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Russia’s Economic Development Minister Alexey Ulyukayev was detained earlier this week on suspicion of taking a $2 million bribe that allowed Russian oil giant Rosneft to wrap up the deal on purchasing the government’s 50% stake in Bashneft, TASS reported.

But the detention of one of the Kremlin’s top officials is unlikely to affect the energy deal, Slava Smolyaninov, a strategist at BCS, a brokerage firm in Moscow, told New Europe by phone on November 15. “It’s hard to say right now. It appe...

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Following a major defeat at the November 18 EU Justice and Home Affairs Council, Slovakia has promised to return to the table with a new proposal after its initial “effective solidarity” proposal was rejected by most ministers of the 28 European Union member states.

Robert Kaliňák, Slovakia’s Deputy Prime Minister and interior minister, appeared confident that the Slovakian EU Presidency will be successful in overcoming the danger of ultimately having mandatory quotas imposed on all member st...

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The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini expressed her views on Trump election and the EU-Turkey relationship in an interview for Channelling Brussels.

Mogherini took the chance to reassure Teri Schultz that the ties between the Unites States of America and the European Union will not be negatively affected by the election of Donald Trump to the position of President of the United States.

The US- EU relationship is not a matter of concern for the Commission’s Vice-President, which she defines now as “much deeper than any political turn.”

“We will have the responsibility to make this work” stressed Mogherini.

“We also know as Europeans that sometimes, what you do and what you say in an electoral campaign is different than what you do as a President and we will have to see what happens from 21st of January in Washington” highlighted Mogherini, in an attempt to downplay the concerns raised by the outcome of the elections.

“When the world will be looking at Europe, my impression is that also across the Atlantic the attention on Europe will grow, and we will have to be able to live up to this responsibility, establishing good ties with the new US administration when it will come in.”

Mogherini also highlighted the results that have been achieved through the mutual cooperation, especially with the precedent administration. “We still believe very strongly that the interests of the European and the American people are very much the same, and so we see the need to continue to work together.”

“I cannot hide and I do not hide [that] we worked incredibly well with the [Obama] administration, in particular on the many different crises that we have around us but also on the big global issues like climate change, the sustainable development goals and the Iran deal”.

The European Union Foreign Policy Chief explained that a Trump election does not necessarily entail negative forecast for the future, and urged a change in mindset in analyzing the situation.

“Europe has to rediscover his strength, and I would even say its greatness in this moment. What I see is always that Europeans and EU is much more appreciated from the outside than from the inside. Maybe this is the right chance for us to realize how much power we have, to role we should play, and this can be based only in a united confident EU. So I see this also as an opportunity for Europeans to come together in a much stronger way, to be more self-confident, to work more on their global profile.”

Mogherini named some concrete actions to strengthen the role of Europe globally. “I presented some options on how to work more on the EU defense for instance, in complementarity with NATO. We have to use more our tools.”

When asked if she was disappointed about not seeing finally a woman as President of the US, Mogherini was confident that there will be other possibilities ahead.

“America has already managed to break an important glass ceiling, probably more than glass ceiling electing Barack Obama as the first black American president, and American stays that great country that managed to show the way toward emancipation and equality”.

When asked whether she would feel awkward meeting President Trump knowing the things he said about women, Mogherini laughed and replied: “I am Italian… we have seen it all!”

After the publication of the Commission report on the state of play of EU-Turkey accession talks, Mogherini expresses serious worries and concerns about the current situation in Turkey.

“We have very worried, we have been talking about this concerns constantly with Turkish authorities, I was even this morning (last Wednesday) on the telephone with the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu… We work day and night to try to guarantee that the rule of law, human rights, the independence of the judiciary, media freedom, all the standards that are required not only to be a member of the EU or a candidate country but also for being a member of the Council of Europe – which Turkey is – are respected in the country”.

Mogherini also excluded categorically any harsh tone behind the curtains in dealing the issue.

“The guiding lines of my work in this respect in these days is passing a very clear and united European message to our Turkish friends. They have to understand that this is the entire European Union, and not just one or two officials or ministers, with its institutions and its 28 member states that are asking Turkey where does it want to go. If Turkey intentions are still that of being close of the EU and the end of the process member of the European Union than their daily choices have to be consequent.”

When asked about the possible consequences of this situation, Mogherini said that Turkey remains a partner for working on common shared issues like Syria and Cyprus, or in tackling the refugee crisis, and that currently there are not going to be any repercussion on the membership talks.

“The EU is not going to take its relationship with Turkey only under the angle of the refugee crisis. For us, basic and fundamental are the respect of human rights and the rule of law. Is now up to turkey to tell us which direction is up to take. I am not worried about the migration deal, for the moment is holding. Priority number one for me in this moment is the work we can do together for Syria and the work we are doing together on Cyprus.” concluded Mogherini

The post Mogherini on Trump and Turkey: “Europe has to rediscover its strength” appeared first on New Europe.

This article is part of Amway’s ‘Driving Entrepreneurship in Europe’ Knowledge Network

According to Eurostat, in 2016 more than 6,6 million young people aged 15-24 years were neither in employment nor in education or training in the European Union, where at the same time EU youth unemployment rate is more than double the overall unemployment rate. While the media focus on the youth, the generation aged 50+ is also facing a major employment challenge.

Some countries’ unemployment rates have risen exponentially since the onset of the economic crisis. In Ireland, the 50+ unemployment rates more than tripled from 3.6% to 11.1%, In Portugal it almost doubled and in Greece it more than quadrupled (from 3.8% to 15.8%).

Demographics and social changes all over Europe in the recent years have increased the risks of a perception of conflict between generations, especially when it comes to the labour market.

However, one of the emerging trends that could provide a solution to the millennials generation unemployment is intergenerational entrepreneurship, where senior and 50 plus “second career” entrepreneurs have begun to team up with younger partners to form start-ups.

The aim is to fight against both youth unemployment and providing elders with a chance to use and transfer their skills and knowledge even after retirement. Stakeholders from the European Parliament, European Commission, academia and private companies came together to define intergenerational entrepreneurship last Tuesday at the public event “Boosting Europe’s Growth through Intergenerational Entrepreneurship” which took place at the EU Parliament in Brussels.

Full house for the event “Boosting Europe’s Growth through Intergenerational Entrepreneurship” promoted by 50+Entrepreneurship Platform Europe on 15 November 2016 – Courtesy of Aspect Consulting

The event, hosted by the European People’s Party (EPP) Group MEP, Ivan Stefanec, and the Alliance for Liberal and Democrats in Europe MEP, Dita Charanzova, was the occasion to present the 50+Entrepreneurship Platform Europe, a group of like-minded organisations, corporates, NGOs and academia whose mission is to ensure policy makers consider the important contribution that 50+ entrepreneurship can make to Europe’s economy and society. The event was a great chance for the 50+ Platform to discuss and learn about different perspectives on how a joint approach could be developed and implemented to harness the potential of intergenerational entrepreneurship.

“We are living a digital revolution. For younger generation, it could be a huge possibility for business, but sometimes they do not know how to transform their ideas in reality. Therefore, the intergenerational dialogue is crucial not to miss this potential” said Charanzova, who also underlined the importance of merging the 50 plus generation’s business experience with the digital skills of the millennials.  EPP MEP Heinz K. Becker addressed the socio-economic benefits of youth and seniors collaboration stressing out the importance of the know how that the 50 plus generation could bring in for young entrepreneurs. “Regarding how to handle risk in business, the elders have knowledge and know how, and they dare to risk because they know the potential risks and how to handle them” observed Becker. The 50+ platform harvested a great consensus across the political spectrum. Socialist & Democrat’s MEP Brando Benifei welcomed the initiative as a “milestone” for the European Parliament.

“It is time to take further actions in terms of the support to collaborative intergenerational business-models and start-ups. The calculated benefits of those potential initiatives are significant, both in economic and in social terms; we cannot miss this challenge” highlighted Benifei. A positive vision of the potential benefits that is shared also by private companies.

“The European Commission’s statistics show that more than 1/3 of the world population will be over 50 by 2030 and now more seniors than ever before wish to stay active and explore new entrepreneurial opportunities” said Michael Meissner, Vice President of Amway. “There is a need to establish formal schemes of supporting intergenerational entrepreneurship” said Meissner, “and Amway sees a necessity in bringing these demographics together and enhancing reciprocal intergenerational solidarity through exchange of knowledge and vital skills”. “Intergenerational entrepreneurship is a competitive advantage and an opportunity” concluded Meissner, calling Member States to build knowledge, understanding and support for 50+ entrepreneurship also at national level.

Amway is one of the world’s largest direct selling businesses that has put entrepreneurship promotion at the heart of its organization, and was one of the promoters of the 50+ Platform.

The post Intergenerational entrepreneurship: a way to tackle unemployment appeared first on New Europe.

Geologists in Texas discovered an oil field in the Permian Basin that is estimated to have 20bn barrels of oil and 1,6bn barrels of natural gas.

50-to-60% could be recoverable according to experts.

That is estimated to be the biggest oil field ever discovered in the United States. It is three times the size of the Bakken formation in North Dakota.

The oil field is a “continuous oil” formation, which is a reference to unconventional formations like shale. The new shale oil technology allows the recovery of billions of oil barrels from areas that have already yielded billions in conventional oil.

Oil has been produced in the Wolfcamp area by traditional vertical wells since the 1980s. Now companies are drilling more than 3,000 horizontal wells in the area. However, the current oil prices mean that the oil is not recoverable.

Shale investment is unlikely to pick up until the price reaches the $60 to $65 range according to Morris Burns, the former president of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association.

Shale production is responsible for turning the US from a net importer to a net exporter of oil and gas in 2011. However, prices have tumbled, with prices going as low as $25 earlier this year.

Even with the advancement of technology and new production methods, unconventional oil costs more to produce. Many vertical wells have stopped their operation and investment has slowed by half a million barrels and could slow as much in 2017.

The post Discovery of the biggest oil field in US history appeared first on New Europe.

ECB President Mario Draghi committed the Eurozone to an indefinite period of low-interest rate policy on Friday.

He is not the only one who feels the need to assert the need for ultra-low rates. Wolfgang Schäuble, Donald Trump, and Theresa May have been voicing criticism on monetary policy, particularly low-interest rates that have hurt fixed income funds and savers.
Draghi and the ECB
Speaking at the European Banking Congress in Frankfurt on Friday, Draghi said that there was some optimism...

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Germany’s justice minister, Heiko Maas, says Facebook is not a technology platform, but rather a media company according to Reuters. Maas favors making social media organisations criminally liable for failing to remove hate speech.

The German authorities are currently running a program that monitors the efficiency of Facebook in dealing with the removal of hate speech on its site by looking at how many comments are taken down within 24 hours of a complaint.

This decision comes after Facebook has been scrutinized for the way it has dealt with hate speech.  The EU specifically wants to address hate speech that corresponds to xenophobia and racism, two issues that have recently been important in Europe.  The EU has also set up a ‘code of conduct’ which, though not legally binding, pressures companies like Facebook and Twitter to respond to notifications of hate speech in under 24 hours.

According to the EU commissioner for justice, Vĕra Jourová, one of the main reasons for this new code is the radicalization of “young people” through the use of social media.

If Facebook were to be thought of as a media company and not a “technology platform,” the company could be held legally responsible for failing ro remove hate speech.  Recently, Facebook has been criticized due to its questionable decisions concerning the removal of pictures and other controversial material.  According to Reuters, though the EU currently does not impose legislation on social media, Germany will move to “take legislative measures if the results are still unsatisfactory” when the data from the program is analyzed.

According to a FORTUNE article published on November 17th, “one big reason is that being defined in such a way could open the network up to regulation, and impose a range of responsibilities on it that it probably wouldn’t like.”

The post Is Facebook a media or technology company? appeared first on New Europe.

The former Pilipino dictator, Ferdinand Marcos, was buried on Friday in the country’s Heroes’ Cemetery.

Marcos supporters, along with his family, have long held the view that as a former soldier and President, Marcos was entitled to the honour. Marcos had people murdered, over 34,000 tortured, and 70,000 people jailed over his 21-year rule. It is said he stole millions from the country’s coffers.

There is no media coverage of the burial, which the family requested to be “private.”

Thousands petitioned the denial of Marcos burial in the armed forces cemetery, intended for heroes, but the Supreme Court ordered on November 8 his burial. The Supreme Court’s decision came with an overwhelming 9-5 majority.

The main advocate for the burial honoring the former dictator was President Duterte.

Duterte has praised Marcos, and he has also demonstrated his own contempt for human rights abuses by proceeding with over 3,000 extrajudicial killings since he came to power.

Until Friday, the remains of the general had been kept for years in a refrigerated crypt of the family’s Mausoleum, while his family was in exile in Hawaii.

From Peru, where he is attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, a spokesman for Duterte said that Filipinos should find it in their heart to forgive Marcos.

The post Former dictator Marcos gets a hero’s burial appeared first on New Europe.

4,437 Turkish citizens have applied for asylum in Germany from January to October 2016, Funke Mediengruppe reported on Friday.

Last year there were just under 2000 application.

The number of applications has averaged 350 a month, surging to 485 in October.

The surge is linked to a purge of over 100,000 academics, journalists, the army, and the judiciary have been dismissed and/or arrested.

Earlier this month, the Social Democrat State Minister for Europe, Michael Roth, said Germany will welcome asylum applications from intellectuals prosecuted in Turkey. Speaking to the daily Die Welt, he asserted the government did not agree with the prosecution of lawmakers, critical journalists and academics.

But, there is no consensus in parliament for accepting them.

The Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) politician, Stephan Mayer, says opponents of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan should not apply for asylum. The CSU politician is spearheading a revolt of the Christian Democratic Party’s sister party in Bavaria that opposes Chancellor Merkel’s immigration policy. “We cannot solve Turkey’s problems by inviting all critical citizens to apply for asylum here. That is exactly what he wants: the opposition disappears,” Mayer says.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, has accused Germany of lending its support to terrorist groups such as the Kurdish PKK and far-leftist DHKP-C.

The post Turkish asylum seekers in Germany double appeared first on New Europe.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls sounded an alarm during a visit to Berlin on November 17. He said the European Union is in danger of breaking apart unless France and Germany, in particular, work harder to stimulate growth and employment and heed citizens’ concerns.

As reported by the Reuters news agency, Valls said the two countries, for decades the axis around which the EU revolved, had to help refocus the bloc to tackle an immigration crisis, a lack of solidarity between member states, Britain’s looming exit, and terrorism.

“Europe is in danger of falling apart,” Valls said at an event organised by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. “So Germany and France have a huge responsibility.”

He said France must continue to open up its economy, not least by cutting corporate taxation, while Germany and the EU as a whole must increase investment that would stimulate growth and job creation, as well as boosting defence.

As Britain seeks to negotiate its post-Brexit relationship with the EU, hoping to restrict immigration from the EU while maintaining as much access as possible to the EU single market, Valls said it must be prevented from cherry-picking.

“If they are able to have all the advantages of Europe without the inconveniences, then we are opening a window for others to leave the European Union,” Valls said.

Addressing politics at home, he said Donald Trump’s victory in the United States has boosted the chances of victory for National Front leader Marine Le Pen during the presidential election next year.

He said France’s election debate was “ignoring the danger posed by the far-right”, adding: “We face a historic moment… perilous for the world, perilous for Europe and perilous for France.”

The post French PM says France, Germany must lead to avert collapse of EU appeared first on New Europe.

Around 100 people are believed to have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea on Thursday, after their dinghy capsized off the Libyan coast.

Their smuggler abandoned them in high seas without a motor.

27 survivors had been rescued by an oil tanker and were later transferred to the Bourbon Argos, a boat of the Médecins Sans Frontières charity (MSF).

Seven bodies were recovered.

A survivor said there were 130 were on board the vessel. Survivors said most of the people tried to stay afloat but most drowned.

On Tuesday another dinghy capsized, drowning almost 100 passengers before a merchant ship rushed to their aid. 15 survivors were taken to the Sicilian port of Catania.

The same evening 298 people were rescued in three operations. Casualties are estimated to little over 4,700 in less than a year according to UNHCR. That is a record.

Migration via Libya is unabated, although the flow from Turkey via Greece has fallen significantly. Over 167,000 have made the perilous journey from North Africa to Italy this year according to the Guardian.

The post More than 100 casualties in capsized boat off the coast of Libya appeared first on New Europe.

The European Patent Office in Munich and the Carlsberg company were criticised on November 17 in an open letter by campaigners opposed to the patenting of plants and animals.

No Patents on Seeds, an alliance including Greenpeace, the Catholic charity Misereor, and globally networked small-scale farmers, called on the Danish brewer to voluntarily relinquish three patents it received earlier this year from the European Patent Office.

As reported by Deutsche Welle (DW), Germany’s international broadcaster, documents published by the EPO also list Heineken of the Netherlands as a patent proprietor.

In two patents granted to Carlsberg and Heineken in April, the EPO upheld inventors’ claims that barley mutations provided new enzymes to develop “more distinctive,” flavour-stable beers and also had less dimethyl sulfide (DMS) that can give beer an undesirable ‘cooked sweet corn’ taste.

From their third patent, which was granted in September, the brewers expect major energy savings during malting and kiln-drying by using barley varieties low in linoleic acid, allowing cooler temperatures during the so-called “wort” to remove stale flavours.

Within nine months of publication any person can object formally to the granting of a patent by contacting the EPO and paying an “opposition fee.”

In their open letter, the Munich-based No Patents on Seeds alliance said “there should be no patents on beer and brewing barley. The cultivation of plants and beer brewing stems from a centuries-old tradition.”

According to DW, critics said two of the patents originated from accidental mutations of genetic material in barley or Hordeum vulgare, a cereal grown worldwide.

Carlsberg, in its promotional material, says research and development are part of its legacy, including laboratory work on barley, yeast, ingredients and brewing technology.

The post NGOs urge Carlsberg to rethink beer ingredient patents appeared first on New Europe.

The sale of luxury goods in India has reportedly taken a plunge since the start of the year when the government required retailers to record the customer’s tax identification number for cash purchases of more Rs200,000 ($3,000).

As reported by The Financial Times, the impact on Ethos Watches, a luxury watch retail chain with 45 stores, was immediate: sales plunged 60%. Before the new rule, 45% of the company’s sales were of Swiss timepieces worth over 200,000 — often bought with suitcases full of notes.

“People are no longer able to make cash purchases of expensive products without the risk that they will be called by the income tax department inquiring where they got so much cash from,” YashoSaboo, Ethos’s owner, told the Financial Times a few months after the new regulation took effect.

Monitoring large cash payments is part of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s campaign to crack down on “black money” — cash earned through illegal activities, or earned legally but never declared to tax officials.

The campaign hit its apogee last week, with New Delhi’s surprise ban on the use of Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes — a radical action intended to catch black money hoarders.

The scrapped currency — together worth more than $220bn, or 86% of India’s circulating cash — is no longer legal tender and is not supposed to be used for any transactions, except buying fuel at state petrol pumps or in government hospitals.

Until December 30, the notes, worth $7.50 and $15 respectively, can be deposited in bank accounts or exchanged in very small quantities over the counter for new currency. But income tax officials will be alerted to any deposit of more than Rs250,000, a sign of the widening campaign against corruption and tax evasion, reported The Financial Times.

The cash ban, which was announced on November 8, shocked India.

“I know the forces up against me,” Modi said in a speech this week. “They may not let me live. They may ruin me because their loot of 70 years is in trouble.”

According to The Financial Times, the stealth decision to abruptly cancel and replace most of India’s currency is a radical economic experiment, and political gamble, with few precedents.

“No country has done this kind of shock therapy,” Jahangir Aziz, global emerging markets analyst at JPMorgan, was quoted as saying. “We don’t have any precedents of doing anything of this sort. We are flying by the seat of our pants.”

Swapan Dasgupta, a member of India’s upper house of parliament, says the move is intended as a radical shake-up of Indian society, where corruption and tax evasion, by businesses and affluent individuals, is a way of life.

“It’s motivated by a philosophy which is that if you want India to be a meaningful player on the world economic stage, you’ve got to take tough measures,” says Dasgupta, who has close ties to Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata party. “Otherwise you can plod on.”

“There is not a soul in India who has not paid black money,” says Surjit Bhalla, senior India analyst for the New York-based Observatory Group, an economic consultancy. Bhalla admits he caved in to pressure in the 1990s to pay Rs300,000 to a Delhi city official who withheld permission for him to build a house for two years. “We have created an environment in which everybody is forced to be corrupt,” he says.

Meanwhile, economists agree that the sudden cash crunch will be a painful blow to the economy initially. Analysts estimate that the ban on the notes will shave about 1% from GDP growth in the current financial year, which ends in March.

According to Deutsche Bank, fast-moving consumer goods sales have dropped by 30% in some regions, while consumer durables in small towns are at a standstill. Much of India’s trucking fleet, which relies on cash for tolls and taxes, are stranded on the highways.

Property prices have also been hard hit, with implications for the employment-intensive construction sector.

According to The Financial Times, the full impact of the negative shock will depend on how fast the government can roll out the replacement cash. So far, the process has been agonisingly slow, as each ATM needs physical recalibration to handle the new notes, which are slightly smaller in size than the old ones.

In a separate report, MINT online noted that India’s demonetisation bid has been widely reported in China. Chinese official media commented that Modi’s “masterstroke” to demonetise Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes could be reduced to a “nasty partisan conspiracy” or a “costly political joke” if it fails to deliver on its high-sounding promises.

“While it takes political courage to launch such a trailblazing and massive campaign; it actually takes far more wisdom to give it a happy ending,” an article in the state-run Global Times said on November 17.

“Given the fact that people have to pay an absurdly high price for the expected reform, if BJP fails to deliver its high-sounding rhetoric and promises, then Modi’s much-lauded ‘masterstroke’ or ‘big bang reform’ will likely be reduced to ‘nasty partisan conspiracy’ and even a ‘costly political joke’,” it said.

The post India bans big notes to net black money appeared first on New Europe.

The Finnish Defense Minister, Jussi Niinistö (PS) wrote on Thursday that the EU would advance the project of a European Defense Community.

In December, the European Council is expected to vote by a simple majority vote on the creation of a European Defense Community with its own HQ. Given that this vote will take place before President-elect Donald Trump comes to power, the momentum is with the Italian-German-French initiative.

The article by the Finnish Defense Minister comes against the ...

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An audit conducted by the European Parliament has reportedly revealed that the Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe – a political vehicle dominated by UK Independence Party (UKIP) – misspent EU funding on party workers and national election campaigns.

As reported by The Guardian, which saw the audit report, the Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe (ADDE) will be asked to repay €173,000 in misspent funds and denied a further €501,000 in EU grants for breaking European rules that ban spen...

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Visa-free travel for Ukrainian citizens for stays up to 90 days has been approved by the 28 European Union member states. The new visa arrangement must now be approved by the European Parliament.

As reported by Deutsche Welle (DW), Germany’s international broadcaster, visa liberalisation had long been sought by Kyiv, especially since Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula and its ongoing support of rebels in eastern Ukraine.

The prospect of visa-free travel was introduced as part of an EU-Ukraine partnership accord signed in 2014. In return for closer overall cooperation with Ukraine, the EU stipulated that the country had to commit to a number of civil society reforms, largely aimed at combating corruption.

“Credible reform is the right path and should be encouraged,” Peter Javorcik, Slovak ambassador to the EU said in a statement. Slovakia currently holds the bloc’s six-month rotating presidency.

“I am also delighted that our decision is able to send a positive message in the run up to the EU-Ukraine Summit on 24 November,” Javorcik added.

Ina separate report, the Reuters news agency noted that many difficulties to progress remain, not least Ukraine’s sluggish fight against endemic corruption and the EU’s caution on immigration after the arrival of about 1.3 million refugees and migrants in 2015, mainly from the Middle East and North Africa.

The post Ukraine steps closer to visa-free EU travel appeared first on New Europe.

On December 4, Italy is slated to hold a crucial referendum. At stake is the reform of the country’s Constitution proposed by the current government. The reform will see, among other things, Italy’s two chamber system radically change. The Senate will see its duties drastically reduced and it will be composed of regional and city councilmen.

With the vote nearing, the campaign is in full swing and for the first time is involving Italians abroad. Several politicians on both sides of the campaign have travelled around the world to promote their view on the issue. Brussels is no exception, given the importance of the local Italian community.

Over the past two days, there were meetings with the public led by important figures in favour and against the reform. The Basta un Si (A Yes is enough) committee organised a public meeting with Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni in between the Eurogroup meeting of Foreign Ministers, whilst the Io dico No (I say No) had Vice-President of the Italian Parliament Luigi Di Maio, MPs Gianluca Vacca and Simone Valente, and MEPs Isabella Adinolfi and Ignazio Corrao.

The main sponsor of Basta un Si is the Democratic Party (PD). Its meeting was held in the Piedmont regional office, which has a spacious hall and wine bar. Several activists from around Europe joined to explain what they have been doing in order to promote their view. Activities included aperitifs with other expats and dinners at home with other undecided expats. Activists from Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the UK expressed their engagement with the campaign and spoke in positive terms about their experience so far.

Gentiloni gave a longer speech in which he praised the activists and underlined the importance of the reform. He also said how curious Italians abroad are about the referendum. In the Eurogroup, he has been asked many times about situation and, according to him, he was even asked about the referendum during his recent trip to Mali.

The minister didn’t touch on all the aspects of the reform in his speech, only some. Most notably, Gentiloni spoke about the reform of the Senate. He said that even the current system, which dates back to 1948, was accepted as a compromise by the Constituent Assembly. A reform of the model that has both the Parliament and Senate sharing the same duties and powers has been discussed repetitively throughout the years and in his view, it is an upgrade needed and much awaited.

The second aspect that Gentiloni spoke about was about the so-called Titolo V (Article V) that reshapes the duties of local governments in favour of the central state. About this, Gentiloni admitted that the actual situation, a result of previous Constitutional reforms, was a mistake that his party made, leaving a more confusing situation that needs to be clarified.

After the meeting, the minister went away whilst the committee invited the participant to have a glass of wine and discuss the reform one-on-one.

The Io dico No meeting was held in the Huis van het Nederlands, in one of its auditoriums. After a brief introduction by a local activist, the five MPs and MEPs gave one brief speech each and then passed the floor to questions from the audience.

All the politicians are part of the Five Star Movement and one of them, Luigi Di Maio, is one of the most prominent politicians. His speech was probably the longest and focused on the opportunity that a victory of the “No” vote would bring, with Matteo Renzi’s promise to resign. He thinks a victory of the “No” vote is a chance to “send back home” the current elite. He explained how the reform and most of the government policies of the past months have been made trying to conserve power and to avoid a Five Star Movement government.

Most of their speeches were very generic against the reform, and focused more on related topics or other issues that the Movement deems important. For instance, they spoke at length about the electoral law, explaining their own proposal that they will table to the President of the Republic in case of the government’s collapse. Also, another topic touched on was about lowering the cost of politics, one of the Movement stauncher propositioned. They were keen to underline how the reform won’t save much money as the government said, and rather their proposals will.

The audience’s questions were more focused on some aspect of the reform, but the mood was generally against it and with the hope that it won’t pass. A good part of them were mostly concerned with the votes from Italians abroad, that Di Maio earlier called at risk of fraud and invited all the public to be careful.

The meetings were both full of people, with no clear distinction between the two groups. On both sides, there were young professionals and older citizens, as well as older and younger expats. It shows that there is the will to confront and know more about the topic and the referendum. It also shows the different positions of Italy’s main parties.

The Five Star Movement is leading in the polls at a national level and it is not hard to see them gaining more and more votes. In many ways, they are in the same mould of many populist movements that are gaining importance all across the world and in the same way they may have avoided more technical questions or to dig deeper in their own proposal. Di Maio mentioned their ideas for a Constitutional reform but never really explained the details.

On the other hand, the Democratic Party and the “Yes” front have the advantage of being the government party, however this has lead them to sink in preferences and the reform is suffering from this. Moreover, the Democratic Party is not united on the issue. A minority is being led by former secretary and two time minister Pierluigi Bersani that is supporting the “No.” Gentiloni was very critical of these choices, noting that it is not the first time that the party showed signs of self-destruction.

The post Debating the Italian referendum in Brussels appeared first on New Europe.

Less than two weeks after his public apology, Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Günther Oettinger is facing another alleged ethics breach.

Now the news is all about Oettinger “catching a lift” with businessman Klaus Mangold so he could get to a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on time, as he had been invited by the Hungarian government to attend a conference in Budapest, last May.

“Due to diary constraints he could not take a scheduled flight to be in time for ...

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Lithuania warned ion Friday morning that Vladimir Putin may choose to test NATO’s resolve in the weeks leading to Donald Trump’s coming to office.

Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius said he was “very afraid” for the Baltics, as well as the Syrian city of Aleppo. Lithuania has a direct land border with Russia in the enclave of Kaliningrad. Lithuania claims Russia has been bolstering its military capability in Kaliningrad.

Over the last year, Lithuania has reintroduced military conscription, increased military spending, and is preparing citizens for ways to react in the event of a Russian invasion, including intelligence gathering.

Trump’s view that Russia should be a partner has raised fears of European security becoming a secondary concern.

From Berlin, US President Barack Obama urged his successor on Thursday to stand up to Russia if Moscow deviates from “international norms.” He also warned of a cyber arms race. President Obama is on his last tour of Europe, reassuring international partners that Washington remains committed to NATO.

In turn, Chancellor Merkel accepted – in line with Mr. Trump’s argument – that the US shouldered most of the burden and that Europe needed to spend more on defense.

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