Archive for the ‘European Union’ Category

The European Union is set for a major currency upheaval – The Globe and Mail

Kicking and screaming, the European Union is finally being forced down the road of currency reform. By the end of this year, the European Commission and the European Central Bank will have initiated a project, public or disguised, to partly dismantle the currency union. How do we know this? Because the political impetus that led to the creation of the euro is beginning to unravel.

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The 2017 election debate: euro - alive or dead? (Reuters)

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The European Union is set for a major currency upheaval - The Globe and Mail

Nato and the European Union are behind Decodex – Voltaire Network

The EU Military Chief of Staff has uncovered its role in establishing Decodex: a service provided by the daily newspaper Le Monde. Decodex aims at destroying the credibility of certain websites.

This service, technically subsidized by Google and Facebook, aims at fighting an alleged Russian influence in the West. Its strategy? Going after Internet sites challenging Nato, and charging them with being trivial in design and spreading this so-called propaganda from Moscow.

Several media outlets have been chosen to collaborate with this project. All of them are French. And what, is the root of the evil according to those promoting the campaign? Not Sputnik and Russia Today, but [yours truly], Voltaire Network.

Read: La lutte continue , a brief in English by EU Military Chief of Staff, EU vs disinfo.eu, 13 February 2017. The NATO campaign against freedom of expression, by Thierry Meyssan, Translation Pete Kimberley, Voltaire Network, 5 December 2016.

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Nato and the European Union are behind Decodex - Voltaire Network

European Union Supports WFP Nutrition and Food Security Project in Central Tanzania – ReliefWeb

DAR ES SALAAM The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has received a contribution of 9.5 million from the European Union (EU) in support of a 24.5 million Food Security and Nutrition Project in central Tanzania.

The project is designed to improve food and nutrition security for 40,000 people while contributing to the reduction of malnutrition in the targeted districts of Bahi and Chamwino in Dodoma region and Ikungi and Singida Rural in Singida region.

The EU contribution was announced today during an official signing ceremony at Umoja House in Dar es Salaam with Dr. Mpoki Ulisubisya, the Permant Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, Michael Dunford, WFP Country Representative for Tanzania, and Roeland Van De Geer, Head of the European Delegation to Tanzania, in attendance.

Despite improvement in many health indicators over the last decade, there has been insufficient progress in improving the nutritional status of children and women in Tanzania, Roeland Van De Geer, Head of the European Delegation to Tanzania, said at the ceremony. The persistent levels of stunting, wasting and micronutrient deficiencies in the country constitute a silent emergency. The new high-level political commitment to fight under-nutrition in Tanzania from a multi-sectoral perspective is a real game-changer. Through this project the EU together with WFP is well positioned to define and support the links between agriculture, health, food security and nutrition, which have not previously been well articulated or pursued.

The project builds on WFPs long-standing presence in central Tanzania and its experience in providing nutritious food and social behaviour change communication through local health facilities. These activities will be complemented by efforts in other sectors to provide a more holistic approach to reduce stunting in the country. The national level of stunting stands near 34 percent, with Dodoma at 36.5 percent and Singida at 29.2 percent.

Thanks to this contribution from the European Union, WFP is embarking on an innovative programme which aims to meet the nutrition needs of the most vulnerable, especially children during their key growth phase of the first 1,000 days from conception to two years, WFP Country Representative Michael Dunford said at the ceremony. This programme will provide evidence that will inform future initiatives, and it therefore carries the potential to bring about lasting positive change in Tanzania.

In Tanzania, the rate of chronic under-nutrition among children is driven by poverty, food insecurity and inadequate infant and young child feeding. The project will work to improve knowledge on nutrition, dietary diversity and practices in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). The activities will be boosted by promoting the raising of small-scale livestock, planting diverse crops and mobilizing villages to start small savings and loan groups, increasing access to capital.

Save the Children is WFPs partner in strengthening synergies and capacities of community- based organisations and communities to promote gender empowerment and multi-sector approaches to nutrition, as well as coordinating the implementation of the agriculture component of the project.

By coordinating these activities under one umbrella, WFP, the EU and Save the Children will be addressing multiple challenges in improving food security and nutrition in Tanzania.

The project is part of WFPs work toward achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero Hunger. In order to reach Zero Hunger by 2030, WFP is working with a wide range of partners including governments, the private sector and civil society.

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WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. Each year, WFP assists some 80 million people in around 80 countries.

Follow us on Twitter:

World Food Programme: @WFP_Tanzania and @WFP_Media European Union: @EUinTZ and @EuropeAid

For more information please contact: Fizza Moloo, WFP/Dar es Salaam, Tel. +255 (0) 692 274 729 or +255 (0) 784 720 022, fizza.moloo@wfp.org Susanne Mbise, European Union, Press & Information Officer, +255 (0) 754 323 245, susanne.mbise@eeas.europa.eu

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European Union Supports WFP Nutrition and Food Security Project in Central Tanzania - ReliefWeb

For the first time in a long time, every EU economy is growing at the same time – Quartz


Economic Times
For the first time in a long time, every EU economy is growing at the same time
Quartz
The European Union is facing its biggest crisis since well, since its last big crisis. The perpetually problematic union is threatening to come undone, with Britain in the process of quitting the bloc and numerous populist movements elsewhere also ...
Brexit impact not as bad as feared, European Union saysEconomic Times
British EU residents concerned about Brexit's impact: surveyReuters
EU Insists Brexit Will Be A Disaster - No, Eventually, Really, You'll SeeForbes
The Guardian -Reuters UK -Express.co.uk
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For the first time in a long time, every EU economy is growing at the same time - Quartz

‘The euro may ALREADY be lost’ Economists predict DOOMSDAY for European Union’s currency – Express.co.uk

European Union nations are plummeting further into debt, amid angry protests and calls for reform, but the Union continues to push for the joint monetary union.

Now, economists have suggested it is already too late to save the failing monetary union which will "almost surely fail".

Tuomas Malinen, CEO of GnS Economics, said: "Living standards in Italy and Greece are below the levels when they joined the euro.

"Finland is the only Nordic country using the euro and it is also the only Nordic country which has not yet recovered from the financial crash of 2008.

"There have been many proposals on how to fix the euro and the EMU, but they are politically unpopular and unrealistic."

Economists Mr Malinen, Dr Heikki Koskenkyl and Dr Peter Nyberg co-wrote the report 'The Euro May Already Be Lost', which has suggested there are solutions, but they are extreme.

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Eighteen years after the introduction of the euro, the economists argue it simply cannot work without major change.

Experts explained one of the main issues as "different growth paths" for member states.

As different countries develop at different speeds, the gap between success and failure widens and chances of financial support lessen.

If this occurs during an economic boom, "strengthening aggregate demand supports ailing fields of production" meaning crashes can be avoided.

But this is not the case in 2017 Europe.

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While the Eurozone faces crises, experts say, the costs of financing less competitive countries jumps.

This is what is known as an asymmetric shock.

It is suggested for survival, the eurozone needs a similar income transfer system to that used in the US during the Great Depression, where rich states made transfers to the poorer.

The economists' report states: "For permanent income transfers, you would need to change the Maastricht Treaty and ratify it in each member country or to negotiate several bilateral agreements.

"There is only a very small likelihood that these would go through, for example, in Finland and in the Netherlands."

Without public support for a federal union, others have come up with ways to save the euro.

The economists cite CEO of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) Klaus Regling, who believes a "combination of the banking and capital market union and a rainy day fund" could work.

Any financing through the European Central Bank (ECB), would need to be covered by European tax-payers later when it would become evident that weaker countries are unable to pay back their loans

Economists

The report states: "This fund would allegedly be used when asymmetric shocks occur.

"The fund would be financed jointly by all euro countries. However, because of the persistent differences in competitiveness, its transfers would become permanent.

"Only the most competitive members of the Eurozone would have sufficient income to finance the fund.

"Any financing through the European Central Bank (ECB), would need to be covered by European tax-payers later when it would become evident that weaker countries are unable to pay back their loans and when seigniorage revenues would be unable to cover the losses of the ECB."

In the opinion of Mr Maline, there are only two ways to fix the euro- either "a far-reaching political union or returning to the system described in the Maastricht Treaty, where member states would be responsible for their own economies only".

Under a full political union economic policy decision-making would be concentrated and "would require major structural changes in the Eurozone and its member countries".

Mr Malinen writes: "Tax and social policies would be unified, labor unions would be dismantled or unified as a European-wide system, a European debt relief system and banking union would be set up.

"These would ensure the flexibility of wages, prices, and labor agreements and guarantee convergence of competitiveness and living standards."

The other option, returning to the Maastricht Treaty, would see the winding down of the ESM and the European Financial Stability Facility - and likely Greece's exit from the European Union.

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Mr Malinen said: "The Eurozone is in a stalemate. A federal union would be needed to fix its problems, but there is no public support for it.

"Returning to national fiscal responsibility would lead to defaults and exits. Half-way solutions will prove insufficient but expensive and obfuscate the issues.

"Therefore, there may be no way to avert the partial or complete break-up of the Eurozone in the years to come.

"The fate of the euro may already have been sealed."

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'The euro may ALREADY be lost' Economists predict DOOMSDAY for European Union's currency - Express.co.uk