Free Republic

Reuters August 22, 2015 BERLIN (Reuters) - At least 31 German police officers were hurt in scuffles with about 600 protesters, many hurling bottles and stones, angry about the arrival of asylum seekers in an eastern German town in the early hours of Saturday, police said. In one of the country's biggest demonstrations against the influx of refugees, police in Heidenau, near Dresden, used pepper spray on right-wing demonstrators who were trying to stop busloads of asylum seekers reach their accommodation. The outbreak of violence by right-wing radicals followed a peaceful demonstration of some 1,000 people against the roughly 250...

Immigration Will Be The Defining Issue Of This EU Referendum Campaign When the referendum comes, the British people will finally have their chance to reject these open borders by saying No to the European Union By Nigel Farage 21 Aug 2015 The results of Ipsos-MORI’s new poll are astounding - yet unsurprising. They describe the real concern that the majority of British people have for uncontrolled immigration: half of the respondents rank it as one of their biggest worries, compared with just over a quarter who said their greatest fear was the economy. It is particularly interesting that this concern...

According to Germany’s most influential political magazine, Spiegel, Angela Merkel has decided to run for a fourth term in power and has already started talks on who will run her campaign. […] If Merkel were to be re-elected in 2017 and then serve a whole four-year term, she would have been chancellor for 16 years, thus tying Helmut Kohl (CDU), who was chancellor from 1982-1998, as the longest serving chancellor in the history of the Bundesrepublik (the post-1945 German state). …

History has shown that when a government wants to solidify its power, it has to turn its subjects into taxpayers. The Roman Empire demanded high tribute payments from every tribe it had newly conquered. And the United States developed from a commonwealth to a federal state when, in the 18th century, Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton achieved uniform duties and taxes for the entire union, initially on whiskey, because it was so lucrative. Politicians in the eurozone are now seeking to emulate the historic model from the early years of the United States. The unnerving bargaining over the latest Greece bailout...

Four days ago, French President François Hollande declared his in-principle commitment to the creation of a “euro government, with the addition of a specific budget and a parliament to ensure democratic control.” This is more an opening gambit in a debate about the terms of putative federalization (a term Hollande was careful to avoid), than a statement of French commitment to it at all costs. If some form of federalization comes about, it will not be because the French especially desire it, but because the logic of the Euro ultimately demands it. […] Germany is also in a better position...

The debate is finally over. After more than a year of national consultations, draft bills and parliamentary discussions, French MPs finally adopted the bill for an Energy Transition for Green Growth on Wednesday 22 July. The substance of this far-reaching bill was subject to significant re-shaping by both houses of the French parliament, as well as the government. […] The adopted bill contains several last minute additions, including a Senate amendment to increase the carbon tax on fossil fuel use to €56 per ton in 2020, a four-fold increase, and €100 in 2030. “The trajectory of the carbon tax increase...

Through all the haggling and hair-pulling in the past months over more austerity, fewer creditors getting their money, and a dreaded “Grexit”—a scenario in which Greece would leave Europe’s currency union—at least four prominent economists in three major American publications have casually and quietly suggested there may be a third way: A German exit. That is, Germany should exit the euro, and clear the way for countries in the south of Europe—notably, Greece, Italy, Spain, and probably Portugal—to reconcile their debt with a greatly depreciated currency and maybe finally get a handle on their economies. The latest thinker to suggest...

The UN Security Council on Monday unanimously adopted a resolution endorsing the Iran nuclear deal and paving the way to lifting longstanding sanctions on the Islamic Republic. The 15-0 approval of the Iran nuclear deal clears one of the largest hurdles for the landmark pact, which will now go before the US Congress where it may face an uphill battle for confirmation. The UN vote came shortly after the European Union approved the nuclear deal, okaying the pact between the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany and Iran that lifts punishing economic sanctions on Tehran in exchange...

Criticism of Germany’s role in the recent negotiations over Greece’s future has been fierce. Spiegel speaks with Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble about the government in Athens, his own feelings about a Grexit and his relationship with Chancellor Merkel. […] Spiegel: Germany took on a leadership role in the negotiations with Greece—and adopted a “very patronizing tone,” as European Parliament President Martin Schulz lamented. Does it worry you that people across Europe are talking about a “new German dominance?” Schäuble: There is no German dominance. Germany is in a good position economically, that is undeniable. But in contrast to France and...

Germany believes Iran should rethink its stance on Israel as last week’s nuclear deal means it must “bear new responsibilities, at home and abroad”, Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said on Monday during his visit to the Islamic republic. […] “With the nuclear agreement and the economic recovery that will surely come after it, Iran will also bear new responsibilities, at home and abroad,” he told delegates at a conference in the capital. “You must understand that for us Germans, the security of the state of Israel is also of great importance. I understand how difficult the debate is, and we...

German private households collectively hold more wealth than ever before, according to a report released by the German Federal Bank on Monday. A strong labor market and comfortable incomes have helped German households’ financial assets to rise by €140 billion in the first quarter of the year, according to the report, climbing to €5.212 trillion—a record high. […] Germans still showed an “ongoing high level of risk aversion” and did not take advantage of low interest rates by taking out significant loans. […] But such wealth is not necessarily shared equally across the country. A study last year revealed that...

... Bokas also does installation and repair jobs — and half of those involve cash deals with no receipts for his labor. The result is that a job costing 250 euros ($275) goes for 125 euros because he doesn’t charge the client sales tax and Bokas doesn’t report the income for taxation. “I’ve got a receipt for everything I sell in my shop,” Bokas said. But tax officials “don’t know what my hands do.”

As European Union leaders push Greece for more austerity reforms, Athens enters political crisis and social media erupts in response. A two-day emergency meeting on Greece’s economic future ended Sunday with strict conditions from the European Union, including contentious austerity reforms, if it wants a new bailout and keep the euro. To meet the conditions for fresh aid packages and a third bailout that Greece needs to avoid bankruptcy, European finance ministers want Greece to pass a series of austerity measures--including tax and pension reforms-- through Parliament and put them into law by Wednesday. Greece will also have to lose...

Britain receives less than half the money it puts into the EU back as subsidies thanks to the ongoing Eurozone crisis, a new report has found. The report also found that British households could be as much as £933 a year better off if Britain left the EU. The think tank which compiled the report advised that staying within the EU poses “serious risks”.The comprehensive new report from Business for Britain, runs to a mammoth 1,032 pages, has found that, between 1976 and 2003 the average return from Britain’s financial input into the EU was 68 per cent, meaning that,...

(Title edited due to lemgth) Fears the central bank of Greece will collapse following today's referendum are rising as voters flocked to the polls to decide on their country's future. [snip] Officials are set to ask the European Central Bank (ECB) for emergency cash in a bid to stave off financial ruin following tonight's result, it has been reported. [snip] It comes as some sources also suggested ATMs will not open this evening in a bid to save money after EU leaders threatened to withdraw the euro in the event of a 'No' vote.

As the Greek debt standoff approaches its final denouement – oh please let it be so – judgments are becoming easier to make. The most obvious (obvious all along, it might be said) is that the sooner Greece leaves the euro, the better. If a legal way of forcing the Greeks out can be found, it should be used. In any case, this debilitating charade has carried on quite long enough. For once, the German high command is correct; even if some sort of a compromise could be cobbled together, Greece’s hard-Left Syriza-led government couldn’t be trusted to implement the...

Her speech, weaving historical events with present crises, was replete with some subtle and other not so subtle hints that she believed Britain belonged in the European Union – her most public stance yet that she wished to avoid Britain voting to leave in a referendum.

German and French politicians are calling for a quantum leap in how the EU’s single currency is run, proposing an embryo eurozone treasury equipped with a eurozone finance chief, single budget, tax-raising powers, pooled debt liabilities, a common monetary fund, and separate organization and representation within the European parliament. They also propose that all teenagers in the EU be given the chance to spend a subsidized six months in another European country. In an article published in the Guardian and other European newspapers, Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s social democratic leader and vice-chancellor in Angela Merkel’s coalition government, and Emmanuel Macron, France’s...

German Social Democratic Party (SPD) MEP Jo Leinen told The Local on Monday he was unhappy with comments from European Parliament (EP) President Martin Schulz, who suggested that Britain should be allowed to opt out of the call to work towards “ever closer union” among EU countries. “The only country that has opted out of European integration with special rules in the past decades has been Great Britain,” Schulz told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. “We would only be recognizing what has been true for London for a long time.” But Social Democratic MEP Jo Leinen told The Local that Schulz’s...

MADISON (AP) — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker tells a German audience that young people around the world will be stronger if a new trade agreement between the United States and the European Union can be reached.Walker made his comments Tuesday at the Hannover Messe trade show.A recording of his comments provided to The Associated Press shows the likely Republican presidential candidate voiced his support for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, or TTIP. Negotiations between the U.S. and EU began on it in 2013 but many Europeans remain skeptical over concerns about environmental protections, labor security and other issues.Walker referenced...