Archive for the ‘European Union’ Category

Declaration by the High Representative, on behalf of the European Union, on the recent attacks in Tripoli – EU News

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Declaration by the High Representative, on behalf of the European Union, on the recent attacks in Tripoli - EU News

Explained: Why a recent verdict of Germanys top court has sent shockwaves across EU – The Indian Express

By: Explained Desk | New Delhi | Updated: May 9, 2020 3:29:57 pm The German ruling came to the delight of Eurosceptics, and was echoed by governments that have been in the EUs crosshairs. (Source: Reuters)

On Tuesday, Germanys constitutional court sent shockwaves through the European community as it questioned the legality of a past ruling of the European Court of Justice.

The judgment from Germany, which mainly takes aim at a bond-buying scheme of the European Central Bank (ECB), is seen at its heart as challenging the long-settled hierarchy of European Union (EU) judiciary, and has since resonated with many governments and politicians in the EU that are critical of its policies.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ), a supranational institution, is a part Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), and is the European Unions supreme court in matters of EU law.

Founded in 1952 after the Treaty of Paris, the Luxembourg-based court ensures that EU law is interpreted and applied the same in every EU country, and ensures that countries and EU institutions abide by EU law. It settles legal disputes between national governments and EU institutions.

In terms of hierarchy, the national courts of member countries are understood to be below the ECJ in matters of EU law.

In 2018, the ECJ had ruled that a EUR 2 trillion bond-buying scheme of the European Central Bank (ECB), aimed at reinvigorating the EU economy after the multi-year European debt crisis, was legal as per EU law.

In Germany, opponents of the scheme had for years complained to the German Constitutional Court, the countrys highest, which in turn had expressed its concerns on parts of the scheme in 2017. This week, however, the German court dropped its biggest bombshell.

On Tuesday, the German court ruled that the ECJs 2018 ruling was ultra vires, meaning beyond the latters legal authority, and said that it did not properly address whether the ECB scheme was justifiably suited for the EU economy.

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Speaking of the 2018 ECJ decision, the German court said in a press release: This view manifestly fails to give consideration to the importance and scope of the principle of proportionality [] which applies to the division of competences between the European Union and the Member States and is simply untenable from a methodological perspective given that it completely disregards the actual economic policy effects of the programme.

If any Member State could readily invoke the authority to decide, through its own courts, on the validity of EU acts, this could undermine the precedence of application accorded to EU law and jeopardise its uniform application. Yet, if the Member States were to completely refrain from conducting any kind of ultra vires review, they would grant EU organs exclusive authority over the Treaties even in cases where the EU adopts a legal interpretation that would essentially amount to a treaty amendment or an expansion of its competences, it said.

The German court has now given the ECB three months to prove that the bond-buying scheme was proportionate as per the EUs actual needs.

After the ruling, the European Commission underlined the supremacy of the ECJ, saying, Notwithstanding the analysis of the detail of the German Constitutional Court decision today we reaffirm the primacy of the EU law, and the fact that the rulings of the European Court of Justice are binding on all national courts.

The German ruling came to the delight of Eurosceptics, and was echoed by governments that have been in the EUs crosshairs. Polands Deputy Justice Minister said, For several months, the Polish government has been clearly saying that the EU cannot overstep its competences and said that the German verdict is of tremendous importance for his country.

Critics of the German verdict say it could strike at the legal foundations of the 27-member zone, and the ensuing power struggle between the two courts could lead to a rewriting of EU treaties in itself a highly contentious process. Some economists have also slammed the judges understanding of monetary policy of both the German and EU courts.

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Belgiums former prime minister Guy Verhofstadt said, If every constitutional court of every member state starts giving its own interpretation of what Europe can and cannot do, its the beginning of the end.

Experts believe that national courts in Poland and Hungary could now follow the precedent set by Germany in challenging the EU courts orders.

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Explained: Why a recent verdict of Germanys top court has sent shockwaves across EU - The Indian Express

Elites have failed us. It is time to create a European republic – The Guardian

In 1933, the year of the Nazi takeover, the French writer Julien Benda wrote his Discourse to the European Nation, urging Europeans to come together around their shared universalist values and against the rising monsters of nationalism. As Europe marched towards the murder of its soul and its people, many dared to dream the impossible.

Benda was not alone. The Ventotene manifesto, one of the founding texts of European federalism, was drafted in 1941. And it was against the background of a continent in ruins that Churchill spoke of a United States of Europe in 1946. The rebirth of Europe would have been unthinkable if the flame of European unity had not been kept alive throughout the continents darkest hour.

While the challenge posed by Covid-19 has been compared to a war, we are thankfully very far from the murderous scenario of those years. And yet, the current crisis is drawing Europeans further apart and not closer together. Animosities and divisions grow whether that is between the east and the west on democracy and the rule of law, or between the north and the south on economic solidarity.

Spaniards must not look at the threat of unemployment with any greater fear than the Dutch

Europe was thought to advance through crises. Emergencies, so the argument went, would allow visionary politicians to overcome national resistance and bring the continent towards the ever closer union dreamed by its founders. But Europe has now been enmeshed in more than a decade of financial, political and humanitarian crises, and the result is constant and ever more worrisome disintegration.

The collapse of the European Union has been predicted for years. But Europe does not need to collapse to die. Europe dies when it just shrugs its shoulders at nation-first politics. Disintegration is not a single event, but rather a process marked by diminishing bonds, gradual loss of faith, and renationalisation of politics. Europe may end not with a bang but a whimper.

Fellow citizens: our national elites have failed us, and we must rescue the ideal of a united Europe from them. On 9 May, Europe Day, the European Union was planning on launching its Conference on the Future of Europe and opening a new chapter in the history of integration, following Brexit. These plans have now been delayed. And this may be just as well. The conference was structured to be yet another spectacle of top-down chatter without vision or ambition.

We call on you, on us all, to take the lead and keep the flame alive in these times of crisis. In place of another insignificant institutional conference, we call for the establishment of a European Citizens Congress on the Future of Europe, forming the basis of a modern constituent assembly. Such a congress would be a hybrid structure: falling somewhere between a social movement, a political actor and a deliberative platform, providing a rallying point for all those wishing to resist the path of disintegration.

It was similar congresses that decreed the enfranchisement of millions in South Africa and India over the last century. We, disenfranchised citizens of Europe, must now dare to demand and organise for the impossible: a European republic where all citizens are equal, independent of national affiliation. Where there is no question of some receiving generous aid and having access to exceptional healthcare, and others being left in misery and with overflowing hospitals.

Can there be such a thing as a European republic of equals, in such a diverse continent? Indeed, what defines a nation? A nation is neither ethnicity nor language, neither culture nor identity. A nation is a law that establishes a group of equals boasting common rights. It is, as the French sociologist Marcel Mauss wrote a century ago, a group that is collectively aware of its economic and social interdependence and that decides to transform this interdependence into collective control over the state and the economic system.

Isnt this exactly the juncture where Europe stands today? Are we prepared, as citizens of Europe, to take the necessary step towards such institutionalisation of solidarity, so that a Bulgarian and a Finn, a German and an Italian enjoy the same social protections, benefit from the same economic support and pay the same taxes? Are we willing to create, for the first time in history, a new democracy on a par with the global challenges banging on our doors? Are we ready to do so despite, and when necessary against, our own national governments?

We need one European social security number, a common European welfare that guarantees human dignity and security independent of nationality. Spaniards must not look at the threat of unemployment with any greater fear than the Dutch. Greeks must not look at the prospect of hospitalisation with any greater worry than a German. Libert, galit and fraternit, not security, was the motto of the French revolution, which is the cultural and political heritage of all Europeans!

We need an impressive programme of ecological and economic transformation. We cannot let some countries drown in debt and let our union be mistaken for a committee of loan sharks while our environment collapses. Just as Roosevelts New Deal allowed for the creation of modern federal institutions in the United States, a real European Green Deal boasting significant federal resources would at once address the economic slump caused by Covid-19, alter our toxic production model and create the institutions for a genuine economic union.

We need a modernised common tax system for our companies as well as for us as European citizens. Modern European nations were built by centralising the power of taxation from the feudal regime. The opposite process is under way today, with European states played against each other by multinational corporations dodging paying their fair share. A common European tax on large assets, a redistribution of the profits of automation, and a common tax on the profits of multinationals would build a new, broad-based taxation from scratch, recovering resources that are currently unattainable.

Dont let anyone convince you that any of this is inconceivable. For ours is a continent that time and again has shown that citizens power can make the impossible possible. On 20 June, 1789 in France the representatives of the third estate called themselves the National Assembly and swore not to separate until a constitution was established. The result was revolution and the birth of the modern French republic. Europe today needs its own Tennis Court Oath, a second peaceful revolution after the one of 1989, and the birth of its own republic.

As Julien Benda was fond of saying, emperors cannot produce Europe only citizens can.

Lorenzo Marsili is a founder of European Alternatives and Ulrike Gurot is founder and director of the European Democracy Lab

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Elites have failed us. It is time to create a European republic - The Guardian

EU said to debate punitive measures over Israeli annexation plans – Cleveland Jewish News

The European Unions Foreign Affairs Commission is reportedly debating punitive measures against Israel should it push forward with its plans to annex parts of Judea and Samaria and the Jordan Valley in accordance with the Trump administrations Middle East peace plan.

Sources familiar with the initiative told Israel Hayom that European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell is the one pushing for sanctions. Borrell, a Spanish diplomat, is known for his animosity toward Israel. This attitude is currently offset by the positive sentiment expressed toward Israel by Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen, a German diplomat and the sitting president of the European Commission.

The European Unions charter states that all major foreign policy decisions can be made only by a consensus among the blocs 27 member states. It is therefore believed that Israels allies in the European UnionHungary, Romania, Bulgaria and the Czech Republicwill block any major punitive action Borrell may try to promote.

Currently, Sweden, Ireland and Luxembourg are pushing for the harshest response, namely suspending the E.U.-Israel Association Agreement, which regulates relations between the two.

Another potential measure being considered is the exclusion of Israel from Horizon Europe, an ambitious E.U. research and innovation framework slated to run between 2021 and 2027. The program aims to strengthen the E.U.s scientific and technological bases, boost Europes innovation capacity, competitiveness and jobs and to deliver on citizens priorities and sustain socio-economic model and values, according to its website.

A third scenario may see the European Union pull out of the open skies agreement with Israel, which it has yet to ratify.

Each of these scenarios entail a significant economic impact on Israel.

The E.U.s foreign ministers are expected to debate the issue in their next meeting, scheduled for Thursday, though it is unlikely a decision will be made at that time, as the session will convene a mere day after the new Israeli government is to be sworn in.

Over the weekend, a Palestinian NGO called on Borrell to impose sanctions on Israel over its plans to annex the large settlement blocs in Judea and Samaria, calling the move illegal, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.

In a letter to Borrell, the European Coordination of Committees and Associations for Palestine expressed concerns over Israels planned annexation of parts of the West Bank that P.A. seeks to maintain as part of a future state, calling the move part of the ongoing ethnic cleansing, apartheid and colonization pursued by Israel.

The ECCPs letter said that to confront Israels unilateral land grab and annexation, immediate actions must to be taken, including sanctions and [other] concrete measures.

Meanwhile last week, the Israeli Foreign Ministry summoned E.U. Ambassador to Israel Emanuele Giaufret for clarifications following the publication of a memo suggesting that groups supporting, identifying or affiliated with terrorist organizations could receive European Union funding.

The Unions policy on financing terrorist organizations is a letter of endorsement for incitement, support and involvement in terrorism, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The E.U. Mission in Israel said in response that The EU opposes any incitement to violence or hatred. The allegations that the EU supports terrorism are unfounded and unacceptable, and we strongly oppose any such statement.

This article first appeared in Israel Hayom.

The post EU said to debate punitive measures over Israeli annexation plans appeared first on JNS.org.

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EU said to debate punitive measures over Israeli annexation plans - Cleveland Jewish News

Boris Johnson ‘frustrating’ EU with bold Brexit tactic – ‘EU irritation growing’ – Express.co.uk

The Director of UK in a Changing Europe, Anand Menon, argued the EU continues to get more frustrated with Boris Johnson and the UK. While speaking to Reuters Institute, Mr Menon claimed Mr Johnson was ignoring the EU's priorities in post-Brexit trade talks. Mr Menon used the fisheries as an example of the EU's top priority and insisted the Prime Minister's stance was frustrating the bloc.

He added the EU believes the UK is not taking negotiations seriously and isn't focussing on the obligations set out in the initial withdrawal agreement.

Mr Menon said: "Coronavirus is affecting things but I think the main thing that is affecting how we are seen by the European Union at the moment is our approach to the post-Brexit trade negotiations.

"I cannot stress enough how irritated the European Union is getting with the way Britain is approaching the negotiations."

Mr Menon noted the key annoyances felt by the European Union during the trade talks with the UK.

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He said: "Firstly because the EU thinks we are not approaching the talks seriously.

"That is to say they believe the Government is not acting as if it wants an agreement by December.

"Because if the Government was it would address the EU's priorities.

"These are things like fisheries but the UK has simply ignored them.

"The second thing is we are bound by the withdrawal agreement we have signed off to put in place the measures necessary to implement the Northern Ireland protocol.

"This would involve checks on goods going between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and we are very behind schedule on that.

"There are people in Brussels saying that the British are negotiating in bad faith.

"This is because they are not taking their obligations seriously and there is a growing sense of irritation on the EU's side.

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The UK and EU are expected to have another round of post-Brexit trade negotiations next week by video conference call.

During the coronavirus briefing on Friday, Environment Secretary George Eustice insisted that coronavirus would not cause a delay to Brexit progress.

He insisted that the UK had already left the European Union and the UK would be leaving the current transition period on time at the end of the year.

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Boris Johnson 'frustrating' EU with bold Brexit tactic - 'EU irritation growing' - Express.co.uk