Le Pen hopes to rally supporters around a new party name – and possibly a new direction. Far-right parties in Austria and Italy may be celebrating recent polls, but France’s National Front shows how fast politics can change. Less than a year ago, National Front leader Marine Le Pen came in second in France’s presidential …

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British government security ministers are holding an emergency meeting to discuss the investigation into the poisoning in England of a Russian who spied for Britain.   The meeting Home Secretary Amber Rudd is leading on Saturday will cover the latest police and intelligence reports from Salisbury, where a military-supported investigation is underway.   Police are looking for clues to the mysterious attack on former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia.   They were found unconscious on a bench near the River Avon in Salisbury on Sunday. They remain in critical condition in a local hospital, poisoned …

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Turkey’s president has criticized NATO for not supporting the country’s ongoing military operation against Syrian Kurdish fighters in Syria.   Speaking to supporters Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked, “Hey NATO, where are you?” and accused the alliance of double standards. Erdogan said Turkey sent troops to conflict zones when requested, but did not receive support in return.   Turkey launched a solo military offensive against the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units or YPG on January 20 to clear them from Afrin in northwestern Syria. The country considers the YPG a terror organization but its NATO ally, the United …

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India and France pledged Saturday to work together to ensure freedom of navigation in the Indian Ocean and signed an agreement to expedite construction of a major nuclear power plant in India by a French company.   After talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in New Delhi, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also highlighted the solar alliance and cooperation between the two countries in the fields of defense, security, technology, space and counterterrorism.    Macron, who arrived in New Delhi on Friday for a four-day visit to India, said France and India should be key partners.   “And I dream …

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Tens of thousands of protesters have once again taken to the streets of cities in Slovakia, following the murder of a journalist and his fiancée two weeks ago. Many demonstrators are calling for fresh elections and directing their anger toward the government. “The government should step down. It is obvious they all just stick together, they all just want to keep their positions in power,” protester Miroslav Sputsova told the crowd Friday evening in Bratislava. The Feb. 25 killing of Jan Kuciak and his fiancée, Martina Kusnirova, has shaken Slovakia and Europe, where there is growing concern over press freedom …

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A Turkish court ruled on Friday that two journalists should be released for the duration of their trial for subversion, a lawyer at the courthouse said. Murat Sabuncu, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Cumhuriyet, and writer Ahmet Sik were ordered released, the lawyer said. However, Cumhuriyet said that its attorney, Akin Atalay, was remanded in custody until the next hearing, on March 16. Prosecutors charge that Cumhuriyet was effectively taken over by supporters of Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based cleric blamed by the government for a 2016 failed coup. The newspaper and staff deny the charges and say they are being targeted …

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A respected Russian-language business newspaper is reporting a 12-percent drop in President Vladimir Putin’s popularity in cities with more than 1 million inhabitants between mid-January and mid-February. Moscow-based Vedomosti, which was once a joint venture between Dow Jones, the Financial Times and the publishers of The Moscow Times, based its report on a survey issued by the state-run Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM). According to VTsIOM, Putin’s popularity fell from almost 70 percent to slightly above 57 percent in large and mid-size Russian cities whose populations cumulatively represent roughly one quarter of the electorate. Valery Fyodorov, director …

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Spain’s Supreme Court on Friday turned down a request from a jailed Catalan separatist leader to attend the northeastern region’s parliament session, where lawmakers are due to vote on whether to make him president of Catalonia.   Judge Pablo Llarena wrote in a ruling that there was a risk that Jordi Sanchez would repeat the offenses that have landed him in jail. He ordered Sanchez kept in preventive detention without bail.   Sanchez, a prominent secessionist who was elected to parliament last December, has been held in a prison near Madrid since October. He is being detained while Llarena investigates …

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The retired archbishop of Santiago is trying to deflect criticism for Pope Francis’ troubled trip to Chile in January, blaming everything from the summer weather to an “absentee” spokesman for the lower-than-expected turnout and negative press coverage during the visit. Cardinal Javier Errazuriz, a top papal adviser, wrote an extraordinary letter to the bishops of Latin America that insists the pope’s trip wasn’t a failure, but was “highly positive.” The National Catholic Reporter first reported the letter and its contents Friday. Errazuriz did not take responsibility for a sex abuse scandal that shadowed Francis’ visit or how the handling of …

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Saying Britain is being “pushed around” by the Kremlin, Britain’s defense secretary has joined a chorus in London calling for retaliation against Russia, as a former Russian double agent and his daughter fight for their lives after being struck down by a toxic substance. Gavin Williamson’s remarks came as British police revealed that as many as 21 people were treated for possible nerve agent poisoning in the apparent attempted assassination March 4 of Sergei Skripal, who was recruited by Britain’s MI6 intelligence agency, and his 33-year-old daughter, Yulia. Father and daughter remain hospitalized in critical condition and both reportedly are …

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U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of new tariffs on steel and aluminum is eliciting strong reactions at home and around the world. America’s neighbors breathed a sigh of relief at being granted an exemption from the tariffs. Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said despite the concession, Canada would continue to push back. “In recent days, we have worked energetically with our American counterparts to secure an exemption for Canada from these tariffs,” she said. “This work continues and it will continue until the prospect of these duties is fully and permanently lifted.” Canada is the largest supplier of steel and …

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British Prime Minister Theresa May is promising an “appropriate” response if it is discovered that Russia is responsible for poisoning a former Russian spy and his daughter. “But let’s give the police the time and space to actually conduct their investigation,” she told ITV news Thursday. “Of course, if action needs to be taken, then the government … will do that properly at the right time and on the basis of the best evidence.” Home Secretary Amber Rudd told Parliament “the use of a nerve agent on British soil is a brazen and reckless act. This was attempted murder in …

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Georgian legislators in Tbilisi are mulling an expedited North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) membership strategy following nearly a decade of frustrated efforts to join the military alliance. NATO leaders pledged in 2008 to secure membership for Georgia and Ukraine but stopped short of granting the former Soviet republics Membership Action Plan (MAP) status, which would speed membership. Now, Tbilisi lawmakers say they are seriously considering a fast-track approach recently put forward by the Washington-based Heritage Foundation think tank. “In accordance to our national priorities and by consultations with our strategic partners, we will make every effort to accelerate our integration,” …

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A British police official on Thursday updated the number of people who sought treatment after a nerve agent attack on an ex-Russian spy, saying “around 21” had been given medical help and support. Only three people remain hospitalized after the poisoning Sunday in the southern English city of Salisbury — ex-spy Sergei Skripal, his daughter Yulia and a British police officer who tried to help them. Health officials insist there has only been a low risk to the public. Authorities haven’t said who launched the attack, but U.K. officials have warned of a strong response if the Russian government is …

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