Free Republic

The European Defense Fund (EDF) moved closer to becoming reality this week in Strasbourg when MEPs gave it the green light. However, some uncertainties persist as a legal expert opinion obtained by EurActiv suggests that establishing the fund could be violating EU law. […] In the run-up to the vote in the plenary, however, the Left party in the Parliament commissioned a legal opinion to assess whether the EDF is compatible with European Union law. According to Andreas Fischer-Lescano of the University of Bremen, who drafted the legal study, the Lisbon Treaty explicitly prohibits the financing of military or defense...

A special line of contact between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, bypassing a “hostile” US government, was discussed by the Russian ambassador to Washington and Michael Flynn. Flynn and other advisers with the Trump campaign were in touch with Russian officials and others with Kremlin ties in at least 18 calls and emails during the last seven months of the 2016 presidential race, current and former US officials familiar with the exchanges told Reuters. The previously undisclosed interactions form part of the record now being reviewed by FBI and congressional investigators probing Russian interference in...

EXCLUSIVE/ Two independent sources told EurActiv.com that the US has started transferring nuclear weapons stationed in Turkey to Romania, against the background of worsening relations between Washington and Ankara . According to one of the sources, the transfer has been very challenging in technical and political terms. “It’s not easy to move 20+ nukes,” said the source, on conditions of anonymity. According to a recent report by the Simson Center, since the Cold War, some 50 US tactical nuclear weapons have been stationed at Turkey’s Incirlik air base, approximately 100 kilometres from the Syrian border. During the failed coup in...

Leading figures in the Vote Leave referendum campaign to take Britain out of the EU have links to a controversial climate-skeptic think tank and question the science behind global warming. The group’s three leaders, Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and figurehead Lord Nigel Lawson, have cast doubt over man-made climate change, which is backed by most of the world’s credible experts.Lawson founded the Global Warming Policy Foundation in 2009 and is a noted climate skeptic. Both the foundation, which broke UK Charity Commission rules for anti-climate bias, and Vote Leave share rich donors. Gove — who tried to stop climate change...