Free Republic

EUROPE’S right-wing parties are set to meet up in Germany amid an apparent rift in Germany’s populist movement over how close to get to France’s Marine Le Pen. ___ Leaders of eurosceptic movements from France, Germany and Italy will come together in the city of Koblenz to discuss a possible political pact which could hand them more influence within the EU. Symbolically, they will get together on January 21 - the first day of billionaire tycoon Donald Trump's stint as US President and a day after his inauguration. The meeting will bring together Ms Le Pen, the French presidential candidate...

... If the European Union were a patient, its survival would be seen as threatened by multiple organ failure. That's the view of many experts as EU chiefs prepare for a Brussels summit that starts Thursday. Analysts believe the combined strain of these challenges may be unbearable for a political union and trading bloc that just 20 years ago seemed to be growing in stature as it proudly offered freedom and democracy - along with lucrative subsidies, military alliances and billions in foreign investment - to newly freed former Soviet satellites. Ian Kearns, director of the European Leadership Network research...

It’s a diplomat’s nightmare: after weeks of painstakingly negotiating and rewriting the wording of the EU council’s conclusions, the summit gets hijacked by a completely different topic. With no urgent decisions to take on the economic front, EU leaders on Thursday and Friday (24-25 October) were supposed to focus on innovation and “refitting” the EU rules machinery so it focuses more on the “big things” and less on small issues. … But then the news broke Wednesday night that Chancellor Angela Merkel’s mobile phone may have been tapped by the US intelligence agency NSA. … With France also having recently...

This is the first time I think that I or RyanAir have ever been invited to a conference by the European Union. Because as most of you know, the European Union spends most of its time suing me, torturing me, criticizing me or condeming me for lowering the cost of air travel all over Europe and making life so really difficult for their favorite airlines, which as we all know like high-fare airlines, like Air France, British Airlines, and Lufthansa who must be protected at all costs because they're the future of Europe -- the future of europe lies in...

EU summit off after Obama 'snub' The European Union has scrapped a summit with the US, after President Barack Obama decided not to attend. The event in Madrid in May was to have been the highlight of Spain's six-month EU presidency, and the cancellation is seen as a humiliating blow. Officials say the summit may be take place later this year. BBC European affairs correspondent Oana Lungescu says many see Mr Obama's decision as a snub to the EU's hopes of boosting its global role. On Tuesday, the White House said Mr Obama had had no plans to attend the...

Furious China calls off EU summit Jane Macartney in Beijing China showed its fury at international recognition accorded to the Dalai Lama by calling off an annual summit with the European Union because of France's Nicolas Sarkozy plans to meet the Tibetan god-king. The decision by Beijing, coming when the international community is striving to boost cooperation to fight off the global financial crisis, is a dramatic example of the lengths to which Beijing is willing to go to isolate the Dalai Lama internationally. French President Sarkozy, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, will go ahead with plans to...

France will not seek to impose sanctions against Russia over the current Russia-Georgia conflict at the European Union summit scheduled for Monday in Brussels, French media cited a source from the Elysee as saying. "We are now in dialogue with Moscow, not in the phase of sanctions," the source was quoted by AFP as saying on Friday. Time for sanctions "is certainly not coming," it said. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country is now holding the rotating presidency of the European Union, called a special summit in Brussels to discuss the Russia-Georgia crisis and the future relationship between Russia and...

The new treaty and foreign policy THEY cannot both be right. For the Spanish prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the European Union treaty agreed in Lisbon in the early hours of Friday October 19th will “open new horizons” for the EU, finally giving the 27 member block the international profile it deserves. But Gordon Brown, attending his first EU summit as Britain’s prime minister, had earlier announced that the new “reform treaty” was a modest piece of housekeeping, that merely tweaks the way decisions are taken after a dozen new members have been absorbed in the past few years....

Prospects of a deal on the future of Europe at Tony Blair’s final summit are threatened by fears that a rash of demands for opt-outs from EU laws will turn the negotiations into a farce. Allies of Gordon Brown are privately insisting that Mr Blair’s desire for an agreement as he heads out of office must not stand in the way of Britain blocking the whole proposed treaty if it has objectionable elements. The Prime Minister, supported strongly by the Chancellor, is pressing for Britain to have legally binding exclusions from any plans to end the veto on issues affecting...

Morales and Chávez rebuked at EU summit Friday May 12, 2006The Guardian (UK) EU leaders today rounded on Bolivia and Venezuela for challenging free market policies at a summit of European and Latin American leaders in Vienna. Wolfgang Schuessel, the Austrian chancellor and the event's host, told the two countries open markets were key to promoting economic growth and prosperity. "There are always two possibilities in life. Either you want to open your markets or you don't want to open your markets - it's your choice," he said. "But the reality is ... open market societies are better in their...

Dutch blame France for EU budget breakdown: report Document Actions 21/06/2005 Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot accused France of scuppering EU budget talks by refusing to countenance a cut in agricultural subsidies, according to remarks published Tuesday. Bot said it was "unfair" for the Netherlands and Britain to be singled out for blame over the collapse of a European Union summit at the weekend. The Netherlands, which wants to shave its financial contributions to the bloc, was one of five countries along with Britain, Sweden, Spain and Finland that rejected a compromise EU budget plan for 2007-2013. Britain has taken...

Bush underlines support for strong Europe US president George W. Bush has underlined his support for a strong Europe following the collapsed EU summit last week that left the future of the constitution uncertain and the bloc's budget undecided. Speaking at an EU-US summit in Washington, Mr Bush said the US supports a strong Europe. "My message to these leaders and these friends was that we want a Europe strong so we can work together to achieve important objectives and important goals", said the president. He also said he wants to see a "strong European Union" that can help Washington...

France’s European affairs minister singled out Britain today for causing the collapse of a crucial European Union summit, saying national egos were the main obstacle to surmounting the bloc’s crisis.“France is not responsible,” Catherine Colonna told France-Inter radio, saying that the failure of the summit was due to the “incapacity of certain countries ... to let the collective spirit prevail.” “Certain countries held onto their national egos,” Colonna said. “Certain countries, notably Great Britain.” At the two-day summit that ended early yesterday, Prime Minister Tony Blair and French President Jacques Chirac argued vehemently over Britain’s budgetary refund and France’s generous...

BRUSSELS, June 18 - Something shattered in Europe Friday night. The leaders of the 25 European Union nations went home after a failed two-day summit meeting in anger and in shame, as domestic politics and national interests defeated lofty notions of sacrifice and solidarity for the benefit of all. The battle over money and the shelving of the bloc's historic constitution, after the crushing no votes in France and the Netherlands, stripped away all pretense of an organization with a common vision and reflected the fears of many leaders in the face of rising popular opposition to the project called...

BRUSSELS, June 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said on early Saturday morning that Europe is not America's "subsidiary." Juncker, whose country is holding current European Union (EU) presidency, made the comment after Britain, which to take over the EU presidency after June, refused making concession on its rebate which resulted in no deal on the EU budget plan from 2007-2013. "The EU does not depend on others," Juncker told the press conference after the EU summit when asked to comment on the upcoming British presidency, a country that is famous for being close to the United States....

WASHINGTON -- Europe's top trade official yesterday said Congress' approval of the Central American Free Trade Agreement would "send a very positive signal to the rest of the world." "A lot of people outside of America are banking on this going through. We want to see it happen," Peter Mandelson, the EU's trade commissioner, said at a joint press conference with U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman. Mr. Mandelson is in Washington to discuss trade and economic issues before a summit between the United States and the 25-nation European Union next week. The two trade officials discussed ongoing World Trade Organization...

Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, has angrily accused other EU leaders of wanting a European Union "trapped in the past".France, Germany and Luxembourg turned on Britain after talks to broker a new European budget collapsed. But Mr Straw insisted Britain had the support of at least four other member states. And he said those attacking Britain were on the wrong side of the divide. "Europe is divided," he said. "It is essentially a division between whether you want a European Union that is able to cope with the future or whether you want a European Union that is trapped in...

Despite the fact that four other countries - the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain and Finland - also objected to the budget, the UK has borne the brunt of international criticism for the breakdown of the talks. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder criticised Britain and the Netherlands for being "inflexible", and for displaying "national egotism." He concluded that this is now one of the worst crises in the history of the European Union. French President Chirac condemned the UK Government's insistence on defending the budget as being "pathetic" and "tragic", and claimed that this behaviour had clearly precipitated a "grave crisis." The President...

Rebate row wrecks EU summit Blair rejects freeze plan as Chirac refuses to shift on farm subsidy Nicholas Watt and Patrick Wintour in Brussels Saturday June 18, 2005 Guardian The EU summit to agree a budget collapsed last night amid some of the most bitter recriminations ever seen between European leaders, with Jacques Chirac denouncing the British position as pathetic and tragic, and Tony Blair describing the French defence of agricultural subsidies as bizarre. Mr Chirac warned that the breakdown in the talks, the day after EU leaders abandoned their search for a new constitution, would change Europe. Launching an...

EU deeper in crisis after summit budget failure   swissinfo   June 18, 2005 1:05 PM   EU deeper in crisis after summit budget failure   By Mark John and John Chalmers BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union was plunged deeper into crisis on Saturday after its leaders failed to agree on a long-term budget, two weeks after French and Dutch voters rejected a proposed EU constitution. The summit breakdown threatens the enlarged 25-nation bloc with financial paralysis on top of the political uncertainty wrought by the double referendum defeats, unnerving financial markets and weakening the euro, the EU's single...