The European Political Newspaper

Iran’s Parliament speaker said Thursday he expects a heated debate among Iranian lawmakers before they vote on the nuclear deal between his country and six world powers in about a month.

Ali Larijani, formerly Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, predicted Iran’s debate would be even more dramatic than the one now taking place in the U.S. Congress because of opposition from some members.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said last Saturday that he opposed a parliamentary vote on the agreement because its terms would turn into legal obligations if passed by lawmakers.

But Larijani said that according to the Iranian constitution, the agreement needs to be discussed and approved by the Iranian Parliament.

He said that’s why a 15-member parliamentary committee is examining the deal, including its legality and the supervision and surveillance Iran will be under.

It will report to Parliament in a few weeks on its assessment, he said, “and I think Parliament will have to make its decision in about a month.”

Larijani told a briefing for invited reporters that he personally believes “this deal is a positive thing — a good thing,” but he wouldn’t predict the result when Parliament votes.

The agreement calls for limiting Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting economic sanctions.

Iran insists its nuclear program is purely peaceful but the United States and Western nations believe Tehran’s goal has been to produce nuclear weapons.

Larijani again accused the United State of playing “the role if a bully” during negotiations.

He said Iranian parliamentarians have found “serious and major faults” with the agreement including a mechanism for U.N. sanctions to “snap back” in place if any of the six powers — the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France or Germany — determines that Iran is failing to meet its obligations.

“For us, this is not possible,” Larijani said. “We cannot go back to the situation that we were in before the implementation of the agreement.”

For example, the agreement requires Iran to redesign its nearly built reactor at Arak so it can’t produce plutonium for nuclear weapons. But Larijani said “once you remove the core of the Arak reactor, you cannot put it back — this is impossible.”

Nonetheless, Larijani said Iran also achieved some of its goals including being able to enrich uranium inside the country, despite limitations and restrictions. “Another success for us was the lifting of sanctions,” he said.

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France and Germany agreed on Thursday to propose a permanent and mandatory system for the redistribution of refugees and asylum seekers arriving in Europe.

In a joint press conference with Ireland’s Prime Minister, Enda Kenny, the French President, Francois Hollande, commented that there “… do not assume their moral obligations so we will need to go further,” Hollande said at a joint news conference Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny. This could be a reference to any of the three countries openly objecting to asylum quotas, including the Czech Republic, Britain, and Poland.

The French presidency announced that France and Germany would jointly submit in Brussels a plan for the “fair distribution” of refugees so as to avoid   “dramas followed by tragedies.” In a balancing statement the French presidency added that the plan would also ensure  “the return of irregular migrants to their countries of origin, and bring the necessary support and cooperation with countries of transit and origin.”

From Brasilia, the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, confirmed that the Franco-German axis had come to a common position on the need for binding quotas to share the burden. “That is the principle of solidarity,” she said. She sided economic size and GDP as a factor to be taken into account in the distribution, but emphasized this was a policy for those coming from war torn regions alone.

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India has failed to integrate women into the labour force, and the reason for this is piety, according to analysts.

As reported by Pakistan’s English language newspaper Dawn, India’s female labour force dropped from 34% to 27% between 1999 and 2011.

Ultimately, survival is linked to the country that first gets its women into the active workforce. But how?

One way to do this is through public transportation. There is, however, another problem: harassment. Almost all have been groped, rubbed against, gotten stare-downs, have been subjected to sexual innuendos and overall manhandling during rush hours.

As for efforts to create women-friendly transportation solutions like the pink taxi, but these have not been able to scale as solutions, reported Dawn .

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Whatever it takes, for as long as it takes

Eyes were on the European Central Bank on Thursday as the International Monetary Fund has come short of recommending to Frankfurt a second wave of quantitative easing, saying instead “it would be advisable to consider.”

And with good reason: headline inflation in the Eurozone stands currently at 0,2% or 0,1% annualized. This is very close to deflation. And deflation can derail hard made gains in fragile GDP surge and a small reduction in unemployment.

In fact, the ECB lowered somewhat its growth projections for 2016 to 1,4%, down from 1,5% and for 2017 to 1,7%, from 1,8%.

The ECB’s inflation target of 2% is going to be missed not only for 2015, but perhaps for some years to come.  In the short term, as demand from China is weakening, as well as oil and gas, deflationary pressure increases.

With interest rate at zero, quantitative easing is most obviously the weapon of last resort.

The ECB did oblige. It has stack to the fulfillment of its € 1 trillion asset buying programme. Nonetheless, Draghi expressed “willingness, readiness and capacity” to act if need be, retaining the € 60 bn a month bond buying programme beyond September 2016. In making the message even more explicit, the ECB raised states it would allow itself to buy as much as 33% — as opposed to 25% — from each issue of sovereign bonds of the Eurozone’s 19 member states. In addition, increasing the volume of purchase beyond €60 bn a month is still on the table.

The Euro lost 1% against the US dollar, given that the FED continues to consider a rise in interest rates before then end of the year.

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Undoubtedly, this unprecedented for Chinese standards event was a demonstration of superpower credentials. 12,000 factories closed down in the industrial area surrounding Beijing, one for every single soldier that was to take part in the Tiananmen Square military parade on Thursday, September 3rd. And that was just to clear the air.

In a spectacular show of military might, China celebrated the 70th anniversary since the end of the Second World War. The parade featured all major weapon systems, including J-15 fighter jets, Z-19 attack helicopters, a truck-mounted version of the DF-41 intercontinental missile, and drones. 17 countries joined the parade, with 1,000 troops, with Russia’s 154 commandant regiment leading the pack with 85 soldiers. Others included Serbia, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia.

On the podium next to the Chinese President, Xi Jinping, besides Communist Party veterans, stood Vladimir Putin. Tony Blair and Gerhard Shroeder were the only heads of state present at the scene, even if former, since acting ones declined. The two leaders of thee western world were only meters away from Omar al-Bashir, indicted by the international criminal court for mass atrocities and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Surprisingly, it was South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye rather than North Korea’s Kim Jong Un that had been invited.

France and Italy attended at the level of the Foreign Minister and Britain by Cabinet minister Kenneth Clarke.

In front of a cheering crowd waving with red flags, the President vowed that China would “never seek hegemony or expansion” and announced the reduction of the People’s Liberation Army by 300,000, out of a 2,3 million strong force. Thereon he talked about continued Japanese aggression. Perhaps in anticipation of that speech, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan had declined an invitation to attend.

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The European Commission First Vice President, Frans Timmermans, and European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos just finished a meeting with the Greek Prime Minister, Vasiliki Thanou, where they discussed the problems Greece is facing with the increase in refugee and migratory influx to the country.

On exiting the meeting, Avramopoulos stated that the migratory and refugee issues,  “have taken uncontrollable dimensions”, and described Greece as “one of the main points of entry.”

On his side, Timmermans expressed his agreement, and said that:

“Europe faces a crisis without precedent, it’s a terrible crisis, that will last for a along time, so we need structural solutions especially for those countries most affected by this crisis, and Greece is one of them.” … “I am overwhelmed by the attitude of the Greek population, very welcoming. The humanitarian element prevails in every discussion in Greece … people want to make the right moves, but they need assistance. And the European Commission is there, with the help of the Greek government, to offer that assistance.”

Timmermans reaffirmed that the Commission stands ready to help.

“That’s why we are here today, to discuss with the Greek government the best way that we can quickly implement the decisions that are necessary for us to be able to assist financially and with people an material so as the situation becomes better, because it is very difficult.”

The visit comes one day after Avramopoulos sent Thanou an official letter outline the steps that the Greek government needs to take in order to open the flow of funding from the European Commission.

Timmermans also stated that Europe is facing an “unprecedented humanitarian and political crisis” as it struggles with the huge influx of refugees and migrants.

The Commissioners will now head for a meeting with FRONTEX before departing later in the evening for the island of Kos, where the situation is thought of as one of the most difficult in the country.

Additional reporting by Irene Kostaki in Athens

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Russia has yet to react to the military doctrine Ukraine approved Wednesday in which they are declared an opponent, according to AP. The doctrine comes after recent claims from Russia that they haven’t sent troops and equipment to Ukraine, and calls for Russia to seek NATO membership.

Russia’s denial is the result of accusations that they sent militia to the East of Ukraine, where separatist rebels oppose Ukraine joining NATO.

President Petro Poroshenko’s recent moves to change the constitution to transfer the power of regions including the east may have spurred the declaration.

On the doctrine, Poroshenko said it “not only officially establishes the Russian Federation as Ukraine’s military opponent, but states the task of relocating military units and creating the necessary military infrastructure in the eastern and southern regions.”

The doctrine will now go to Poroshenko for approval.

The doctrine comes seven days after Poroshenko met with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Belgium.

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More than 13 million children across the Middle East and North Africa cannot attend schools as a result of armed conflicts, says a new UNICEF report, that includes countries such as Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Libya.

The study also looked at Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey, countries neighboring Syria where large numbers of refugees live, as well as Sudan and Palestine.

Schools have become places no longer safe for children. In 2014 alone, there were 214 attacks on the schools in these regions. Many schools were completely destroyed, damaged or have become occupied by a militant group. Even the routes to and from school are now considered extremely unsafe for children in these countries.

“I heard the noise, everyone was running. I saw my mother waiting at the corner. We ran together. I was happy to be home. This is all what I can remember,” described Rasha, fourth grade student from Syria, to UNICEF.

In Iraq, 700 children were killed and another 500 injured last year. In the Gaza Strip, 551 Palestinian children were killed only during 51 days of last summer’s conflict.

In Syria, more than 2 million children are out of school and almost half a million are at risk of dropping out. Many of them have to work instead and can be easily recruited into armed groups. 20% of those still attending school risk their life by crossing active lines of conflict to take their school examinations. They often have to learn in overcrowded classrooms, because of many internally displaced pupils from other schools. A similar situation is also found in countries neighboring Syria, where Syrians have sought refuge, especially in Turkey and Lebanon. These school are often very far from children’s homes, which means their parents cannot afford to pay for the transportation and they are forced to quit. Children attending school in Turkey need to also cope with the Turkish language as the institutional language.

“I had one ten year-old Syrian student who kept skipping Turkish class. It took a long time until he was convinced that he needed to learn the language,” Ra’ed, a teacher in a refugee camp in Turkey told UNICEF.

In times of conflict, the role of teachers requires added dedication and even physical courage. Many of them has left their job and fled the country as many of their colleagues were killed or injured.  In Syria almost one quarter of the country’s teaching personnel, some 52,000 teachers, have left their posts. That means that it is up to the remaining staff to cope with the limited number of teachers and provide children with at least a little education.

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The Commission has approved, under the EU merger regulation, the sale of BG Group to Royal Dutch Shell, and in the process made Royal Dutch Shell one of the strongest oil and gas companies in the world. The Commissions investigation centered around analyzing both groups areas of operation, whether the sale would allow for competitive prices, and to ensure that after the sale the market would still be ruled by strong competition. In a statement on the merger Commission stated:

The Commission concluded that the takeover would not lead to Shell benefiting from market power in a number of markets, namely oil and gas exploration, the liquefaction of gas and the wholesale supply of liquefied natural gas.

Complex approval process 

Due to the size and nature of the acquisition, the approval by the European Commission is only the third hurdle out of five that Shell must get through, having already gained approval from the United States and Brazil Shell now awaits the final hurdles.  Per Shell CEO Ben van Beurden suggested the merger will make Shell more competitive and allow for durability in a low priced oil market right now, he said:

Receiving clearance from the European Commission underlines the good progress we are making on the deal. The transaction is on track for completion in early 2016. The recommended combination with BG is a springboard to change Shell into a simpler and more profitable company, making Shell more resilient in a world where oil prices could remain low for some time.

Now, Beurden must guide the merging companies through China and Austrialia’s anti-trust departments, which should be done by early 2016.

Reasons for Merger

The primary motivation for this merger is for Shell to get involved in the natural gas industry, in which BG has been able to carve out a significant market niche. With global oil prices so low, Shell felt that an acquisition of a natural gas company would allow them to boost production of energy in another sector, allowing them to wait out the low oil profits until the market went back up. Now, Shell has identified two new focuses, deep water oil and integrated gas, and the work done at BG makes this expansion possible. The hope for Shell is that they can eventually challenge petrol giant Exxon Mobil for supremacy in the energy market, but at a 150 billion dollar value they are still only half of what Exxon is worth.

Energy sector changes

Historically Shell has stayed away from large mergers and acquisitions, and there was some skepticism about whether or not they could handle such a high profile, 70 billion dollar merger. However, the details of the merger have been smooth thus far, and points to the future of the use of fossil fuel for energy. With anticipated high regulations against carbon emissions, the current low price of oil, and the lack of future viability for the resource, companies are beginning to opt for liquified natural gas which is likely the future of fossil fuels. The energy landscape is changing, and acquisitions like Shell and the BG Group will only become more common.

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