EU – Page 59 – Slugger O'Toole

Cyprus: So what happens next?

Pete Baker on March 19, 2013, 9:01 pm

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The Guardian’s still live-blogging, for now, in the aftermath of Cyprus’ parliament’s rejection of an, albeit amended, EU/IMF cunning plan bail-out which included the public seizure levying of €5.8billion from private depositors in Cypriot banks – 36 votes against, 19 abstentions, none in favour. The paper’s economics editor, Larry Elliot, answers the title question …there are really only two plausible scenarios: somebody – be it Europe or the IMF – gives Cyprus more money, in which case there is a chance that the crisis …

“2013 can be the year in which Ireland exits its Programme”

Mick Fealty on March 12, 2013, 9:50 am

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No forgone conclusion then from the Taoiseach speaking at the LSE in London yesterday, who is clearly trying to make the most of his government’s billing as poster child for austerity. We are implementing a very challenging budgetary adjustment of about 20% of GDP over the period from 2008 to 2015, with most of this already achieved. We remain on track to fall to below the 3% of GDP-target by 2015. This new stability and confidence has been hard-won. But it …

Italian Police believe Harry Fitzsimons had reason to fear for his life…

Mick Fealty on March 7, 2013, 12:27 pm

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So, an update on yesterday’s post on Harry Fitzsimons, courtesy of eagle eyed Pete. Paddy Agnew for the Irish Times in Rome: Arrest warrants for 20 people allegedly involved in the Calabrian scam, including the man from Belfast, were issued yesterday but a spokeswoman for the European Anti-Mafia Commission said last night he could not be arrested as he was no longer in Italy but rather had gone to a country where the arrest warrant was not “applicable”. “The problem …

West Belfast Property developer wanted by Italian police…

Mick Fealty on March 6, 2013, 2:25 pm

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INTERESTING ‘developments’ in Italy… Harry Fitzsimons former IRA man and director of a property development business which, in the words of his business partner Antonio Velardo in his award winning company: …despite the fact that the company is now so successful, it really is just over two years old, and came about following a meeting between myself and my now fellow CEO, Harry Fitzsimons. However, whilst that history is a short one it is also a dynamic one and, although we only …

Ireland: Europe’s poster child for austerity or fall guy?

Brian Walker on March 4, 2013, 7:17 pm

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“The plan is working” declares the Taoiseach, in an article above his name in the Irish Times. While I acknowledge that we still have a long way to go, it is clear Ireland is headed in the right direction and there is light at the end of this tunnel .. Other banks have been recapitalised and restructured, with new boards and management teams. The bank guarantee has been ended, some stakes in the banks have been sold, deposits are flowing …

EU considers the Horsemeat in the food chain…

Mick Fealty on February 28, 2013, 10:01 am

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From 6.50 in, Tonio BORG, Member of the EC in charge of Health and Consumer Policy gives an account of what the EU has done and is doing on the horsemeat crisis… Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty

Italy’s Five Star Movement – is this what The End of History looks like?

Gerry Lynch on February 28, 2013, 7:00 am

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In 1992, Francis Fukayama predicted in The End of History that the end of the Cold War would impend not only an era of triumphant liberal-democratic capitalism, but one where political evolution had reached its final form. Western democracy, he argued, was the best form of state organisation practically achievable by humans. The folly of such naïve Western triumphalism, already being challenged by China’s authoritarian wave of economic growth when Fukayama wrote his book, was laid bare by Mohamed Atta …

USPCA: 90% of horses channelled through NI end up as meat..

Mick Fealty on February 26, 2013, 11:41 am

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Valerie Cox just now interviewed a spokesman for the USPCA on Pat Kenny’s show on RTE… He talked an operation which horses were found to be being channelled from the Republic through Northern Ireland and into Scotland. With them horse passports and false microchips. The cheaters kit for passing off common or garden horse as fit for the food chain. Intriguingly the horsemeat seems then to being sent to central Europe. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has …

Italy: “Unless of course all polls and projections so far turn out to be wrong …”

Pete Baker on February 25, 2013, 5:13 pm

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They’re still counting the votes in Italy… But the early projections are contradicting exit polls predicting, as the Guardian reported, “strong support for alliance led by Pier Luigi Bersani’s Democratic party and bloody nose for Mario Monti”. Not contradicting the bloody nose for the Borg Mario Monti, that is. But Silvio Berlusoni’s centre-right alliance seems to be edging ahead in the Senate, at least… The Guardian is live-blogging the actual results as they come in. Here’s their latest post to date Before …

Irish Agriculture Minister: “I am seriously concerned about this development…”

Pete Baker on February 22, 2013, 8:14 pm

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I haven’t been posting on every twist and turn [Not “an isolated instance“, then? – Ed] of the still unravelling story of the Europe-wide horse meat for beef scandal. But this looks like it could be a significant development. From the RTÉ report A processing plant in Co Tipperary has been shut down after inspectors found it was exporting horse meat under a label in the Czech language which translated as beef. B&F Meats, a small-scale deboning factory in Carrick-on-Suir was selling a …

Italy: “History risks repeating itself…”

Pete Baker on February 22, 2013, 3:58 pm

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The BBC’s Europe editor, Gavin Hewitt has been looking to Italy ahead of a general election brought 2 months early after Silvio Berlusconi’s party withdrew support for Mario Monti’s technocratic government – voting begins on Sunday. The FT notes that Strong, stable government will be needed to continue the reform process put in place by Mr Monti’s technocrats, and to argue in Brussels for more growth-oriented policies and a possible relaxation of fiscal deficit targets. However, the worst-case scenario emerging from …

Friday Thread: Nine years later you can see improvement in quality and equity

Mick Fealty on February 22, 2013, 2:39 pm

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In the week were told our education system is both inequitable and poor… Andreas Schleicher notes that equity and quality are not inimical. But the solutions he offers from Germany is a major challenge to a lot of assumptions about how education is done. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and …

Caption Competition

Brian Spencer on February 22, 2013, 1:52 am

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Let’s see the captions! Brian SpencerBrian is a writer, artist, political cartoonist and legal blogger. Actively tweeting from @brianjohnspencr. More information here: http://www.brianjohnspencer.com/ www.brianjohnspencer.com/

“Two European countries, Ireland and Norway, have already banned all eel fisheries.”

Pete Baker on February 19, 2013, 10:11 pm

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But not in Northern Ireland. [Partitionist! – Ed] Indeed. Here the regulation of eel fisheries is the responsibility of the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure – and the current Minister, Sinn Féin’s Carál Ní Chuilín. As is salmon fishing… There was a brief flurry of press statements last week as the NI DCAL Minister suddenly threatened to throw the kitchen sink in front of “potential EU proposals to suspend eel-fishing”. From the first ministerial press release [14 Feb] Responding to a request for DCAL’s position, …

Copernicus’ “Google Doodle” and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Gerry Lynch on February 19, 2013, 7:03 pm

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Sunday past was the 413th anniversary of the execution of Giordano Bruno (burned at the stake for heresies such as proposing that the Sun is a star and that the other stars in the sky are also Suns, probably accompanied by planets very much like ours). Today, more auspiciously, is the 460th anniversary of the birth of Nicolaus Copernicus. He managed to postulate that the solar system revolved around the Sun, rather than the Earth, while remaining a Chapter Canon …

IBRC: “This bill when finally enacted will bring to an end…. erm..”

Mick Fealty on February 7, 2013, 12:43 pm

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So what happened last night? Well, not the end of history, as the Tanaiste part billed it), but what’s left of Anglo Irish Bank (IRBC) was wound up. That required a piece of primary legislation to close it down and transfer its assets (and, more importantly, liabilities) to NAMA. Why? Because IBRC’s debt was being paid through the Promissory Note costing a fortune (3.1 billion pa for tens year). The ‘advantage’ of a PN is that it can be unbundled …

Irish Agriculture Minister: “Somebody is selling rogue product and somebody knows about it and is responsible.”

Pete Baker on February 5, 2013, 9:07 pm

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Still early days in the investigation into the discovery of more beef horse meat at a number of meat processing plants – and note Mick’s update here. However, the cause of the trace amounts of pork DNA and equine DNA in some ‘beef’ products is still likely to be different. But there are a few quotes worth highlighting, starting with this one in a Guardian report which also notes that in Poland, “government veterinary inspectors say they have so far been unable …

“Ireland has the potential to generate far more wind energy than we could consume domestically…”

Pete Baker on January 28, 2013, 8:28 pm

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Apparently, Ireland is to become Britain’s off-shore wind farm… That seems to be the gist of the complaint from opponents to wind farms in the Irish Midlands, as reported in the Irish Times. Andrew Duncan, spokesman for the Lakelands Wind Information Group in Co Westmeath, said: “It seems to be an Irish solution to a British problem – politically, they don’t want turbines in the British countryside.” Last October, British energy minister John Hayes said his government would no longer have …

How willing will Labour be to shoot the UKIP fox that’s eating David Cameron’s chickens?

Mick Fealty on January 23, 2013, 9:45 am

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David Cameron’s just given in his long awaited speech on Europe. Not much in the way of surprises. He wants a referendum to sort out the democratic deficit at home (code for getting the UKIP monkey off his back on the way into the next general election), and to open negotiation with a Europe that is already wracked by terminal indecision over the far deeper problem of the Euro mess. Public negotiations to try to squeeze Labour are taking place …