Home Tags Posts tagged with "Politics of Europe"
Politics of Europe
The EU has agreed to open negotiations with Cuba aimed at restoring full bilateral relations with the Communist-run island.
The talks, which could begin as soon as next month, will try to increase trade and investment, and include a dialogue on human rights, officials said.
Since 1996, the EU has restricted its ties with Cuba to encourage multi-party democracy and progress on human rights.
The bloc is Cuba’s second-biggest trading partner after Venezuela.
It represents a major source of investment, and hundreds of thousands of European tourists visit the island every year.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton stressed that human rights remained “at the core” of its dealings with Cuba.
“These negotiations will help consolidate our engagement with Cuba,” Catherine Ashton said.
Since 1996, the EU has restricted its ties with Cuba to encourage multi-party democracy and progress on human rights
“I hope Cuba will take up this offer.”
The announcement comes with Cuba engaged in an economic and social reform process launched by President Raul Castro.
The EU ambassador to Havana, Herman Portocarero, said the aim was to support and accompany “change on the island” while also promoting human rights.
A legal bilateral relationship would bring “more opportunities”, he added.
The move indicates the most important diplomatic shift since the EU lifted sanctions against Cuba in 2008.
It follows the visit by Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans to Cuba in January. During his trip, Frans Timmermans called on the EU to change its policy toward the island.
He said the best way to promote change was through dialogue, not isolation.
In 1996, the EU agreed on a set of rules governing its relations with Cuba, called the Common Position.
It states that the EU’s objective is “to encourage a process of transition to a pluralist democracy and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, as well as sustainable recovery and improvement in the living standards of the Cuban people”.
Despite the policy, more than half of EU member states have bilateral agreements with Cuba.
Cuba has rejected the Common Position, arguing that it constitutes an interference in its internal affairs.
Former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has decided to return to the centre of the political stage, striking a reform deal with a centre-left rival.
Silvio Berlusconi, 77, was thrown out of parliament in 2013 after a tax fraud conviction.
The former prime minister still heads the opposition Forza Italia party and held lengthy talks with Democratic Party (PD) leader Matteo Renzi late on Saturday.
Under their agreement, Silvio Berlusconi will back electoral and constitutional proposals aimed at making Italy more governable.
The current electoral system has left Italy with a series of shaky coalitions.
Last year’s general election left no party strong enough to govern alone, until a broad coalition emerged, headed by Enrico Letta of the PD.
Silvio Berlusconi has agreed with centre-left rival Matteo Renzi over a reform deal
Silvio Berlusconi was initially part of the government but later pulled out. Several key former allies abandoned him to form the New Centre Right party while he became a more marginalized figure.
But he remained head of Italy’s biggest opposition faction, Forza Italia.
Matteo Renzi’s talks with the former centre-right prime minister have divided the coalition, and the PD in particular.
His car was hit with an egg and he was booed as he arrived at PD headquarters.
After the talks Silvio Berlusconi said the deal would “consolidate the biggest parties and simplify the political system”.
Matteo Renzi said the two leaders had backed a law that “favors governability and a bi-polar system, and eliminates the blackmail power of the smallest parties”.
Silvio Berlusconi is keen to make a political comeback despite his fraud conviction and a separate conviction for paying an underage prostitute. He is appealing against a seven-year jail term.
[youtube E2gHLSgq9H0 650]
German parliament (Bundestag) has confirmed Angela Merkel as the country’s chancellor for a third term, at the head of a grand coalition.
The coalition between her centre-right CDU/CSU bloc and the Social Democrats (SPD) has a huge majority, with 504 of the 631 seats in the lower house.
Angela Merkel was confirmed by 462 votes, with nine abstentions.
Germany’s tough stance on fiscal discipline is unlikely to change under the new coalition.
The SPD’s membership voted on Sunday to back the coalition after painstaking negotiations.
The party hammered out a minimum national wage, an hourly rate of 8.50 euros ($11.55) that will come into force for the first time in 2015.
Bundestag has confirmed Angela Merkel as Germany’s chancellor for a third term
The new government will be slightly to the left of the previous one, in which the Christian Democrats/Christian Social Union were in coalition with the market-oriented Free Democrats (FDP).
But the SPD will form a minority part of the government and no-one doubts that Chancellor Angela Merkel will be in charge.
As the EU’s most industrialized and populous state, with its biggest economy, Germany dominates decision-making for the eurozone.
For Tuesday’s vote, 621 members of the Bundestag were present, of whom 150 voted against Angela Merkel.
Between them, the Left Party and the Greens have 127 seats, so at least 23 of those who rejected her nomination were from the parties making up the new coalition.
The coalition talks had been the longest for any German government since World War II.
The CDU/CSU and SPD finally signed the deal, a 185-page agreement entitled “Shaping Germany’s Future”, late last month.
Angela Merkel was obliged to turn to the SPD after the FDP failed to win any seats in the 22 September election, falling short of the 5% hurdle to enter the Bundestag.
Trusted Angela Merkel ally Wolfgang Schaeuble will remain finance minister in the new government, one of 10 CDU/CSU politicians in the 16-strong cabinet.
“His name stands for euro stability and I’m glad that he’s continuing,” Angela Merkel said after news of the new line-up emerged.
[youtube MmnG_ldx_CU 650]
Tadeusz Mazowiecki – Poland’s first prime minister after the fall of communism – has died aged 86.
Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski described him as “one of the fathers of Polish liberty and independence”.
Tadeusz Mazowiecki was one of the architects of the “Round Table” talks, between communist leaders and opposition, paving the way for elections in 1989.
The Solidarity movement’s victory set a precedent for the toppling of communist governments across Eastern Europe.
This climaxed with the fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany in 1989.
Tadeusz Mazowiecki held office for 15 months. He lost elections in 1990 following the implementation of a raft of stringent reforms to try to salvage Poland’s stagnant economy.
In 1992 he was appointed as the UN’s first Special Rapporteur to the former Yugoslavia and reported on the atrocities there. Angered by the lack of international action, he resigned in 1995 after the fall of Srebrenica.
In 2005, Tadeusz Mazowiecki became one of the founders of Poland’s Democratic Party, and co-authored the 1997 constitution. He served as adviser to President Bronislaw Komorowski since 2010.
Tadeusz Mazowiecki was from a Polish noble family and studied law at Warsaw University.
Tadeusz Mazowiecki was Poland’s first prime minister after the fall of communism
He was expelled from the communist-run Catholic PAX organization in 1955, under suspicion of belonging to an internal opposition group.
In 1957, Tadeusz Mazowiecki helped found the Catholic Intelligentsia Club. He also served as an MP for the small Roman Catholic party, Znak, under the communist regime – until he was expelled from his seat for demanding an explanation for the deaths of dozens of shipyard workers in 1970 in protests over price hikes.
In 1980, he went to Gdansk to advise the striking shipyard workers in their talks with the communist authorities.
The tense discussions led to a breakthrough, the creation of the first independent trade union in communist eastern Europe, called Solidarity.
In 1981, he became the first editor of opposition Tygodnik Solidarnosc (Solidarity Weekly) magazine, which was banned when the communists declared martial law in December 1981.
Tadeusz Mazowiecki was arrested during the crackdown and was one of the last of hundreds of Solidarity activists released in December 1982.
He was a firm believer in a negotiated transition from the communist system.
He took part in the Round Table Talks in February 1989, which led to the first partially free elections in the Soviet bloc in June of that year.
Tadeusz Mazowiecki was appointed prime minister in August 1989 and oversaw the political and economic transition to a democratic and free market country. He holds the French Legion d’ Honneur, and the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of Germany.
[youtube igdCOg5kr10 650]
Italy’s former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been banned by Milan court from holding public office for two years, following his conviction for tax fraud.
However, the ban must be approved by parliament before taking effect.
Earlier this month, a cross-party panel of the Italian Senate recommended Silvio Berlusconi’s expulsion from the chamber.
Silvio Berlusconi, 77,had threatened to topple the coalition government over the issue but backed down during a confidence vote.
Silvio Berlusconi has been banned by Milan court from holding public office for two years, following his conviction for tax fraud
If he is expelled from the senate, Silvio Berlusconi will lose his parliamentary immunity from prosecution in a string of criminal cases.
The former prime minister will also spend a year under house arrest, or doing community service – his preferred option, according to a request he formally submitted last week.
The votes on Silvio Berlusconi’s expulsion and ban on holding office are expected to take place within the next few weeks.
Silvio Berlusconi was convicted over deals his firm Mediaset made to purchase TV rights to US films.
He was sentenced to four years in prison, automatically reduced to one under a 2006 pardon act.
Silvio Berlusconi was also banned from holding public office for five years. The sentence was upheld in August.
[youtube 6QKueSJgHXc 650]
A cross-party panel of the Italian Senate has recommended former PM Silvio Berlusconi’s expulsion from the chamber over his conviction for tax fraud.
The call to expel Silvio Berlusconi who dominated politics for nearly two decades in Italy is expected to go before the Senate within three weeks.
Silvio Berlusconi threatened to topple the coalition government over the issue but backed down during a confidence vote.
He accused the Senate panel of bias and stayed away from its deliberations.
The media tycoon was convicted of tax fraud in October 2012 over deals his firm Mediaset made to purchase TV rights to US films. The sentence was upheld in August.
The threat to PM Enrico Letta’s fragile coalition alarmed political leaders and markets alike in the eurozone, where Italy has the third-biggest economy and is struggling to address a huge national debt.
A cross-party panel of the Italian Senate has recommended Silvio Berlusconi’s expulsion from the chamber over his conviction for tax fraud
Silvio Berlusconi dismissed the panel, which is dominated by his political opponents, as biased against him.
“There is no possibility of any defense and there is no reason to appear before a body which has already announced what decision it is going to take through the press,” he said in a statement issued through his lawyers.
Representatives of both PM Enrico Letta’s centre-left Democratic Party and Silvio Berlusconi’s People of Freedom (PdL) party sit on the 23-strong Senate committee on elections and parliamentary immunity.
However, PdL members make up just over a quarter of the total.
Silvio Berlusconi emerged from Wednesday’s confidence vote a weakened figure with his capacity to influence Italian politics diminished.
Ousted from power in 2011, the 77-year-old billionaire nearly came back again earlier this year after an effective election campaign won him almost a third of the vote but legal troubles quickly beset him.
Silvio Berlusconi will have to serve a one-year sentence for his tax conviction, probably under house arrest or via community service because of his age.
In addition, Silvio Berlusconi has been convicted of paying for sex with an underage prostitute and of a breach of confidentiality over a police wiretap. He is appealing against both convictions.
Italy’s Prime Minister Enrico Letta has won a confidence vote after a last-minute U-turn by former PM Silvio Berlusconi.
Silvio Berlusconi had initially promised to topple the government by withdrawing his party’s support – a move which prompted the Senate vote.
But he backed down when it became clear that several of his senators would back the government.
Enrico Letta had earlier said that if he were defeated in the vote, it might prove a “fatal risk” for Italy.
In the event he won easily: the Senate voted 235 to 70 in favor of the government.
Some of Silvio Berlusconi’s most hardline followers left the chamber and did not vote at all.
The result of the vote increases the possibility of Silvio Berlusconi being thrown out of the Senate on the grounds he is a convicted criminal.
Enrico Letta has won a confidence vote after a last-minute U-turn by former PM Silvio Berlusconi
On Friday a Senate committee is due to vote on whether to strip him of his seat following his conviction for tax fraud.
As he left the Senate building on Wednesday, people outside greeted him with catcalls, whistles and cries of “go away”.
Last weekend, Silvio Berlusconi demanded that five ministers from his centre-right People of Freedom party (PDL) leave the government and bring it down.
But Silvio Berlusconi’s close ally Renato Schifani insisted he had not been weakened by the vote, telling Italian news agencies that his leadership “has been strengthened”.
When he rose to speak in the Senate to announce his turnaround, Silvio Berlusconi said: “Italy needs a government that can produce structural and institutional reforms. We have decided, not without internal travail, to back the confidence vote.”
The Milan stock exchange gained nearly 2% on the announcement.
In his address to the Senate, Enrico Letta defended his government’s performance and said Italy “runs a risk, a fatal risk” if it were to fall.
He said: “Give us your confidence to realize [our] objectives. Give us your confidence for all that has been accomplished… a confidence vote for Italy and Italians.”
Silvio Berlusconi had accused Enrico Letta of allowing his “political assassination through judicial means” – a reference to Berlusconi’s criminal conviction for tax fraud in August.
The former prime minister said he asked his ministers to defy the government to protest against an impending rise in VAT, not because of the attempts to throw him out of the Senate.
Enrico Letta accused Silvio Berlusconi of using the VAT issue as an “alibi” for his own personal concerns.
He refused to accept the resignation of the five PDL ministers and hence called the vote of confidence.
Silvio Berlusconi’s plan to bring the government down began to unravel when the ministers signaled their own unwillingness to leave the government, and even his deputy and party secretary, Angelino Alfano, said that PDL members should back Enrico Letta.
Analysts say the crisis threatened to hamper badly needed reforms to tackle Italy’s economic problems that include debt, recession and high youth unemployment.
Enrico Letta’s cross-party alliance was formed in April after two months of political deadlock following an inconclusive election.
[youtube u-ZLhP0E7Ls]
Italian PM Enrico Letta has been addressing parliament ahead of a crucial vote of confidence in his governing coalition.
Enrico Letta told the Senate the collapse of his government could be fatal for the country.
The vote was called after former PM Silvio Berlusconi ordered ministers in his centre-right People of Freedom party (PDL) to leave the government.
But some key PDL figures have defied him, saying they will back Enrico Letta.
Enrico Letta earlier rejected the resignations of the five PDL ministers.
Silvio Berlusconi has accused Enrico Letta of allowing his “political assassination through judicial means” – a reference to Berlusconi’s criminal conviction for tax fraud in August.
“Even though I understand the risks that I am taking on, I have decided to put an end to the Letta government,” Silvio Berlusconi said in a letter to the weekly magazine Tempi.
However, Silvio Berlusconi appeared more circumspect on arrival at the Senate on Wednesday, saying: “We’ll see what happens. We’ll listen to Letta’s speech and then we’ll decide.”
Addressing the Senate, Enrico Letta defended his government’s performance and said Italy “runs a risk, a fatal risk” if it were to fall.
Italian PM Enrico Letta has been addressing parliament ahead of a crucial vote of confidence in his governing coalition
He said: “Give us your confidence to realize [our] objectives. Give us your confidence for all that has been accomplished… a confidence vote for Italy and Italians.”
In an apparent break with Silvio Berlusconi, his deputy and party secretary Angelino Alfano said PDL MPs should back Enrico Letta in the confidence vote.
“I am firmly convinced that our party as a whole should vote confidence in Letta,” said Angelino Alfano, who is also Italy’s interior minister.
The first vote on Wednesday is in Senate and is expected around midday. This will be the crucial moment, as it is where Silvio Berlusconi’s allies have a narrow majority. The chamber of deputies will vote later.
Enrico Letta needs 161 votes in the Senate but can only count on the support of about 137 members, meaning he will need about 25 votes from others.
There are reports that between 30 and 40 PDL senators may vote for the government.
Angelino Alfano’s comments had caused the Italian stock market to jump on Tuesday as investors appeared increasingly confident that the government would not fall.
Carlo Giovanardi, a senator from Silvio Berlusconi’s party, indicated he would support the government, adding: “We want to remain a moderate force.”
Fabrizio Cicchitto, a PDL deputy, said: “Making the government fall would be a mistake.”
He said any new government would be “hostile to the PDL” and would be a boon for Enrico Letta’s centre-left Democratic Party.
On Tuesday, Enrico Letta refused to accept the resignations of five ministers from the PDL, Italy’s Ansa news agency reported, citing a government source.
Enrico Letta called the vote of confidence after Silvio Berlusconi ordered his ministers to leave the government in protest at a rise in VAT (sales tax).
The prime minister accused Silvio Berlusconi of using the issue as an “alibi” for his own personal concerns.
Analysts say the crisis threatens to hamper badly needed reforms to tackle Italy’s economic problems that include debt, recession and high youth unemployment.
The International Monetary Fund has warned that political tensions are a risk to the Italian economy.
Enrico Letta’s cross-party alliance was formed in April after two months of political deadlock following an inconclusive election.
[youtube 0fTSIW7fpo4]
Members of Silvio Berlusconi’s party have defied him by calling on MPs to back the Italian coalition government in a confidence vote.
Angelino Alfano, Silvio Berlusconi’s deputy and secretary of People of Freedom, urged the party to unite behind PM Enrico Letta on Wednesday.
Earlier, Silvio Berlusconi had ordered his ministers to leave the government, provoking its probable collapse.
But amid signs it would survive, Italian markets jumped on Tuesday.
The blue-chip stock index rose 2.5%, Reuters reports.
Investors also showed greater confidence in Italian bonds, with the interest rate paid to hold 10-year government debt falling as a result.
Members of Silvio Berlusconi’s party have defied him by calling on MPs to back the Italian coalition government in a confidence vote
Silvio Berlusconi had threatened to topple the government, following moves to expel him from the Senate after his conviction for tax fraud.
However, Angelino Alfano, Silvio Berlusconi’s protégé, said on Tuesday: “I am firmly convinced that our party as a whole should vote confidence in Letta tomorrow.”
Angelino Alfano spoke after similar calls by other People of Freedom politicians such as Carlo Giovanardi, a senator and former minister, who said he could muster enough party support to ensure Enrico Letta wins the confidence vote.
Fabrizio Cicchitto, a senior People of Freedom MP, said: “Making the government fall would be a mistake.”
The crisis erupted when Silvio Berlusconi, a three-time prime minister and media tycoon who became engulfed in legal action, attacked the government over a rise in VAT (sales tax).
But Enrico Letta, from the centre-left Democratic Party, accused him of using the VAT issue as an “alibi” for his own personal concerns.
A committee of the Senate is due to decide on Berlusconi’s expulsion this week after the supreme court recently upheld his conviction for tax fraud.
Enrico Letta’s cross-party alliance was formed in April after two months of political deadlock following an inconclusive election. It was approved by 453 votes to 153.
Enrico Letta vowed to turn the recession-hit economy, the third-largest in the eurozone, around within 18 months or “face the consequences”.
[youtube -4lQzsnmInw]
