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Poland has accused the Dutch EU commissioner, Frans Timmermans, of "left-wing" bias and "astonishing" ignorance in trying to "exert pressure" on constitutional reform. If Timmermans had expected a conciliatory reply, on technical issues, after he asked the Polish justice minister, Zbigniew Ziobro, in December to explain the reforms, then he would have been surprised on Monday evening (11 January). [...] Ziobro's letter arrived shortly before the commission holds a debate on Poland on Wednesday. [...] Some commissioners, such as Germany's Guenther Oettinger, have said Poland should be placed under a supervisory mechanism, which could lead to EU sanctions. ...

It hasn't been legal tender for 14 years, but in January a German supermarket chain will start accepting Deutschmarks again. Kaufland supermarkets will be accepting the former German currency at their cashiers. To support the campaign, many of the company's products will also be given a 1960s design to enhance the nostalgic theme. [...] (T)his is a limited campaign, lasting from January 4th until January 30th, and the aim is to get Germans to use the old currency they still have lying around. The estimated value of that currency is over €6 billion. ...

The European Union on Thursday predicted the region's economy will grow at "a modest pace" next year thanks to cheap energy and central bank stimulus, but remains hampered by low investment and high debt. In an official forecast, European Commissioner Pierre Moscovici warned of uneven improvements across the 28 member states but said that for 2016, the EU economies will "see growth rising and unemployment and fiscal deficits falling." ...

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said on Tuesday that he wanted to do everything possible to keep Britain from leaving the European Union, adding that it would be a disaster for both the British and Europeans. “I hope that we can convince (the) UK… (to) stay in the EU, because a Brexit would be a disaster for the UK and for Europeans,” Schäuble said during a discussion with students at Sciences Po university in Paris. Schäuble also said that he hoped Britain would join the euro in the coming years. …

The European Union has no border patrol. It’s one of the many ways in which the bloc lacks power, with its member countries jealously guarding their sovereign prerogative to enact their own laws about defense, police and coast guard. This vacuum of authority, and the failure of EU policy-makers to anticipate how events in faraway Libya or Syria might trigger the flood of refugees now swamping Europe, are some of the reasons the group of 28 European nations originally founded as a common market has failed to deal more firmly and effectively with what has mushroomed into a major humanitarian...

The euro’s founding father has warned that Europe’s latest plan for an EMU-wide finance ministry is a dangerous attempt to smuggle through political union, and breaches the basic tenets of modern democracy. Professor Otmar Issing, the chief architect of monetary union through its early years, said it would be “dangerous” to transfer control over tax and spending to the EU federal level before full political union has been established first on democratic foundations. Such a quantum leap in the constitutional structure of Europe—effectively the creation of an EU superstate, with a parliament comparable in power to the US Congress—is unthinkable...

The European Central Bank is ready to give the eurozone economy a bigger dose of stimulus if turmoil in China and weaker global growth hurt its modest recovery, President Mario Draghi said Thursday. Market volatility, concern over the effects of a looming interest rate increase in the U.S. and a drop oil prices have spawned uncertainty over the global economy, leading the ECB to cut its inflation and growth forecasts for the eurozone. Draghi said the ECB can add to its €1.1 trillion ($1.2 trillion) program if needed to raise inflation or support growth. […] The stimulus is intended to...

Law of Unintended Consequences: New EU Tax Laws Force Thousands of Businesses to Close in Just Six Months { Full title ]. New European Union tax rules introduced in January have already driven thousands of small companies out of business, with thousands more set to follow as awareness of the change in the VAT law grows. Research has shown that incompetence on the part of collecting agencies has further added misery to the situation. After an eight-year consultation which excluded the voices of micro-businesses, the EU introduced new rules on VAT returns at the beginning of this year, which required...

The European carbon credit program, developed in conjunction with the United Nations, is working out just fabulously. Well… it’s at least working out fabulously for a few people. Similar to programs being developed here in the United States by climate warriors, it offers “flexibility” to various countries so it can be tailored to their individual needs. For example, if you are able to make big cuts in your carbon emissions, you get a lot of these “credits” applied to you. If there are other countries who are a bit fatter with cash but can’t manage the changes required to...

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...