EU parliament urges Turkey to recognise 'Armenian genocide'

"The European Parliament on Wednesday urged Turkey to use the centenary of Ottoman-era massacres to "recognise the Armenian genocide" and help promote reconciliation between the two peoples.
The parliament voted "by a wide majority," according to the session chair, in favour of the resolution as tension grows over the characterisation of the tragedy ahead of the 100th anniversary of the 1915 killings of Armenians during World War I. (...)"
Yahoo

Iceland drops EU membership bid

"Iceland has announced it is dropping its bid to join the European Union in line with pledges made two years ago by its then-new eurosceptic government.
Iceland first applied for EU membership in 2009 but its foreign minister, Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson, said in a statement that the centre-right government had informed current EU president Latvia and the European Commission of its decision to annul the application. “Iceland’s interests are better served outside the European Union,” the minister wrote on his website. (...)"
The Guardian

Official Calls for a European Union Army

"The European Union needs its own army to face up to Russia and other threats as well as restore the bloc's foreign policy standing around the world, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told a German newspaper on Sunday.

Arguing that NATO was not enough because not all members of the transatlantic defense alliance are in the E.U., Juncker said a common E.U. army would also send important signals to the world.

"A joint E.U. army would show the world that there would never again be a war between E.U. countries," Juncker told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper. "Such an army would also help us to form common foreign and security policies and allow Europe to take on responsibility in the world."

Juncker said a common E.U. army could serve as a deterrent and would have been useful during the Ukraine crisis. "With its own army, Europe could react more credibly to the threat to peace in a member state or in a neighboring state. "One wouldn't have a European army to deploy it immediately. But a common European army would convey a clear message to Russia that we are serious about defending our European values."

The 28-nation E.U. already has battle groups that are manned on a rotational basis and meant to be available as a rapid reaction force. But they have never been used in a crisis. E.U. leaders have said they want to boost the common security policy by improving rapid response capabilities.

But Britain, along with France one of the two main military powers in the bloc, has been wary of giving a bigger military role to the E.U., fearing it could undermine NATO. German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen welcomed Juncker's proposal: "Our future as Europeans will at some point be with a European army," she told German radio."

Newsweek

Syriza victory: Turning point for EU?

This was an extraordinary victory for the radical left in Greece - probably beyond its own expectations. Alexis Tsipras will now try to lead an anti-austerity revolution, backed by a strong democratic mandate. He said in his victory speech that he is willing to negotiate with Greece's European partners. The question is: how much are they prepared to compromise with him?
Syriza wants to reverse cuts in public services and increase salaries and pensions again. It wants to write off a large chunk of Greece's huge public debt, most of which it now owes to other governments in the eurozone.
(...)
Link to BBC

ECB executive warns over 'weakened' European Union

"A top official at the European Central Bank (ECB) has warned that unemployment and low growth are undermining the foundations of the European Union. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Benoit Coeure, a member of the executive board of the ECB, said the bank could not create lasting growth as that was down to governments. He urged governments to speed up economic reform.,
On Thursday the ECB launched a €1.1 trillion economic stimulus plan. Mr Coeure said: "We've done our part on Thursday. Others have to do their part." He said there was "nothing" the ECB could do to lift the growth rate of Europe in a "lasting way". "We can make it cheaper to invest, but people have to want to invest and that is the role of finance ministers, that is the role of government," Mr Coeure said.
'Entrenched unemployment'
Mr Coeure said the ECB would be making that point at the Eurogroup meeting on Monday when the ECB holds talks with finance ministers from the eurozone. "With low growth, entrenched unemployment - people being dragged out of the labour market - we are seeing the whole political foundation of the European project being weakened. This cannot last for too long," he said. "Being patient is just a risk we don't want to take."
Record low interest rates have failed to boost the 19-country euro area. So, the ECB plans to buy €60bn bonds each month from banks until the end of September 2016, or even longer, in what is called quantitative easing (QE). QE in theory increases the supply of money, something that keeps interest rates low and encourages borrowing and therefore spending."
BBC

ECB unveils massive QE boost for eurozone

The European Central Bank (ECB) will inject at least €1.1 trillion (£834bn) into the ailing eurozone economy.
The ECB will buy €60bn bonds each month from banks until the end of September 2016, or even longer, in what is called quantitative easing (QE).
QE in theory increases the supply of money, something that keeps interest rates low and encourages borrowing and therefore spending.
The news sent the euro to an 11-year low against the against the US dollar.
Record low eurozone rates have failed to boost the 19-country euro area. The ECB also said it would keep eurozone interest rates at 0.05%, a record low. Rates have been at that level since September 2014.  ECB president Mario Draghi said the programme would begin in March.
Earlier this month, figures showed the eurozone was suffering deflation, creating the danger that growth would stall as businesses and consumers shut their wallets, as they waited for prices to fall.
Mr Draghi said the programme would be conducted "until we see a sustained adjustment in the path of inflation", which the ECB has pledged to maintain at close to 2%.
Shares rose in response to the news and bond yields, which are linked to the amount governments pay to borrow, fell, particularly those of the weakest countries including Italy, Spain and Portugal.
(...)"
Link to BBC

Politics of Europe on the top of security risks

"Just two years ago, Ian Bremmer, the head of Eurasia Group, said political risk in the developed world was "overstated." Today, things are a bit different. "Geopolitics is back," Bremmer and Cliff Kupchan write in Eurasia Group's annual list of the top risks. "As 2015 begins, political conflict among the world's great powers is in play more than at any time since the end of the Cold War."
Russia, China, the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL), and the emerging markets are major risks in the coming year, but the biggest one is Europe because of increased political instability, according to Bremmer and Kupchan. We've put together Bremmer and Kupchan's top 10 risks for 2015, along with key explanations and — bonus — a list of red herrings.
1. The politics of Europe
"Anxiety is again on the rise over Europe's economics, but there is no sense of crisis to force political leaders to work together," Bremmer writes. Additionally, anti-EU political parties are becoming more popular, while some governments are increasingly growing to resent Germany's dominant influence. On top of all that, "Russia and ISIS will add to Europe's security worries," Bremmer writes."
2. Russia
3. The effect of China slowdown
4. The weaponization of finance
5. ISIS, beyond Iraq and Syria (Yemen, Jordan, Saudi Arabia)
6. Weak incumbents (Brazil, Turkey, Colombia, South Africa, Nigeria)
7. The rise of strategic sectors
8. Saudi Arabia versus Iran
9. Taiwan and China
10. Turkey
Link to BusinessInsider

Russia expands Eurasian Union in competition with European bloc

Russian President Vladimir Putin expanded his emerging Eurasian Economic Union with the announcement Tuesday that tiny and impoverished Kyrgyzstan will join the bloc four months after it comes into force on New Year's Day.
The alliance of former Soviet republics was designed by the Kremlin leader to counter the Brussels-based European Union, which has spread its trade and political assimilation up to Russia's borders, including the Eastern European states that were members of Moscow-led Comecon during the Cold War era and the three ex-Soviet Baltic republics.
(...)
After Tuesday's ceremony in Moscow to sign documents among the five Eurasian Economic Union states, Lukashenko criticized Russian efforts to punish Belarus for its end run around sanctions. Russia has stopped importing meat and dairy products from Belarus, purportedly over concern about food purity, and put barriers in the way of Belarus exports through Russia to Kazakhstan.
The decision Tuesday to admit Kyrgyzstan, the poorest of the former Soviet bloc countries, also appeared unlikely to advance the Eurasian Economic Union's collective prosperity. With a per capita gross domestic product of $2,500, the tiny, landlocked Central Asian country of 5.6 million people ranks 185th among the 193 United Nations member states.
(...)
Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev first proposed in 1994 a union of former Soviet states to facilitate the free movement of goods, services, labor and capital. The five states so far committed to joining the Moscow-led bloc comprise a market of nearly 180 million people."
Link to LA Times

EU proposes $380 billion investment plan

"The European Union's executive is proposing a 315-billion euro ($380 billion) investment plan to boost the bloc's flagging economy, a scheme whose success will depend on leveraging 21 billion euros in guarantees and seed money to attract private funds". (...)
Link to Hurriyet

Court Lets E.U. Nations Curb Immigrant Welfare

"The European Union’s top court put its thumb on the scale of one of the bloc’s most divisive issues Tuesday, ruling in effect that richer countries can limit access to welfare benefits for citizens from poorer ones.
In the decision, the European Court of Justice ruled that a Romanian woman who had immigrated to Germany was not entitled to unemployment benefits because she had made no effort to find a job.
While the ruling is limited in scope, it may provide some political cover to governments, like those in Britain and Germany, that have complained of “welfare tourism” and faced strong opposition at home over immigration policies because of it.
The decision may also provide a safety valve of sorts to relieve pressures within the European Union over immigration, which have grown more profound during the long economic crisis and as the bloc has expanded to include poorer members, like Romania and Bulgaria.(...)
Brussels also welcomed the ruling. The European Commission, the union’s executive arm, “has consistently stressed that free movement is the right to free circulation,” said Mina Andreeva, a spokeswoman. But, she added, that “is not a right to freely access the member states’ social assistance systems.” (...)
In Tuesday’s case, a Romanian woman, Elisabeta Dano, sued a German employment center in Leipzig for refusing to grant unemployment benefits to her and her son. According to the German news agency DPA, Ms. Dano was receiving a child allowance and support benefits totaling 317 euros, or about $395, a month when she brought her case. (...)
Most of the popular anger at perceived “welfare tourism” has centered on Romanians and Bulgarians, who this year became eligible for full freedom of movement throughout the 28 nations of the European Union.
(...)"
Link to NewYorkTimes

European Union Lowers Growth Forecasts

"European Union officials on Tuesday sharply lowered growth forecasts as member states like France, Germany and Italy showed weak economic performance, and as business confidence suffered from heightened geopolitical risks.

Growth is expected to be a meager 1.3 percent in the 28-member bloc this year, instead of the 1.6 percent predicted in the spring, said the European Commission, the union’s executive arm. And the economy is not expected to get much better in 2015, when growth in Germany, the region’s economic engine, is expected to grind down to about 1 percent.

“The economic and employment situation is not improving fast enough,” Jyrki Katainen, the European Commission vice president for jobs and growth, said in a statement accompanying the closely watched economic forecast.

Unless there are additional signs of growth and job creation in the next five years, “people could despair of the European project,” Pierre Moscovici, the European commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, said at a news conference on Tuesday.

The recovery on the Continent continues to lag those in the United States and Britain. Over the next two years, annual growth in Britain is expected to be close to 3 percent, and the unemployment rate is projected to be 5.5 percent in 2016, according to the data released Tuesday. The unemployment rate in the European Union is not expected to fall below double digits, where it has been since 2012, until 2016.

The gloomier outlook will most likely raise expectations for the European Central Bank to take additional steps to stimulate the economy, though economists said they did not expect policy makers to take action at a meeting on Thursday.

The report on Tuesday did not take into account how the European economy might get a boost from a 300 billion euro, or $375 billion, plan to invest public and private money into infrastructure projects. Jean-Claude Juncker, who took office this month as president of the European Commission, has pledged to present that package before the end of the year.

The lower forecasts, especially in the 18-nation euro area, where the commission cut its projection for growth this year to 0.8 percent from an earlier 1.2 percent, are a measure of how quickly optimism about a recovery has dissipated. France has failed to grow as hoped, and Italy struggles to make overhauls. There are also signs that the German economy is stalling.

In one of the more drastic downgrades for 2015, the commission lowered Germany’s forecast for growth by nearly a full percentage point to 1.1 percent.

Among the problems facing European economies like Germany is the prospect of a “new cycle of sanctions and countersanctions” related to the restrictions that the United States and the European Union imposed on Russia in retaliation for its role in the Ukraine crisis, and reciprocal moves by Moscow, European Union officials said. Those tensions “could pose a larger roadblock to European growth prospects than currently envisaged in the forecast,” the officials said in a report accompanying the forecasts. The tensions might also “have triggered a wait-and-see attitude among firms,” the officials wrote in a section of the report that focused on Germany.

Germany is expected to post growth of 1.3 percent this year, down from an earlier forecast of 1.8 percent. The French economy is expected to grow 0.3 percent this year, down from an earlier estimate of 1 percent. Italy appeared to stand out as a poor performer: Its economy was predicted to shrink 0.4 percent this year compared with a forecast in May for growth of 0.6 percent.

“With confidence indicators declining since midyear and now back to where they were at the end of 2013, and hard data pointing to very weak activity for the rest of the year, it is becoming harder to see the dent in the recovery as the result of temporary factors only,” officials wrote in their report.

The commission said it expected growth rates to improve somewhat in 2015, rising to 1.5 percent in the European Union and to 1.1 percent in the eurozone. Even so, weaker-than-expected growth this year is likely to make it much harder for countries like France and Italy to achieve the bloc’s mandated targets to keep budget deficits and government debt in check. France and Italy could face disciplinary action and steep fines if they fail to show that they are making sufficient effort to bring their economies in line with European budgetary rules. Mr. Katainen said those recommendations would be published by the end of this month.

Over all, the commission said, the most recent figures indicate a slow fading of the legacy of the sovereign debt crisis, with many member states still weighed down by high unemployment, high debt and low output.

That prompted Mr. Katainen, the commission vice president, to call on member states to agree on the €300 billion spending plan to bolster demand. “Accelerating investment is the linchpin of economic recovery,” he said. Germany also “can play a significant role stimulating the euro area and E.U. economy” by saving less and spending more, Mr. Katainen said."

Link to NewYorkTimes

EU Sets Challenge to U.S. With Toughest Emissions Target

"European Union leaders backed the most-ambitious carbon emissions goals of any major economy, in a bid to crank up pressure on the U.S. and China ahead of climate talks in December.
Heads of government from the bloc’s 28 nations endorsed a binding target to cut greenhouse gases by at least 40 percent from 1990 levels by 2030 at a summit in Brussels. Meeting that goal would cost about 38 billion euros ($48 billion) a year, according to EU estimates. The EU is on track to meet its previous goal of a 20 percent reduction by 2020.
(...)
The European accord required unanimity and overcoming differences between poorer, mostly ex-communist east European nations and richer countries in western Europe. France, Portugal and Spain reached a compromise to build more gas and power connections across the Pyrenees while the U.K. and Germany bridged their divide over an energy efficiency goal.
(...)
Poland, which had threatened to veto the deal unless it addresses the country’s concerns of a surge in power prices, won assurances that its utilities will get free carbon permits under the EU emissions trading system, or ETS, after 2020 and that the country will have access to funds for modernizing coal-based plants.
(...)
Under today’s deal, the EU will renew a special carbon-permit reserve -- which yielded 2.2 billion euros for renewable energy and carbon-capture projects over the past four years --and extend its scope after 2020. It will also create a new fund, which would include 2 percent of ETS allowances, to help finance investment in low-income member states.
(...)
The package also envisages an indicative goal to increase energy efficiency by at least 27 percent by 2030 and a target to boost the share of renewable energy in European energy consumption to at least 27 percent. The latter would be binding at EU level but will not be translated into objectives for individual member states.
The deal as “a far cry” from what is needed to combat climate change, according to Monica Frassoni and Reinhard Buetikofer, members of European Green Party. “The adopted targets are far from ambitious and not only weaken Europe’s climate policy, but also undermine the fight against Europe’s energy independence,” they said in a statement. “They are far from ambitious regarding making economic progress through a green transformation, namely through enhanced efficiency and more renewables.”
The EU must now ensure that its package for 2030 does not harm growth and jobs and should step up efforts to secure an internationally binding agreement to protect the competitiveness of its industry, according to the European arm of the International Federation of Industrial Energy Consumers.
An energy security strategy for Europe is the fourth pillar of the deal. The leaders’ endorsement for the plan to diversify energy-supply sources and cut the region’s dependence on fossil fuels came after a pricing dispute led to the cutoff of Russian natural-gas supplies to Ukraine, the transit country for around 15 percent of the EU’s need for the fuel. The leaders agreed to improve cross-border power interconnections, which currently can handle about 8 percent of the bloc’s potential power output, less than the 10 percent target set by EU leaders in 2002, according to commission data. The target for 2030 was set at 15 percent.
(...)"
Link to Bloomberg

Sweden to become first country to recognize Palestine

"The UN General Assembly approved the de facto recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine in 2012 but the European Union and most EU countries, have yet to give official recognition.
Sweden's new center-left government will recognize the state of Palestine in a move that will make it the first major European country to take the step, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said on Friday.
The UN General Assembly approved the de facto recognition of the sovereign state of Palestine in 2012 but the European Union and most EU countries, have yet to give official recognition. "The conflict between Israel and Palestine can only be solved with a two-state solution, negotiated in accordance with international law," Lofven said during his inaugural address in parliament. "A two-state solution requires mutual recognition and a will to peaceful co-existence. Sweden will therefore recognize the state of Palestine."
(...)"
Link to JerusalemPost

Scotland's referendum - nothing and everything changes

"In the end nothing changed and everything changed. Scottish people voted with a decisive majority against independence on Thursday (18 September) but the conversation in the UK has only just begun.
David Cameron, seemingly invigorated by almost becoming the PM who oversaw the break up of the UK, has promised devolution for everyone. In Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England.

In a speech after the outcome he said Scottish people "have kept our country of four nations together. it would have broken my heart to see our United Kingdom come to an end".
The EU, watching nervously from the side lines, also welcomed the result. The No outcome removed the immediate political and legal maelstrom of what to do with an EU state that has just had a bit removed; and what exactly to do with that independent bit.
But others are contemplating similar ideas. All eyes are now on Catalonia which has vowed to press ahead with an independence 'consultation' in November.
The immediate lesson seems to be that states need to listen to their independence-minded regions. Ignoring them, or dismissing them, only serves to fuel a sense of anger. Cameron's devolution promises came only when the prospect of a Scottish independence suddenly became very real.
In Spain, Madrid's tough stance has also given a sense of righteousness to those who want independence. And while Brussels was in a state of panic about the UK's possible break-up - the irony is that the EU can inspire such movements. It is seen as providing a safe harbour. If statelets break away they are not necessarily going out into the big wide world alone. They can become members of the EU. (Yes, the EU commission did all it could to make it sound unlikely, but Scotland would have eventually joined the bloc).
In Scotland's case, this would have left a smaller, traumatised UK. And with the EU reliant on its large member states for a sense of foreign policy and defence, this matters. Numerous statelets concentrating on their own internal well-being is not necessarily going to project power into the world. And this is probably what inspired European Commission President Barroso's statement - which his spokesperson later refused to elaborate upon - that Scotland's No leaves the EU "united, open and stronger".
Meanwhile, the next big question is whether Cameron chooses to make the same 'Better Together' campaign for EU membership as he did for Scotland staying into the EU. He has promised a referendum on EU membership in 2017 if his party gets re-elected next year. The devolution to-do list he has just given himself on the back of the Scotland referendum looks like a campaign platform for the general election.
It very much looks like the two questions - UK internal devolution and EU devolution to the UK - will become entwined. This would leave Cameron overseeing the two biggest domestic and European policy questions of a generation.
If the Scotland referendum has taught us anything for the EU question it is this: The UK needs to be clear about what it wants. And the EU should not descend into histrionics about a country asking for some, clearly defined, powers to go back to or be fixed at the national level."
Link to EuObserver

European Union delays Ukraine free trade deal implementation to end-2015

The European Union, Russia and Ukraine agreed on Friday to delay the implementation of an
EU-Ukraine free trade pact until the end of next year, EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said.
Ukraine will continue to enjoy privileged access to the EU market until that
date, he said, but it will not have to cut duties on imports from the EU in
return.
The move appears to be at least partly a concession to Russia, which fears the
EU-Ukraine agreement will harm its industry.
It has been urging the EU to refrain from implementing the free-trade pact with
Ukraine until its concerns over the agreement are addressed.
(...)"
Link to TheEconomicTimes

European Union Imposes New Sanctions On Russia

"New European Union sanctions against Russia announced Friday toughen financial penalties on the country's banks, arms makers and its biggest oil company, to punish Moscow for what the West sees as efforts to destabilize Ukraine.
(...)
The EU measures include:

• Further limits to some Russian companies' ability to raise money in EU markets. The restrictions now apply not only to banks but also to major oil company Rosneft, defense companies, pipeline operator Transneft, the oil subsidiary of energy giant Gazprom and others.
• Broader limits on the export of high-technology EU goods that could also be used for military purposes.
• Travel bans and asset friezes for another 24 officials. They include four deputy Parliament speakers and leaders of the separatists in eastern Ukraine. Also hit is businessman Sergei Chemezov, who is one of President Vladimir Putin's "close associates," according to the EU.
• Bans for EU companies on new contracts in oil drilling, exploration and related services in Russia's Arctic, deep sea and shale oil projects. Russia's Rosneft oil company is majority-owned by the state, but Britain's BP holds a 19.75 percent stake in it.

Conspicuously absent from the list was Russia's gas industry, because many EU nations depend on Russian gas imports.
The measures are likely to hurt Russia's already flagging economy.
"Even though (targeted) companies are not threatened with an immediate liquidity crisis, the banks and firms concerned will painfully notice, especially the stronger constraints for short-term refinancing," said the managing director of the Association of German Banks, Michael Kemmer."
Link to Huffington Post

Italy's Mogherini and Poland's Tusk get top EU jobs

"The announcement came in tweets from the current council president, Herman Van Rompuy, at an EU summit.
Ms Mogherini, a centre-left politician, is Italy's foreign minister. She will replace the UK's Catherine Ashton. Mr Tusk, Poland's centre-right prime minister, has been Polish leader since 2007. He will chair EU summits.
The full-time appointments mean that the EU's three top jobs are now filled. Mr Tusk and Ms Mogherini will work closely with the new European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker.
Mr Tusk, 57, will serve for two-and-a-half years (renewable), starting on 1 December. Ms Mogherini's term, starting on 1 November, is five years.
Mr Van Rompuy called Mr Tusk "one of the veterans of the European Council", the grouping of EU government leaders. He is the only Polish prime minister to have been re-elected since the collapse of communism in 1989. Mr Van Rompuy praised "the determined and confident way he has steered Poland through the economic crisis, and managed to maintain steady economic growth". As a student Mr Tusk was active in the Solidarity anti-communist movement.
Mr Van Rompuy said Mr Tusk would face three major challenges: the stagnating European economy, the Ukraine crisis and "Britain's place in Europe". He said the EU leaders were convinced that Ms Mogherini, 41, "will prove a skilful and steadfast negotiator for Europe's place in the world". He noted Italy's "long-standing tradition of commitment to the European Union".

'Huge challenges'

Mr Tusk then made a short address in Polish. He said that "in December I'll be 100% ready" to speak English.
Ms Mogherini, speaking fluent English, later said "the challenges are huge... all around Europe we have crises - on European soil, in Ukraine, and starting from Iraq and Syria, going to Libya".
On arrival at the summit the European Parliament President Martin Schulz, a Socialist, spoke warmly of Ms Mogherini, calling himself a "fan". It was a strong indication that she would be a popular choice among MEPs. The parliament's approval is required for all 28 members of the new Commission, and the EU foreign policy chief, officially called the High Representative, is also a vice-president of the Commission.
Baroness Ashton, a centre-left UK politician, has been in the job since 2009. The High Representative runs the EU External Action Service (EEAS). Italy's centre-left Prime Minister Matteo Renzi pushed hard for Ms Mogherini to get the job.
However, last month the EU failed to get a consensus on her candidacy, as the Baltic states and Poland saw her as inexperienced and too soft on Russia. She has only been Italian foreign minister since February. "
Link to BBC

Recovery in Eurozone halts

France has all but abandoned a target to shrink its deficit, as the eurozone endured a turbulent day that raised the prospect of a triple-dip recession. Figures published by Eurostat on Thursday (14 August) indicated that the eurozone economy flatlined between April and June, while the EU-28 saw 0.2 percent growth. (...)

Germany's output fell by 0.2 percent, the same as Italy, which announced its second quarter figures last week. France recorded zero growth for the second successive quarter, while finance minister Michel Sapin suggested that the country’s deficit would exceed 4 percent this year, missing its European Commission-sanctioned 3.8 percent target.

In an article in Le Monde on Thursday (14 August), Sapin abandoned the target, commenting that “It is better to admit what is than to hope for what won't be." France would cut its deficit "at an appropriate pace," he added in a radio interview with Europe 1. Pointing to the contraction of the German economy, Sapin remarked that "the EU's big engine, Germany, is today negative. There is therefore a French problem and a European problem".

Sapin’s admission is another setback for beleaguered President Francois Hollande, who made hitting the 3 percent deficit target spelt out in the EU’s stability and growth pact by 2013 one of his key election pledges in 2012. Paris has now revised down its growth forecast from 1 percent to 0.5 percent over the whole of 2014, and cut its projection for 2015 to 1 percent from 1.7 percent.

France has already been given a two year extension to bring its deficit down to within the 3 percent limit by 2015, a target which now appears almost impossible to attain.

(...)
Euobserver

European Union imposes new sanctions against Russian officials following Ukraine crash

The European Union agreed Tuesday to impose new sanctions against Russian officials deemed responsible for the country’s actions in Ukraine, amid growing international anger after Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over rebel-held territory.

European foreign ministers stopped short, at least for now, of more forceful sanctions that would hit full sectors of the Russian economy.

The EU agreed to impose visa bans and asset freezes on more Russian officials, Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans said. He did not say how many officials were targeted or reveal their names.

(...)

Link

EU's next challenges are geopolitical

"The shooting down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 with 298 people on board has dramatically raised the stakes in the war between the government of Ukraine and the pro-Russia separatists in the Donetsk region on the EU's eastern border. If Russian involvement is proved, calls for a far tougher European response than has so far been contemplated will surely be impossible to resist. Meanwhile, the EU faces massive instability along its southern border in Syria, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Egypt and Libya. European leaders have also been anxiously looking at recent political unrest in Turkey.

...

these geopolitical risks could represent a threat every bit as severe as the euro crisis to Europe's cohesion and financial stability. And as with the euro crisis, the solution is likely to lie in closer integration. But the fact that integration is necessary doesn't make it any easier to achieve."

Link