US President Barack Obama’s stimulus plan has been condemned as “the road to hell” by the Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek. The Czech Republic currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union.
The US plans to spend nearly US$2 trillion to stimulate the US economy and has been critical of some EU countries for not planning similar big spending stimulus packages. Germany has been particularly reticent to splurge out.
Prime Minister Topolanek was reporting back to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on last week’s EU summit. He said EU leaders had been disturbed by calls from the US Treasury secretary Tim Geithner for EU stimulus spending similar to the US’s.
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Popularity: 17%
Posted in: EU Watch
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Brussels this week and has hit the EU with a charm offensive. Both the EU and the US had expressed hopes of rebuilding trans-Atlantic relationship that had become strained under the previous administration.
Secretary Clinton can feel the visit a success. She started Friday with a town hall style question and answer with young Europeans at the European Parliament. This was streamed live across the EU on Europe by Satellite.
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Popularity: 16%
Posted in: EU Watch
With the latest opinion polls showing Irish voters swinging behind the Lisbon treaty, the Irish government is considering moving the referendum revote forward to coincide with June’s European Parliamentary elections.
A poll in The Irish Times shows 51 percent would vote ‘Yes’ to the Lisbon treaty with modified terms. This is an eight point increase on a similar poll from November 08. Still, 33 percent say they would vote ‘No’, with 16 percent undecided.
In the same poll, a massive 80 percent of voters said they felt it was better to be part of the EU in the current economic crisis, 13 percent thought it was not with 7 percent undecided.
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Popularity: 15%
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EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, has warned Serbia against applying for EU membership before the EU-Serbia Stability and Association Agreement (SAA) is unfrozen.
The SAA was frozen last year until Serbia demonstrated full co-operation with International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague.
On a visit to Brussels on Feb. 9, Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said that Serbia had three key goals in 2009:
- The unblocking of the SAA
- Gaining candidate status for EU membership
- The removal of the need for Serbs to hold visas when travelling in the EU
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Popularity: 11%
Posted in: EU Watch
