Tag: European Union

Some nations said gearing up to recognize Palestine if annexation goes ahead

TOI staff – June 10,2020

Palestinian and European officials have indicated some countries could retaliate for unilateral Israeli annexation of sections of the West Bank by recognizing a Palestinian state and sanctioning Israel, Hebrew media outlets reported Wednesday.

Quoting unnamed Palestinian officials, Kan TV news reported that several European countries, among them Ireland, have said they will recognize a Palestinian state if Israel extends sovereignty over areas designated for it under US President Donald Trump’s peace plan.

The report said the Palestinian Authority was also querying the positions of France, Spain, Luxembourg, Portugal and Belgium. A committee in the latter’s lower house of parliament passed a resolution Wednesday calling on the government to recognize a Palestinian state. That resolution is slated to be debated in the full chamber in the next 15 days.

Meanwhile, during meetings with Israeli leaders Wednesday, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas was said to issue similar warnings.

According to reports in Haaretz and Walla news, Maas warned that while Germany was unlikely to take punitive measures against Israel if it moves forward with annexation, other countries could impose sanctions or recognize a Palestinian state.

Maas, who held separate meetings during a quick visit to Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi and Defense Minister Benny Gantz, told them some countries in the European Union were pushing to sanction Israel if annexation moves forward, the reports said.

https://www.timesofisrael.com

Israel intel: Iran will have fissile material for a nuke this year, a nuclear-capable missile in two years

ANNA AHRONHEIM, TOVAH LAZAROFF  – February 13, 2019

Iran is capable of producing a nuclear weapon within two years, if it steps up work on its nuclear program and violates the 2015 deal with the West, according to a recent Israeli intelligence assessment.

The assessment was released as the controversial US-led summit against Iran opened in Warsaw, where Israel is expected to pressure the European Union against trying to prop up the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action following the American withdrawal last May.

In the Polish capital, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke openly about the possibility of war with Iran, and the possibility of a new alliance of Arab states with Israel, in the event of such hostilities.

“I am going to a meeting with 60 foreign ministers and envoys of countries from around the world against Iran,” Netanyahu said next to an outdoor skating rink in a short video clip his staff filmed for his Facebook page.

“What is important about this meeting – and this meeting is not in secret, because there are many of those – is that this is an open meeting with representatives of leading Arab countries, that are sitting down together with Israel in order to advance the common interest of war with Iran,” he said.

https://www.jpost.com

George Soros: Germany’s ECB Ruling May Spell ‘the End of the EU as We Know It’

Sputnik News – May 12, 2020

Germany’s Constitutional Court ruled last week that the eurozone’s central bank had overstepped its mandate when purchasing government debt under its quantitative easing (QE) programme and threatened to block new purchases of German bonds by the bank.

Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros has predicted that the ripening institutional showdown in the EU may bring about an end to the union as we know it.

“I am particularly concerned about the survival of the EU because it is an incomplete union,” Soros said in an interview with the Independent.

He added that the EU’s creation process was never completed, and that makes Europe “exceptionally vulnerable – more vulnerable than the US not just because it is an incomplete union but also because it is based on the rule of law. And the wheels of justice move very slowly, while threats such as the Covid-19 virus move very fast.”

The 89-year-old investor expressed grave concern over Germany’s Constitutional Court, which last week challenged the European Central Bank’s mass government debt-buying programme and gave the bank a three-month ultimatum to justify the proportionality of its bond purchases or risk losing the Bundesbank as a participant.

The European Commission in response threatened to sue Germany, although EU officials said on Monday that immediate legal action against Berlin is unlikely.

https://sputniknews.com

German Military Spending Up by Double Digits as World Total Hits Highest Level Since Cold War

Sputnik News – April 27, 2020

The Trump administration has repeatedly pressured Berlin to ramp up its military spending, threatening to pull troops out of the country and station them in Poland if the country doesn’t meet NATO’s 2 percent of GDP spending guidelines.

German defence spending jumped upward by a whopping 10 percent between 2018 and 2019, with the country’s military budget rising faster than that of any other major power, new figures by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) suggest.

According to the think tank’s figures, Berlin’s defence commitments, which reached the equivalent of $49.3 billion in 2019, grew faster than any of the world’s top 15 countries by total military expenditures.

The spending increase comes amid US President Donald Trump’s repeated berating of Germany and other European NATO members over their failure to meet the 2 percent of GDP military spending goal set at the alliance’s 2014 summit in Wales. Washington has repeatedly singled out German Chancellor Angela Merkel for her failure to increase defence commitments, even though Germany is one of 19 alliance members that failed to meet the spending requirements.

Germany has already committed some €45 billion (about $50 billion) on defence in 2020, increasing spending from 1.23 percent of GDP on defence in 2018 to 1.38 percent this year. Merkel also promised to increase Berlin’s defence outlays to 1.5 percent of GDP by 2023, and to 2 percent by 2031.

https://sputniknews.com

Iran Warns Germany of ‘Consequences’ for Total Ban on Hezbollah

Simon Kent – May 1, 2020

Germany’s total ban on Lebanon’s Hezbollah terrorist organization drew a swift response Friday from Iran, with the Islamic republic saying “consequences” would follow.

As Breitbart News reported, Hezbollah was labeled a “Shiite terrorist organisation” with dozens of police and special forces storming mosques and associations across Germany linked to the terror group.

German political support followed swiftly.

Hezbollah activities “violate criminal law and the organization opposes the concept of international understanding,” German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said in announcing the move.

“Hezbollah denies Israel’s right to exist, threatens violence and terror and continues to massively upgrade its rocket arsenal,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said on Twitter. “We in Germany must exhaust the means of the rule of law to take action against the criminal and terrorist activities of Hezbollah.”

The German crackdown on Hezbollah means its flags are banned at all demonstrations and meetings across the country. Berlin’s municipal government already bans Hezbollah symbols and flags at demonstrations.

Germany, like most of Europe, has until now dragged its feet in outlawing both the military and political arms of the Lebanon-based group to protect relations with Beirut and Tehran.

The U.S., UK, Netherlands and Israel designates the anti-Israel group in its entirety a terror organization.

https://www.breitbart.com

40 Per Cent of Italians Want to Leave The Euro and the European Union

Chris Tomlinson  – April 24, 2020

Italian anger at the European Union continues to remain high as a poll released this week shows four in ten would like their country to leave both the euro currency and the political bloc.

The Bidimedia poll showed that while 6.1 per cent said they wanted only to leave the EU and 7.1 per cent said they only wanted to leave the euro, 40 per cent said they back pulling out of both institutions. Meanwhile, 41.7 per cent of Italians prefer to remain in both, Il Giornale reports.

The vast majority of Italians, some 59.9 per cent, said they were against the use of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), an EU bailout fund that could loan the country money and has been proposed as a way to combat the effects of the Wuhan coronavirus.

Use of the ESM had also been suggested last December but was heavily rejected by populist Italian Senator Matteo Salvini who said it “would sanction a sale of unbalanced national sovereignty” and claimed that Germany and its banks would be the real beneficiary.

Earlier this month, members of the Five Star Movement, who form the current Italian ruling coalition with the leftist Democratic Party, threatened to bring down Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s government if the ESM were used.

“I am saying this clearly: if the government has said yes to the ESM, this majority will no longer have my vote,” Five Star Movement Senator Mario Michele Giarrusso said.

Confidence in Prime Minister Conte is also wavering, with the Bidimedia poll showing 43.9 per cent of Italians have no confidence and 11.8 per cent have little confidence in his leadership.

https://www.breitbart.com

Dutch Supreme Court rules doctors can euthanize dementia patients

Christine Rousselle – April 22, 2020

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 22, 2020 / 01:30 pm MT (CNA).- The Supreme Court of the Netherlands ruled on Tuesday, April 21, that it is lawful for doctors to euthanize patients with severe dementia, provided that the patient had expressed a desire to be euthanized while still legally capable of doing so.

Lower courts had previously ruled that a doctor had not acted improperly when he euthanized a 74-year-old woman with advanced dementia, even though the woman had to be repeatedly sedated and physically restrained during the procedure. The case was sent to the Supreme Court for further clarification of the country’s euthanasia law, which permits doctors to kill patients considered to be in “unbearable suffering.”

Per Dutch law, euthanasia is only legal for those with dementia if they had written or discussed an advanced directive with their doctor.

“For some people, the prospect of ever suffering from dementia may be sufficient reason to make an advance directive (living will). This can either be drawn up independently or discussed first with the family doctor. A physician can perform euthanasia on a patient with dementia only if such a directive exists, if statutory care is taken and if, in his opinion, the patient is experiencing unbearable suffering with no prospect of improvement,” says the Dutch government’s website.

The woman who resisted her euthanization had written an advanced directive four years prior, requesting the procedure in lieu of being put in a nursing home. In the directive, she had said she wished to “be able to decide while still in my senses and when I think the time is right.”

Prosecutors argued that her attempt to fight off the doctor indicated that she could have changed her mind, but was unable to verbally communicate.

Dr. Charles Camosy, a professor at Fordham University and bioethicist, told CNA that the supreme court decision is part of a legal “slippery slope” in the Netherlands on euthanasia. Camosy said that patients with conditions including mental deterioration will be at the heart of future debate.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com

After Coronavirus Response Failures, Almost Half of Italians Want to Leave the EU

Chris Tomlinson – April 14, 2020

A Tecnè poll has revealed that Italians are becoming more and more critical of the European Union, with 49 per cent saying they want Italy out.

Just 51 per cent of the Italian public said they want to remain in the EU, which has been widely criticised across the country for lack of solidarity with Italy since the start of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak.

The poll is a far cry from previous surveys, according to newspaper Il Giornale, which cited a November 2018 study which showed consensus was far more favourable to the European Union, saying opposition to an Italian exit has fallen by 20 per cent in two years.

The EU reaction to the Italian coronavirus outbreak, which has led to the deaths of more than 20,000 people across the country so far, led to some Italians burning EU flags on social media and Italian politicians taking down EU flags from offices and public spaces in protest.

The reaction from Italians led European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to issue an apology earlier this month that was published by newspaper La Repubblica.

“It must be acknowledged that in the first days of the crisis, faced with the need for a common European response, too many have thought only of the problems of their own homes,” she said and added: “They did not realise that we can defeat this pandemic only together, as a Union. It was malicious behaviour and could have been avoided.”

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte later issued a warning to the EU saying that the political bloc may collapse if other member states do not act with solidarity and help countries most affected by coronavirus.

https://www.breitbart.com

‘Risk of Failure Real’: Italy’s PM Giuseppe Conte Warns Coronavirus Could Bring About EU’s Downfall

Sputnik News – April 9, 2020

As Europe has become the epicentre of the coronavirus epidemic, with almost 700,000 confirmed cases, and Italy particularly hard-hit, the pandemic has become a stress-test for EU unity, as stark differences have thwarted an agreement on more support for coronavirus-hit economies, with talks suspended.

Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has warned that the European Union risks failing amid the coronavirus global pandemic, reported the BBC.

According to Conte, the EU must “rise to the challenge” of what he referred to as “the biggest test since the Second World War” and take concerted efforts to extend much-needed aid to the countries that were worst hit by the spread of the COVID-19 respiratory virus.

The Italian Prime Minister insisted that Europe’s leaders were “facing an appointment with history”.

“If we do not seize the opportunity to put new life into the European project, the risk of failure is real,” said Conte.

As the infection rate in Italy shows signs of decelerating, and the death toll gradually starting to diminish, Giuseppe Conte warned viewers  against lowering their guard and emphasised that the national lockdown could only be eased slowly.

https://sputniknews.com

European leaders warn coronavirus could lead to the breakup of their union

Loveday Morris, Michael Birnbaum – April 1, 2020

BERLIN —The coronavirus pandemic, with its simultaneous health and economic crises, is

deepening fault lines within Europe in a way some leaders fear could prove to be a final reckoning.

The cohesion of the European Union had been battered by Brexit, bruised by the political fallout from the 2015 migration surge and the 2008 financial crisis, and challenged by rising autocracy in the east that runs contrary to the professed ideals of the European project.

Now, if Europe’s leaders cannot chart a more united course, the project lies in what one of its architects described this week as “mortal danger.”

In the early days of the coronavirus outbreak, the response among European Union member states showed that national interests trump more-altruistic European ideals. Border restrictions were reimposed haphazardly, and Germany and France threw up export bans on medical equipment such as masks and ventilators, even as Italy clamored for assistance.

Quick to capitalize were the propaganda machines of Russia and China. Moscow and Beijing have swept in with much-trumpeted — if sometimes defective — medical aid, pushing a savior narrative and providing fodder for the region’s Euroskeptics.

E.U. countries have begun to coordinate their efforts to procure supplies, and they have sent more aid to hard-hit Italy than China has. But the past week has seen a reemergence of a north-south rift over how to handle the economic response. The union is also being pulled east and west, as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has used emergency powers to effectively suspend democracy, riding roughshod over Europe’s basic principles of the rule of law.

Collectively, these tensions could overwhelm the alliance.

https://www.msn.com