The EU's willingness to work with Egypt undermines its condemnation of human rights abuses

06 June 2014
 Samira Shackle
Source: Middle East Monitor

When Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's democratically elected president, was ousted in July 2013, the European Union – along with other western powers – was unsure how best to respond. During the months that have passed, it has retained a cautious tone: condemning human rights abuses, while also tentatively praising aspects of the new government's policy programme.

Following the announcement that General Abdul Fatah Al-Sisi had won last month's presidential election with a huge landslide, the EU released a statement saying that the group "expresses its willingness to work closely with the new authorities in Egypt in constructive partnership with a view to strengthening our bilateral relations." It also reiterates concerns about the repressive context in Egypt, saying that the "respect for rights falls short of constitutional principles". In their respective statements, the White House and Downing Street were similarly cautious in the language they used, alluding to the repression of civil society and the opposition, while also congratulating Al-Sisi and expressing their willingness to work with him.

Of course, this is largely due to Egypt's position as a vital regional ally to the west. The country – and, specifically, its military – is seen as a key part of western counter-terrorism work in the Middle East.

While the EU and the US are evidently keen to keep this alliance strong, their protestations about the repressive policies of the government have continually fallen on deaf ears. The EU statement on the election contained several specific criticisms:

"Building a deep and sustainable democracy will only succeed with the establishment of democratic, transparent and accountable institutions that protect all citizens and their fundamental rights. In this context the EU reiterates its deep concern with the continued detention of members of peaceful civil society, political opposition and activists. The EU also reiterates its call on the Egyptian authorities to allow journalists to operate freely; to ensure peaceful protest notably by amending the protest law, to launch independent and credible investigations into the violent events since 30 June 2013; to ensure the defendant's rights to a fair and timely trial based on clear charges; to ensure humane prison conditions in line with international law and standards; to review the numerous death sentences imposed on political opponents in mass trials and to respect due process."

The same day that the statement was issued, Egypt announced that the prosecution in the case of the Al Jazeera journalists would be seeking the maximum penalty: that's 15 years imprisonment for the foreigners, and 25 years for the Egyptians. The case – in which more than 20 Al Jazeera journalists are being tried on charges including terrorism and damaging the reputation of Egypt – has attracted enormous international attention. The UK, US, and EU have all called for the release of the journalists, but Egypt's authorities have held steady.

The timing of the announcement – just as international bodies congratulate Al-Sisi on his win and urge respect for rights – throws into stark relief the limited influence that western powers have in Egypt. This is partly because there is no real incentive for the Egyptian authorities to listen to western allies; military aid, for the most part, continues. Moreover, the government is receiving significant financial support from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates. If, in a worst case scenario, the US or the EU cut off all their support, there would be a clear replacement. Yet, of course, it is highly unlikely that this support would ever be cut off in its entirety: Egypt is simply considered too important strategically. When condemnations are accompanied by statements of willingness to continue to work together, it somewhat undermines the message.

Of course, the decision to pursue the Al Jazeera journalists, Muslim Brotherhood supporters, and secular human rights activists – despite international criticism – is mostly the result of the country's intensely polarized internal politics. The interim government and, presumably, Al-Sisi's new administration, want to suppress dissent. The authorities do crave legitimacy, taking extraordinary measures to ensure a large turn out in the elections, including extending voting to a third day and threatening fines for those who did not vote. Yet despite these efforts, the EU election observer mission found that the election was "free but not always fair" (in the words of Robert Goebbels, Luxembourg member of the European Parliament) given the winner's overwhelming advantage in media attention and finances. The Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has made personal entreaties on behalf of Peter Greste, the Australian Al Jazeera journalist on trial, while Barack Obama and William Hague have also intervened. Yet these, as other criticisms, have fallen on deaf ears. One must question the usefulness of condemnatory statements when they are not followed up by action.

 Link: /www.middleeastmonitor.com/articles/africa/11923-the-eus-willingness-to-work-with-egypt-undermines-its-condemnation-of-human-rights-abuses.

Pope Tawadros warns EU: Brotherhood would jail me if back to power

14 April 2014
Source: Middle East Monitor

The Egyptian Copts against the Coup Movement revealed details of a meeting between Pope Tawadros and EU's Catherine Ashton in which the Coptic Pope warned the EU that a return of the Muslim Brotherhood to power would lead to his imprisonment.

Mina Magdy, an activist in the "Copts against the Coup Movement", said in a Facebook post that Pope Tawadros told Ashton: "The Muslim Brotherhood will imprison me on charges of supporting the coup if they come back to power, and the EU should protect the gains of Coptic Christians in Egypt."

Israelis fume over EU parliament president 's water remarkIsraelis fume over EU parliament president 's water remark

February 13, 2014 

Source: Yahoo News 

Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli newspapers bristled Thursday after the European Parliament president criticised the Gaza Strip blockade and suggested that Israelis received four times more water than Palestinians.

The spat erupted Wednesday after the far-right Jewish Home party stormed out of parliament in protest during a speech by Martin Schulz, and it made the front pages of Israel's main newspapers. 

Most commentators were furious about figures mentioned by Schulz over water usage.

"How can it be that an Israeli is allowed to use 70 litres (18.5 gallons)of water per day, but a Palestinian only 17," Schulz asked.

But he also admitted he had not had time to verify the numbers.

Shortly afterwards, Schulz criticised settlements as an obstacle to peace and warned that the Gaza blockade could "undermine, rather than strengthen, Israel's security."

This prompted a barrage of heckling from Jewish Home MPs, who then walked out. 

"Jewish Home demands an apology from the president of the European Parliament, who repeated two lies fed to him by the Palestinians," party chairman Naftali Bennett said.

 

He denounced both assertions as "deceitful propaganda."

Even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waded in, accusing Schulz of being quick to cast blame without checking his facts.

"What was disturbing in Schulz's speech was the selective hearing that is becoming prevalent in many circles in Europe," he said in remarks published on parliament's website. 

"These are figures which are not true. (Schulz) said he didn't check the figures but it didn't stop him from straight away casting blame."

The headline in the Israel HaYom freesheet, which is close to Netanyahu, read: "Shock in parliament over slander of Israel."

The Palestine Liberation Organisation said average daily Palestinian domestic consumption was 70 litres per person, while the World Health Organisation recommends a minimum of 100 litres.

"In the southern West Bank, there are communities that use less than 15 to 20 litres per capita per day," it added.

- Schulz taken aback -

In an interview with German daily Die Welt published Thursday, Schulz said he was taken aback by the tirade.

"The angry reaction from some parliamentarians in Jerusalem surprised me and made me ​​concerned," he said, adding that he considered his Jerusalem address to be "pro-Israel".

"The people who disturbed my speech belong to a party of hardliners who answer each critical word that bothers them in this way."

Israel HaYom accused Schulz of choosing to use "false libel" provided by anti-Israeli groups.

Other papers published figures showing a completely different picture of Israeli-Palestinian water usage.

The spat prompted several NGOs to publish their own figures on water usage, with Friends of the Earth Middle East citing statistics from 2011 showing the ratio was close to four to one. 

"The municipal water consumption per capita per day in Israel in 2011 was 250 litres, while among Palestinians in the West Bank, after taking into consideration an average loss of approximately 30 percent of the water -- due to theft and lack of infrastructure -– it was 70 litres," the group said.

Israeli rights group B'Tselem also said there was "discrimination in water allocation", with Israelis receiving "much more water than Palestinian residents of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip".

According to the Israeli national water company, Mekorot, the average household water consumption in Israel is between 100 and 230 litres per person per day.

For Palestinians in the West Bank connected to the water mains, the average daily consumption is about 73 litres.

Those not connected to the network -- around 113,000 people -- rely on stored rainwater and water sold from tanker trucks, which is very expensive.

 

Israel's Finance Minister warns of boycott impact, as further divestment announced

30 January 2014
Ben White 
Source: Middle East Monitor

Israel's Finance Minister Yair Lapid has issued a stark warning of the consequences should the U.S.-led peace process end in failure. Reports of Lapid's comments on the threat posed by a boycott of Israel came hours before news of further divestment targeting Israeli companies by the Norwegian government.

Speaking at the Institute for National Security Studies, Lapid said that an evaluation prepared by the Finance Ministry had produced an estimate of billions lost in exports should an "even partial" European boycott be imposed, and that "Israel's economy today is much more vulnerable than its national security".

The Israeli economy will retreat, every Israeli citizen will be hit directly in his pocket, the cost of living will rise, budgets for education, health welfare and security will be cut, and many international markets will be closed to us. 33% of Israeli trade is with the European Union. If there is no political settlement and we enter a scenario where our economy drops 20% in exports to the EU, the impact on the GDP would be 11 billion shekels annually, and 9,800 employees will be laid off immediately.

The Israeli minister claimed that "the world will believe [the talks] failed because of us", and thus "there will be a price" – echoing language used recently by the EU Ambassador to Israel. Lapid also raised the threat of the EU suspending the Association Agreement which provides the framework for much Israel-EU cooperation, with The Jerusalem Post citing an EU spokesperson's denial that any such step was being considered.

According to Israeli media reports, Lapid listed "an unsettling list of organizations already joining the BDS movement against Israel", and warned "that the tipping point could come unexpectedly". South Africa, Lapid observed, "did not realize until well after the fact the severity of the sanctions against it". The Wall Street Journal noted that while "Israeli officials have been bracing for this possibility [of boycott]", most have "expressed their sentiments in private".

Meanwhile, it has been announced that the Norwegian Minister of Finance has excluded Israeli companies Africa Israel Investments and Danya Cebus from the government's $800 billion oil fund, the world's biggest sovereign wealth fund holding 1% of global equity markets. The decision follows a recommendation from the Council of Ethics to remove the firms from the portfolio "due to an unacceptable risk of the companies, through their construction activity in East Jerusalem, contributing to serious violations of the rights of individuals in situations of war or conflict".

These latest developments come as Netanyahu has called for a meeting with ministers to discuss BDS, particularly in light of the recent decision by Dutch pension fund PGGM to divest from five Israeli banks. BDS campaigners have also hit the headlines with the row over Scarlett Johansson's dual role as ambassador for both SodaStream and Oxfam, the actress' relationship with the leading charity finally ending today.

European Union Backs Down on China Tariffs

June 4, 2013
By JAMES KANTER and KEITH BRADSHER
Source: The New York Times

BRUSSELS — The European Union moved on Tuesday to impose tariffs of 11.8 percent on solar panels from China, only one-quarter of the expected level, as an intensive Chinese diplomatic effort over the past week appeared to result in Brussels officials backing down.

Karel De Gucht, the union’s trade commissioner, said that the tariffs would bounce up in early August to 47.6 percent if the government in Beijing does not remedy what the European Union contends is a systematic effort by Chinese firms to sell solar panels in Europe below the cost of making them, a practice known as dumping.

“The ball is in China’s court,” he said, referring to negotiations expected over the next two months. The period of the lower tariff “is a window of opportunity of 60 days,” he said. But windows “can also shut,” he warned.

Earlier, the trade commissioner had indicated he would stand firm behind recommended duties of as high as 47.6 percent in order to defend the credibility of European Union trade rules. But pressure had been mounting on him to back off.

Premier Li Keqiang of China bypassed Mr. De Gucht during a visit to Germany last week and persuaded Chancellor Angela Merkel to call for further negotiations. He then went over Mr. De Gucht’s head on Monday night with a phone conversation with the European Commission president, José Manuel Barroso.

Mr. Li warned that China was ready to retaliate if the European Union took action. The state-run Xinhua news agency said that Mr. Li had warned Mr. Barroso that “there would be no winners in a trade war.”

The solar panels represent one of the largest categories of Chinese exports to the European Union, worth more than 6 percent of China’s exports to the Continent.

“Our action today is an emergency measure to give lifesaving oxygen to a business sector in Europe that is suffering badly from this dumping,” Mr. De Gucht at a news conference in Brussels.

“This is not protectionism,” insisted Mr. De Gucht, adding that the United States had also applied duties to Chinese solar exports. China was carrying out “dumping that has the potential to destroy an important industry within Europe if we do not act today,” he said.

He said Chinese exporters had captured 80 percent of European Union’s market share, and he suggested that “massive overcapacity” in China had led the Chinese to flood the European market. China is “producing today one and half times the amount of solar panels the world needs,” he said.

In a nod to the heavy lobbying in Europe against the duties, Mr. De Gucht said “cheap and plentiful seems great, but ultimately this will lead to a race to the bottom” where “everyone loses.”

Western governments and trade associations have long contended that Beijing has helped several Chinese industries take over global markets through a combination of huge loans from state-owned banks, extensive government research programs, protection of the domestic Chinese market from imports and sometimes even industrial espionage.

China’s rapid expansion in renewable energy, a national priority, has long been cited as an extreme example.

China went from a negligible player in the solar panel industry as recently as 2006 to the dominant world producer now, with two-thirds or more of global manufacturing capacity in the sector following $18 billion in loans from state banks.

That expansion contributed to the bankruptcy of or capacity cutbacks at a score of American and European solar companies in the last three years. Chinese solar panel companies have also suffered lately from overcapacity, with Suntech Power of Wuxi, China, putting its main operating unit into bankruptcy in March.

Li Junfeng, a senior Chinese government energy policy maker who is also the president of the Chinese Renewable Energy Industries Association, expressed delight when told that the European Union had sharply lowered its target for the preliminary tariffs.

“That’s really good news,” said Mr. Li, a senior energy official at the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s main economic planning agency. “At 11 percent, the Chinese companies can do very good business — it doesn’t affect them very much.”

The European Union’s decision to impose much lower initial duties than expected could greatly reduce the incentive for the Chinese government to offer concessions in further negotiations.

Yet individual Western companies, in the solar industry and other sectors, have been very wary of taking any public stand against China, which has become the world’s largest market in industries ranging from steel to cellphones to automobiles. Chinese officials have considerable discretion in issuing factory permits, export licenses and even visas for visiting executives, making most companies leery of publicly voicing any criticism whatsoever of China or any support for trade actions against it.

Mr. De Gucht has become so frustrated with the unwillingness of European companies to publicly support any trade action against China that he said last month that he was prepared to launch a trade case against China on certain kinds of telecommunications equipment even without the public support of any European companies in the sector.

SolarWorld, a German company, has brought anti-dumping and anti-subsidy cases against China in the United States and the European Union in the past two years. But its executives waited to file the cases until the company was already financially struggling. SolarWorld is also unusual in that it is not a diversified company but dependent on a single narrow sector in which China’s market is still a small although growing share of global demand.

On Tuesday, Milan Nitzschke, a vice president of SolarWorld, a German company that is part of the coalition of European firms that filed the anti-dumping case with the European Commission in July 2012, said in a telephone interview, “I’m not against giving a time window for negotiations, but China has to move.”

A settlement should require the Chinese to make “an agreement on prices and volumes, so that there is not dumping onto the market,” Mr. Nitzschke, who is also president of EU ProSun, the European coalition.

Mr. Nitzschke also said that European Union countries, including Germany, would be more willing to support higher duties if China failed to negotiate in good faith during the next few months.

The European Union, like the United States, designates China as a nonmarket economy, which means that anti-dumping penalties are calculated under special rules that almost always produce very high tariffs -- unless political leaders intervene.

Solar panel production is in some ways a chemicals industry, as much of the cost of a panel lies in the materials that are used to assemble them. Senior executives at two of the world’s largest chemicals companies expressed misgivings on Tuesday about any kind of showdown with China over the solar industry, following the pattern of individual companies being reluctant to endorse trade actions against China.

Thomas M. Connelly Jr., the executive vice president and chief innovation officer at DuPont, said Tuesday before the announcement in Brussels that his company was worried that the uncertainty caused by trade cases was hurting investment in solar panels and in renewable energy industries more broadly. He specifically criticized Europe’s plans to impose tariffs, saying in a telephone interview from Beijing that, “These kinds of trade actions are unhelpful.”

Martin Brudermüller, the vice chairman of BASF, the German chemicals giant, expressed concern about the potential for escalation in the trade dispute. “A tit-for-tat policy will more destabilize than help us,” he said when asked about the dispute during a news conference in Hong Kong on BASF’s ambitious investment plans in China and elsewhere in Asia. The news conference was held several hours before the European announcement.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/05/business/global/european-union-backs-down-on-china-tariffs.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&partner=yahoofinance&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1370358310-udAHamMTEdZnP7u00OD7sA

Israeli, European investors eye Cyprus LNG terminal-project head

Jun 4, 2013

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - Israeli and European investors have displayed an interest in financing a liquefied natural gas terminal on Cyprus, the head of Cyprus's national hydrocarbons company said on Tuesday.

Cyprus plans to build a $6 billion LNG terminal on its southern coast to process natural gas from offshore fields now under development. Authorities hope the prospect of gas finds can spur growth on the recession-hit island which recently required an EU and IMF bailout.

"We have 3 serious financial options to look into. This makes us confident that we can start the construction of the Vasiliko LNG plant in 2016," said Charles Ellinas, head of the island's national hydrocarbons company, CNHC.

Ellinas, in Brussels for a conference, told Reuters that in addition to European and Israeli investors, investors from the "Far East" had expressed an interest in acquiring LNG in return for an investment in the plant. A third financing option for the terminal was project finance withenergy companies licensed to search for gas, he said.

"We will hold serious discussions with investors early next year," Ellinas said.

U.S. energy company Noble is due to start an appraisal drilling imminently to verify a 2011 discovery of 5-8 trillion cubic feet of gas. TheEnsco 5006 rig was moved into position south-east of Cyprus earlier this week.

Two other companies, France's Total and Italy's ENI plan drillings off Cyprus by 2015.

Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/04/cyprus-natgas-financing-idUSL5N0EG1XP20130604?type=companyNews&feedType=RSS&feedName=companyNews&rpc=43

BREAKING: European Commission to criminalize nearly all seeds and plants not registered with government

BREAKING: European Commission to criminalize nearly all seeds and plants not registered with government

(NaturalNews) A new law proposed by the European Commission would make it illegal to "grow, reproduce or trade" any vegetable seeds that have not been "tested, approved and accepted" by a new EU bureaucracy named the "EU Plant Variety Agency."

It's called the Plant Reproductive Material Law, and it attempts to put the government in charge of virtually all plants and seeds. Home gardeners who grow their own plants from non-regulated seeds would be considered criminals under this law.


Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/040214_seeds_European_Commission_registration.html#ixzz2ShB6fn12

Euro, shares fall as euro zone recession deepens

1 hr 6 mins ago
By Marc Jones | Reuters 
Source: Yahoo News

LONDON (Reuters) - The euro and shares fell sharply on Thursday after data showed the euro zone's two biggest economies shrank even more than expected late last year, throwing a first quarter regional recovery into doubt.

The German economy contracted 0.6 percent in the final quarter of 2012, marking its worst performance since the global financial crisis was raging in 2009. Exports, normally the motor of its economy, did most of the damage.

Overall the euro zone's 17-country economy shrank 0.6 percent, with France's 0.3 percent fall slightly worse than forecast.

Germany is expected to rebound but the figures suggest the bloc as a whole could remain in recession in the first quarter of this year, despite a recent jump in market sentiment as fears that the currency bloc could fall apart faded.

"These are horrible numbers. It's a widespread contraction, which does not match this positive picture of stabilization and positive contagion," said Carsten Brzeski, an economist at ING.

The data pushed the euro down 0.9 percent to $1.3324, its lowest in three weeks. European shares likewise fell, with Frankfurt <.gdaxi> and Milan <.ftmib> losing more than 1 percent. Paris <.fchi> and London <.ftse> also suffered heavy drops, and the FTSEurofirst 300 index was 0.4 percent lower.

"We still expect growth to return in the course of 2013 but any return of growth will be very small which means that the social impact of this recession, especially in the peripheral countries, will be still a very severe one," Brzeski added.

German bonds rose as demand for traditional safe-haven assets returned. Bund futures were 55 ticks higher on the day at 142.60, having extended gains after Italian GDP figures also came in weak.

Italy, which holds parliamentary elections in just over a week, suffered its sixth successive quarterly fall in GDP - this time a sharp 0.9 percent - putting it into a longer recession than it suffered during the crisis of 2008/2009.

Italian bond yields rose 3 basis points on the day to 4.42 percent while those on the Spanish equivalent were 2.5 basis points higher at 5.23 percent.

YEN STEADIES

U.S. stock index futures also pointed to a lower open on Wall Street when trading resumes. <.n>

While European shares are down almost 1.5 percent since late January, the U.S. S&P 500 <.spx> index hit a five-year high this week, underscoring the better growth forecasts for the world's largest economy.

Data from the European Central Bank also weighed on Europe as one of its quarterly surveys showed professional forecasters now see no growth in the euro zone this year, having last quarter expected a modest 0.3 percent rise.

The pain is not just in Europe. Japan - under pressure over its aggressive monetary and fiscal policies which are driving down the yen - reported earlier that its GDP shrank 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter, leaving it in recession and crushing expectations of a modest return to growth.

The yen steadied after swinging wildly this week following a muddled warning on currencies from the G7 nations on Tuesday. It slipped against the dollar but gained on the euro after the Bank of Japan announced, as expected, that it would keep the pace of asset purchases and interest rates unchanged.

The dollar traded at 93.35 yen, roughly flat on the day and off its recent lows of 92.83 yen but still well below a 33-month high of 94.46 set on Monday. The euro was down 0.8 percent at 124.50 yen.

The yen's recent rapid depreciation, after years of sharp appreciation, has drawn some criticism from overseas, with rhetoric heating up before a Group of 20 nations meeting on Friday and Saturday in Moscow.

"Usually the BOJ doing nothing causes a bit of disappointment, but since there are concerns about the flak Japan might get at the G20 this weekend for the weakening yen, standing pat will actually be a relief to the market," said Masayuki Doshida, senior market analyst at Rakuten Securities.

IRAN TENSIONS

In commodity markets, oil prices dropped back under $118 a barrel after the GDP data from the euro zone, although the falls were limited by fresh tensions over Iran's nuclear program.

The United Nations nuclear watchdog said it had again failed to clinch a deal in talks with Iran on investigating the country's nuclear program.

"All the discussions about Iran are keeping oil high while it looks like China and the U.S. are growing, which is further supporting prices," Thorbjoern Bak Jensen, analyst at Copenhagen-based Global Risk Management, said.

Markets in China and Taiwan remain shut for the Lunar New Year holiday but Hong Kong resumed trading on Thursday. Metals markets were quiet as a result. Copper hit a 4-month high of $8,346 a tonne on February 4, but has since struggled to find momentum with the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed this week.

Gold, which has been at five-week lows this week, regained some strength, holding at $1,642.50 an ounce as recent losses started to draw buying interest.

(Additional reporting by Marc Jones; Editing by David Stamp)

Euro zone economy falls deeper than expected into recession

 2 hrs 3 mins ago
By Philip Blenkinsop and Annika Breidthardt | Reuters
Source: Yahoo News

BRUSSELS/BERLIN (Reuters) - The euro zone slipped deeper than expected into recession in the last three months of 2012 after its largest economies, Germany and France, shrank at the end of a wretched year for the region.

It marked the currency bloc's first full year in which no quarter produced growth, extending back to 1995. For the year as a whole, gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 0.5 percent

Economic output in the 17-country region fell by 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter, EU statistics office Eurostat said on Thursday, following a 0.1 percent output drop in the third.

The quarter-on-quarter drop was the steepest since the first quarter of 2009 and more severe than the average forecast of a 0.4 percent drop in a Reuters poll of 61 economists.

Within the zone, only Estonia and Slovakia grew in the last quarter of the year, although there are no figures available yet for Ireland, Greece, Luxembourg, Malta and Slovenia.

The big economies set the tone.

Germany contracted by 0.6 percent on the quarter, official data showed, marking its worst performance since the global financial crisis was raging in 2009.

France's 0.3 percent fall was also slightly worse than expectations.

Worryingly for Berlin, it was export performance - the motor of its economy - that did most of the damage, declining significantly more than imports, although economists expect it to bounce back quickly.

The euro hit a session low against the dollar after the weaker than forecast German reading and dropped again after the release of full euro zone figures.

Back revisions to the French figures showed its output fell by 0.1 percent in each of the first and second quarters of 2012, meaning the country has already experienced one bout of recession in the last twelve months.

While the European Central Bank's pledge to do whatever it takes to save the euro has taken the heat out of the bloc's debt crisis, even its stronger members are gripped by an economic malaise that could push debt-cutting drives off track.

French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault acknowledged for the first time on Wednesday that weak growth was putting his government's deficit goal for 2013 out of reach.

Resilient Germany is expected to rebound and the bloc as a whole is expected to have improved in the first quarter, as suggested by a pick-up of factory orders in December, but it is not yet clear if growth has returned.

Nick Kounis, economist at ABN AMRO, said the decline of fears the euro could break apart and cheap credit had sown the seeds for the recovery.

"However, ongoing severe budget cuts, rising unemployment, bank deleveraging all point to the recovery being excruciatingly slow," he said, adding the strong euro was also a threat.

The ECB has a wide-ranging projection for euro zone GDP growth in 2013 of between -0.9 and +0.3 percent. ECB Vice President Vitor Constancio said on Tuesday he expected no major change to the forecasts in March.

WEAK PERIPHERY

Dutch GDP dropped 0.2 percent over the quarter, keeping it in recession, and the Austrian economy shrank at the same rate.

For the more embattled members of the currency bloc, matters are worse. The greatest reported decline was in bailed-out Portugal, down 1.8 percent.

Italy suffered its sixth successive quarterly fall in GDP - this time by a sharp 0.9 percent - putting it into a longer slump than it suffered in 2008/2009.

Its recession has been deepened by austerity measures that outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti introduced to stave off a debt crisis.

With an election due on February 24/25, all sides in a three-way race between Monti's centrist bloc, Pier Luigi Bersani's center-left coalition and Silvio Berlusconi's center-right are pledging to cut taxes to try to kickstart economic growth.

Spain, the euro zone's fourth largest economy, released figures two weeks ago which showed it remained deep in recession after a 0.7 percent contraction in the fourth quarter.

Madrid is also pressing on with austerity measures to cut its debt but may be given more time to meet its deficit targets by the European Commission if its economy worsens further.

There are signs that countries like Spain are starting to benefit from internal devaluations - marked by wage falls and job losses aimed at making companies leaner and more productive.

The ECB predicts the euro zone will pick up later in the year although its currency, if it keeps strengthening, could quickly snuff out any of those hard-won competitive advantages for its high debt members.

More recent data for January have already suggested some upturn in the first months of 2013, in the bloc's stronger members at least, and if improvement comes it is expected to be seen in Germany first.

(Additional reporting by Steve Scherer, Vicky Buffery, Robert-Jan Bartunek, Ethan Bilby, writing by Mike Peacock, editing by Jeremy Gaunt)

EU mergers and takeovers (Feb 8)

Feb 8, 2013
Source:Reuters

Feb 8 (Reuters) - The following are mergers under review by the European Commission and a brief guide to the EU merger process:

APPROVALS AND WITHDRAWALS

None

NEW LISTINGS

-- German automotive company Daimler to acquire sole ownership of vehicle importer Mercedes-Benz Austria, Mercedes-Benz financial services Austria, and Mercedes-Benz Hungary. (notified Feb. 6/deadline March 13)

EXTENSIONS AND OTHER CHANGES

None

FIRST-STAGE REVIEWS BY DEADLINE

FEB 11

-- French financial group PAI Partners to take control of French industrial supplier Industrial Parts Holding (IPH)(notified Jan. 7/deadline Feb. 11)

FEB 18

-- Japanese camera maker Canon to acquire Belgian document recognition company Iris (notified Jan. 14/deadline Feb. 18)

FEB 20

-- Private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice to acquire British consumer goods retailer B&M (notified Jan. 16/deadline Feb. 20/simplified)

FEB 22

-- Belgian state-owned investment company SFPI to acquire a controlling stake in Franco-Belgian bank Dexia (notified Jan. 18/deadline Feb. 22)

-- The Turkish subsidiary of German power utility E.ON to buy a 50 percent stake in Turkish power company Enerijsa, which will give it joint control with Turkey's Haci Omer Sabanci Holdings group (notified Jan. 18/deadline Feb. 22/simplified)

-- Japanese engineering company IHI Corp to buy the remaining 49 percent of German car turbo charger maker IHI Charging Systems International it does not own from German car maker Daimler AG (notified Jan. 18/deadline Feb. 22/simplified)

-- Private equity firm CVC Capital Partners to buy data information provider Cerved Holding (notified Jan. 18/deadline Feb. 22/simplified)

FEB 25

-- Private equity firm Triton to acquire Finnish grocery chain Suomen Lahikauppa from IK Investment Partners (notified Jan. 21/deadline Feb. 25)

MARCH 4

-- Drugmakers Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca to acquire joint control of AmylinPharmaceuticals (notified Jan. 28/deadline March 4/simplified)

-- Norwegian group Orkla to buy family-controlled foods group Rieber & Soen (notified Jan. 28/deadline March 4)

MARCH 5

-- U.S. carmaker General Motors to buy some operations belonging to car financing services provider Ally Financial (notified Jan. 29/deadline March 5/simplified)

MARCH 6

-- Irish aircraft leasing company Avolon and U.S. bank Wells Fargo to set up a joint venture to lease airplanes (notified Jan. 30/deadline March 6/simplified)

-- Ryanair to acquire Aer Lingus (notified July 24/deadline extended for the fourth time to March 6 from Feb. 27 after Ryanair offered more commitments)

MARCH 7

-- Swiss-based trader Mercuria Energy and Chinese energy group Sinopec to acquire joint control of tank firm Vesta Terminals (notified Jan. 31/deadline March 7/simplified)

-- German insurer Allianz and German car maker Volkswagen's insurance unit VW Financial Services to set up a joint venture (notified Jan. 31/deadline March 7)

MARCH 8

-- Private equity funds Bregal Fund III and Quadriga Capital to acquire GErman jewellery distributor LR Global Holding GmbH (notified Feb. 1/deadline March 8/simplified)

-- Russian oil major Rosneft to buy half of Anglo-Russian oil firm TNK-BP from British oil company BP (notified Feb. 1/deadline March 8)

-- Austrian investment group B&C Industrieholding GmbH to acquire Austrian aluminium product producer AMAG Austria Metall (notified Feb. 1/deadline March 8/simplified)

-- Investment fund EQT Infrastructure II to take sole control of energy producer E.ON Energy, which is indirectly owned by German utility E.ON (notified Feb. 1/deadline March 8/simplified)

MARCH 12

-- U.S. contract manufacturer Flextronics International to buy some of Google-owned Motorola Mobility's manufacturing operations in China and Brazil (notified Feb. 5/deadline March 12)

-- Investment bank Goldman Sachs and private investment firm TPG Lundy to acquire joint control of British publisher Romanes Media Group (notified Feb. 5/deadline March 12)

-- Investment bank Goldman Sachs and private investment firm TPG Lundy to acquire British print management services company Mavisbank (notified Feb. 5/deadline March 12)

-- Investment bank Goldman Sachs and private investment firm TPG Lundy to acquire British household appliances distributor Britannia Living Group (notified Feb. 5/deadline March 12)

-- Japanese government fund Innovation Network Corp of Japan to buy Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics Corp (notified Feb. 5/deadline March 12/simplified)

MARCH 13

-- German automotive company Daimler to acquire sole ownership of vehicle importer Mercedes-Benz Austria, Mercedes-Benz financial services Austria, and Mercedes-Benz Hungary. (notified Feb. 6/deadline March 13)

MAY 30

-- U.S. communications company Syniverse Technologies to buy Luxembourg-based communications services company Mach (notified Nov. 16/deadline extended for the second time to May 30 from May 15 after the companies asked for more time)

GUIDE TO EU MERGER PROCESS

DEADLINES:

The European Commission has 25 working days after a deal is filed for a first-stage review. It may extend that by 10 working days to 35 working days, to consider either a company's proposed remedies or an EU member state's request to handle the case.

Most mergers win approval but occasionally the Commission opens a detailed second-stage investigation for up to 90 additional working days, which it may extend to 105 working days.

SIMPLIFIED:

Under the simplified procedure, the Commission announces the clearance of uncontroversial first-stage mergers without giving any reason for its decision. Cases may be reclassified as non-simplified -- that is, ordinary first-stage reviews -- until they are approved. (Editing by Foo Yun Chee)

We have until the end of August to tell the EU we don’t want GM animals in our countryside

August 18, 2012
Source:The Therapy Book

This consultation from Brussels seeking public approval for introducing GM animals into European countrysides has been quietly put out, no doubt in the hope that most of us will be so entranced by the Olympics, we won’t see it. However, we now have until the end of August to respond to it.

European consultation on GM animals

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has issued a consultation on environmental risk assessment of genetically modified GM fish, insects, birds, and mammals (including pets, wild and farm animals) in the European Union (EU).

This consultation is intended to pave the way for the introduction of many different types of GM animals into the European countryside, rivers or seas, their use in factory farming, and even their introduction as pets into people’s homes.

If you are concerned about this, see the “what you can do” section on this page.

EFSA’s remit is to assess risks in the food chain, it therefore has no competence to assess the impacts on other species of releasing these GM animals into the environment.
What is included in the EFSA consultation?

The consultation includes:

GM fish. The section on GM fish is designed to facilitate the introduction of GM salmon produced by the company Aquabounty. There are major concerns that these fish could damage wild salmon populations if they escape into the environment. Other GM fish species are expected to be introduced if GM salmon is approved.
GM insects.The section of the consultation on GM insects has been heavily influenced by the UK company Oxitec, which is developing genetically modified mosquitoes and agricultural pests, with funding from the Swiss multinational agricultural company Syngenta. Oxitec has a patent which lists more than 50 species of insect it wishes to genetically modify and release into the environment. Syngenta wants to market GM insects for use by farmers in Europe and worldwide: one of the main proposed applications is to combine them with GM pest-resistant crops (Bt crops) to try to slow the spread of resistance to these crops. In the longer term potential commercial applications include pesticide-resistant bees.
GM birds. GM chickens are being developed which are supposed to slow the spread of bird flu in factory farms. These birds raise many concerns, including the possibility that they will make the risk of bird flu worse.
GM mammals. The consultation also covers GM mammals, including farm animals such as cows, pets such as cats, and wild animals such as rabbits, all of which could cause harm if they are released or escape into the environment. Products from some of these animals, such as milk from GM cows, may end up in the food chain. Genetically modifying mammals often causes suffering because many attempts fail resulting in aborted fetuses or stillbirths.

You can read more about some of these applications elsewhere on this website: GM fish, GM insects and GM and cloned animals. GeneWatch will add a copy of its response to the EFSA consultation here, when it is completed.
What you can do

There are five things you can do if you are concerned about the proposals in the EFSA consultation:

Contact your MP
Contact your MEPs
Respond to the consultation (by end August 2012)
Contact your local supermarkets
Let other people know.

Contacting your MP and MEPs

You can contact your MP and members of the European Parliament (MEPs) if you are concerned about the EFSA consultation and proposals to introduce GM fish, insects, birds, farm animals and pets into the air, land and sea in Britain.

Things you could point out to them include:

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) does not have the remit or competence to assess environmental harms should any of these GM animals be released or escape into the British countryside or seas.
The consultation ignores the problems there will be keeping a GM-free food supply if these proposals go ahead. There are no plans in the consultation to trace where GM fish or cattle eggs or sperm will end up, or to prevent GM caterpillar eggs from entering the food supply on cabbages or other crops.

The most effective thing to do is to ring your MP’s constituency office and ask to make an appointment to see him or her, but you can also write a letter or send an email. Contacting your MEPs is important too because the European Parliament should have a say about EFSA’s work.

You can find your MP on the They Work for You website or on the UK Parliament website. You can also email your MP and your MEPs directly from the Write to Them website.
Responding to the consultation

The deadline for responses to the EFSA consultation is 31st August 2012.

The EFSA consultation is very poorly written. For example, what is covered and some definitions are different in each section (for fish, insects and mammals and birds) and the structure of the report assumes it is possible to separate the effects of a GM animal on one species from another, as if multiple species did not interact in the environment. Many scientific references are missing.

If you want to comment on the consultation you can only do this online on the EFSA website here and you must make short comments line by line.

However, you do not have to submit comments on the whole document. If you want to make only one comment you could comment on the Background lines 165 to 168, by pointing out that EFSA is not competent to assess environmental risks as it has no remit or expertise in this area.
Contacting your local supermarkets or other food shops

You can write to, email or phone your local supermarkets, or call in and ask to see the manager. Things you can ask them are:

What is their policy on selling GM foods?
What is their policy on selling meat, milk or dairy products from animals fed on GM feed?
What is their policy on selling meat, milk or dairy products from GM animals, such as chicken and cows, if these products enter Britain in the future?
What is their policy on selling vegetables, fruit or other crops which may contain GM insect eggs or caterpillers, should GM insects be used in British agriculture in the future?

Your local food shops might also appreciate being told about what is going on.
Letting other people know

Please share this article to your Facebook page or Twitter feed or any other social networking site, and email it your friends.

Blatant Corruption Exposed as EU Blocks France's Ban on Monsanto's GMO Maize

24 May 2012
By Anthony Gucciardi
Source: Nation of Change

France legislators and officials moved to ban Monsanto’s genetically modified strain of GMO maize over environmental and health concerns, the European Union has decided to step in and re-secure Monsanto’s presence in the country — against the very will of the nation itself. This should come as no surprise when considering the fact that the United States ambassador to France, a business partner to George W. Bush, stated back in 2007 that nations who did not accept Monsanto’s GMO crops will be ‘penalized’. In fact, ambassador Craig Stapleton went as far as to say that the nations should be threatened with military-styled trade wars.

That’s right, it appears the reason for the unprecedented move to maintain Monsanto’s deeply-rooted foothold in France has to do with the fact that the United States and other nations are continually pushing Monsanto’s agenda — even going as far as to threaten military-styled trade wars to those who oppose the company. Monsanto has major connections with political heads that have actually threatened trade wars against nations opposed to GMOs on record. As I reported back in January, WikiLeaks cables surfaced revealing startling information concerning Monsanto’s deep involvement with back-end politics.

One of the most telling details involves a statement made by Craig Stapleton, in which he said:

“Country team Paris recommends that we calibrate a target retaliation list that causes some pain across the EU since this is a collective responsibility, but that also focuses in part on the worst culprits. The list should be measured rather than vicious and must be sustainable over the long term, since we should not expect an early victory. Moving to retaliation will make clear that the current path has real costs to EU interests and could help strengthen European pro-biotech voices.”

NationofChange fights back with one simple but powerful weapon: the truth. Can you donate $5 to help us?
And that is not even the most shocking part. WikiLeaks cables go on to state that United States diplomats actually work directly for Monsanto, furthering the agenda of the company across the globe. Is it any wonder that France is being assaulted by the EU over its decision to secure the health of its citizens?

It becomes even more obvious when examining the ridiculous reasoning as to why the EU had to step in and block France’s in-house legislation. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) rejected the ban on the grounds that “there is no scientific evidence” that shows “risk to human and animal health or the environment.” Of course there is an overwhelming amount of research showing that Monsanto’s creations do in fact threaten not only human health, but the planet as a whole. Even the EPA has warned over the fact that Monsanto’s GMO crops are spawning ‘mutant’ resistant insects and subsequently requiring substantially more pesticides.

Consumers are waking up to Monsanto’s agenda and the dangers associated with their modified creations. Over 45,000 comments were submitted on the USDA website in opposition to Monsanto’s new genetically modified strain, and only 23 in favor. The corruption of Monsanto is now out in the open, and only serves to show how deeply rooted the company is within the United States government. Is it any coincidence that a major head of the FDA was a leading employee of Monsanto?

Banker Occupation of Greece

2011/06/28
by Stephen Lendman
From: Mathaba

Economist Michael Hudson calls it "Replacing Economic Democracy with Financial Oligarchy" in a June 5 article by that title, saying:

After being debt entrapped, or perhaps acquiescing to entrapment, the Papandreou government needs bailout help to pay bankers that entrapped them. Doing so, however, requires "initiat(ing) a class war by raising its taxes (harming working households most), lowering its standard of living - and even private-sector pensions - and sell off public land, tourist sites, islands, ports, water and sewer facilities" - in fact, all the country's crown jewels, lock, stock and barrel, strip-mining it of everything of worth at fire sale prices.

Why? Because the US-dominated IMF, EU and European Central Bank (ECB), the so-called "Troika," demand it as the price for bailout help that wouldn't be needed if Greece wasn't trapped in the euro straightjacket. Membership means foregoing the right to devalue its currency to make exports more competitive, maintain sovereignty over its money to monetize its debt freely, and be able to legislate fiscal policies to stimulate growth.

Instead they're entrapped by foreign banker diktats demanding tribute. They call it a "rescue." In May 2010, the Papandreou government agreed to earlier austerity in return for loans. Now they're at it again, demanding more or they'll collapse the entire economy, or so they say. And the same scheme is replicated in Ireland and Portugal. Moreover, it's heading for Spain, and potentially most of Europe and America as representative governments head closer to "financial oligarchy."

In other words, it amounts to financial coup d'etat authority over sovereign governments unless popular anger prevents it, involving more than street protests or short-term strikes accomplishing nothing.

Former Wall Street broker, financial analyst, radio/TV host, and consummate critic Max Keiser calls it "banker occupation" for good reason. They:

-- make the rules;

-- set the terms;

-- issue diktats;

-- pressure, bribe or otherwise cajole or force governments to acquiesce; and

-- burden working households with higher unemployment, wage and benefit cuts, higher taxes, and other austerity measures to assure financial predators profit - always at their expense, forcing once prosperous nations to surrender sovereignty to financial oligarchs, ruling world economies like fiefdoms.

Hudson said European central planning concentrated financial power in "non-democratic hands" from inception under European Central Bank (ECB) dominance. Operating like a financial czar over its 17 Eurozone members, it:

-- "has no elected government (to) levy taxes;

-- (t)he EU constitution prevents (it) from bailing out governments," unlike the Fed able to monetize US debt in limitless amounts; and

-- "the IMF Articles of Agreement also block it from giving domestic fiscal support for budget deficits," saying:

"A member state may obtain IMF credits only on the condition that it has 'a need to make the purchase because of its balance of payments or its reserve position or developments in its reserves.' "

However, despite ample foreign exchange reserves, IMF loans are offered "because of budgetary problems," precisely what it's not allowed to do. As a result, "when it comes to bailing out bankers," said Hudson, "rules are ignored" to save them and their counterparties from incurring losses. And it works the same way in America under the Fed, dispensing open-checkbook amounts to Wall Street on demand.

No wonder Hudson calls finance "a form of warfare," operating like pillaging armies, taking over land, infrastructure, other tangible assets, and all material wealth, devastating nations in the process, causing unemployment, poverty, neoserfdom, "demographic shrinkage, shortened life spans, emigration and capital flight."

Greece's business-friendly fiscal legacy, in fact, caused today's crisis, squeezing public spending in favor of the rich, especially with sweetheart tax policies letting much of their income go undeclared.

Financial deception followed. On February 8, 2010, Der Spiegel writer Beat Balzli headlined, "How Goldman Sachs Helped Greece to Mask its True Debt," saying:

In 2002, Goldman helped them borrow billions by circumventing Eurozone rules in return for mortgaging assets. Using creative accounting, debt was then hidden through off-balance sheet shenanigans, employing derivatives called "cross-currency swaps in which government debt issued in dollars and yen was swapped for euro debt for a certain period - to be exchanged back into the original currencies at a later date."

Debt entrapment followed, nations like Greece held hostage to repay it, the usual price being structural adjustment harshness, making a bad situation worse. In 2010, in return for a $150 billion loan, Papandreou imposed:

-- large public worker layoffs (around 10% overall);

-- public sector 10% wage cuts, including a 30% reduction in salary entitlements;

-- cutting civil service bonuses 20%;

-- freezing pensions;

-- raising the average retirement age two years; and

-- higher fuel, alcohol, tobacco, and luxury goods taxes, knowing much more lay ahead given Greece's worsening debt problem.

More bailout help is now needed in return for greater austerity, as well as selling off Greece's crown jewels as explained above. On June 24, New York Times writer Stephen Castle headlined, "Europeans Agree to a New Bailout for Greece with Conditions," saying:

The deal "came a day after Greece agreed with international creditors to more austerity measures (requiring parliamentary approval) as part of revised plans for 2011-15 aimed at" assuring bankers are first in line to get paid, popular and national interests be damned.

An agreement in principle expects half the funds offered to come from new loans, a fourth from state asset sales, and the remainder from private sector contributions.

An unspecified larger amount (of around 110 billion euros in total) will follow an initial 12 billion euro emergency loan with strings. They include:

-- laying off another 20% of public workers;

-- privatizing public enterprises and assets on the cheap;

-- a one-time personal income levy from 1 - 5%, depending on income;

-- lowering the tax-free income threshold to 8,000 euros annually from 12,000;

-- setting the lowest tax rate at 10%, with exemptions for people up to age 30, over-65 pensioners, and disabled people; and

-- annually taxing the self-employed an additional 300 euros.

Up to $120 billion in cuts are expected though final figures haven't been announced, depending on amounts raised from asset sales and private contributions.

In response, public anger is visceral through daily protests. The ruling PASOK party's approval rating is 27%. Over 90% of the public are dissatisfied with Greece's governance. Another 90% say the country is "on the wrong path." About 80% are unhappy with their lives, and 70% are concerned that conditions will keep deteriorating.

Nonetheless, on June 22, Papandreou won a parliamentary vote of confidence ahead of two more steps the IMF and Eurozone leaders require before releasing more funds - agreeing on their demanded austerity plan and enacting measures to implement it.

In fact, acting IMF managing director John Lipsky (a former JP Morgan Investment Bank vice chairman) said no opposition will be tolerated. In other words, Eurozone nations have no option but to obey IMF diktats, Lipsky acting more like a commissar than banker.

At the same time, austerity, privatizations, and greater debt amounts are self-defeating. Workers, of course, are hardest hit unless mobilized mass action stops it. Ideally they can do it by general strike, shutting down the country, setting non-negotiable demands, staying out until predatory banker diktats are rejected, and prevailing by letting nations regain their sovereignty and people their rights.

That's how labor battles are won. It works the same everywhere when rank and file determination stays the course to victory.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening. #