Category: Євросоюз

Britain was thrown into political uncertainty Friday after Labour, the main opposition party, made an extraordinary electoral comeback, denying Prime Minister Theresa May and the ruling Conservatives a majority in the House of Commons, largely due to a surge in youth voters. In what will rank as one of the most remarkable elections in modern British history, May’s gamble to expand her party’s parliamentary majority failed spectacularly, raising doubts that she will be able to lead a minority government with the support of Northern Ireland’s Unionists. Calls mounted from the Labour Party, the leaders of third parties and some Conservatives …

READ MORE

Prime Minister Theresa May faced calls to quit Friday after her election gamble to win a stronger mandate backfired as she lost her parliamentary majority, throwing British politics into turmoil and potentially disrupting Brexit negotiations. May failed to get the 326 seats her Conservative party needs for an outright majority. She needs 18 more seats, with only 17 more seats left to declare. The result looks set to trigger a period of political uncertainty and could throw Britain’s negotiations to leave the European Union, due to start June 19, into disarray. The pound lost more than 2 cents against the …

READ MORE

Vice President Mike Pence said Thursday that the United States supported peace talks on Cyprus aimed at reunifying the divided island. Pence hosted Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades at the White House on Thursday. The White House said Pence expressed hope that Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders “will agree to a settlement that would reunify Cyprus as a bizonal, bicommunal federation to the benefit of all Cypriots.” Pence also thanked Cyprus for its support for the Middle East peace talks and the fight against Islamic State. Anastasiades said that he invited Pence to visit the island and that “what satisfied me …

READ MORE

The United States is wary of a French push for the U.N. Security Council to authorize a West African force to combat terrorism and trafficking in the Sahel region because it does not want the world body to help fund it, diplomats said on Thursday. France circulated a draft Security Council resolution on Tuesday to the 15-member body that would approve the force using “all necessary means” and ask U.N. chief Antonio Guterres to report on options for U.N. support to the operation. Closed-door negotiations began on Wednesday, and diplomats said the United States would prefer the council give its …

READ MORE

Native American activists from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, in the U.S. state of North Dakota, have gone global with their fight to stop fossil fuel corporations from possibly fouling water sources by transporting oil on indigenous lands. Peaceful protests that began April 1, 2016, to try to stop construction of the Dakota Access pipeline largely died down in February when the main protest camp was cleared. Oil drilling began on June 1. While they may have lost this battle, the activists say the war is far from over. They say the fight for indigenous rights continues to be waged …

READ MORE

Turkey’s decision to send up to 3,000 troops to Qatar further cements their growing ties, but it virtually eliminates a possible role for Ankara to mediate between Qatar and the Gulf states that have decided to isolate it for alleged support of terrorism. Both countries have found themselves increasingly isolated Turkey for the increasing authoritarian rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Qatar for its alleged financial support of extremist groups and growing ties with Iran, the main competitor to Saudi Arabia for power and influence in the region. Qatar denies the allegation. Erdogan reportedly tried to intervene after Saudi Arabia, …

READ MORE

Britain goes to the polls Thursday in a snap election called in April by Prime Minister Theresa May. May says she wants a strong mandate to take to Brussels when negotiations begin on Britain’s exit from the European Union. But her hopes of winning a big majority have faded, as the main opposition Labour party appears to be closing the gap. As Henry Ridgwell reports, the campaign has been overshadowed by a series of terror attacks. …

READ MORE

After three Islamist attacks in Britain in as many months, many voters in the town of Corby say security is now their major concern for Thursday’s election — and they see both Prime Minister Theresa May and her Labour challenger as weak. A once thriving steel town in central England, Corby has backed the winning party in every British general election since 1983, and if Labour is to upset opinion polls that point to victory for May’s Conservatives, this is the kind of parliamentary seat it needs to take. The town overwhelmingly backed leaving the European Union in last year’s …

READ MORE

Polling stations are open for the general election Britain is holding Thursday. Prime Minister Theresa May called the snap election — an early vote, three years before Parliament’s term was to expire — in early April in the hope of winning strong backing for her government during upcoming negotiations in Brussels on the country’s exit from the European Union. The prime minister originally expected a big win to boost her Conservative Party’s majority in Parliament, but that optimism faded as her campaign sputtered over the past few weeks. Late developments, however, could upend the experts’ predictions once again. Polls: Labour Party …

READ MORE

Slovakia wants to be a part of the EU “integration machine,” its prime minister said on Wednesday, in comments that follow calls by Germany, France and Spain for deeper cooperation and contrast with the eurosceptic stance of some other east European states. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and France’s new President Emmanuel Macron agreed in May to outline a road map for deeper European Union integration while Spain suggested that members of the bloc should pool some aspects of their debt management and share a budget to fight crisis shocks. “Slovakia meets conditions to be a part of the EU integration …

READ MORE

About 25,000 military forces from the United States and 23 other countries will take part in a large-scale military exercise called Saber Guardian planned in Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania next month. In addition, several U.S. B-1B heavy bombers have arrived in Britain in support of two separate multinational exercises planned in the Baltic region and other parts of Europe this month to improve coordination among partner countries. The U.S. military plans were announced by Stuttgart-based U.S. European Command, which said this year’s Saber Guardian exercise — held annually in the Black Sea region since 2013 — was “larger in both …

READ MORE

As Britain confronts a wave of terrorist attacks, pressure is mounting on its Muslim community to do a better job of identifying potential extremists and policing itself. At the forefront of such efforts is Nazir Afzal, a Muslim and former top prosecutor. Afzal gained national attention for pioneering difficult prosecutions to tackle honor-based violence and forced marriage, as well as child sexual exploitation and grooming in the northwest of England, including Manchester, the site of last month’s suicide bombing that killed 22 people at a pop concert. In an exclusive interview, Afzal said the community has, in general, done a …

READ MORE

The European Union on Wednesday unveiled a new defense fund to get better value for money on high-tech projects like drones or robotics as European allies at NATO come under U.S. pressure to boost their military budgets.   The European Commission said the fund would provide a total of 500 million euros ($563 million) in EU money in 2019 and 2020 to help buy and develop military equipment.   This would double to 1 billion euros annually from 2020. The Commission says it expects the money to generate about five times that amount for developing defense capabilities, once member countries …

READ MORE

The European Union has slapped new security screening on imports from Bangladesh, a move that is likely to make it costlier for businesses in the South Asian country to sell products to EU nations. Just over half of Bangladeshi exports go to the European bloc, accounting for $18.68 billion in revenues during the last fiscal year. Those shipments, by air or sea, will now have to be screened by bomb-detecting dogs and devices.   Bangladesh has none of these facilities, so cargo will have to be routed through a third country where security screening is possible.   The move makes …

READ MORE

A civil rights group is asking German authorities to issue an arrest warrant for the recently appointed deputy director of the CIA over claims she oversaw the torture of terrorism suspects 15 years ago. The non-profit European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights submitted a legal brief to German federal prosecutors Tuesday, alleging that Gina Haspel allowed the waterboarding of prisoners at a secret U.S. detention center in Thailand. The prosecutor’s office confirmed Wednesday the complaint had been received and was being reviewed. Advocates describe waterboarding as a form of “enhanced interrogation.” Critics say it amounts to torture, because prisoners …

READ MORE

French President Emmanuel Macron is holding a special meeting Wednesday aimed at creating a new counterterrorism unit, in the presence of government members and top security officials. The French presidency said the defense council will outline details of a task force that will be in charge of coordinating counterterrorism efforts and intelligence services in the country. The unit will be based at the Elysee palace, operational 24 hours a day and will act directly under the president’s authority — an unprecedented situation in the country, where some observers have denounced a lack of coordination between foreign and domestic intelligence services. …

READ MORE

After the shock and anguish of a series of terror attacks in recent weeks, Britain will hold a general election Thursday, and security has moved to the top of the agenda. In the wake of the most recent attack, Prime Minister Theresa May said “enough is enough” and warned that Britain needed to drastically change its approach to guarding against terrorism. Meanwhile, the British capital is physically adapting to the apparent new threat. Armed police are being deployed to soft targets like railway stations and tourist hubs. On the famous bridges across the River Thames, barriers have been erected to …

READ MORE

The European Union hopes six Balkan countries will agree at a summit on July 12 in Italy to create a regional common market that could be working within a year, a top EU official said Tuesday, in the bloc’s latest step to re-engage the region. The EU is eager to show it remains committed to the Balkan region despite public hostility at home to further eastern enlargement of the bloc following years of economic crisis, high unemployment and the rise of euroskeptic and populist parties. The Western Balkan common market, which would remove barriers to trade, introduce standardized rules for …

READ MORE

Nikki Haley, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, has warned that the Trump Administration might pull out of the Human Rights Council if the U.N. body does not undertake necessary reforms. In a tough “take no prisoners” speech at the opening of the council’s three-week session, Haley put the group on notice that it should mend its ways. “As you know, the United States is looking carefully at this council and our participation in it. We see some areas for significant strengthening,” she said. Haley is the 29th U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and the first to address the …

READ MORE

Details emerged Tuesday of the three London Bridge attackers: a Pakistan-born failed customer service clerk with links to one of Europe’s most prolific hate preachers, a Moroccan pastry chef whose partner said he once went swimming rather than see his daughter and an Italian national who told authorities he “wanted to be a terrorist.” At least two of the men were known to British intelligence and law enforcement officials, raising questions about whether anything could have been done to stop the attack, which began Saturday when the men drove a rented van into a crowd and then leaped out to …

READ MORE