Mediaboss Marketing

Tue., June 13, 2017, 8:01 a.m.

Two girls play with a doll near their shelter at a beach outside Souda refugee camp, Chios island, Greece, on Friday, June 9, 2017. About 2000 refugees and other migrants are in Chios and more than 62000 are stuck in Greece. (Petros Giannakouris / Associated Press)

BRUSSELS The European Union warned the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland on Tuesday that they have 24 hours to start taking in refugees under an EU sharing plan or face legal action.

The European Commission said in a statement that it has repeatedly urged the three countries to relocate refugees or at least pledge to do so under the legally-binding refugee plan agreed two years ago.

But it said they havent taken action in breach of their legal obligations, and that it has decided to launch infringement procedures.

The plan to share 160,000 refugees in overwhelmed Italy and Greece among other European countries over two years was endorsed in September 2015 by a qualified majority vote.

But just three months before the September 2017 deadline, fewer than 21,000 people have been relocated.

The Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia voted against it. Hungary and Slovakia had previously launched their own legal action against the scheme.

EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland have until Wednesday to change their minds.

There is still time ahead. Lets hope that not only reason but also the European spirit will prevail, Avramopoulos told reporters, lamenting that the three have not done anything for more than one year.

But Poland said it stands ready to take legal action of its own.

Poland is ready to defend its standpoint before the Court of Justice, Deputy Foreign Minister Konrad Szymanski said Tuesday.

He warned that the commissions action may deepen the divisions within the EU.

Avramopoulos praised Austria and Slovakia for recently pledging to do more. But as of June 9, Austria had still not relocated a single refugee. Slovakia had taken in 16.

The refugee scheme was seen as a major plank of the EUs migration policy, and was lauded as a pan-European show of solidarity in 2015 when more than a million people arrived in Europe seeking sanctuary or jobs.

Here is the original post:
European Union to launch action against 3 countries over refugee plan - The Spokesman-Review

BRUSSELS: EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has warned London not to waste time, as Brussels waits for embattled British Prime Minister Theresa May to name a date for talks.

In an interview with a group of European newspapers, Barnier lamented that it was already three months since May had formally triggered the two-year process of Britain leaving the European Union.

"My preoccupation is that time is passing, it is passing quicker than anyone believes because the subjects we have to deal with are extraordinarily complex... I can't negotiate with myself," Barnier was quoted as saying by the Financial Times.

"It will take us several months to draw out the conditions of an orderly withdrawal . . . so let's not waste time," he said.

Formal negotiations between Barnier and British Brexit minister David Davis had been due to start next week but that timetable has been thrown into doubt by May's catastrophic loss of a majority in last Thursday's election.

She is now seeking an alliance with a hardline unionist party in Northern Ireland to cling on to power.

Barnier held "talks about talks" with May's Brexit advisor Olly Robbins and British EU ambassador Tim Barrow in Brussels on Monday but they failed to agree on a date for the negotiations to begin, an EU official said.

"I need a British delegation and a head of delegation who are stable, responsible and have a mandate," Barnier was quoted as saying by French daily Le Monde.

Barnier has said he wants to wrap up a Brexit deal by October 2018 so it has time to get through national parliaments and the European Parliament in time for Britain's departure from the bloc at the end of March 2019.

His comments echo those of EU President Donald Tusk who said on Friday that there was "no time to lose" to avoid Britain crashing out without a deal on future relations.

Read more from the original source:
Don't waste time, European Union Brexit chief Michel Barnier tells Britain - Economic Times

BLOOMBERG/ REUTERS

Prime minister Viktor Orban has stepped up Budapests ongoing row with billionaire philanthropist George Soros as he takes aim at NGOs.

Right-wing populist Mr Orban has especially focused on organisations funded by Mr Soros, an American-Hungarian, branding them a "mafia-like" network with paid political activists who threaten national sovereignty.

The new law requires NGOs that get money from abroad to register with the authorities.

NGOs receiving more than $26,000-a-year from overseas are affected by the law which ordered them to declare their foreign status online and in all press kits and publications.

Foreign-funded NGOs threaten the countrys political and economic interests and interfere with the functioning of its institutions

Mr Orbans ruling Fidesz party says it wants to ensure greater transparency and protect Hungary from foreign influence, but NGOs say the bill stigmatises them and is intended to stifle independent voices in the central European country.

The text of the law, authored by Gergely Gulyas, a Fidesz vice president, says the rules are necessary because foreign-funded NGOs can threaten the countrys political and economic interests and interfere with the functioning of its institutions.

It adds: "It is of vital public interest that society and citizens clearly see what interests these organisations represent.

Foreign interest groups strive to take advantage of civil organisations."

One of the NGOs affected, the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ), said it would not comply with the law and would take any legal challenge to international courts.

TASZ said in a statement: The law is a targeted attack and attempt to silence TASZ and all other organisations which have the courage to help those who are oppressed.

The union receives large contributions from Mr Soros' Open Society Foundations, as does another human rights group, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, which also said it plans to boycott the law.

REUTERS

The law marks an escalation of Mr Orbans push to stop what he calls foreign meddling in Hungarian affairs.

Laws have already been passed tightening controls over foreign universities in Hungary, which critics say are aimed at the Central European University founded by Mr Soros.

Mass protests have broken out across Hungary in recent months in the wake of the new NGO and university laws.

The Hungarian PM has set himself on a crash course with the EU as the European Parliament launches the process that could theoretically deprive Hungary of its EU voting rights.

Guy Verhofstadt, president of the liberal group in the European Parliament, urged EU action to protect the rights of civil society in all member states.

GETTY

AFP GETTY

He said: "The attempts by some EU governments to silence NGOs are shameful and contrary to the values of the European Union.

"The European Commission should ... do more to support NGOs inside the EU who face censorship."

Last week Hungary backtracked on parts of the NGO legislation to meet some of the objections from the Council of Europe's advisory panel, the Venice Commission.

However, Human Rights Watch (HRW) dismissed the amendments as "cosmetic" and said the law was about "silencing critical voices in society".

Mr Soros's Open Society Foundations, which disburse funding to several prominent NGOs in Hungary, also warned on Monday that the law posed serious risks to democracy in the country.

OSF director Goran Buldioski said the law "attacks Hungarians who help fellow citizens challenge corruption and arbitrary power.

The European Parliament adopted a resolution last month condemning Hungary for the "serious deterioration" in the rule of law and fundamental rights, and called on the government to withdraw the bill on foreign-funded NGOs.

See the rest here:
Hungary DEFIES European Union as Orban cracks down on foreign-funded NGOs - Express.co.uk

GETTYEPA

Chairman of Capital Economics, Roger Bootle, has said that Germany alone will not be enough to fund the European Union.

German taxpayers pay record sums into the EU and are set to pay more than any other member state after Brexit to make up the short fall.

In 2015, Germany paid an unprecedented total of 13.3billion to remain a part of the union.

Getty

Within the eurozone, if its leaders press on to fiscal union, Germany will be asked to become the magic money tree in relation to most of the rest of the union

Roger Bootle

Writing for The Telegraph, he said: Over the last few weeks of election campaigning, we have seen how democratic politics naturally produces an escalation of demands on the the public purse as politicians, and voters, seem to believe in the magic money tree that will produce the goodies that they want.

Within the eurozone, if its leaders press on to fiscal union, Germany will be asked to become the magic money tree in relation to most of the rest of the union.

PA

1 of 48

Jeremy Corbyn during a visit to Hackney Marshes Football Pitches, to highlight Labour's manifesto commitment to ensure 5% of the Premier League's television rights income is diverted to the grassroots game, during a General Election campaign

Mr Bootle said that the role of permanent provider for the European Union is not one that Germany is going to take on lightly.

The economist said that the EU payments are grudgingly accepted by the German taxpayer, but still resented.

The German Finance Minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, has also said that it is important to have a strong France as Germany alone is not able to hold Europe together.

Some member states have already made it clear that they are not willing to pay more into the EU budget to make up for the UKs departure.

The UK has acted as one of the main contributors to the EU budget; in 2014 it was the fourth largest national contributor to the budget after Germany, France and Italy.

German commissioner, Gunther Oettinger, has said that Germany as well as other net contributors will have to increase the amount of money that they pay into the bloc.

Mr Bootle has labelled Brexit as the UKs Great Excape claiming the European Union and its single market is a disaster.

See the original post:
Germany faces future of being the European Union's 'magic money ... - Express.co.uk

BRUSSELS European Union leaders meeting next week will agree to boost cooperation in the areas of security and defense and express support for global trade and the Paris agreement on fighting climate change, according to a draft joint statement.

The EU leaders will convene in Brussels on June 22-23, in the same week that long-awaited talks on Britain's exit from the bloc are due to begin in the biggest setback for European integration in six decades.

Determined to show that an EU of 27 - minus Britain - can still thrive, the bloc is pushing for closer defense ties, something London has long opposed.

"The joint development of capability projects commonly agreed by Member States to fill the existing major shortfalls and develop the technologies of the future is key to fulfilling the EU level of ambition," the document reads.

It gives top EU backing to the already-proposed joint financing for research and development in Europe's fractured defense industry, and pushes for working out financing details for the bloc's joint battle groups that have never been used.

France and Germany revived talk of the EU's long-stalled efforts at expanding military cooperation following the Brexit referendum a year ago.

"It must be our goal to develop common, pan-European capabilities," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told fellow conservatives on Tuesday, adding that she and French President Emmanuel Macron had agreed to work together more closely to strengthen defense and security.

Merkel said trans-Atlantic ties would remain critically important, but the EU needed to expand its ability to deal with regional conflicts and protect its external borders.

"We simply have to take on more responsibility," she said.

U.S. President Donald Trump's uneasy relationship with Europe and lukewarm stance on NATO have given the tentative push for more defense cooperation greater momentum.

"FAIR" TRADE

The draft conclusions mirrored much of the language favoring open markets previously seen from EU leaders, though with a greater emphasis now on "fair" as well as "free" trade. The document said the EU saw merit in seeking further steps to create stronger trade defenses and screen foreign investments.

France, Germany and Italy have mooted the idea of allowing the EU to block Chinese investment in Europe, partly because European companies are denied similar access in China and because of risks that Beijing may acquire prized European technology.

An EU-China summit earlier this month was overshadowed by divisions on trade.

The leaders will encourage progress in free trade talks with Mexico and the Mercosur bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay and say recent progress in negotiations with Japan "paves the way for an early political agreement".

Despite Trump's announcement that he was pulling the United States out of the global accord on climate change, EU leaders are due to express their full backing for the accord.

"The European Council strongly reaffirms the EU commitment to swiftly and fully implement the Paris Agreement on Climate Change," they will say.

"The Agreement remains a cornerstone for global efforts to effectively tackle climate change, and cannot be renegotiated."

(Additional reporting by Philip Blenkinsop and Andreas Rinke; Editing by Gareth Jones)

ANKARA/DUBAI Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday denounced the isolation of Qatar by neighboring states as a violation of Islamic values and akin to a "death penalty" imposed in a crisis that has reverberated across the Middle East and beyond.

LONDON Britain entered a sixth day of political limbo on Wednesday with Prime Minister Theresa May yet to seal a deal to prop up her minority government and facing calls to soften her stance on Brexit days before negotiations on leaving the EU begin.

Read more from the original source:
EU leaders to back closer defense ties, Paris climate accord - summit draft - Reuters