EU

Europeans take a look at each other – and at themselves

May 16, 2013 11:28 pm by Gideon Rachman

The Germans: rated trustworthy but lacking in compassion (Getty)

The Pew poll on European attitudes came out this week and drew plenty of attention because of the remarkably negative attitudes it revealed towards the European Union. But to my mind, some of the most amusing and intriguing findings came when the pollsters probed nations’ views of each other, and of themselves.

The Germans were widely rated as both the most trustworthy and the least compassionate people in Europe – which says something about the complexity of European reactions to the euro crisis. The Italians rated themselves as the least trustworthy people in Europe. Do we call that self-knowledge or self-loathing? Asked to choose from a list of several countries, the French rated themselves as the most arrogant people in Europe. But they also rated themselves the least arrogant people in Europe. Maybe they are just the most self-obsessed? Read more

Tags: EU, Eurozone
Posted in Europe | Permalink

Ireland’s President Michael D. Higgins rocking the European boat

May 2, 2013 6:53 pm by Esther Bintliff

Irish President Michael D Higgins smiles during the official announcement of the Irish presidential election's results on October 29, 2011 (PETER MUHLY/AFP/Getty Images)

(Peter Muhly/AFP/Getty)

On Thursday morning, a small storm erupted in Ireland over an interview given by the president, Michael D. Higgins, to the FT’s Dublin correspondent, Jamie Smyth.

President Higgins, who is 72 years old, a published poet and a former government minister, argued that EU leaders needed to rethink their “hegemonic” response to the crisis.

“There is a real problem in what was assumed to be a single hegemonic model… The unemployment profile in Greece is different from the unemployment profile in Ireland. You need a pluralism of approaches… We have 26m people unemployed… There are 112m at risk of poverty, a contraction in investment and falling demand.”

Higgins’ remarks were quite frank for someone whose role is largely ceremonial. Some members of the public commenting on the Irish Times website praised his candidness: “He may be small in physical stature, but he is not averse to standing up to the heavyweights of the EU”, said one; another wrote: “THIS IS THE KIND OF PRESIDENT I HOPED FOR WHEN WE ELECTED MICHAEL D. HIGGINS!!!”.

Not everyone was positive. “By speaking out on matters which don’t concern his office, he is skirting dangerously close to creating a constitutional issue – and he does not have a mandate for that,” said ‘PaulFlynn’. When a Sinn Féin representative mentioned Higgins’ remarks in the lower house of parliament (the Dáil) later on Thursday, the parliamentary speaker immediately warned: “Don’t go there with regards to the President, we don’t discuss the President in Dáil Éireann.” Read more

Tags: austerity, Dáil, EU, Irish president, Irish Times, Michael D Rocking In The Dail, Michael D. Higgins, Sinn Féin, The Saw Doctors
Posted in Europe, Ireland | Permalink

Smart Reads May 2, 2013

May 2, 2013 1:51 pm by Amie Tsang

♦ Ireland’s head of state says the EU must drop its “hegemonic” economic model and reform the ECB, or risk social upheaval and a loss of popular legitimacy.
♦ The Great Tax Race series turns to Ireland, looking at how Ireland has remained attached to aggressive tax policies that favour businesses even as ordinary people have struggled to get by. (If you’re trying to get your head around how all of this even works, watch this handy explainer from Matt Steinglass)
♦ Richard McGregor thinks President Obama needs to circumvent Congress if he wants to get his agenda moving.
♦ Western clothing companies are scrambling to address public concerns over working conditions in Bangladesh – the Walt Disney Company ordered an end to the production of branded merchandise in the country before Rana Plaza collapsed. John Gapper today makes the argument against western companies withdrawing: “Despite everything, the industry provides better-paid jobs than the alternative – working on rural farms – and has helped to emancipate women.”
♦ Despite violence and corruption, Afghan entrepreneurs are still making opportunities for themselves.
♦ The Kremlin is putting pressure on VKontakte, a Russian Facebook clone, pushing CEO Pavel Durov to leave the country.
♦ Slate is publishing a series of excerpts from the memoirs of Mohamedou Oul Slahi who was a prisoner at Guantánamo for nearly 11 years.
♦ Mafia historian goes underground into the bunkers of the Ndrangheta, Europe’s biggest cocaine traffickers and Italy’s most powerful organised crime group. Read more

Tags: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Barack Obama, corporate tax, Disney, ECB, EU, Facebook, factories, Guantanamo, Ireland, Italy, Kremlin, Mafia, Ndrangheta, Pavel Durov, Russia, tax, VKontakte
Posted in Foreign affairs, Smart Reads | Permalink

Dinner with Medvedev: a conversation on Cyprus, Depardieu and democracy

March 21, 2013 12:00 pm by Neil Buckley

For a man who suffered the indignity of having to stand down after one term as president of Russia to make way for the return of Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Medvedev appears comfortable in his own skin.

Meeting the Financial Times and representatives of six other European newspapers this week, Russia’s prime minister seemed relaxed, sometimes jocular – in spite of the pressures many political observers believe he is under. Compared with the somewhat tense and nervous figure the FT first interviewed just after his election as president in 2008, he seems comfortable with the trappings of power – even if they are now diminished from what they were.

Today, a conservative or hardline faction in the Kremlin, emboldened by Putin’s return to the presidency, is seen as jostling to replace the more liberal Medvedev with its own premier. Putin, too, is thought ready to jettison Medvedev as a scapegoat in the event of a crisis such as an economic slowdown – and Russia’s economy has got off to a weak start this year.

For now, the premier remains in the same Gorky-9 compound he occupied as president, in which Boris Yeltsin spent his second presidential term, just off the chic Rublyovskoye Shosse 15km beyond Moscow’s outer ring road. Read more

Tags: Cyprus, democracy, Dmitry Medvedev, energy, EU, Gerard Depardieu, Kremlin, Russia, Vladimir Putin
Posted in Russia | Permalink

Iran, Turkey, and the gold-for-gas trade

February 18, 2013 5:08 pm by Daniel Dombey

Gold bars are seen at the Czech Central Bank on September 05, 2011 in Prague (MICHAL CIZEK/AFP/Getty Images)

The golden stuff (AFP/Getty)

It must rank as one of the most thankless jobs in diplomacy. Just how do you draw up incentives for Iran to rein in its nuclear programme?

Talks have lumbered on, in one incarnation or another, for a decade now. Efforts to win over Tehran have been encumbered by mutual suspicion, political sensitivities (there is always the charge of appeasement) and sheer force of law.

Many of the sanctions the Islamic Republic most objects to are already on the statute book, whether as UN Resolutions, EU agreements or US law. No wonder it is difficult to come up with a compelling offer; few countries can change their laws by fiat.

On Monday, Tehran attacked one of the latest ideas seemingly floated by the world’s major powers – the notion the US could roll back recently imposed sanctions on gold sales to Iran.

The idea may have been designed to help Western allies – notably Turkey –as much as to alleviate Iran’s economic isolation. Last year Ankara became the world’s leading gold exporter to Iran, whether directly or through entrepôts such as the UAE. Demand from the Islamic Republic helped Turkey’s overall exports of the metal reach levels of $1.5bn-$2bn some months.

The trade has various explanations – chief of which is that bank transactions with Iran have become ever more problematic, particularly in the wake of measures affecting Swift, a group that facilitates electronic funds transfers. Against this backdrop, Tehran started taking payment for its oil and gas exports to Ankara in Turkish Lira – instead of via bank transfer – and using the money to buy gold it then ships home. Read more

Tags: diplomacy, EU, gas, gold, Iran, nuclear, oil, Tehran, trade, Turkey, UN, US
Posted in Iran, Turkey | Permalink

Smart Reads February 14, 2013

February 14, 2013 2:39 pm by Amie Tsang

The political and corporate repercussions from the imbroglio engulfing Monte dei Paschi bank are resonating far beyond the walls of Siena.
David Pilling argues that a grand bargain must be struck with North Korea, even if it is “a horrible deal, tantamount to giving in to extortion”, because it would be better than hollow talk and ineffective sanctions.
The EU and US have vowed to complete talks on a new trade agreement. The project boasts huge commercial potential, but is rife with complications.
The director of a Dutch company that received horsemeat from Romania had already been convicted of selling horsemeat labelled as beef. The company’s name, “Draap”, is the Dutch word for horse (“paard”) spelt backwards.
“It is hard to turn from a vicious cycle of cost-cutting and quality dilution to a virtuous circle of co-operation and innovation”, but it would be a good investment, according to John Gapper.
Philip Giraldi, a former CIA officer, has laid out in The American Conservative the questions that he thinks John Brennan should have answered in his confirmation.
Take a look at these pictures of “Guevara”, a female opposition activist who used to be an English professor. A Syrian of Palestinian origin, she was trained by Hamas in Lebanon and the reputation of “the woman with the gun” has spread.
Japan may conjure up images of robots and bullet trains, but it also remains very attached to … the fax machine.

Tags: CIA, EU, horsemeat, Japan, John Brennan, Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Netherlands, North Korea, nuclear weapons, Romania, Syria, transatlantic trade, US
Posted in Smart Reads | Permalink

An EU-US trade deal: some of the stickiest potential sticking points

February 14, 2013 11:02 am by Esther Bintliff

Half of all world exports are from the US and Europe. Added together, the two constitute the largest, wealthiest market in the world, accounting for over 54% of world GDP in terms of value and 40% in terms of purchasing power. There are many reasons why a trade deal between the two makes sense in the minds of both policymakers and business-owners (a successful pact would boost growth and jobs in both regions, and offer the US and EU a better chance of standing up to an increasingly powerful China, for example).

So why are negotiators working on the deal probably in for the long haul? One reason is that there are some culturally sensitive areas for both regions – in particular, agriculture and food. Here are some potential sticking points:

For US exporters trying to get their products into the EU –

Genetically engineered crops. Big in the US; restricted in the EU
Hormone-treated beef. The US thinks it’s fine; the EU has banned imports of the stuff
Poultry washed in chlorine. The EU likes its chickens washed in water that is good enough to drink
~~EU import ban on live pigs and beef washed in lactic acid.~~ Both these are being lifted as a sign of good faith from the EU
The Common Agricultural Policy. European farmers receive big subsidies from the EU; it’s something that the French, for one, are not likely to give up without a fight

For EU exporters trying to get their products into the US –

Buy America. The US fiscal stimulus of 2009 restricted bidding on iron and steel contracts so that only US producers could take part, or producers from countries with a ‘reciprocal government procurement agreement’

Tags: EU, free trade, transatlantic trade, US
Posted in Europe, trade | Permalink

Smart Reads February 07, 2013

February 7, 2013 1:51 pm by Amie Tsang

Nervousness over Canada’s outlook and falling house prices have cast a cloud over Mark Carney’s last few months as Bank of Canada governor.
Cyprus is still waiting for international funding, despite having requested a bailout seven months ago — there are fears in the EU that the island is a haven for Russian dirty money.
Herman Van Rompuy will unveil a compromise proposal for the EU’s long-term budget today and creative accounting is set to play a role in reconciling British demands for a budget freeze and French calls for more robust spending. Also to be decided is Europe’s future commitment to creating a new European-controlled version of America’s GPS.
John Brennan’s confirmation hearing could provide a rare moment of public scrutiny over the topic of drone strikes.
The surge of diplomatic, commercial and scientific activity that has accompanied the melting of Arctic ice is unleashing a scramble to exploit oil and gas deposits.
Jemima Khan explains how Julian Assange alienated his supporters: “The problem is that WikiLeaks… has been guilty of the same obfuscation and misinformation as those it sought to expose…”
A video of a labourer being stripped and beaten outside the presidential palace has brought attention to the lack of reform in the Egyptian police force. They have been weakened, caught between the people and the institutions of the country.
Rebecca Rosen has examined how hundreds of homing pigeons, released between 1968 and 1987, disappeared and never found their way home.
Rather than drowning in the sewers after Hurricane Sandy, New York rats have just relocated, further inland.

Tags: Arctic, Bank of Canada, budget, Cyprus, drones, Egypt, EU, hurricane sandy, John Brennan, Julian Assange, Mark Carney, New York, pigeons, police, Russia, wikileaks
Posted in Smart Reads | Permalink

The US-EU trade announcement that never was

February 6, 2013 6:39 pm by Gideon Rachman

Hold back the celebratory cupcakes (Getty)

As the FT reported this morning, the US has refused to give the Europeans the big, bold announcement on trade that they were desperately seeking.

The plan was that tomorrow’s US-EU summit would announce the beginning of negotiations to form a trade agreement between the US and Europe. But, for now, the Americans are refusing to play ball.

In Brussels, some may see this as a lamentable lack of vision. In fact, it is simply a welcome injection of some scepticism and realism. Read more

Tags: CAP, Common Agricultural Policy, EU, farming, France, protectionism, trade, US
Posted in Europe, trade, US politics | Permalink

Smart Reads February 6, 2013

February 6, 2013 1:58 pm by Amie Tsang

An Irish government report published evidence of state funding and regulation of the Magdalene laundries — commercial operations that never paid wages to inmates. Prime Minister Enda Kenny did not issue a full state apology.
Patti Waldmeir went to help migrant workers trying to get home for Chinese new year, but found they didn’t need her because “this most traditional of holidays is increasingly falling prey to package tour mongers, who unaccountably think people should enjoy their time off work (preferably in Bali or Paris), rather than spending it listening to relatives fight and elders ask when they plan to procreate.
Europe’s ambitions to launch transatlantic trade talks have been disappointed by Washington’s reluctance to commit to negotiations.
Lev Grossman buys himself a personal drone and looks at how they are transforming work as well as wars.
Ezra Klein examines the intricacies of the filibuster: ” No President in American history has seen his initiatives filibustered with anything even approaching the frequency with which the tactic has been used against Obama.”
Xi Jinping has a new admirer who follows him so ardently that they are scooping even the state media.
STYLE FLASH: beards are the new black in the Arab and Muslim world — Ashraf Khalil explains why facial hair is more than just a style choice.

Tags: beards, Chinese new year, drones, Enda Kenny, EU, filibuster, Ireland, Magdalene laundries, trade, US, Xi Jinping
Posted in Smart Reads | Permalink

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The World

EU

Europeans take a look at each other – and at themselves

Ireland’s President Michael D. Higgins rocking the European boat

Smart Reads May 2, 2013

Dinner with Medvedev: a conversation on Cyprus, Depardieu and democracy

Iran, Turkey, and the gold-for-gas trade

Smart Reads February 14, 2013

An EU-US trade deal: some of the stickiest potential sticking points

Smart Reads February 07, 2013

The US-EU trade announcement that never was

Smart Reads February 6, 2013

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