EU -- flawed by design?
In its early days, the European Union was a club of six wealthy countries; now there are 28 members. But, as Roger Bootle, author of #39;The Trouble with Europe #39;, explains to John Authers, expansion...
By: Financial Times
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EU -- flawed by design? - Video
Michael Davidson: In the EU, People Are More Important Than Policy
(October 16, 2013) Michael Davidson is the Head of the Political Section of the British Embassy in Bulgaria. He talks about the European Union and how it works. Davidson also lists what important...
By: AUBGTalks
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Michael Davidson: In the EU, People Are More Important Than Policy - Video
An armed man in military fatigues and orange and black pro-Russia St George ribbons holds a machine gun with a 'People's Republic of Donetsk' sticker on itAFP
Moscow's behaviour over Ukraine is hardening the European Union's position on a huge Russian gas pipeline development.
The Russian energy giant Gazprom is due to start work on the sprawling South Stream pipeline next month, which would run from the Black Sea to Austria.
While the project is not under any major threat at this stage, the EU's energy chief has said the Ukraine crisis and prolonged standoff between Brussels and Moscow will be a factor when the parties come together to finalise details of the project. Gazprom wants to dodge strict EU competition rules in order to make the project more profitable.
The EU's Energy Commissioner, Gunther Oettinger, told the Financial Times newspaper that Russia's annexation of Crimea and its ongoing role in fomenting unrest in eastern Ukraine could entrench the EU's position on the deal.
"These days, with Ukraine, we are more and more defensive related to Russian pipelines than one year ago, he said. "These days, exemptions are not my priority for Gazprom."
EU competition rules are designed to break up monopolies on supply chains. Enforcement of the law could force Gazprom to allow other suppliers access to the South Stream network, as much as half of the network.
Russia launched a complaint against the EU laws at the World Trade Organisation last week but Oettinger told the FT there was slim chance Moscow would get its way.
"It is not realistic to expect that we change these rules in the next days or the next years," he said.
"No doubt there is a different culture. In Russia, the government and Gazprom, they prefer to dominate the whole chain from production upstream... to downstream power plants."
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European Union Playing Hard Ball Over Gazprom's South Stream Gas Pipeline
SANAA, Yemen, May 5 (UPI) -- Unidentified men opened fire on European Union security agents in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, killing one and injuring another.
The two men were in a car near the European Union mission when they were shot. Their Yemeni driver was also injured in the attack. The name of the agent killed, who was French, was not reported.
The shooting came as Yemens army continued battling al-Qaida militants in the southern part of the country. Yemens defense ministry said 37 militants have been killed in current operations.
Westerners in Yemen have been targeted several times recently. A German diplomat was wounded in a shooting last week.
European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said of todays shooting, The EUs presence in Yemen aims only to assist the country in its transition to democracy, and in its economic development. To target persons engaged in this effort is evil and senseless.
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European Union security guard shot, killed in Yemen
European Union finance ministers fought openly over how to design a financial-transaction tax that may start in 2016 for 11 participating nations.
Germany and Austria led calls to press forward with a tax on equities and some derivatives in the nations that have signed up. Yet one of the 11, Slovenia, backed out of a pledge to agree on viable solutions by year-end.
The U.K., Sweden and the Netherlands, all outside the tax alliance, pilloried the effort as too vague, secretive and potentially damaging to the economy. Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said Britain wouldnt hesitate to challenge the final tax plan in court, and Finance Minister Anders Borg indicated Sweden might join in.
These obstacles didnt deter the taxs supporters, who have dangled the prospect of a financial-sector tax before crisis-weary voters. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said today that governments would be foolish to set aside their ambitions or settle for a levy on stock trading only.
In the end its not acceptable that we shouldnt be able at all to get this thing underway, Schaeuble told reporters after the meeting. He predicted a successful first step would intensify the pressure on other countries not to reject permanently a reasonable taxation of financial transactions.
Work on a transaction tax for the 11 willing countries began more than a year ago, after a European Union-wide proposal failed. So far, participants have remained committed to the cause without agreeing on how it could work.
Nations pushing for the levy have been split over which trades to tax and on who should collect revenues, a trading firms country of origin or the nation where trading takes place. Smaller countries have generally sought a broader tax that raises more money, while bigger nations have been willing to start on a smaller scale.
Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Austria, Portugal, Greece, Estonia, Slovakia and Slovenia are part of the enhanced cooperation tax effort. Today, Finance Minister Uros Cufer said Slovenia is considering whether to drop out.
The economic logic of the tax isnt valid for Slovenia, he said, according to Slovenian news agency STA. The Balkan nation hasnt yet started the formal procedures required to abandon the tax initiative.
At least nine nations will need to stay in the group and reach unanimous agreement for a common tax to proceed. Spanish Finance Minister Luis de Guindos called for a sensible, prudent and cautious tax that could draw widespread support.
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EU Ministers Eye 11-Nation Transaction Tax to Start 2016