European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread - Page 977

On October 24 2017 04:50 sc-darkness wrote:


Because his opinion is pretty anti-democratic. It implies I shouldn't mention the GMO word because it's forbidden in his world. In my opinion, it's a perfectly fine question to ask. E.g. why does this country does it but not that one? Except it's about continents here.

On October 24 2017 04:57 TheDwf wrote:

There is no unified stance in Europe regarding GMOs, so you should rather ask nation by nation.

On October 24 2017 05:23 sc-darkness wrote:


The EU is the closest thing to a unified stance in Europe.

On October 24 2017 05:32 Plansix wrote:
I don’t know of a single nation that democratically votes on specific regulations or bans. Most don’t even take laws to a popular vote. And I doubt anyone who is pro-GMO would be super excited by the prospect of “leaving it up to the people.”

EU reaches compromise on low-cost eastern labour

EU ministers on Monday struck a compromise after marathon talks about low-cost labour from eastern and central Europe, a decision affecting workers posted temporarily to more affluent bloc members.

Since 2004, when several eastern and central countries joined the EU, the issue has riled richer nations as the workers' taxes and social charges are paid into their home countries, making for cheaper employment.

"I believe we have found a balanced compromise," said Estonia's minister Jevgeni Ossinovski, who chaired the 11 hours of talks as his country currently holds the rotating EU presidency.

"We have very strong support for the agreement that was reached," Ossinovski told a final press conference in Luxembourg.

Opposing the agreement among the 28 labour ministers were Poland, Hungary, Latvia and Lithuania, while Britain, Ireland and Croatia abstained. The remaining countries showed strong support for the compromise, Estonia said.

French President Emmanuel Macron had vowed to revamp the system, saying it created an uneven playing field in wealthier EU nations such as France, Germany and Austria.

Macron's office quickly hailed the compromise a "victory for Europe," adding: "It's an essential step to rebuild European trust."

France pushed for and got a limit of 12 months for workers posted abroad but with a key concession allowing for the period to be extended for six months at the company's request.

At the outset of the talks in March 2016, the European Commission, the EU executive, had proposed a 24-month cap.

Paris also yielded on the road transport sector as central and eastern countries Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia as well as Spain and Portugal voiced fears the reforms would hurt their truck drivers.

Their work will be governed under the previous rules for now.

The regulation, first introduced in 1996, lets companies send workers from lower-waged countries such as Poland to wealthier economies on short-term assignments without paying the host country's social charges.

The Posted Workers Directive has caused resentment in western countries such as France, Germany and Austria, which argue it amounts to "social dumping" that creates unfair competition on their labour markets.

But there has been staunch resistance in eastern and central Europe, where most of the less expensive workers come from. Poland is the EU member that benefits most from the regulation.

European Social Affairs Commissioner Marianne Thyssen, speaking with the Estonian minister hailed what she called a "breakthrough" that will be a step forward to end "social dumping."

The European Parliament and ministers are due now to negotiate a definitive text.

On October 24 2017 21:38 TheDwf wrote:


Source

Another setback from Macron, despite his claims that he was successful:

1) Lowering the limit from 3 to 1 year (with possible derogations...) does nothing considering the real average length of those assignments is only a few weeks/months.
2) Social contributions are still paid in the country of origin, so the ''same job same wage'' principle is still not applied and dumping goes on.
3) Exemption for the transport sector, which is like the most impacted by this status of posted worker, until a specific deal is reached.
4) Apparently, the new text won't even be applied before 2022...

Can't wait to see all French mainstream medias hail Macron as the savior of Europe because he avoided a blocking minority with a mediocre deal which solves nothing...

On October 24 2017 23:48 Velr wrote:
And if it would get blocked outright that would be better or what? Why blane Macron for this?

On October 24 2017 23:51 Yurie wrote:


Transport sector is of major concern in many EU countries. There is a chronic shortage of drivers and Eastern European drivers take up the slack. Applying this to long distance haulage drivers would do nothing though since you are still employed in your country of origin and then pick up and deliver goods in various other countries until going back to spend time with family now and then. Easily bypassing even a 3 week law.

Were they aiming to target taxi drivers and short distance distribution drivers in transport sector?

France's jobless total fell last month by the most on record, Labour Ministry data showed on Tuesday, giving a boost to President Emmanuel Macron's efforts to turn the job market around.

The number of people registered as out of work in mainland France fell by 64,800 in September, the biggest decrease in figures going back to the start of 1996.

The drop, 1.8 percent over one month and 0.5 percent over one year, brought the jobless total to 3,475,600, the lowest level since April.

The improvement lends support to claims from Macron's government that their reform efforts are already beginning to deliver more jobs and growth.

Macron is counting on bringing down France's unemployment, stuck close to 10 percent for years, with an overhaul of labour market rules last month, which is to be followed with a reform of jobless benefits and professional training in the coming
months.

French business confidence has surged since Macron's election in May on a pro-business reform agenda as companies shifted activity up a gear to cope with stronger demand, surveys showed earlier on Tuesday.

With new business flooding in, companies increased headcount in October at the fastest pace in over a decade to cope with growing backlogs, a closely watched monthly purchasing managers survey showed.

Meanwhile, industrial companies report that their capacity is running at the highest levels since before the outbreak of the global financial crisis in 2008 and 2009, a separate quarterly survey from the INSEE statistics agency showed on
Tuesday.

A growing number of companies reported trouble keeping up with demand. Some 32 percent of managers polled said they were facing production bottlenecks.

However, that should be a good sign for the job market as firms will have to take on more workers to meet client demand, potentially further decreasing the number of unemployed.

Macron stresses security, not rights, with Egyptian leader Sisi

Paris (AFP) - French President Emmanuel Macron backed visiting Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in his country's fight against terrorism on Tuesday and brushed off calls to pressure him on human rights.

The 39-year-old French centrist had faced calls from rights groups to raise torture and political repression in Egypt publicly after the first face-to-face meeting between the pair. But Macron said he would not "give lessons" to a sovereign state.

Instead, Macron stressed how Egypt was a vital partner in the fight against Islamist extremism in the Middle East and Europe, as well as key in the search for lasting political solutions in war-wracked Libya and Syria.

"The first battle that we have in common is the fight against terrorism," Macron said during a joint press conference which underlined their common purpose against extremists that have claimed hundreds of victims in both countries.

Macron said he had stated that combating extremism "should be carried out with respect for the rule of law and human rights," but declined to criticise Sisi's record since he seized power in 2013.

As French president Macron said, "I would not accept that another leader gave me lessons about how to govern my country... I believe in the sovereignty of states and I am not here to give lessons without taking account of the context."

The former investment banker, elected in May, has promised a pragmatic, results-oriented foreign policy, but also one that sees France uphold its historic mission of defending human rights.

Egypt is a major buyer of French military equipment with orders worth more than 5.0 billion euros ($5.8 billion) since 2015.

They include an order for 24 fighter jets from the Rafale series for which France had long struggled to find a buyer.

French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said Tuesday that Macron and Sisi would discuss the possibility of further Rafale orders.

"If there can be new contracts, all the better," he told Europe 1 radio.

(...)

On October 26 2017 05:07 TheDwf wrote:

As far as (hard) unemployment goes, nothing is happening since the end of 2014:



(Red curve.)

Goes up one month, goes down the next. -15k over a year or so.

---

Source

Continuity in cynism from Macron. Vénézuela is a dictatorship—despite elections happening and won by the government—but Saudi Arabia and Egypt are not? Oh, but I forgot: they are our clients, it changes everything!

Poor France, prostituting itself to sell weapons!

On October 26 2017 05:54 Biff The Understudy wrote:

You are not one bit less cynical than Macron if you think the situation in Venezuela is not just as shameful as what happens in Egypt. "Democracy". Haha.