Content about Government

EU could impose sanctions on Ukraine after the maltreatment of the imprisoned former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko had reached the scales of torture. Swedish Foreign Minister and one of the influencers in European diplomatic circles, Carl Bildt, said before the Council of the EU heads of foreign affairs that he could not rule out sanction as a way to send a clear message to Ukraine that persecution of political opponents cannot be tolerated.

The ideas behind the European Union were put forward on 9 May 1950 by the French foreign minister, Robert Schuman. This date is now celebrated as a key moment in the creation of the EU.

Europe Day, as it is known, is the anniversary of the Schuman declaration. Speaking in Paris in 1950, then French foreign minister Robert Schuman proposed a new form of political co-operation for Europe, which would make war between Europe’s nations unthinkable.

Turkey’s Economic Minister Zafer Caglayan recently criticised European leaders for their failure to resolve the eurozone sovereign debt crisis, saying their failure has yield negative repercussions on Ankara’s growth, news agencies reported.

The Turkish minister said in Washington that Europe is obviously in deep trouble economically and two leaders in Europe, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, did not show much resistance.

Party leaders of the tripartite governing coalitions have agreed on 22 April to finish their cooperation and seek to restructure the government. Czech Prime Minister, Petr Nečas, announced that the current government should be dissolved on 27 April, but he anticipated that a new political group will be formed by then to replace a junior coalition partner Public Affairs party.

Former French president, Jacques Chirac, will vote for Socialist candidate Francois Hollande in the first round of presidential elections, according to sources close to Chirac.

Chirac has openly criticised his UMP party colleague and incumbent, Nicolas Sarkozy, on several occasions, most  obviously in his memoirs. Chirac even insinuated in a joke last summer that he would vote for Hollande, which sparked outrage amongst  his political associates.

Cyprus is working intensively for the promotion of certain decisions taken by the international organisation, making clear that it will not accept a violation of this process and requesting at the same time that the efforts for the solution of the Cyprus problem move forward in the framework of the agreed process that has been clarified and agreed before the start of the negotiations, said Government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou in statements to the press at the Presidential Palace on 10 April.

According to figures released by Statistics Netherlands on March 30, Dutch government deficit amounted to 4.7% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2011. In 2010 the deficit was 5.1% of GDP. Government debt rose further to 65.2% of GDP. These figures mean that the Netherlands has now exceeded the European norms for deficit and debt for the third year in a row. Government revenues rose by only very little, 0.8%, while spending was 0.2% higher than in 2010. As a result, the deficit fell slightly and came to €28 billion in 2011.

The lefts continue to gain ground in France. A new poll by the BVA Institute last week showed the far left candidate -- as he is popularly dubbed -- Jean-Luc Melenchon would snug up the political arena bagging a decisive amount of votes. The poll estimated Melenchon would win 14% of a first round vote, just a step behind rival Marine Le Pen. According to pollsters, Melenchon’s stand on issues linked to socio-economic imbalance like unemployment and jobs are making him popular among the ailing French households.

The issue of dependence of the third generation is a real concern in France as well as in the majority of the members of the European Union. However, the difference with France and many of these EU states is that it is in the midst of presidential elections. And, if we are to take the candidates on their word, they are very well aware of the social economic problem facing France now, as well for the very near future.

Dr Wolfgang Schäuble, the German Federal Minister of Finance last week came up with a completely watered down proposal for the much advertised European tax on financial transactions.

The initial proposal was drafted by the European Commission and followed the broad lines of a 'Tobin tax' principle. It was aired in September 2011 and provided for a levy on all transactions on financial products including bonds and derivatives (0.01%) and stocks (0.1%).