Archive for the ‘Journalism’ Category

February21

Ireland May Hold Lisbon Re-vote in June

By: Tim Neale

votingWith 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: 23%

Posted in: EU Watch3 comments

February10

Too Early for Serbia’s EU Candidacy

By: Tim Neale

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 Watch4 comments

February4

Libertas EU Funding Confusion

By: Tim Neale

New Pan-European Political Party runs into trouble

The European Union Parliament may review its decision to grant funding to the anti-Lisbon Treaty party Libertas. The move comes after Estonian MP Igor Gräzin, sent an affidavit to the EU Parliament on Feb. 3 disavowing his support

In the email Gräzin says, “I have never signed any papers asking for a recognition of Libertas as a political party in the EU and all corresponding claims are utterly untrue.”

Libertas started as a campaign pressure group opposed to the Lisbon Treaty in the Irish referendum on the subject. Last year, founder Declan Ganley announced that it would transform itself into a pan-European political party to contest the EU Parliamentary elections.

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Popularity: 4%

Posted in: EU Watch2 comments

January23

One in 10 Unemployed in the EU by 2010

By: Tim Neale

Latest economic forecast by European Commission is grim

The European Commission (EC), the executive arm of the European Union (EU), predicts that unemployment within the EU will rise to 9.5 percent by 2010. For the eurozone, countries using the euro as a currency, it predicts unemployment will reach 10.25 percent by the same date.

EU already in recession
Two consecutive quarters showing a drop in gross domestic product (GDP) is the usual definition of recession. The Interim Forecast published on Jan-19 states that the EU economy is already in recession. It predicts the EU GDP will shrink 1.8 percent in 2009. Then recover somewhat to grow by 0.5 percent in 2010.

The EU’s economic powerhouse, Germany is likely to see GDP fall by 2.3 percent this year, France will see a 1.8 percent contraction, Italy and Spain 2 percent. Ireland will be worst hit with a likely 5 percent fall in GDP.

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Popularity: 3%

Posted in: EU Watch4 comments

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