EU News and Discussions

[weatheriscool]

Swiss abandon years of EU talks and reject treaty
Source: BBC

After years of talks, Switzerland has scrapped efforts aimed at agreeing an over-arching treaty with the EU.

Switzerland is not in the European Union but has signed up to many of its policies, such as freedom of movement.

The relationship is currently governed by more than 120 bilateral deals, and a failure to replace them with one framework deal could harm ties.

"We regret this decision, given the progress that has been made over the last years," the EU Commission said.

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57251681

[Time_Traveller]

EU prepares to cut amount of British TV and film shown post-Brexit

Mon 21 Jun 2021

The EU is preparing to act against the “disproportionate” amount of British television and film content shown in Europe in the wake of Brexit, in a blow to the UK entertainment industry and the country’s “soft power” abroad.

The UK is Europe’s biggest producer of film and TV programming, buoyed up by £1.4bn from the sale of international rights, but its dominance has been described as a threat to Europe’s “cultural diversity” in an internal EU document seen by the Guardian.

The issue is likely to join a list of points of high tension in the EU-UK relationship since the country left the single market and customs union, including disputes over the sale of British sausages in Northern Ireland and the issue of licences in fishing waters, which led to Royal Navy patrol boats being deployed to Jersey earlier this year.
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In Brussels’ target this time is the continuing definition of British programmes and film as being “European works”.

Under the EU’s audiovisual media services directive, a majority of airtime must be given to such European content on terrestrial television and it must make up at least 30% of the number of titles on video on demand (VOD) platforms such as Netflix and Amazon.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/ ... own-brexit

[weatheriscool]

Swedish PM Lofven facing defeat as no-confidence vote looms
Johan AhlanderSimon Johnson

STOCKHOLM, June 17 (Reuters) - Sweden faces either an election or a caretaker government if a no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Stefan Lofven passes next week as expected, although Lofven said on Thursday he had not decided whether to resign or call a snap poll if he loses.

The far-right Sweden Democrats demanded the vote, scheduled for Monday, after the Left Party, at the other end of the political spectrum, withdrew its support for Lofven over a plan to scrap rent controls on newly built apartments. read more

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/sw ... 021-06-17/

[weatheriscool]

Germany's Heiko Maas calls for renewal of EU migration deal with Turkey

The EU should update its migration pact with Turkey in a deal that would involve giving more money to Ankara, Germany’s Foreign Minister has said.

Under the 2016 deal, Turkey agreed to stem the number of migrants entering Europe in return for financial support to look after refugees in Turkish territory.

The pact has been criticised and a dispute erupted last year after Turkey allowed thousands of people to enter Greece.

https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/e ... -1.1246601

[wjfox]

Bulgaria sticks to plans to adopt the euro from Jan 1, 2024

Bulgaria is sticking to its target to adopt the euro currency from January 1, 2024 and plans to start payments in euros without any transitional period once it joins the euro zone, government and central bank officials said on Wednesday.

Bulgaria, one of the European Union’s poorest member states, was admitted together with Croatia to the ERM-2 mechanism, a mandatory stage for joining the euro, last July.

According to a draft national plan for Bulgaria’s euro zone entry approved on Wednesday, Bulgarians will be able to pay also in the national lev currency a month after the adoption of the single currency.

One of the biggest problems countries face when joining the euro is that they can no longer use the exchange rate as a cushion from any economic shock, but Bulgaria already pegs its lev currency to the euro and plans to adopt the single currency at its current fixed rate.

“The introduction of the euro is planned without a transitional period, and the date of adoption of the euro will coincide with its introduction as an official unit of payment,” the central bank and the finance ministry said in a joint statement.

https://www.reuters.com/article/bulgari ... SL2N2OC1PM

[wjfox]

[Cyber_Rebel]

Given what he said, is there a possibility this current crises ends up expediting the idea of E.U. federalization?

[wjfox]

Remember those who kept insisting the EU would "collapse" after Brexit?

Oh.

[Cyber_Rebel]

The EU is probably more united now than it's ever been.

[wjfox]

[weatheriscool]

Ukraine: EU chief offers Kyiv fast track to membership
Source: Deutsche Welle

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Kyiv on Friday presented Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with paperwork for his country to join the European Union.

Handing over a document at a joint press conference, she said: "This is where your path towards the European Union begins."

"We stand ready to support you in filling out this questionnaire," von der Leyen said, adding: "It will not be, as usual, a matter of years, but rather a matter of weeks" to complete this step.

The questionnaire, she explained, forms the basis of an opinion that gets passed on to the European Council.

Von der Leyen said she intended to, "present Ukraine's application to the [European] Council this summer."

Read more: https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-eu-chief- ... p-1022-rdf

[wjfox]

Solar panels will become mandatory on all new EU buildings

May 20, 2022

The European Union wants to accelerate a large-scale rollout of solar energy while also rebuilding Europe’s solar manufacturing industry. The plan is part of the bloc’s strategy to end its reliance on Russian fossil fuels, especially natural gas, by 2030. The EU currently gets about 40% of its gas from Russia at a cost of over $110 million a day.

Half of the EU’s energy would come from renewable sources by 2030, more than double the current amount, according to the European Commission’s plan, named RepowerEU. This would cost hundreds of billions of euros, but much of that money would come from savings on imported fuel. Still, in order to achieve this, swift action is required.

As part of the plan, the EU introduced several measures, ranging from the doubling of the rate of deployment of heat pumps to establishing ‘go-to’ areas for renewables. Among these measures, the European Commission has also |introduced the “solar rooftop initiative” which would make it mandatory to install solar panels on new public and commercial buildings, as well as new residential buildings by 2029.

https://www.zmescience.com/science/news ... -19052022/

[Time_Traveller]

Hungary’s EU ambassador steps down two weeks after blocking the extension of sanctions to Patriarch Kirill

June 20, 2022

Hungary’s permanent representative to the EU, Tibor Stelbaczky, has stepped down from his post, according to local media, citing various sources. A spokesman for the Hungarian Embassy in Brussels refused to confirm or deny the report. Stelbaczky is expected to accompany Prime Minister Viktor Orban to next week’s summit in Brussels.

The 50-year-old diplomat, who begin his carrier in 1997, found himself in an awkward position two weeks ago when he had to block the adoption of the sixth round of sanctions against Russia, after EU leaders had agreed on the deal on the previous day.

Hungary refused to sign off on the oil embargo, citing the detrimental impacts on its economy. Eventually, pipeline delivery of oil was exempted from the sanctions and Budapest was given an unlimited period to switch from Russian gas to new alternatives. At the end of the summit on May 31, it seemed that the sixth EU sanction package would be approved, but Hungary unexpectedly torpedoed the deal to the dismay of EU ambassadors.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he would approve the package at the European Council meeting on the condition that Patriarch Kirill, a long-time ally of Vladimir Putin, was delisted from the sanctions list. Hungary's position on EU sanctions against the head of the Russian Orthodox Church has long been known, and nobody took issue with that stand at an EU summit, he said later to state media.

https://www.intellinews.com/hungary-s-e ... ll-247993/

[wjfox]

[Time_Traveller]

EU formally accepts Croatia as 20th eurozone member

Jul 12, 2022

European Union finance ministers on Tuesday (12 July) formally approved Croatia becoming the 20th member of the euro common currency at the start of 2023.

The European Council, the grouping of 27 EU governments, adopted three legal acts required to allow Croatia – an EU member since 2013 – to introduce the euro on 1 January.

One of those acts set the conversion rate for entry at one euro to 7.53450 Croatian kuna, with Croatia now having a few months to prepare the practicalities for the currency switch.

To adopt the euro, Croatia had to fulfil criteria of price and exchange rate stability, sound public finances and moderate long-term interest rates, all measured against EU benchmarks.

The European Commission also examined Croatia’s economic convergence with the rest of the eurozone, including balance of payments trends and the integration of its labour and financial markets, and verified that Croatian legislation is compatible with EU laws governing the European Central Bank.

Croatia, in southeastern Europe, has been a independent country since 1991 when it left then-federal Yugoslavia. Neighbouring Slovenia, also an ex-Yugoslav republic and now EU member, adopted the euro in 2007.

https://www.euractiv.com/section/econom ... ne-member/

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

[Time_Traveller]

Hungary is no longer a full democracy but an 'electoral autocracy,' MEPs declare in new report

Updated: 15/09/2022 - 18:14

Hungary is no longer a fully functioning democracy, members of the European Parliament declared on Thursday in a non-binding but highly symbolic report.

Instead, the country should be considered a "hybrid regime of electoral autocracy" in which elections are regularly held but without respecting basic democratic norms.

"There is increasing consensus among experts that Hungary is no longer a democracy," the lawmakers said, citing a series of international indexes that have in recent years downgraded Hungary's status.

In their resolution, MEPs point the finger directly at Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has been in power since 2010, and condemn his government's "deliberate and systematic efforts" to undermine the EU's core values.

Lawmakers raise concerns about a long list of fundamental rights they believe to be under threat, including the electoral system, the independence of judiciary, privacy, freedom of expression, media pluralism, academic freedom, LGBTIQ rights and the protection of minorities and asylum seekers.

https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022 ... -new-repor

[wjfox]

Thank goodness we don't have to obey Brussels anymore.

THE BRITISH PEOPLE DEMAND MULTIPLE DIFFERENT CHARGER TYPES!!.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-63132831

[Time_Traveller]

Hungary infuriates EU with block on €18B Ukraine aid

NOVEMBER 10, 2022 6:41 PM CET

BERLIN — German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock slammed Hungary on Thursday for blocking €18 billion of EU financial aid to Ukraine, saying that Budapest should not "play poker" in an attempt to put pressure on Brussels in a separate rule-of-law dispute.

Baerbock's protest echoed appeals from several EU diplomats who accused Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's government of blackmail.

The European Commission on Wednesday proposed an €18 billion support package to help Ukraine keep its economy and public services afloat throughout the coming year and to restore critical infrastructure destroyed by Russian missile and kamikaze drone strikes.

At an EU ambassadors' meeting, also on Wednesday, Hungary said it could not support the aid package, according to three officials. This creates a potentially fatal hurdle as the money for Ukraine cannot flow without the backing of all 27 EU countries because of budget rules demanding unanimity.

https://www.politico.eu/article/germany ... d-ukraine/