Mediaboss Marketing

In the coming decades, sub-Saharan Africa will grow increasingly important to both the U.S. and Europe. Its growing population and proximity to Europe make that fact undeniable. Chinese political and economic inroads may be irreversible. Yet, by working together, the U.S. and Europe do have the ability to create the space for African governments and their people to have a viable alternative strategic direction. Such an undertaking not only would benefit Africa, but would put a much-needed item of converging interest on the transatlantic agenda.

The transatlantic relationship between the United States, the European Union (EU) and major European capitals is rife with a growing sense of pessimism that the two sides of the Atlantic have set themselves on independent courses. American and European leaders have parted ways on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action to contain Irans nuclear ambitions and the Paris Agreement to fight climate change. Beyond that, the two sides continue to have running disagreements on trade, defense spending and how to tax and regulate digital services. The U.S. and Europe also broadly continue to fail to find a coordinated approach to Chinas aggressive and mercantilist economic stance.

These substantial policy disagreements are compounded by political statements that have diminished mutual trust and goodwill. President TrumpDonald John TrumpFormer Pennsylvania governor: Biden nomination will be 'virtually clinched' after next Tuesday How coronavirus is changing Sunday's debate The Memo: Coronavirus scrambles the art of campaigning MORE has called the EU a foe that treats the U.S. worse than China. Donald Tusk, then the president of the European Council, said last year that Trump is perhaps the most difficult challenge facing the European Union. While the history of the transatlantic relationship has no shortage of contentious disputes, both America and Europe remained committed to one another in a mutually beneficial strategic alignment. Yet, confronted with numerous disagreements over fundamental issues, todays European leaders have taken to discussing strategic sovereignty for Europe with renewed urgency.

The U.S. and Europe undoubtedly will remain close economic partners for the foreseeable future, but the strategic alignment between the two continents is at risk of losing cohesion. And once abandoned, it will not be easily or quickly restored.

To avoid such a result, what is needed is a strategic project where the skill sets and political interests of both the U.S. and Europe can complement one another to achieve a mutual interest. That could be achieved by cooperating in sub-Saharan Africa to expand market-oriented economies and democratic governance. That would help African countries to better navigate the threats from violent extremist groups, the rigors of environmental changes, and the siren call of the Chinese economic model.

While often left out of transatlantic conversations, the future of sub-Saharan Africa holds potentially enormous implications for both the United States and Europe. Over the next 30 years, the population of sub-Saharan Africa is slated to grow to over2.2 billion people, or nearly a quarter of the worlds total population. The U.S. and Europe share a common interest to see this region develop into a zone of stability and not a source of mass irregular migration of the type that has proven so politically destabilizing to Europe in recent years.

Between 2000 and 2017, nearly 1 million sub-Saharan migrants sought asylum in Europe. As Africas population grows, the potential for future mass flows of people north because of climate change or conflict could be overwhelming.

By working together, the U.S. and Europe could align their approaches to sub-Saharan Africa in a way that provides Africans a meaningful alternative to Chinas coercive debt-diplomacy while also allowing for a positive project that restores confidence in transatlantic cooperation. Such a strategic arrangement could work because the United States and Europe could each focus on different, but complementary actions.

The EU could emphasize the types of programs for which it has shown an affinity, including in the development, health and environmental sectors. The U.S., along with select allies, could use its military might and superior intelligence collection abilities to defeat terrorist groups and work to mature the newly established U.S. International Development Finance Corporation into a mechanism to provide a viable, sustainable and transparent financing options to balance the influence of China. That would cater to the political preferences of the Trump administration.

Both Washington and European capitals should understand that sub-Saharan Africa increasingly will be a valuable export market and economic partner. While only about 1 percent of current U.S. trade takes place with sub-Saharan Africa, the opportunities in coming decades as extreme poverty recedes and urbanization grows are exponential. It is only prudent to take steps now to ensure African countries remain open to Western business and embrace rule of law and market capitalism. If not, American and European companies could well be crowded out by state-supported Chinese rivals and the non-market economic conditions they bring.

In just the past several weeks, Washington and Brussels have turned their attention to Africa. Secretary of State Mike PompeoMichael (Mike) Richard PompeoTrump's national security adviser says China 'covered up' coronavirus The Hill's Morning Report - Biden delivers another devastating blow to Sanders CDC chief says it's wrong to call COVID-19 a 'Chinese virus' MORE and his EU equivalent, Josep Borrell, each made separate visits to the continent. Additionally, Ursula von der Leyen made her inaugural visit as EU Commission president in February, leading an unprecedentedly large delegation of 20 EU commissioners.

This attention is surely welcome, but the West is lagging behind China. According to the American Enterprise Institutes Global Investment Tracker, China has invested some $300 billion in sub-Saharan Africa since 2005. China has opened dozens of Confucius Institutes, mostly within African colleges and universities to propagate its soft power, invested in media organizations to deliver Beijings interpretation of the news, and even built the underlying information technology infrastructure in many cases.

The U.S. and Europe find themselves at numerous political and policy impasses, and the time is right to expand the scope of what is possible. U.S. and European leaders should reframe sub-Saharan Africa as a transatlantic issue. Sub-Saharan Africa is where the American interest in competing with China meets sound economic and governance goals shared by Europe and Africans themselves.

Scott Cullinane is the executive director of U.S.-Europe Alliance. From 2011-2018, he served in various positions with the U.S. Congress, including as the professional staff member for the House Foreign Affairs Europe Subcommittee where he covered a broad jurisdiction, including the European Union, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and Central Asia. Follow him on Twitter @ScottPCullinane.

See the original post:
Could sub-Saharan Africa be what unites the US and Europe? | TheHill - The Hill

Like many jurisdictions around the world, the European Union has announced extraordinary measures to combat the Coronavirus, or COVID-19, including measures to mitigate the impact the illness will have on SMEs.

In a statement yesterday,the Commission said it considers the COVID-19 pandemic as qualifying as an unusual event outside the control of government. The Commission will recommend adjusting the fiscal efforts required from Member States in case of negative growth or large drops in [economic] activity.

More policy action may be in the queue, including general fiscal policy support and suspending the fiscal adjustment recommended by the Council in case of a severe economic downturn in the Euro area or the EU as a whole.

Regarding the impact to European SMEs, the EU had this to say:

To bring immediate relief to hard-hit SMEs, the EU budget will deploy its existing instruments to support these companies with liquidity, complementing measures taken at national level. In the coming weeks, 1 billion will be redirected from the EU budget as a guarantee to the European Investment Fund to incentivise banks to provide liquidity to SMEs and midcaps. This will help at least 100,000 European SMEs and small mid-caps with about 8 billion of financing. We will also provide credit holidays to the existing debtors that are negatively affected.

The complete statement on the Coronavirus is available here.

Follow this link:
Coronavirus: European Union to Aid SMEs with 8 Billion of Financing - Crowdfund Insider

The Bavarian Minister for the Interior, Joachim Herrmann, greets the first US soldiers to arrive in Europe (Nuremberg, 3 March 2020)

The Ministers for Defence of the 27 countries of the EU, 22 of which are also members of NATO, met on 4 and 5 March in Zagreb, Croatia. The central theme of the meeting (in which Lorenzo Guerini of the Democratic Party represented Italy) was not to seek a response to the Coronavirus crisis which is jamming up civil mobility, but how best to develop military mobility . The decisive test is the Defender Europe 20 exercise, scheduled for April and May. The General Secretary of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, who took part in the EU meeting, dfines it as the largest deployment of US forces in Europe since the end of the Cold War .

The 20,000 soldiers who, with 10,000 others already on site, and 7,000 NATO allies, are presently arriving in Europe from the USA, informs the US Army Europe. They are to deploy throughout the European region . The US forces are bringing with them 33,000 pieces of military equipment, from personal weapons to Abrams assault tanks. It is obvious that they will therefore need adequate infrastructures for their transport. But there is a problem, as revealed by a report by the European Parliament (February 2020): Since the 1990s, European infrastructures have been developed only for civil usage. However, military mobility has become a key question for NATO. As the Alliance lacks the tools to improve military mobility in Europe, the European Union, which does possess the legislative and financial tools to do so, plays an indispensable role .

The Action Plan on Military Mobility, presented by the European Commission in 2018, plans to modify those infrastructures which are not adapted to the weight and dimensions of military vehicles . For example, if a bridge is unable to support the weight of a column of tanks, it must be reinforced or rebuilt. On the basis of this criterion, the test for the strength of the new bridge, which in Gnes will replace the collapsed Morandi bridge, will have to be carried out with Abrams tanks weighing 70 tonnes each. These modifications, which are useless for civil purposes, will require massive expenditure to be assumed by the member countries, with a possible financial contribution by the EU .

The European Commission has provided for a primary allocation of 30 billion Euros this is public money taken from our pockets. The Plan also intends to simplify the Customs formalities for military operations and for the transport of dangerous military-style merchandise .

The US Army Europe has demanded the institution of a Military Schengen Zone , with the difference that it will not be people who will be allowed to travel unhindered, but tanks.

The Defender Europe 20 exercise - as was explained during the meeting in Zagreb will enable the identification of all obstacles to military mobility, which the EU will have to remove .

The transport network of the EU will therefore be tested by 30,000 US soldiers, who will deploy throughout the European region , exempted of the Coronavirus standards. This is confirmed by a video showing the first 200 soldiers of the US Army Europe arriving in Bavaria on 6 March. While in Lombardy, only a few hundred kilometres away, more severe standards are in place, in Bavaria, where the first European outbreak of Coronavirus was noted, US soldiers just off the plane shook hands with German authorities and kissed the comrades without any masks. Spontaneous question could they already be vaccinated against the Coronavirus?

Besides, we might ask ourselves what could be the purpose of the largest deployment of US forces in Europe since the end of the Cold War , officially to protect Europe from any potential threats (with a clear reference to the Russian menace ), at the moment when Europe is in crisis because of the threat of the Coronavirus (there is even one case at NATO headquarters in Brussels). And since the US Army Europe informs us that movements of troops and equipement in Europe will last until July , we can only wonder if all of the 20,000 US soldiers will go back to their Homeland, or will some of them stay behind with their weapons. Could the Defender become the Invader of Europe?

Read the original here:
In a Europe closed down by the Coronavirus, the EU opens its doors to the US army, by Manlio Dinucci - Rseau Voltaire

PARIS The shutdown of Europe expanded drastically on Saturday as more countries shuttered businesses, locked up borders and chased people off streets and into their homes in a race to contain the growing threat of the coronavirus.

Spain became the second country in Europe, after Italy, to impose strict limits on public life, telling everyone to stay indoors, with few exceptions. As cases soared nationwide, the authorities confirmed that the prime ministers wife had been infected.

In France, cafes and restaurants central to the countrys soul and social life were ordered closed along with most other nonessential businesses.

In the United States, Vice President Mike Pence widened the American travel ban to include Britain and Ireland, effectively shutting off travel from nearly 30 European countries, while the White House said that President Trump had tested negative for the virus.

Across Europe, there was a widespread feeling that the health crisis flaying Italy for weeks had arrived at the doorsteps of its neighbors, and that the time for hoping the threat would somehow dissipate without sweeping intervention was over.

Until Saturday, cafes in Paris had been full of revelers and restaurants had been doing good business, even without tourists. But then French officials said the crisis could be disregarded no longer.

The time of classic Parisian nonchalance had come to an end.

In France, when you tell people to stay home, they go to bars to celebrate the closure, said Hlne Noaillon, a bartender at Les Pres Populaires, reacting to news of the closures on Saturday night while the bar was still open.

Our society is more libertarian, she said. As long as you dont put people under any real constraints, theyre going to continue to live the way they want.

While some European leaders, like President Emmanuel Macron of France, have called for intensifying cooperation across nations, others are trying to close their countries off.

From Denmark to Slovakia, governments went into aggressive virus-fighting mode with border closures.

In Denmark, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said all foreigners who did not have an essential purpose for visiting the country would be turned away. Passenger ferries and trains will stop running, but cargo transports will continue. The measures will be in effect until at least April 13.

Poland planned to close its borders at midnight and deny all foreigners entry. The Czech Republic and Slovakia followed suit. Lithuania announced border checks at the frontiers with Poland and Latvia. Still, it is at best unclear whether closing borders is an effective means of containing the virus.

In France, there was a sense that a general lockup might now be the only way to at least slow the spread of the disease domestically. On Saturday night, French officials scolded their fellow citizens in announcing the new closures, which extend to virtually all businesses except those deemed essential, like grocery stores, banks and gas stations.

Previous declarations against large gatherings had been ignored, they warned. The result was more infections, more hospitalizations and more deaths.

The first measures taken to limit gatherings have been imperfectly applied, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said. I say it with all seriousness: Together we must show more discipline in implementing these measures.

He called on the French to avoid family gatherings and nonessential travel. But, baffling to commentators, Mr. Philippe insisted at the same time that Sundays municipal elections would go ahead as planned.

The drastic new measures in France came in reaction to a doubling of infections in the last 72 hours to 4,500. There have been 91 deaths, and 300 people are in critical condition.

In Spain, the outbreak is even worse. At least 6,200 are infected, and 190 have died.

On Saturday, the Spanish authorities said the wife of Prime Minister Pedro Snchez, Begoa Gmez, had tested positive for the virus.

A day after declaring a state of emergency, Spains divided government argued all day about what concrete steps to take to combat the virus. After a seven-hour meeting, the government decreed a nationwide lockdown, extending the kind of measures that various regional authorities including in the capital, Madrid, and in Catalonia had already taken in recent days.

Madrid, normally one of Europes most bustling cities with thousands of bars and cafes, resembled a ghost town on Saturday, as its 3.5 million residents started to follow the advice of the authorities to stay at home.

The train stations and main avenues were almost deserted. Only stores providing basic services like supermarkets and gas stations were allowed to stay open.

The government said people could leave their homes to buy food, to go to work if they cannot work remotely, to seek health care, or to assist the elderly and others in need. The government also ordered all schools, restaurants, bars and nonessential stores to close.

Were the new Italy, said Francisco Gutierrez, a 33-year-old street cleaner for the city of Madrid. We dont know how long its going to last, and we dont know how much Spain will suffer from this yet.

Mr. Snchez has warned that the number of coronavirus cases in Spain could reach 10,000 next week, given how sharply infections have been rising.

In Britain and Ireland, the new ban on travelers heading to the United States will go into effect as of midnight on Monday, American officials said Saturday. It follows the strictures on travel from the Continent announced by Mr. Trump on Wednesday, which were widely criticized in Europe. The new ban got a similar reception in Britain on Saturday.

Its a complete and utter waste of time, said Roy Anderson, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at Imperial College London.

Britain continued to resist the main measure taken by much of Europe, however: the banning of large gatherings.

Pro-Brexit campaigners had treated Britains previous exemption from the ban as a vindication of the countrys decision to cut ties with the European Union. The U.K. is now treated as an independent country, Nigel Farage, the leader of the Brexit Party, said triumphantly last week.

But Brexit champions were largely silent on Saturday as Britain, which has recorded 1,140 infections and 21 deaths from coronavirus, was added to the list.

The new measures across Europe reflected a growing awareness that delayed action or intervention could lead to an outbreak like the one in Italy. In that country, more than 21,000 people have been sickened, more than 1,400 have died, and doctors and nurses have been so overwhelmed that they have had to choose whom to treat and whom to leave to fend for themselves.

France declared that it had entered the most serious threat level from the epidemic Phase 3 an announcement that citizens and commentators had been awaiting with dread.

Up until now, the French have not sufficiently become aware of their role facing the virus, one of the countrys top health officials, Jrme Salomon, said. It is urgent it is now that you need to change behavior.

A half-dozen French lawmakers and several government ministers have been infected. Sundays elections in France, for mayors and city councils, have been regarded as a critical referendum on Mr. Macrons reformist government, though turnout is now expected to be low.

Beyond the elections, France has yet another coronavirus problem to tackle: a cruise ship headed its way.

An Italian couple tested positive for the coronavirus in San Juan, Puerto Rico, late on Friday after disembarking from the cruise ship. Costa Cruises, an Italian subsidiary of Miami-based Carnival Corporation, says the ship is now heading to Marseilles, France.

But the closing of restaurants and cafes in France, major elements of the countrys symbolic heart, is certain to bring the crisis home in a way that nothing has so far. Even the closing of museums and major tourist attractions, announced Friday, dont compare.

Commentators on French television Saturday night noted that even during the German occupation, bars and restaurants stayed open.

On Saturday night, a Paris reveler, Clmence Jamult, a 39-year-old history teacher, said the closures meant the end of a very French way of life.

Its a special moment, she added. Others said it was inevitable.

Its a little sad to come to this, but its a necessary decision, said Ms. Noaillon, the bartender, adding that French people were barely respecting the rules of social distancing urged on them by the government earlier in the week.

Adam Nossiter reported from Paris, and Raphael Minder and Elian Peltier from Madrid. Reporting was contributed by Benjamin Mueller from London, Constant Meheut and Aurelien Breeden from Paris, and Zolan Kanno-Youngs from Washington.

Read more from the original source:
Shutdowns Spread Across Europe as Spain and France Order Broad Restrictions - The New York Times

Despite having campaigned to stay in the European Economic Community (EEC) the precursor to the EU former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is now often portrayed as a spiritual mother of euroscepticism. She passionately fought and won a number of battles against what she saw as the excessive powers of Brussels. In 1984, she negotiated a British rebate on contributions to the EEC in what has long been considered one of the Iron Ladys finest victories.

Despite her anti-EU stance, according to Lord David Owen, it was one of Baroness Thatchers key decisions that ultimately tied Britain to the EU.

In an interview with Express.co.uk, the former Foreign Secretary and SDP leader argued that the former Prime Minister should have listened to her then-Chancellor Nigel Lawson before signing the Single European Act.

He explained: "Nigel Lawson is a significant figure.

"He wrote to Margaret Thatcher twice in 1986 warning her not to allow the use of the term 'monetary', which was very significant in the Single European Act.

"He deserves great praise for this.

"Thatcher should have said no, and she realised this later.

"We should have said no to the monetary system, because if we had, then we could have easily vetoed Maastricht."

The Brexiteer noted: "But having gone on and on with that language, it was much harder to block Maastricht.

"Particularly when Kohl was so accommodating giving us the opt outs."

The Single European Act (SEA) was the first major revision of the 1957 Treaty of Rome.

JUST IN:Why Italy is furious with Christine Lagarde over coronavirus U-turn

The Act set the European Community the objective of establishing a single market by December 31, 1992.

It was signed in Luxembourg on February 17, 1986, and at The Hague on February 28, 1986.

The Act set the precedent that, in order to achieve such a market, a genuine Economic and Monetary Union had to be established a goal which was set out in its preamble.

It conferred on the Community a monetary capacity, which is to say the possibility of adapting the Community institutions to the subsequent development of an economic and monetary policy.

The future economic monetary union was, therefore, to be established within the Community framework.

DON'T MISS:Brexit U-turn: David Frost left door open to rejoining EU[INSIGHT]Nicola Sturgeon: Peer delivers shock verdict on independent Scotland[EXCLUSIVE]EU panic: George Soross radical plan to save Europe revealed[REVEALED]

Despite Baroness Thatcher's mistake, she spent the following years fighting against the Maastricht Treaty the international agreement that saw what was then the European Community evolve into the European Union with initially only 12 member states.

While the Iron Lady's successor Sir John Major was in favour of signing Maastricht, she believed the Treaty would have "diminished democracy and increased bureaucracy in Britain.

Referring to the signing of the Single European Act, the Tory grandee said in 1993: Our trust was not well-founded.

We got our fingers burnt.

"The most silly thing to do when you get your fingers burnt is to bring forward a bigger and worse Act which is the equivalent of putting your head in the fire.

Speaking months later in the House of Lords, Baroness Thatcher also claimed: I could never have signed this treaty.

Despite opposition from the Conservatives, Sir John signed the Treaty on February 7, 1992.

Read more:
Brexit blow: How Margaret Thatcher unintentionally tied Britain to EU - Express