EPTEuropean Politico-economics QA Mega-thread - Page 451
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oneofthem
Cayman Islands24199 Posts
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xM(Z
Romania5299 Posts
The individual who authorities suspect could be the infamous "man in the hat" seen walking alongside the Brussels Airport suicide bombers is a Syrian "refugee" who arrived in Greece last September. According to a report in France's Le Monde newspaper, the "man in the hat" could be Naim al-Hamed, who was born in Syria in 1988 and arrived in Europe amongst the wave of refugees who entered via Greece last year. Al-Hamed arrived with Sofiane Ayari, another suspected Brussels terror plotter, who was captured in a police raid along with Paris massacre suspect Salah Abdeslam. Both Ayari and al-Hamed are thought to have been visited by Abdeslam in Germany just one month before the Paris attacks. Hamed's DNA was also found at the Rue Max Roos apartment from where the Brussels attackers left at dawn to carry out the airport attack. If al-Hamed is not the "man in the hat," he is still suspected to be an accomplice of Khalid El-Bakraoui, the suicide bomber who blew himself up on the train at Maelbeek metro station. | ||
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Iridius
Germany4 Posts
Let's see, the article has two sources. Number one is another fascist blog, that bases its article on an "ISIS manifesto", that is somehow never referenced by actual ISIS news sources. Or if you find one, please enlighten me. The second source is Breitbart, which is the posterchild for biased news. | ||
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xM(Z
Romania5299 Posts
we live in a world owned by partisan news-outlets; people need to learn how to read the news. ps: your usage of trigger words like fascist leaves me cold. | ||
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Acrofales
Spain18220 Posts
Seems to say roughly the same as the English article quoted above, but my french is quite rusty. The main problem with the information liberation article is in the bits that weren’t quoted here, which are gutter journalistic opinion shaping, but xmz wisely cut them out in what he quoted here to focus on the actual news there. | ||
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Iridius
Germany4 Posts
But since this is actually big news I very much doubt a "news" site which in your words gutters journalistic opinion shaping was the only site which reported about this in english. Therefore I stand by my action of calling out this "news source". | ||
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mdb
Bulgaria4059 Posts
EU May Require Visas For Canadian Travellers Due To Romania, Bulgaria Dispute OTTAWA — Canada and the European Union are racing towards a Tuesday deadline to avoid triggering a process that could result in Canadian travellers having to obtain a visa to travel to 26 European countries. It is part of an ongoing dispute in which the EU has pushed Canada to lift its requirement on travellers from its member countries, Romania and Bulgaria. The issue has raised concerns that the dispute could adversely affect the mammoth Canada-EU free trade deal, which still has yet to be ratified. The 28-member bloc says Canada’s visa violates the spirit of reciprocity, but the Immigration Department disagrees. Representatives from Canada, the EU, and Bulgaria and Romania have met four times since then — including a session this past Wednesday — but no progress has been made, said one source familiar with the efforts but not authorized to discuss them publicly. Tuesday’s deadline raises the possibility of igniting a nasty public spat in a year when Canada and the EU are celebrating 40 years of relations and hoping to finally ratify their landmark free trade deal. A Romanian member of the European Parliament raised that possibility in January in an open letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Immigration Minister John McCallum and International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland. European lawmaker Sorin Moisa wrote that removing visas for Romanians and Bulgarians “would not bring any risks for Canada, would remove some of the real political risks to CETA’s adoption, and would spare both the EU and Canada an embarrassing legal and political row.” The EU’s embassy in Ottawa declined comment. “Canada’s visa policy is not based on reciprocity. Rather, Canada must be satisfied that countries meet its criteria for a visa exemption.” Felix Corriveau, a spokesman for McCallum, said the government is working towards the April 12 deadline set out in the EU’s Visa Reciprocity Mechanism, which also affects the United States. “Canadian officials in Ottawa and Brussels have and continue to be heavily engaged in a very positive, ongoing dialogue with Romania, Bulgaria and the European Commission on this issue,” Corriveau said in an emailed response to questions. “Canada’s visa policy is not based on reciprocity. Rather, Canada must be satisfied that countries meet its criteria for a visa exemption.” He said the policy tries to strike a balance between welcoming visitors to Canada and “protecting the health, safety and security of Canadians.” Corriveau said visa policy is not part of any of Canada’s free trade agreements. “Decisions on whether or not visas are necessary do not relate to trade.” In his letter, Moisa, a member of the European Parliament’s trade committee, disagrees. “While I have never made the CETA-visa link myself, the EU-Canada Summit that closed the CETA negotiations in September 2014 did it with utmost clarity,” he writes. When then-prime minister Stephen Harper hosted European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, they issued a joint statement affirming, “as soon as possible, visa-free travel between our two countries from all Canadian and EU citizens.” Moisa said he expects the Trudeau government to honour that commitment. If a visa were imposed on Canadian travellers it would affect only the 26 countries of the EU’s Schengen Area, while Britain and Ireland would be exempt. Britain is currently involved in its own dispute with the EU and will hold a referendum in June on whether to leave the bloc. I think its pretty clear that neither EU will impose, nor Canada will remove visas for all EU members. | ||
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xM(Z
Romania5299 Posts
A European Union executive has said there is a "real risk" that the EU will require visas for Americans and Canadians travelling to the bloc. While the step would severely affect the EU's tourism industry, the EU source says it is "an important issue" that needs to be discussed in the midst of Brussels' trade pact negotiations with Washington. "A political debate and decision is obviously needed on such an important issue. But there is a real risk that the EU would move towards visas for the two [Americans and Canadians]," said the anonymous EU source. At present, Britain and Ireland are the only two countries to have opted out of the 28-nation EU common visa policy that is applied through a Schengen visa. The European Commission will decide by 12 April 2016 whether or not visas should be required from countries that have a similar visa requirement from one or more EU state. The US has excluded Croatians, Cypriots, Poles, Romanians and Bulgarians from its visa waiver scheme for EU citizens. Meanwhile, Canada demands visas only from Romanians and Bulgarians out of the EU bloc. The country's visa policy is not based on reciprocity, says Canada's immigration service. The decision to require visas from the two European countries is based on security and public safety reasons, among others. | ||
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Sent.
Poland9280 Posts
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Gorsameth
Netherlands22103 Posts
On April 10 2016 01:20 Sent. wrote: I wonder what motivated the EU to make such demands now. My country and Cyprus joined the union more than 10 years ago so it's not like the lack of reciprocity is a new problem. I don't know, maybe a desperate attempt to be taken seriously and pretend like your big and important (the bureaucrats deciding this I mean) | ||
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mijagi182
Poland797 Posts
On April 10 2016 01:20 Sent. wrote: I wonder what motivated the EU to make such demands now. My country and Cyprus joined the union more than 10 years ago so it's not like the lack of reciprocity is a new problem. Wouldn't it be awesome? EU : Sorry we cant have TTIP, since you still trouble Polish and Romanians with visas! That would nearly restore my faith in humanity! (i know, i shouldn't get one in the first place) | ||
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Acrofales
Spain18220 Posts
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/09/paris-attacks-suspect-mohamed-abrini-charged-with-terrorist-murders That also puts to rest the rumors that isis is infiltrating the stream of refugees (although I don't believe it would be particularly hard), because he is a native Belgian, although it is suspected he went to fight in Syria. | ||
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xM(Z
Romania5299 Posts
The German Justice Ministry reportedly wants to introduce a ban on adverts which treat women or men as sexual objects. ...The report about the draft law, was made by both the German magazine Der Spiegel and the German public broadcaster, Deutsche Welle (DW). According to the reports, the German Justice Minister, Heiko Maas, wants to eliminate “gender discriminatory advertising,” and stop ads which “reduce women or men to sexual objects.” Spiegel reported, during the weekend, that the idea behind the regulation was taken after the New Year’s Eve Sexual Attacks in Cologne, as Maas’s party the Social Democrats (SPD) believe that the implementation of a “modern gender image” in Germany will help in reducing the risk of sexual attacks. However, the draft law was questioned by many conservative and anti-Islam websites, as they claimed that the draft law is similar with the Islamic laws which forbids women from showing their skin. they might be confusing sexist with sexually explicit there ... (the later would be easier to define at least).The liberal free-market, “Free Democratic Party” (FDP) also accused the German Minister of “heading towards the next step of a nanny state, which doesn’t trust the citizens and deems consumers to be incompetent.” “His plans to ban nudity and sexual advertising are completely narrow-minded. To demand the veiling of women or taming of men, is something known among radical Islamic religious leaders, but not from the German minister of justice,” the FDP leader Christian Linder told the German Press Agency in Berlin on Monday. Germany’s Association of Communications Agencies (GWA) also described Maas’ proposal as “completely absurd,” because according to GWA President Wolf Ingomar Faecks, is very difficult for anyone “to clearly decide when advertising is sexist?” DW reported that a draft amendment of the law relating to advertising is due to be discussed by the German government shortly. | ||
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Gorsameth
Netherlands22103 Posts
On April 14 2016 19:31 xM(Z wrote: https://neurope.eu/article/german-justice-ministry-will-propose-law-ban-sexist-ads/ ...they might be confusing sexist with sexually explicit there ... (the later would be easier to define at least). They really are working hard to try and not get re-elected... | ||
zatic
Zurich15362 Posts
What? What now? Is there anything these days we can discuss without bringing out the anti Islamic hammer? I for one wouldn't miss half naked girls advertising like ... a moving company. But I doubt anything practically enforceable will come out of this, and it should be enough to criticize the proposal on those grounds instead of drawing absurd comparison to ... Islam? | ||
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Acrofales
Spain18220 Posts
On April 14 2016 20:23 zatic wrote: "However, the draft law was questioned by many conservative and anti-Islam websites, as they claimed that the draft law is similar with the Islamic laws which forbids women from showing their skin." What? What now? Is there anything these days we can discuss without bringing out the anti Islamic hammer? I for one wouldn't miss half naked girls advertising like ... a moving company. But I doubt anything practically enforceable will come out of this, and it should be enough to criticize the proposal on those grounds instead of drawing absurd comparison to ... Islam? To be fair, that article also mentions the assaults in Cologne and elsewhere as the reason to draft this law, which is of course equally retarded. Both sides completely derping it up with the justification for or against the law. | ||
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DickMcFanny
Ireland1076 Posts
On April 09 2016 21:47 mdb wrote: http://m.huffpost.com/ca/entry/9640888 I think its pretty clear that neither EU will impose, nor Canada will remove visas for all EU members. Can you give me a TLDR on that situation? I met a Canadian girl in Germany and she was there without a visa, yet when I want to go to Canada, I need a visa. What's that about? | ||
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DickMcFanny
Ireland1076 Posts
On April 14 2016 19:40 Gorsameth wrote: They really are working hard to try and not get re-elected... How is that anything but positive? Taking power away from the hugely destructive propaganda industry (that's what it used to be called before the Nazis gave the term propaganda a bad name, haha), in such a way is absolutely a step in the right direction. American companies won't let that happen, of course, but the sentiment is one I absolutely support. The Australian government tried something similar, trying to force the advertising industry to make fact based ads, but of course the US intervened because the damage to the tobacco industry would be too big. Imagine that, a government trying to protect its people, of course the US can't let that happen. | ||
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RvB
Netherlands6266 Posts
Euro zone consumer prices halted their slide in March, data showed on Thursday, giving hope to the European Central Bank that its efforts to boost stubbornly low inflation will pay off once energy prices stabilise. Inflation was zero year-on-year, the European Union's statistics agency said, revising up its earlier estimate of a 0.1 percent decline. The largest boost to the index came from restaurants and bars, package holidays and rent, Eurostat said. A 0.2 percent drop in inflation in February had stoked concerns that the currency bloc was heading for a new period of falling prices, a sign of weak economic growth, despite the ECB's aggressive stimulus measures. March's reading may go a small way towards easing those concerns and rekindling ECB hopes that inflation will start moving closer to its target of just below 2 percent once a recent small rebound in the market price of crude oil starts filtering through to the real economy. "When we get the base effect from oil prices in the second half of the year the whole debate around the ECB may change," Anatoli Annenkov, an economist at Societe Generale, said. "It will become easier for the ECB... to argue its actions are having some effect." The ECB, which is buying 80 billion euros worth of assets per month to boost consumer prices, expects inflation to average 0.1 percent this year, 1.3 percent next and 1.6 percent in 2018. Real energy prices, such as gasoline prices and heating oil, tend to lag financial markets by several months and, for now, they remain a drag on the index. Eurostat's energy prices index fell 8.7 percent in March, its steepest fall since September 2015. Core euro zone inflation, which excludes food and energy prices, accelerated to 1.0 percent from 0.8 percent in February. uk.reuters.com Google “European Union Collapse” and you get 32.6 million results. Prophecies abound that economic anxiety, refugee hordes, terrorism, populism, border fences, anti-German resentment, British standoffishness, Russian belligerence and American indifference -- the doom-list goes on -- will splinter the EU into smaller regional blocs or, in the extreme, into 28 untethered nation states. There are germs of truth in these end-of-the-EU storylines: Britain could vote to pull out in June, another shock could propel Greece out of the euro, and the cumulative burdens could aggravate anti-European feeling in Germany, the largest and geographically pivotal country in the bloc of 500 million people and up until now the guardian of the system. Often, however, the prophecies say more about the biases of the prognostication industry and the media’s infatuation with negativity. Multi-scenario forecasts -- most have three, and a recent exercise by the EU’s border-management agency imagined seven alternative futures -- are duly bound to include the apocalypse as an option. Roubini Global Economics puts a 40 percent probability on the EU not surviving in its current form until 2025 -- fair enough, given that Britain might be gone soon, tempting others to follow. But it also attaches 40 percent odds to a perpetuation of EU muddle-through and a 20 percent chance of a more united bloc, centered around a fiscally integrated euro zone. History of War Brunello Rosa, the main author of the Roubini forecast, said he doesn’t specialize in “doom and gloom-type” thinking, though he sees a growing risk of accidents like a British exit, sealing of some internal borders, German leadership crisis or European Central Bank failure to reanimate the euro economy. “It’s not a question of everything going down the drain,” Rosa said. “It’s describing quite specifically the channels that could lead to the EU first becoming less functional, and from being less functional, to potentially disintegrating.’’ The problem with predictions of atomization is that they require not one, but all 28 EU countries to secede, and all 19 users of the euro to go back to their national currencies. Even the EU’s most die-hard detractors don’t expect that. Once unbound, the newly disconnected nation states would have to find a way of organizing the affairs of a continent that generates gross domestic product of about $17 trillion, just shy of the U.S. It stands to reason that they would hit upon something like the present-day EU, which for all its gridlock, beats the alternatives Europe has lived through in its fragmented, warlike past. Popular backing for the euro, single market and inner-EU labor mobility is solid; while 55 percent of Europeans polled in November said they don’t trust the EU, 66 percent said they don’t trust their national governments. www.bloomberg.com | ||
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hfglgg
Germany5372 Posts
On April 14 2016 21:16 DickMcFanny wrote: How is that anything but positive? Taking power away from the hugely destructive propaganda industry (that's what it used to be called before the Nazis gave the term propaganda a bad name, haha), in such a way is absolutely a step in the right direction. American companies won't let that happen, of course, but the sentiment is one I absolutely support. The Australian government tried something similar, trying to force the advertising industry to make fact based ads, but of course the US intervened because the damage to the tobacco industry would be too big. Imagine that, a government trying to protect its people, of course the US can't let that happen. one the smoke ad thing: its uncalled for. smoking in germany, especially among teens, is on the decline for years now. the numbers of smokers in the age group 25 and younger went from ~25% in the year 2000 to ~7% now. drug use overall goes down including alcohol. kids these days dont even drink anymore, pff. no need to make a law for almost nothing. | ||
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