Archive for the ‘European Union’ Category

Donald Trump ambassador savages ‘blatant anti-American’ European Union in furious blast – Express.co.uk

Washingtons proposed new EU ambassador smashed EU leaders and criticised them for attempting to damage their relationship with America.

Mr Malloch spoke of President Donald Trumps foreign policy in which he said America would prefer to deal with countries individually rather than the Brussels bloc.

In his tirade he claimed that the President wants to build a relationship with the European Union before he slammed them for their anti-American attitude.

He said: President Trump believes that dealing bilaterally with different European countries is more in the US interest.

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That we could have a stronger relationship with countries individually.

The other thing about the EU that I think is more problematic is its blatant anti-Americanism.

Next the US economist, who is a long-term friend of Mr Trump said that the European Union are targeting the President as he attempts to develop a relationship with Vladimir Putin.

He continued: He believes a more positive relationship with Russia is possible.

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The rest of the world shouldnt be worried if America is strong again

Ted Malloch

And thats alarming to some people including some friends in the EU or some other governments in Europe.

The EU sent a strong message to Mr Trump after some leaders felt that the billionaire undermined the bloc.

Guy Verhofstadt, the former Belgian Prime Minister and lead Brexit negotiator for the European Parliament, said: I have just come back from US and my view is that we have a third front that is undermining the EU and that is Donald Trump.

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Trump signs an order to review the Dodd-Frank Wall Street to roll back financial regulations of the Obama era.

Mr Malloch finished by arguing that the European Union should be backing America as it becomes a powerful nation again as it helps them.

He said: The rest of the world shouldnt be worried if America is strong again, that America is the sheriff of the world again, that Americas economy is growing, you know, it hasnt grown frankly for the last decade.

The rest of the word actually benefits from a strong America.

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Donald Trump ambassador savages 'blatant anti-American' European Union in furious blast - Express.co.uk

The EU is failing because it was too ambitious Geopolitical expert’s damning critique – Express.co.uk

Ian Bremmer, President of New York-based Eurasia Group, claimed the intention to create a European supranational identity was far too ambitious to ever be implemented.

Speaking on Fox News, Mr Bremmer hinted that member states economic models were just too different to be intertwined in one political union, despite the fanatical belief of many in Brussels for 'ever-closer union'.

I think it is fair to say the European Union has been a failure, he said.

In the sense of what they were trying to do was trying to get all of these countries to join and the integration would bring them closer politically over time.

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The EU is proving to be far more ambitious than you could actually operationalise on the ground

Ian Bremmer

They are going to look more alike. They are going to support the creation of a European supranational identity.

The Eurasia chief said that its faults will inevitably lead to other European countries staging their own referendums on EU membership, with France likely to follow Britain out of the Brussels exit next.

His views were echoed in a warning from the European Parliaments lead Brexit negotiator Guy Verhofstadt, who warned of a three-pronged attack on the bloc from outside forces.

If we look to the pressure on the European Union at the moment [Donald Trump] is bidding on the disintegration of the European Union and also Vladimir Putin wants to divide the European Union, he said.

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Then theres also the threat of jihadism and then internally we have enormous pressures by nationalists, populists, the whole question of Brexit its an existential moment for the European Union.

Mr Bremmer accused the blocs leaders for drifting too far away from their initial promises of averting war between European nations, citing the euro and single market as its downfall.

He added: What you were trying to do originally was not just a common market or currency, but also create a supranational political identity to make sure these countries didnt go to war against each other anymore.

That alliance is proving to be far more ambitious than you could actually operationalise on the ground and the people are reacting very badly to that idea.

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The expert moved on to suggest a Marine Le Pen victory in Frances presidential election is the last thing wanted by the continent's financiers.

Mr Bremmer claimed that her bid to remove France from the EU would have significant further negative implications for the blocs currency.

He supported her pledge to deny Greece any further assistance with its mounting debt crisis, adding that her politics would act as a springboard for other populist movements across Europe who were also disgruntled by supporting the member states failing economy.

The reality is they never created fiscal harmony between these countries because the Greeks and the Germans [have] fundamentally different types of economies, Mr Bremmer concluded.

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The EU is failing because it was too ambitious Geopolitical expert's damning critique - Express.co.uk

Exiting the European Union will cost a fortune – The Economist

THESE are exhilarating times for the 52% of British voters who last summer opted to leave the European Union. After months of rumours that an anti-Brexit counter-revolution was being plotted by the Europhile establishment (who even won a Supreme Court case forbidding the government from triggering Brexit without Parliaments permission), it at last looks as if independence beckons. This week the House of Commons voted to approve the process of withdrawal. The prime minister, Theresa May, will invoke Article 50 of the EU treaty next month, beginning a two-year countdown to freedom.

But the triumphant mood is about to sour, for a reason few people have grasped. The first item on the agenda in Brussels, where divorce terms are to be thrashed out, will be a large demand for cash. To Britons who voted to leave the EU because they were told it would save them 350m ($440m) a week, this will come as a shock. The mooted bill is hugesome in Brussels talk of 60bn ($64bn), enough to host the London Olympics five times overand its calculations open to endless argument. Until now the Brexit debate has focused on grander matters, such as the future of the 600bn-a-year trading relationship between Britain and the EU. Yet a row over the exit payment could derail the talks in their earliest stages.

The tab is eye-watering. Britains liabilities include contributions to the EUs pension scheme, which is generous and entirely unfunded. The biggest item, which Britain will surely challenge, is the countrys share of responsibility for a multi-billion-euro collection of future projects to which the EU has committed itself but not yet allocated a budget. These liabilities, and sundry smaller ones, may be offset a little by Britains share of the EUs assets, mostly property in Brussels and elsewhere around the world. By one analysis (see article), the bill could be as little as 25bn or as much as 73bn.

So there is plenty to haggle over. But the very idea that the charge is something to be negotiated irritates many Eurocrats, who see it as a straightforward account to be settled. The European Commissions negotiators insist that the divorce agreement must be signed off before the wrangling can begin on anything else, such as future trading relations. Britain would prefer to tally up the bill in parallel with talks on other matters, in order to trade more cash for better access.

Garon! This isnt what I ordered

It is in everyones interests to reach an agreement. If talks fail and Britain walks out without paying, the EU will be left with a big hole in its spending plans. Net contributors, chiefly Germany and France, would face higher payments and net recipients would see their benefits cut. For Britain the satisfaction at having fled without paying would evaporate amid rancid relations with the continent, wrecking prospects of a trade deal; a rupture in everything from intelligence-sharing to joint scientific research; and, perhaps, a visit from the bailiffs of the International Court of Justice. Such an outcome would be bad for the EU but it would be even worse for Britain.

That imbalance will become a theme of the Article 50 negotiations. It suggests that the British will have to do most of the compromising. Mrs May must not waste the two-year timetable haggling over a few billion, when trade worth vastly more hangs in the balance. The EU can help by agreeing to discuss the post-Brexit settlement in parallel with the debate about money. Rolling the lot into one would increase the opportunities for trade-offs that benefit both sides.

But there is a danger of hardliners in London and Brussels making compromise impossible. Some in the European Commission are too eager to make a cautionary tale of Britains exit. And they overestimate Mrs Mays ability to sell a hard deal at home. The British public is unprepared for the exit charge, which is not mentioned in the governments white paper on the talks. The pro-Brexit press, still giddy from its unexpected victory last summer, will focus both on the shockingly large total and also on the details (heres one: the average Eurocrats pension is double Britains average household income). It has flattered Mrs May with comparisons to Margaret Thatcher, who wrung a celebrated rebate out of the EU in 1984. A small band of Brexiteer MPs have a Trumpian desire to carry out not just a hard Brexit but an invigoratingly disruptive one. Mrs Mays working majority in Parliament is only 16.

Everyone would be worse off if the Article 50 talks foundered. Yet the breadth of the gap in expectations between the EU and Britain, and the lack of time in which to bridge it, mean that such an act of mutual self-harm is dangerously possible.

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Exiting the European Union will cost a fortune - The Economist

Student conference to address challenges facing European Union – Yale News

The 2017 European Student Conference (ESC 2017), hosted at Yale University Friday-Saturday, Feb. 10-11, will bring together 100 undergraduate and graduate students from universities across the United States and Europe to address some of the major challenges for the European Union. The theme of this years conference is "Reforging the Social Contract in Europe."

The event is hosted by European Horizons is a United States-based, non-partisan think-tank devoted to exploring the meaning of European identity, modernizing and reforming the concept of the social market economy, advancing the cause of European integration, and deepening transatlantic relations.

Participants at ESC 2017 will have the opportunity to craft policy perspectives that shed light on European challenges in addition to entering into a debate with professors, current and former decision-makers from Europe and representatives of European institutions. Participants will also draft a concrete plan of action for implementing the policy visions and strategies that they develop in the workshops.

The conference is structured around three main formats: keynote speeches, panels, and workshops. The first day of the conference will begin with an opening ceremony with keynote speaker David OSullivan, ambassador of the European Union to the United States, before focusing on the first two workshop sessions: each featuring a policy adviser, professor, and moderator. The themes of the workshops include identity, migration, political legitimacy of institutions, productivity, foreign and security policy, and entrepreneurship.

The afternoon will feature an European Horitzons Chapter Information Session after the Opportunities of Brexit panel. Moderator Eileen OConnor, formerly with the U.S. State Department and now vice president of communications at Yale, will lead the discussion with panelists Ambassador Peter Wittig from Germany, Ambassador Grard Araud from France, OSullivan, Professor Robert Shiller of Yale, and Catherine Stihler, a member of the European Parliament.

The second day of the conference will begin the European Public Sphere panel, where moderator Michael Kaczmarek from the European Parliament Research Service (EPRS) will talk with participants Kevin Delaney from Quartz, Martin Sandbu from the Financial Times, Eschel Alpermann from EPRS, and Alexander Goerlach of Harvard. Participants will also have a third workshop to continue their discussions and policy proposals.

See a detailed schedule of the conference.

European Horizons convenes several conferences throughout the year, publishes research and policy papers through its academic journal, The Review of European and Transatlantic Affairs, and maintains chapters across universities in the United States and Europe. For more information, visit http://www.europeanhorizons.org.

ESC 2017 is co-founded by the European Union as a Jean Monnet Activity under the Erasmus+ Programme. Rene Haferkamp of Harvards Center for European Studies is the special adviser for ESC 2017. The event is supported by the European Commission and Erasmus+.

For further information, contact Nicholas Romanoff, president of the European Horizons Chapter at the University of Chicago at nromanoff@uchicago.edu or (646) 385-5823.

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Student conference to address challenges facing European Union - Yale News

European Parliament’s lead Brexit negotiator warns European Union could ‘disappear’ – The Independent

The European Parliaments lead Brexit negotiator has said that the European Union needs to reform or it risks disappearing completely.

Speaking to the BBC World Service on Wednesday, Guy Verhofstadt said that there are multiple sources of pressure on the bloc.

If we look to the pressure on the European Union at the moment [President Donald Trump] is bidding on the designation of the European Union and also Vladimir Putin who wants to divide the European Union, he said.

Then theres also the threat of jihadism and then internally we have enormous pressure by nationalists, populists, the whole question of Brexit, so its an existential moment for the European Union, he added.

He said that it is now the time to reform, otherwise it could disappear.

Mr Verhofstadts warning echoes a speech he made in London in January during which he said that the European trading bloc was facing a three-pronged attack from outside forces.

Two of the forces were Russian President Putin and radical Islamism; the third, he said, is Mr Trump, he said.

I have just come back from the US and my view is that we have a third front that is undermining the EU ... and that is Donald Trump, he said at the time.

Commenting on Brexit earlier last month, Mr Verhofstadt, who is the former prime minister of Belgium, said that Theresa May is creating an illusion after the prime minister outlined Britain's plan for leaving the EU at a landmark speech at Lancaster House.

He also said that it was not very helpful that there had been discussions about Britain becoming a tax haven after the split.

I think it creates an illusion that you can go out of the single market and the customs union and you can cherry pick and still have a number of advantages, he said at the time.

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European Parliament's lead Brexit negotiator warns European Union could 'disappear' - The Independent