Donald Trump BATTERS Brussels with order to STOP EU Army plans or lose US Nato support

PRESIDENT TRUMP will demand Brussels abandons plans for an EU Army if it wants the US is to continue its support for Nato.

Senior British officers serving at the Pentagon have been briefed that one of the new administration’s top priorities will be to “sweep away” plans championed by Germany and France.

”We have been told quite clearly that, in an environment in which the political temperature in Eastern Europe is high and fiscal pressure on budgets is increasing, there can only be one joint force and that is Nato,” he said.

Senior US officers directing future strategy want to see more delivery from European nations. There is grave concern about the intent and growing talk of an EU Army, which appears to draw resources away from the Alliance.

Burden sharing by Europe is expected feature highly during Theresa May’s visit with Trump next month, though Britain is one of only five members meeting spending targets.

Despite comments by President Trump calling Nato “obsolete”, new US defence secretary Gen James Mattis affirmed America’s commitment to the Alliance – and reinforced concerns against Russia.

“We have a long list of times we’ve tried to engage positively with Russia. We have a relatively short list of successes in that regard,” he told Congress on Friday.
While European defence spending is the primary concern, insiders warned that Trump would also be gauging Europe’s “boots on the ground” commitments.
The US currently fields six Brigades in Europe, including the newly arrived 3rd Armour Brigade which boasts hundreds of armoured vehicles, including 87 tanks, and 3,500 troops to boost Nato’s efforts to deter Russia in Eastern Europe.
Of Europe’s Nato members, only Britain and France have put themselves forward to lead three of its remaining four battalions.
“President Trump is a numbers man.  Defence spending is one thing, but when he meets with Nato chiefs in Brussels later this year, he will do the math: the US is deploying almost six battalions in Europe. How does this stack with Europe’s commitment? The US and Germany are playing their part but what about the rest?”,  said another source close to the administration.
He said that Trump’s use of the word “obsolete” to describe Nato had been misinterpreted, adding: “He means that Nato must adapt to 21st Century challenges, including a counter–terror role.
“President Trump realises that, for just one per cent of the US defence budget, he can call upon 27 nations to stand up with it around the world.
“Europe supplied 40,00 troops to Afghanistan. That equates to 120,000 in real terms because for each soldier, two are in rotation. That's 120,000 US troops who didn't have to go to battle.”
During his campaign Trump pledged tens of thousands of new US troops, dozens of ships and hundreds of warplanes, plans would cost almost $100 billion more than the Pentagon has currently budgeted for Trump’s first term.
Rudi Giulliani, a key figure in Trump’s campaign, said the President was adopting a Reagan-like “peace through strength” strategy.
The former New York Mayor, who had dinner with Trump on Wednesday, said: “He believes that of the last 30 presidents of the last 50 -60 years, the most successful was Ronald Reagan, because he negotiated from strength and, lo and behold, won the cold war without firing a shot.”
The controversial 1000-strong Euro Corps was formed in 1993 and is spearheaded by a German- Franco brigade of troops. It provided HQ staff for operations in Afghanistan in 2004 and currently supports an EU maritime operation against pirates off Somalia. Directed by Brussels it is manned by 10 EU member states and Turkey. While in the EU, Britain used its influence to block its expansion.
Brexit was met with the immediate publication of plans to build a military new headquarters, as the EU scrambled to reinforce the project’s identity.
Separately, Germany’s defence white paper revealed its own ambitions to lead a pan-European force.
The moves have caused concern in the Trump camp.
“He is committed to NATO – but there is big concern about the EU moving towards an EU army, a military of Western Europe,” said Ted Malloch, President Trump’s new ambassador to the EU, recently.
Last night Ian Brzezinski, resident senior fellow with the Washington DC-based Atlantic Council think tank, said: “Where the EU is most effective is in leveraging its $17 trillion economic weight and in fostering economic development and democratic reform.
“When it develops military command structures and other military capacities it is institutionalizing duplications that serve no benefit.
“Nato is unsurpassed when it comes to so-called putting lead on a target and interoperability. The power of Nato-EU collaboration is found in their complimentarity, not redundancy.
He added: “With the appointment of Gen Mattis, a big supporter of Nato, as defence secretary, and the current Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Gen Curtis Scaparrotti, President Trump has a hammer and anvil with which to accelerate Nato’s transformation. “
http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/757235/Donald-Trump-EU-Army-Nato-funding-European-Union-President

Theresa May: We’re leaving the single market

Britain is leaving the EU’s single market, Prime Minister Theresa May said Tuesday as she unveiled her strategy for leaving the European Union.

In hard hitting speech in London, May set out her vision of a United Kingdom outside the EU. While saying she wanted Britain to be a “best friend and neighbor to our European partners,” May said the U.K. would be leaving the EU’s single market, leaving the EU’s customs union in its current form, and ending large payments to the EU. She also backed a “flexible” transitional deal but warned that she would rather walk away from a deal than accept one that was bad for Britain. May also said members of both houses of the British parliament would get a vote on the final deal.

May ended months of speculation over whether she would pursue a hard Brexit by saying she would seek “a new and equal partnership…Not partial membership of the European Union, associate membership of the European Union, or anything that leaves us half-in, half-out.

“We do not seek to adopt a model already enjoyed by other countries. We do not seek to hold on to bits of membership as we leave,” she said. “The United Kingdom is leaving the European Union. My job is to get the right deal for Britain as we do.”

After describing the deal with the EU struck by David Cameron as a “valiant final attempt,” May said “there was not enough flexibility” for voters, which is why they backed Brexit in June.

May said remaining a member of the single market “would mean being bound by EU laws. That would mean in practice not leaving the EU.”

The British PM, who took office shortly after the June 23 vote, admitted that the U.K. was “at times seen as a awkward member” of the EU and added that the vote was “not always well understood” in other European capitals. But she said she did not want the Brexit vote to lead to a greater unraveling of the EU,” a possible dig at U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who told the Times and Bild newspapers this week that he expected more EU members to leave the bloc.

She said she wanted “a truly global Britain” to be “the best friend and neighbor to our European partners, but a country that reaches beyond the borders of Europe too.”

While May was clear about leaving the single market, she was less precise about the U.K.’s membership of the EU’s customs union. She said continued customs union membership would stop the U.K. being able to strike trade deals, but added that she wanted a customs agreement of sorts with Europe and “that could mean partial membership of the customs union.” How this would be achieved has yet to be decided, she said.

A number of European politicians, including Michel Barnier, the European Commission’s main man on Brexit, have warned that the U.K. would be on the hook for substantial payments into the EU budget even after Brexit, but May said Britain would no longer contribute “huge sums” to the EU once it leaves the bloc. She admitted that it might continue to make some payments, “in return for access to certain programs.”

May said that while Britain wants to remain a good friend and neighbor to the Continent, she was aware of some calls to punish Britain for voting to leave. A punitive deal would be “an act of calamitous self-harm for the countries of Europe, and it would not be the act of a friend,” she said, warning Europe that no deal for Britain would be better than a bad deal.

May said she wanted to guarantee the rights of EU nationals in Britain, and Britons living in Europe, as soon as possible, suggesting a deal could be struck straightaway. She said many EU countries also want an early deal, but not everyone.

Reversing her previous position, she said that MPs and members of the House of Lords would get a vote on the final deal. The government had long argued that it could invoke Article 50 without parliament’s consent, but High Court judges disagreed. A verdict from the Supreme Court, the highest in the country, is due any time and the government is expected to lose the case.

The PM also said she would “consider papers from the Scottish and Welsh governments” as part of the Brexit strategy.

May proposed a flexible Brexit transitional deal, with different aspects lasting for different amounts of time, and she warned that it was in “no one’s interests to have a cliff edge” although she stressed that she was opposed to an indefinite transition period.

She ended by saying: “The country is coming together. Now we need to put an end to the division and the language associated with it – Leaver and Remainer and all the accompanying insults – and unite to make a success of Brexit.” (...)

politico

More than half a million illegal immigrants entered the European Union last year

More than half a million illegal immigrants poured into the EU last year despite a landmark deal to end the crisis. Border agency Frontex’s first full figures for 2016 have revealed there were 503,700 detections of illegal border crossings.

The vast majority came via the Mediterranean into Italy and Greece. The ongoing wave comes despite a deal struck with Turkey in March to close down access to Greek islands, which was hailed as end to the migration crisis.

Tough new controls and returns saw a big drop of 79% in the number arriving in Greece, down to 182 500 – with Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis making up the largest share.

But at the same time, a record 181,000 crossed the central Mediterranean from Africa – a 20% rise from the previous 12 months.

The significant majority on this route were from West African countries, with Nigerians made up the largest portion, followed by nationals from Eritrea, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, and Gambia. The 2016 annual total is less than a third of the massive 1,800,000 estimated to have entered the EU in 2015. (...)

Sun

Romania Chooses Left-Leaning Government

The Romanian Parliament approved a new left-leaning coalition government on Wednesday, ending weeks of uncertainty about who would lead a country that has been a staunch member of the European Union and NATO.

Sorin Grindeanu, 43, a former minister of communications and a compromise candidate, was named prime minister. He beat his Social Democratic Party’s first choice, Sevil Shhaideh, a member of the country’s Tatar minority who would have become the country’s first female and first Muslim prime minister.

The Social Democrats came to power in a national election on Dec. 11 on the promise of increasing government spending for health care, salaries and pensions. On Wednesday, Mr. Grindeanu said his government would raise the minimum wage and improve access to free prescription drugs. He also promised to create better-paying jobs so that Romanians would not seek work abroad. (...)

The natural pick for the job, the party’s leader, Liviu Dragnea, was barred from becoming prime minister after a 2015 conviction for electoral fraud. Though Mr. Dragnea will not hold any official role in the new cabinet, analysts expect that he will wield influence from behind the scenes.

“The real prime minister is Liviu Dragnea. This is the personal cabinet of Dragnea,” said Cristian Pirvulescu, dean of the political science department at the National School of Political Studies and Public Administration in Bucharest. (...)

nytimes.com

Year in review: 2016 in the European Union

"The European Union seems to have spent 2016 in a state of constant crisis - or "polycrisis," as European Commission president Juncker calls it. Our Brussels correspondent Bernd Riegert looks back over the past year.

Following the last EU summit meeting in December, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel commented: "Looking back on 2016, we can say that this was a very turbulent year for us, for the European Union. Another very turbulent year, after 2015 proved extremely challenging on account of the many refugees. In particular, Britain's decision to leave the European Union is of course a decisive turning point." Everyone in Brussels agrees that, politically, this was a very bad year. European nationalists, populists and opponents of the EU, however, are celebrating.

January

The year began as the old one ended: with the refugee crisis. Thousands of people were arriving every day via the Balkan route. Austria was the first country to pull the brake, closing its borders to Slovenia and Hungary. Little by little the Balkan states also closed theirs. Refugees and other migrants started to collect in Greece.

In Brussels the European Commission promised to crack down on tax evasion by big business. The "Lux Leaks" affair showed how favorable policies in Luxembourg, Ireland, the Netherlands and many other EU countries enable companies to fiddle the system legally.

In EU member state Poland, the constitutional order came under threat. The EU Commission warned that the new conservative government there was obstructing the constitutional court. The Commission initiated proceedings, which still have not been concluded. The Polish government refuses to allow any kind of external interference in its affairs.

February

A last-ditch attempt to keep Britain in the EU. At a special summit, Prime Minister David Cameron obtained exceptional provisions for his disunited kingdom. "People said […] that a four-year restriction on benefits was completely out of the question, but that is now what is in the text," he declared. "I believe we are making real progress. [...] But the process is far from over. It will require hard work, determination and patience to see it through." Having secured "a clear path that can lead to a fresh settlement for Britain in a reformed European Union," Cameron set a June date for the Brexit referendum.

March

The EU and Turkey agreed on an effective policy to discourage refugees and migrants from attempting to travel to Europe. From March 20 onward, anyone arriving in Greece from Turkey would be sent back. Visiting Athens, EU President Donald Tusk made a dramatic appeal: "I am addressing all potential illegal economic refugees: Wherever you're from, don't come to Europe! Don't believe the smugglers! Don't put your lives and your money at risk. It won't do any good!" The EU decided to reinforce protection of its external borders. The plan worked, up to a point; there was a dramatic reduction in the number of arrivals. Chancellor Merkel herself promoted this new refugee policy after she was harshly criticized by other EU members. At home her party lost regional elections, and the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) surged ahead.

Terrorist attacks in Brussels. Islamists killed 32 people at the airport and in a subway station. Europe was in a state of shock. Bombs at the heart of the European capital. Investigators gradually uncovered a network of terrorists from Belgium, France and Syria. Some had entered Europe via the recently closed Balkan route. The EU subsequently decided to implement stricter entry and exit checks, including for EU citizens, and to initiate closer cooperation between secret services.

April

The Netherlands rejected the EU's Association Agreement with Ukraine. The "No" in the Netherlands is another victory for the populists, who had turned the vote into a referendum on Prime Minister Rutte's government and the EU. At the end of the year the EU will again revise its agreement with Ukraine. Rutte hopes to get the Dutch parliament to ratify it after all.

The pope visited Lesbos. Conditions in the refugee camps on the Greek island were very bad. The so-called "hot spots" for processing asylum seekers weren't working, because the asylum process in Greece was taking too long. People were not being deported to Turkey as agreed. EU member states were refusing to take refugees and asylum seekers from Greece and Italy as agreed. Lack of solidarity in the bloc.

May

In Austria the right-wing populist Freedom Party (FPÖ) lost the presidential election by a small margin. Former Green politician Alexander Van der Bellen was elected over the FPÖ's candidate, Norbert Hofer. The FPÖ contested the result - successfully. The election was repeated in December, and Van der Bellen won again, by a bigger margin this time. EU leaders evaluated this as a success in the ongoing struggle with the populists. Nonetheless, opinion polls show that the FPÖ is still the strongest party in Austria.

Another multi-billion euro aid package for Greece was approved by EU finance ministers, only just scraping through. The Greek government is fulfilling requirements late and is seen to be dragging its feet. Nonetheless, the money keeps on flowing in order to avert another debt crisis. Fresh talks about debt relief for Greece had to be postponed again at the end of the year - but the Greek economy is slowly starting to grow.

June

"The EU is in a lamentable state," said the president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, in an interview with euronews. Given the many crises within the EU, and growing tensions among its member states, he painted a grim picture. "The centrifugal, extreme forces are winning elections and referendums," he said. "If we question the heart of the European project, we are playing with the future of the next generation." Schulz has now left Brussels after 22 years in European politics, and plans to embark on a second political career: as German foreign minister, or even the SPD candidate for German chancellor.

A triumph of nationalism in Britain: Brexit is a reality. The "Leave" camp won the referendum. "The sun has risen on an independent UK. And just look at it, even the weather has improved!” crowed leading pro-Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage in London the following morning. "It's a victory for ordinary people, decent people; it's a victory against the big merchant banks, against the big businesses, against big politics." But Farage, a member of the European Parliament, quickly made himself scarce, resigning as leader of the UK Independence Party. Boris Johnson also backed out: The conservative politician, who led the Brexit campaign, didn't want to become prime minister and have to organize the exit. Theresa May took over, and coined the not very illuminating maxim "Brexit means Brexit." The 27 remaining member states said they would not make concessions to Britain, and called on May to present her Brexit plan. Months after the referendum, however, she still doesn't seem to have one. May intends to put in a formal application at the end of March 2017 for Britain to leave the EU.

July

At a summit meeting in Warsaw, NATO decided that it would once again station small bands of troops along its eastern border. This was intended as a signal to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin: this far and no farther. "We are not seeking confrontation with Russia," said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg; rather, NATO wanted a "meaningful and constructive dialogue." Moscow's response was that it, too, was not threatening anyone, but that it felt encircled by the Western alliance. The conflict in eastern Ukraine, where Russia is directing the rebels, remained frozen: No progress was made with the Minsk peace protocol. Sanctions against Russia were extended. Russia and the West also support opposing sides in the war in Syria.

Terrorist attack in Nice. An Islamist terrorist drove a truck into a crowd on the beach promenade. The man, a Tunisian, killed a total of 85 people. France, and the whole of Europe, was stunned. French President François Hollande found himself under increasing pressure: His prime minister, Manuel Valls, was booed at a memorial service in Nice. The right-wing populist National Front is very strong in the south of France. People there are demanding more security.

In Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan staved off an attempted coup. He consolidated his power with a wave of arrests and purges. The number of terror attacks by Islamists and Kurds in Turkey increased. The EU criticized Erdogan, but needed him to keep back the migrants. The EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security, Federica Mogherini, described this balancing act: "We fully support the democratic and legitimate institutions. However, there is no justification for the response to circumvent fundamental rights and freedoms." Erdogan repeatedly threatened to annul the deal on refugees, but has not done so.

August

Earthquake in central Italy. The little town of Amatrice was almost completely reduced to rubble. Almost 300 people died. It was a heavy blow for an Italy that was already in economic trouble. The Italian prime minister, Matteo Renzi, promised swift aid, but the people of Amatrice didn't believe him. In 2009 there was an earthquake in nearby Aquila, and families there are still living in emergency shelters.

September

Twenty-seven EU states met in Bratislava for a discussion of the community's objectives following the departure of Britain. A vehement argument erupted over migration policy, lack of solidarity, and the demand for greater sovereignty for individual states. Luxembourg's foreign minister, Jean Asselborn, called for Hungary to be thrown out of the EU on account of the autocratic policies of its national-conservative leader, Viktor Orban. The Hungarian foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, retaliated, saying: "Jean Asselborn has seriously insulted Hungary and the Hungarian people." The exchange says a great deal about the internal state of the bloc. Countries of the north and south are also in dispute over budgetary policy.

October

CETA is coming. The EU and Canada signed a free trade agreement, after a considerable struggle on the European side. A veto by a Belgian region almost scuppered the agreement. At the signing of the treaty, the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, remained optimistic: "We are convinced we can demonstrate that international trade strengthens the middle class, and those working hard to join it," he said. CETA must now be ratified by all the EU member states. It is, however, by no means certain that the TTIP trade agreement with the United States will ever be signed. Opposition to it in Europe is growing, and the US president-elect, Donald Trump, is more inclined towards isolation.

The Calais "Jungle" was cleared. Thousands of people from the illegal camp had tried to cross from France to Britain through the Channel Tunnel, or in trucks on ferries. The migrants were redistributed around France, where they are supposed to be processed as asylum seekers. The Jungle had already been dismantled several times in recent years.

November

The European Parliament called for accession talks with Turkey, faltering for the past 11 years, to be frozen, saying that the country had breached fundamental European values. EU foreign ministers didn't go this far; instead, they decided that a new chapter in Turkey's accession negotiations would not be opened until further notice. Only Austria said clearly that Turkey could not become a member of the EU. The EU will continue to work with the Balkan states with a view to their accession.

December

The EU still doesn't have the refugee and migration crisis under control, according to the EU Commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker. Hardly anyone is coming via the Balkan route any more, but almost as many are still coming from Africa as in 2015. The EU therefore wants to persuade African countries to prevent the migrants from setting off. Deterrence is the keyword. The EU calls these "migration partnerships."

At the December summit, EU heads of state and government admitted their incapacity to act with regard to the conflict in Syria. They could only stare in disbelief at the actions taken by Russia, Iran and the Syrian regime against the Syrian population. Their response to potential war crimes on the rebel side was equally impotent. "I won't hide the fact that this part of the discussion was very depressing, because we are all seeing something in the 21st century that is shameful, that breaks your heart. It shows that we were unable to act, that we would like to act," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel. She didn't address how this could be done.

Another victory for the populists: in Italy this time. The Socialist prime minister, Matteo Renzi, suffered a crushing defeat in a referendum on the constitution. The Italian people rejected both Renzi's EU-friendly course and his economic policy. The radical Five Star Movement surged ahead. An interim government is now tasked with getting Italy's banking crisis under control. The European Central Bank is continuing with its policy of ultra-cheap money, which supports crisis-hit countries like Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece and France. Northern countries are critical of this policy. The eurozone is creaking dangerously. But the European economy is growing, and unemployment is gradually sinking. "The risks remain high, both internally and externally," said Mario Draghi, the head of the European Central Bank, as the year drew to a close.

Another terror attack shocked the European Union shortly before the end of the year, this time in the German capital, Berlin, where 12 people died and some 50 were injured after a truck drove into a Christmas market in the center of the city. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the attack, suspected to have been carried out by a Tunisian man shot dead by police in Italy some days later, was all the more devastating because the victims "had gathered there to celebrate the pre-Christmas season, which unites many with peace."

Several EU countries stepped up security measures following the attack, as the bloc mulls over how best to combat terrorism without excessively curbing civil liberties." 

DW

Italy's Renzi to resign after referendum rout

"Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is set to resign on Monday after suffering a crushing defeat in a referendum over constitutional reform, tipping the euro zone's third-largest economy into political turmoil.

His decision to quit after just two-and-a-half years in office deals a blow to the European Union, already reeling from multiple crises and struggling to overcome anti-establishment forces that have battered the Western world this year. (...)

Sunday's referendum was over government plans to reduce the powers of the upper house Senate and regional authorities but was viewed by many people as a chance to register dissatisfaction with Renzi, who has struggled to revive economic growth , and mainstream politics.

"No" won an overwhelming 59.1 percent of the vote, according to the final count. About 33 million Italians, or two-thirds of eligible voters, cast ballots following months of bitter campaigning that pitted Renzi against all major opposition parties, including the anti-establishment 5-Star.

(...)"

Reuters

Ennyien költöztek Európába tavaly

"Tartózkodási engedélyt több ok miatt is kérhet valaki, ám az elmúlt években a legtöbb kérelem a család, a tanulmányok és a munkavégzés miatt érkezett az EU-hoz. Nem változott ez nagyon az Eurostat friss adatai szerint tavaly sem: a 2015-ben 2,6 millió első alkalommal kiadott engedély 29 százaléka családi okok miatt kapott zöld utat, 27 százalék új munkahely, míg 20 százalék az oktatás miatt. A maradék 24 százalékba sok minden beletartozik, így többek közt a nemzetközi védelem is, azaz ha valaki azért menekült el hazájából, mert veszélyben érezte magát.

Az uniós statisztikai hivatal adatai szerint a tavaly kiadott engedélyek száma 12,1 százalékkal magasabb az előző évinél, az újonnan érkezettek pedig leginkább az Egyesült Királyságba mentek. Ez mintegy 633 ezer embert jelent, de nincs sokkal lemaradva Lengyelország (542 ezer) és Franciaország (227 ezer) sem. Érdekesség, hogy a lista első hat helyezettje (az előbbieken túl Németország, Spanyolország és Olaszország) az összes tavaly kiadott engedély háromnegyedét hozta össze.

Teljesen más sorrendet kapunk, ha az adott ország lakosságához viszonyítjuk a kiadott dokumentumok számát. Eszerint Málta a listaelső, hiszen ott ezer lakosra 23,1 új, első alkalommal kiadott letelepedési engedélyt számolt az Eurostat. Ciprus a következő a sorban 18,4-es értékkel, majd Lengyelország (14,3), Svédország (11,3) és az Egyesült Királyság (9,7) érkezik. Az uniós átlag egyébként 5,1, ennél jóval alacsonyabb a magyar, amely a 2 pontot sem éri el. Hazánknál egyébként csak Litvániában, Szlovákiában, Bulgáriában, Horvátországban és Romániában mért alacsonyabb számot az uniós statisztikai hivatal.

Bár elsőre annak tűnhet, a lengyelek előkelő helyezése nem annyira meglepő: a legtöbb igény, közel 500 ezer ugyanis Ukrajnából érkezik. Ők pedig leginkább munka miatt akarnak letelepedési engedélyt kérni, sokuk pedig a közeli Lengyelországban képzeli ideiglenes (?) jövőjét. A második legtöbb befogadott kérelem az USA-ból jött, majd Kína, India, Szíria a további sorrend, de még Brazíliából is közel 60 ezer ember érkezett 2015-ben az EU-ba.

Az amerikaiak igen nagy többsége, már csak a nyelvi könnyebbségek miatt az Egyesült Királyságot választja célpontjának, de a kínaiak és az indiaiak többségének oda szeretne eljutni. A szírek viszont inkább Svédországot választják, a marokkóiak Spanyolországot, a fehéroroszok szinte kivétel nélkül Lengyelországot, míg az oroszok Csehországot, a brazilok pedig Írországot preferálják. Azon talán senki sem lepődik meg, hogy a törökök többsége Németországot célozza meg.

Az is érdekes végeredményhez vezet, ha azt nézzük, hogy az egyes országokból érkezők miért kaptak az EU-tól letelepedési engedélyt.

Csak Marokkóból 68 ezer fő például családi okok miatt jött az öreg kontinensre, az ukránok közül 376 ezer akar dolgozni, míg az oktatásnál Kína az első 102 ezer engedéllyel.

Ki jön Magyarországra?

Hazánkra vonatkozóan tavaly összesen 20 751 letelepedési engedélyt adtak ki az Eurostat adatai szerint, többségét (5 876) oktatási céllal, de sokan a családot jelölték meg (5 715) okként. Munka miatt ennél jóval kevesebben, mindössze 4 209-en jöttek Magyarországra, míg az egyéb kategória 4 951 embert jelentett.

A legtöbb kérelem, 4 285 Kínából érkezett, amit jelentős lemaradással Ukrajna (1 686) követett. A top5-be még az USA (1 679), Oroszország (1 321) és Törökország (988) fért fel, ez az öt ország adta az összes kérelem 52 százalékát."

Napi.hu

Moldova elects pro-Russian Igor Dodon as president

Igor Dodon, the pro-Russian leader of the Party of Socialists, on Sunday became Moldova’s first directly elected president in more than two decades. Dodon won almost 55 percent of votes cast, defeating pro-EU candidate Maia Sandu, who was backed by the European People’s Party. Just over half of eligible Moldovans turned out to polling stations.

(...)

Politico

Bulgaria’s PM quits after pro-Russian candidate wins presidency

Bulgaria looks set to veer sharply back into Moscow’s strategic orbit after Socialist candidate Rumen Radev won the presidency in a landslide on Sunday, forcing the resignation of center-right Prime Minister Boyko Borisov.

According to exit polls after the runoff, Radev won almost 60 percent of the vote. Tsetska Tsacheva, from Borisov’s GERB party, took just over 35 percent.

The result has plunged the impoverished Balkan state into a political crisis that will be closely monitored by the rest of the EU and NATO. The country of 7 million people occupies a sensitive position within the EU because Russia’s influence is unusually strong, due in part to a complex web of commercial ties in the military, financial and energy sectors.

Borisov, a former firefighter and bodyguard, has promised to resign at the next sitting of parliament, probably on Monday or Tuesday. The prime minister congratulated Radev and admitted that his GERB party was now “in opposition to the will of the people.”

The most likely immediate course is for the current President Rosen Plevneliev to appoint cabinet ministers in a caretaker administration, before parliamentary elections early next year. In the meantime, the Socialists will need to try to work with a hotch-potch of parties on the far right, center and with the ethnic Turkish party, to exercise parliamentary influence.

“Bulgaria won. The people overcame apathy, and they overcame fear — that’s the most important thing,” Radev, 53-year-old former air force general, told reporters after his victory. “Despite bluffing by the government about the apocalypse, you voted for change.”

Radev, who gives daredevil airshows in a MiG-29 fighter jet, has given every sign during the election that he will seek to repair damaged ties with the Kremlin, saying that Bulgaria should never allow Russia to be styled as an enemy, and calling for an end to EU sanctions.

He has also taken a robust line on immigration, promising that he will prevent Bulgaria from becoming a “migrant ghetto.”

GERB had become an obvious target for public frustration over corruption. Although Borisov styled himself as a strongman willing to clean up Bulgaria, voters have largely been frustrated by GERB’s inability to reform the judiciary or escape the tentacles of oligarchs.

NATO officials are concerned about the presence of such an openly pro-Russian figure in the presidency and noted that cooperation with Bulgaria could be under strain.

Wasting no time in leaping to the defense of the Kremlin, Radev repeated his call for an end to sanctions immediately after his victory. He also expressed optimism that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin could chart a more positive geostrategic course.

“That gives us hope of reducing conflict in hotspots,” he said.

Politico

Mariano Rajoy, back to the old routine

"The Spanish PM puts the economy, Catalonia and Brexit on the agenda.

After 10 months of political deadlock in Spain, two inconclusive elections, two failed investiture votes in Congress and a putsch that brought down the leader of the main opposition party, Mariano Rajoy on Sunday finally secured a second term as prime minister.

The Federal Committee of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) decided to back a new conservative government to avoid a third election in the country in just over a year. In a historic vote, the about 250-member body approved the motion to lift the block on the second Rajoy-led Conservative government by 139 to 96 votes.

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy stayed true to form and played it safe when he named his cabinet on Thursday evening, picking trusted allies for top jobs and putting three topics at the top of his agenda: the continuation of his economic policies, standing up to the Catalan secessionist challenge, and making sure Spain plays its part in the Brexit negotiations."

More on Politico

Trudeau finally signs CETA free trade deal with European Union

"Prime Minister Justin Trudeau revelled in a long-awaited moment Sunday — signing Canada’s free trade deal with the European Union, but not before recognizing the challenges ahead to bring it fully into force.

Trudeau expressed hope that the so-called provisional application of the deal — approval only by the Canadian and European parliaments but not Europe’s 28 states and myriad regional governments — might happen within months.

That, said Trudeau, would result in 98 per cent of the deal coming into force. That’s much higher than the 90-per cent estimate that most European and Canadian officials have said would accompany provisional application of the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, known as CETA.

Trudeau had initially expected to sign the deal in Brussels days ago, but the restive Belgian region of Wallonia nearly killed it because its opposition to the pact’s investor-state dispute settlement mechanism gave it a veto under Belgium’s complicated constitution.

After seven arduous years of negotiation, Trudeau joined presidents of the European Council and European Commission, Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker, and signed the massive 1,600-page pact and its accompanying strategic partnership agreement.

The road to full ratification remains long. After Trudeau and his EU counterparts took a moment Sunday to revel in the milestone, the prime minister was willing to acknowledge it would take more than ceremony to fully ratify the deal. “The work is only just beginning right now,” Trudeau said.

(...)

But opposition among anti-trade activists and left-wing political parties in some European countries has been fierce and nearly blocked the deal. On a sleepy Sunday morning in the largely shuttered EU capital, Trudeau’s entourage was greeted by a small but vocal group of protesters at the European Council.

Trudeau acknowledged the discontent but said political leaders had to work to overcome it.

“That leadership that we were able to show between Canada and Europe is not just something that will reassure our own citizens but should be an example to the world of how we can move forward on trade deals that do genuinely benefit everyone,” Trudeau said. With the Liberals and Conservatives both favouring the deal, its approval will sail through Parliament.

But Europe is another matter. The European Parliament must approve CETA. Before leaving Brussels, Trudeau met with its leader, Martin Schulz, the German social democrat."

National Post

Germany's Oettinger to take over EU Commission budget post

"German Günther Oettinger is to replace Kristalina Georgieva as the European Commission's budget commissioner. Bulgaria's Georgieva resigned on Friday and will move to become CEO of the World Bank."

Deutsche Welle

Sakharov Prize To Yazidi Women

"The European Parliament has awarded its Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought and expression to Nadia Murad and Lamiya Aji Bashar, two women from Iraq's Yazidi community who suffered attack and persecution by ISIS.
Murad and Bashar were among thousands of women and girls abducted and held as sexual slaves by ISIS fighters after they rounded up Yazidis in their village of Kocho, near Sinjar in northwest Iraq, in the summer of 2014.
Murad has also called for the recognition of the massacre of Yazidis as genocide."

(...)

NDTV

Lithuania’s agrarians pull off surprise election win

Lithuania’s center-right opposition Peasants and Greens party said it would begin negotiations to form a coalition government on Monday after it declared victory in the second round of the country’s general election on Sunday.

The Peasants and Greens won 54 seats in the 141-member parliament. The conservative Homeland Union came in second with 31 seats, the ruling Social Democratic party won 17 seats, AFP reported. Turnout was 38 percent.

“Our government will be transparent, responsible, professional and resolute,” said Saulius Skvernelis, the party’s candidate to be the next prime minister, according to Reuters.

The party had already emerged as the biggest in some constituencies in the first round of the vote, held on October 9.

If Skvernelis becomes prime minister, it will mean that for the first time in 15 years, the country’s leader will not be a member of the Social Democrats or the Homeland Union.

A new government is expected to take over from the current coalition of the Social Democrats, Labour and Order and Justice parties before the end of 2016.

Politico.eu

Turkey coup attempt 2016

Bridges over the Bosphorus strait in Istanbul were blocked by troops late evening local time on Friday 15. July. "Fighter jets and helicopters were seen flying over the Turkish capital, Ankara, and gunshots heard. Soon after, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim announced that an attempt to overthrow the government was under way. A faction of the army then said, via a state broadcaster, that it had seized power to protect democracy from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

A curfew, martial law and the preparation of a new constitution was announced. Mr Erdogan, who was on holiday in a seaside resort town, called on his supporters to take to the streets in protest and returned to Istanbul. Over the course of a violent night, TV stations were raided by soldiers, explosions heard in Istanbul and Ankara, protesters shot at, the parliament and presidential buildings fired upon, a military helicopter shot down and the Turkish military chief taken hostage.

For the plot to succeed, the army faction needed public support or wider military backing. Neither materialised. Opposition parties also condemned the coup. In the early hours of Saturday morning, groups of soldiers involved began to surrender. Troops abandoned their tanks with their hands up.

Security forces also took back key installations and bases, including the military headquarters. By Saturday evening, some of the same places that had seen such chaos the night before were filled with jubilant supporters of Mr Erdogan."

BBC webpage

EU orders Apple to pay up to €13 billion in taxes

The European Commission has ordered Ireland to claw back up to €13 billion (£11.1 billion; $14.5 billion) in back taxes from Apple.
The European Union has never ordered a company to pay this much before, with Tuesday's decision smashing the €1.4 billion (£1.2 billion; $1.6 billion) levied against the French energy giant EDF in 2015.
Margrethe Vestager, the EU's competition commissioner, announced the figure at a European Commission press conference.
"Member states cannot give tax benefits to selected companies — this is illegal under EU state aid rules," Vestager said in a press release ahead of her speech. "The commission's investigation concluded that Ireland granted illegal tax benefits to Apple, which enabled it to pay substantially less tax than other businesses over many years. In fact, this selective treatment allowed Apple to pay an effective corporate tax rate of 1% on its European profits in 2003 down to 0.005 per cent in 2014."
Apple said the decision would affect how much it invests in Europe and how many people it employs in the region.
An Apple representative said: "The European Commission has launched an effort to rewrite Apple's history in Europe, ignore Ireland's tax laws, and upend the international tax system in the process. The commission's case is not about how much Apple pays in taxes — it's about which government collects the money. It will have a profound and harmful effect on investment and job creation in Europe."Apple follows the law and pays all of the taxes we owe wherever we operate. We will appeal, and we are confident the decision will be overturned."
Ireland's finance minister, Michael Noonan, said in a statement: "I disagree profoundly with the commission's decision." He added: "The decision leaves me with no choice but to seek Cabinet approval to appeal the decision before the European courts."
(...)
businessinsider.com/

EU leaders want their own army, but can't agree on much else

"As the other 27 European Union members wake up from its long August holidays, thoughts are turning to what will be a critical quarter for the bloc as it makes preparations for divorce talks with Britain and a future without the world’s fifth-largest economy.
That began in earnest this week with the summit of the ‘big three’ post-Brexit EU economies – France, Germany and Italy – that kicks off a whirlwind of intra-EU diplomacy leading up an informal meeting of the “EU27” in Bratislava on September 16.
Here are five things we learned from the Hollande-Renzi-Merkel show:
1)"Brexit won’t break us…"
Well, they would say that, wouldn’t they? But even so, there was a distinct note of defiance yesterday as Matteo Renzi, the Italian Prime minister, said that many people had felt that “after Brexit Europe would come to an end”, but that “this was not the case”. In truth, it will be a decade or more before anyone really knows whether Brexit heralded the beginning of the end for the EU or – as Mr Renzi promised – the start of a brave new European future unshackled from Britain, that most reluctant of EU members. For core Europe, nothing less than survival is at stake.
2)"But we admit there are some problems that need fixing…"
Whatever the brave rhetoric, the reality is that – as Francois Hollande, the French president noted - the forces of “fragmentation” are rising in Europe and (as he didn’t say) Britain’s vote for Brexit is adding a significant load to those centrifugal political forces.
The sharp rise in terrorism, the failure to protect external EU borders and the current failure of the European project to deliver sufficient jobs and prosperity to the coming generation are the daunting challenges that face Europe’s leaders – as well as those in Britain.
The decisions taken in Europe over the next year or two will determine whether those challenges will be better met inside the EU or, as Britain has decided, out of it.
3)"So we’re going to raise an EU army…"
Not as a cure for southern Europe’s chronic youth unemployment problem, but as a token of what Mr Renzi called a new future of deeper European co-operation, and a statement that Europe was prepared to take its place in the world.
Britain has always blocked plans for a so-called ‘EU Army’, arguing that it would undermine Nato as the cornerstone of European defence and (we don’t say out loud) our influence in Washington and at the Nato conference table.
But with Britain ‘out’, Europe is now determined to open this new strategic front. Like the decision to stage the press conference on the Italian aircraft carrier Garibaldi, anchored as it was near the grave site of Altiero Spinelli, one of the intellectual fathers of European federalism, the symbolism was deliberate. Importantly, the German chancellor Angela Merkel, whose government published a white paper advocating new pan-European military command structures after Brexit, has agreed that Europe must do “more for our internal and external security”.
4) "But that’s because we can’t agree on much else…"
 The focus on promises for a more unified defence apparatus belie the reality of the European project’s current predicament – that on the really existential economic questions surrounding the economy and the Eurozone, there is no political agreement.
The French want deeper economic integration for the Eurozone, the Italians want permission to tax and spend but the in Germany – where there are massive surpluses – there is absolutely no political will to pay for either of these demands.
As Mujtaba Rahman, managing director for Europe at the Eurasia group, says, Mrs Merkel “will only pay lip service” to Franco-Italian pleas to end German austerity-economics – meaning that far more important than what was addressed at this summit, was what was left unsaid.
5) But that doesn’t mean Britain will get an easy ride
While Europe clearly has its problems, the tone of this meeting will have served as a quiet warning to those who believe that Europe will cut Britain a sweetheart deal when the talks finally begin.
No-one was expecting any concrete detail on Brexit talks, since Britain has not yet indicated which of the myriad possible relationships with Europe – Norway, Swiss, Canada, WTO or bespoke – it will press for when it invokes Article 50.
But while the tone was respectful, it was also rather coldly clear – the European Union is fighting for its political survival and it will cling to its core ideals to protect itself."
Telegraph

Austria Will Veto Turkey’s Bid to Join European Union

Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz will block any effort to advance negotiations necessary for Turkey to join the European Union, he told Austrian newspaper Kurier in an interview over the weekend.
The move comes after Chancellor Christian Kern called for ending Turkey’s accession talks last week. Kurz said that Turkey is “moving away from Europe” and that “what happens there isn’t compatible with European fundamental values.”
“I have a seat and vote in the council of foreign ministers, which decides unanimously whether new negotiating chapters with Turkey are opened,” Kurz told Kurier. “And I’m against that.”
Talks about Turkey’s EU accession are split into 35 chapters, of which 15 have been opened and one provisionally closed, according to the EU. The latest chapter, which would govern Turkey’s payments to and receipts from the EU budget, was opened June 30.
Bloomberg

Euro zone economic growth slows in second quarter

Economic growth in the euro zone slowed in the second quarter as uncertainty before the British vote to leave the European Union swirled, data showed on Friday, and economists said it could be a sign of future weaker growth.

Gross domestic product (GDP) in the 19 countries sharing the euro rose 0.3 percent quarter-on-quarter in the April-June period, halving from the 0.6 percent growth in the first quarter of the year, European statistics office Eurostat said.

(...)

First estimates on euro zone inflation released on Friday by Eurostat showed a slight rise to 0.2 percent in July from 0.1 percent the previous month, but still far away from the ECB target of a rate close to 2 percent, while core inflation remained stable.

DNAI

Malta with fourth largest population surge in European Union in 2015

On 1 January 2016, the population of the European Union (EU) was estimated at 510.1 million, compared with 508.3 million on 1 January 2015. During the year 2015, almost 5.1 million babies were born in the EU, while more than 5.2 million persons died, meaning that the EU recorded for the first time ever a negative natural change of its population. The remainder of the change (positive) is driven mainly by net migration.

Malta registered the fourth largest population increase in 2015.

The most populated EU Member States continue to be Germany (82.2 million residents), France (66.7 million), the United Kingdom (65.3 million) and Italy (60.7 million). Together, they are home to more than half of the EU population, Eurostat said.
During 2015, the population increased in seventeen EU Member States and decreased in eleven.

The largest increase was observed in Luxembourg (+23.3 per 1,000 residents), ahead of Austria (+14.4‰), Germany (+11.8‰), Malta (+11.7‰), Sweden (+10.6‰), Denmark (+8.4‰) and Belgium (+7.2‰).

In contrast, the largest decreases were recorded in Lithuania (-11.3‰), Latvia (-8.7‰) and Croatia (-8.2‰), followed by Bulgaria (-6.7‰), Greece (-6.0‰), and Romania (-5.6‰).

In total, the population of the EU increased by almost 2 million people (+3.5‰) during the year 2015.
Accounting for 16.1% of the total EU population at 1 January 2016, Germany continues to be the most populated Member State, ahead of France (13.1%), the United Kingdom (12.8%), Italy (11.9%), Spain (9.1%) and Poland (7.4%). For the remaining Member States, nine have a share of between 4% and 1.5% of the EU population and eleven a share below 1.5%.
During the year 2015, nearly 5.1 million babies were born in the EU, 40 000 fewer than the previous year. Across Member States, the highest crude birth rates in 2015 were recorded in Ireland (14.2 per 1 000 residents), France (12.0‰), the United Kingdom (11.9‰) and Sweden (11.7‰), while the lowest were registered in Italy (8.0‰), Portugal (8.3‰) and Greece (8.5‰). At EU level, the crude birth rate was 10.0 per 1 000 residents.

There were slightly over 5.2 million deaths registered in the EU in 2015, 286 000 more than the previous year. Bulgaria (15.3 per 1 000 residents) had in 2015 the highest crude death rate, followed by Latvia and Lithuania (both 14.4‰), Hungary (13.4‰) Romania (13.2‰) and Croatia (12.9‰). At the opposite end of the scale, Ireland (6.4‰), Cyprus (6.9‰) and Luxembourg (7.0‰) recorded the lowest. The crude death rate was 10.3 per 1 000 residents in the EU.

Consequently, Ireland (with a natural change of its population of +7.7‰) was in 2015 the Member State where births most outnumbered deaths, ahead of Cyprus (+3.9‰), Luxembourg (+3.7‰), France (+3.0‰), the United Kingdom (+2.7‰) and Sweden (+2.4‰). In contrast, among the thirteen EU Member States which registered a negative natural change in 2015, deaths outnumbered births the most in Bulgaria (-6.2‰), Croatia and Hungary (both -4.0‰), Romania (-3.8‰), Lithuania (-3.5‰) and Latvia (-3.3‰).
MaltaIndependent