Europe – Page 19 – Slugger O'Toole

The ‘Englezes’ V ‘The Boche’ and our complex ties with ‘de udder’ island

ItwasSammyMcNally on June 27, 2010, 1:49 pm

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This afternoon at 3pm and the latest round of the conflict will kick off when the old war and soccer-ball adversaries take to the football field. Perhaps the bestest football chant of all time Two world wars and one world cup provides the sporting and historical context for the tie – although the damned Boche might quibble that the chant needs updating to take account of their 1970 and 1990 World Cup victories over their deadliest rivals. And we can …

Suspected ETA terrorist arrested in Belfast

Pete Baker on June 25, 2010, 11:49 am

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RTÉ reports that the Spanish interior ministry has identified a 40-year-old man arrested in Belfast on Thursday, under terrorism legislation in a joint operation between the PSNI and Spanish police, as Fermin Vila Michelena. From the BBC report Michelena is a suspected member of the armed Basque separatist group ETA and wanted in Spain for a number of attacks. The Spanish interior ministry said he was the subject of three arrest warrants. The ministry said he was part of ETA’s Madrid cell …

“Kaiser Wilhelm had a master plan for Europe…”

Pete Baker on June 24, 2010, 12:14 pm

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The Irish Times reports pointed criticism from former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt of the recent German and French bickering in Europe. And the report notes some interesting comments from Ulrike Guérot, Berlin head of the European Council on Foreign Relations… Leading European think tanks were more critical about Mr Schmidt’s “Wilhelmine” remarks. “As much as I see his point, that Germany is being perceived in Europe in a negative way, Kaiser Wilhelm had a master plan for Europe whereas in Berlin …

Euro crisis: “The commission is the economic government of Europe.”

Pete Baker on June 16, 2010, 12:58 pm

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The BBC has a country-by-country guide to the EU austerity measures, including the bickering France and Germany. And, as the Irish Times reports, EU Commission president, José Manuel Barroso, lays down the law Amid intensive debate among European governments around measures required to reinforce the euro’s foundations, Mr Barroso said some of the member states needed to be reminded that the commission was “the economic government of Europe”. France and Germany have been at loggerheads over the scale of the measures …

Euro crisis: “Germany and France have to be of one opinion, otherwise Europe is sick”

Pete Baker on June 15, 2010, 2:56 pm

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are presenting a united front in public, and pointing at a global bank levy. But, as the Irish Times reports, behind the scenes things are not well with the European leaders In an hurried show of unity, the two leaders penned a joint letter to the European Commission, urging it to speed up efforts to regulate EU financial markets. Ahead of yesterday’s meeting, French finance minister Christine Lagarde insisted that a new …

What next for Belgium?

Pete Baker on June 13, 2010, 11:17 pm

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While The Observer questions the apparent consensus on the need for austerity in the EU, the next country due to take the EU presidency, Belgium, has been holding parliamentary elections. Belgium’s Flemish separatist party, the New Flemish Alliance (NVA), has won more than 20% of the vote in parliamentary elections, according to early unofficial results. If confirmed, the NVA would have the largest share of the vote, bringing the country closer to a split. But, as RTÉ reports, others are less convinced that a split …

Counterfeiting operation posed potential threat to euro

Pete Baker on June 13, 2010, 5:39 pm

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The Sunday Times has details of the scale of the counterfeiting operation that was uncovered in County Laois last month. From the Sunday Times report Detectives assigned to the fraud investigation, led by Martin Callinan, the deputy garda commissioner and intelligence specialist, believe the gang planned to sell the forged currency at 10% of face value to the Russians, who in turn planned to launder the fakes through contacts in eastern Europe. “We also know that a number of Irish gangs had …

Euro crisis: Paradigm Lost

Pete Baker on June 11, 2010, 1:50 pm

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The BBC’s Europe editor, Gavin Hewitt, has been examining “an in-depth analysis of the crisis in the eurozone” by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace – “Paradigm Lost – the Euro in Crisis”. From Gavin Hewitt’s blog So what’s to be done? According to the economists in the Carnegie report, the PIIGS will have to reduce their debts, which most are attempting to do with austerity packages. The debt-to-GDP ratio needs to be on a firm, downward path and to be …

In solidarity?

Blank on June 9, 2010, 9:03 pm

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Joe Higgins, Irish Socialist Party MEP, is sponsoring a march and rally in Dublin as part of a ‘Europe-wide week of solidarity and protest’ something he initiated within his European political group (nothing arranged north of the border that I can see). The poster advertising it states the rally has been endorsed by; Socialist Party, Workers Party, Socialist Workers Party, PBP, Right to Work, Workers Solidarity Movement, éirígí, Irish Socialist Network and Socialist Democracy. Sinn Féin are not noted as …

More on NI’s £60million farming subsidy mal-administration fines

Pete Baker on June 9, 2010, 2:37 pm

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The Northern Ireland Assembly’s agriculture committee is in Brussels today where they are reportedly seeking a reduction in the £60million fines imposed due to the NI Agriculture Department’s mal-administration of EU farming subsidies. But a spokesman for the EU Agriculture Commissioner has told the BBC that any reduction is unlikely. Roger Waite said he could not see the commission changing its mind on the size of the fine. “There is an appeal and a conciliation process going on which will only be …

Euro crisis: a “strong convergence of views”

Pete Baker on June 8, 2010, 1:20 pm

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The Irish Times’ Arthur Beesley reports that EU Finance Ministers “have resolved to submit draft budgets for the approval of their counterparts and the EU Commission before unveiling them in national parliaments.” European Council president Herman Van Rompuy, who chaired the meeting on economic governance, said there was a “strong convergence of views” on the measures required to strengthen how the EU polices and enforces budgetary rules. The meeting followed a separate gathering here of ministers whose countries share the …

NI’s £60million farming subsidy mal-administration fines – Redux

Pete Baker on June 7, 2010, 6:17 pm

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The Northern Ireland Agriculture Minister, Sinn Féin’s Michelle Gildernew, and the Chairman of the Assembly Agriculture Committee, the DUP’s Ian Paisley Jnr, teamed up today on the Stormont Live sofa to defend farmers – an aging and confused group, apparently – and to criticise media coverage of the £60 million fines imposed by the EU Commission for the department’s mal-administration of EU farming subsidies. Although, they weren’t entirely on the same page… What they did agree on was that the £60 million …

NI Agriculture Minister: “I’m not sure anybody’s really to blame…”

Pete Baker on June 1, 2010, 10:39 pm

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BBC NI’s rural affairs correspondent, Martin Cassidy, reports on the £60 million repayment sought from the Northern Ireland Executive by the EU Commission for the maladministration, by the NI Department of Agriculture, of the annual individual subsidy claims made by farmers here. In total Europe provides 300m euros to farmers here annually while the individual subsidy claims are administered locally by the Department of Agriculture. But when the European Commission sent in its team of auditors, they discovered many of …

Four arrested in Laois in counterfeit cash investigation

Pete Baker on May 31, 2010, 2:59 pm

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Not much detail on this one yet, but the iol report notes that four men, in their 40s and 50s, were arrested in County Laois this morning “after an extensive operation, which has been ongoing for several months”. RTÉ adds What is believed to be a sophisticated counterfeit operation and underground bunker has been uncovered by gardaí in Co Laois. Four men in their 40s and 50s have been arrested; two are being detained in Tullamore and two in Portlaoise Garda …

“everyone in Ireland is an economist now”

Pete Baker on May 26, 2010, 3:32 pm

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Mack referred in passing to the Guardian’s G2 feature on Ireland at the start of the crisis in the Eurozone, but it deserves a bigger mention. Here’s a key extract “There were very few of us in the boom who suggested what was going on was nonsense. If you’re against consensus in Ireland, the first phase is ridicule, then it’s violent opposition, and the third phase is universal truth – where everyone pretends they agreed with you all along,” [David] …

Euro crisis: “there is no unity at present in the euro zone about what needs to be done”

Pete Baker on May 22, 2010, 6:01 pm

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A couple of reports in the Irish Times to emphasise a point made recently by Tim Garton Ash. First up a quote from the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel. “We are at the start of this work and there is no unity at present in the euro zone about what needs to be done,” she said. “We have to stabilise things first, exchange views and at a later point say what needs to be done and how, and where we have …

Euro crisis: “Here endeth the lesson from the voice of calm.”

Pete Baker on May 21, 2010, 5:29 pm

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Even though the EU Finance Ministers meeting in Brussels didn’t have the details of that special vehicle for bailing out eurozone governments to sign off on, the BBC’s Stephanie Flanders still believes in “the voice of calm”. Me? I’m still sceptical. As Stephanomics admits In the end, these imbalances always come home to roost – the private-sector bubble that was causing them bursts, and one way or another the borrowing is shifted onto the public sector. And governments have to do …

“the start of a period of classic left-right debates”?

Pete Baker on May 20, 2010, 10:32 pm

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BBC NI political editor Mark Devenport with a slightly different take on the message delivered to the Northern Ireland First and deputy First Ministers by the new Prime Minister than Brian noted. By telling our ministers they can take the pain now or take it in the next financial year, the Prime Minister has posed the Stormont Executive with a difficult choice. Their track record on water charges and freezing rates would appear to indicate the Executive will choose procrastination (or …

Euro crisis: “The crisis of the eurozone has only just begun.”

Pete Baker on May 20, 2010, 3:28 pm

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I hope it wasn’t something I said… At the Guardian’s Comment is Free, Timothy Garton Ash feels “more depressed about the state of the European project than [he has] for decades.” The crisis of the eurozone has only just begun. The bond markets have not been convinced even by last week’s giant “shock and awe” bailout of Greece. The one thing that moved them was the European Central Bank’s readiness to start buying eurozone government bonds, but it still costs …

Euro crisis: “None of Europe’s leaders are yet spelling out the cultural revolution that is to come.”

Pete Baker on May 19, 2010, 6:35 pm

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I missed this at the time, but the BBC’s Europe editor Gavin Hewitt’s thoughts on “one of the fundamental dilemmas in political leadership” being faced by eurozone politicians caught in a manifestation of “the political trilemma of the world economy” are worth reading. Within the EU there is tension, and at its heart is the role of Germany. The Germans never wanted to join the euro if it meant it would have to bankroll the weaker countries. That is what has happened. …