EurActiv - European Union Information Website (EU and Europe)

European growth initiative slowly takes shape (News)

Wed, 16 May 2012 14:47:42 +0200

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is opposing economic stimulus policies that rely on new debt, amid calls to relax austerity measures from centre-left opponents in Germany and newly elected French President François Hollande.

Hollande, Merkel seek to paper over differences (News)

Wed, 16 May 2012 08:39:37 +0200

France's new president François Hollande arrived in Berlin for his first meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel only hours after his inauguration yesterday (15 May). The two expressed broad agreement over the necessity to kick-start the European economy but they also had to acknowledge differences over their concepts of growth.

German Social Democrats unveil plan for growth (News)

Wed, 16 May 2012 08:36:41 +0200

The German Social Democrats have indicated to French President François Hollande that they will support him in adopting a European pact to boost growth, but that they would like to keep this separate from the fiscal compact treaty. EurActiv Germany reports.

Greece calls another election amid gloom (News)

Wed, 16 May 2012 08:14:18 +0200

Greece abandoned a nine-day hunt for a government yesterday (15 May) and called a new election that may hand victory to leftists who might cut the nation's financial lifeline, pushing it closer to bankruptcy and out of the eurozone.

EU to impose compulsory cyber defence rules (News)

Wed, 16 May 2012 08:04:00 +0200

The European Commission is planning to force energy, transport and financial companies to invest more in their cyber security and to report on breaches suffered, two EU officials said.

European health sector improves despite crisis: Survey (News)

Wed, 16 May 2012 07:45:32 +0200

European healthcare systems are defying budget cuts and the bite of continent-wide austerity programmes to deliver improving performances, according to the sixth Euro Health Consumer Index.

Finance ministers agree bank rules as UK wins concession (News)

Wed, 16 May 2012 07:32:11 +0200

Rules designed to beef up bank capital in the wake of the financial crisis were agreed by EU finance ministers in Brussels yesterday (15 May) after the UK won a concession enabling it to preserve control for national supervisory authorities.

UEFA in Ukraine: European politicians deserve yellow cards (Analysis)

Tue, 15 May 2012 16:08:13 +0200

European leaders’ boycott of the Euro 2012 football tournament in Ukraine is no great loss, but if they want to truly pressure Kyiv on human rights, they should use the full means at their disposal rather than symbolic posturing, argues Ky Krauthamer.

France's European and global strategy (Analysis)

Tue, 15 May 2012 15:43:59 +0200

Though a Socialist, François Hollande’s relations with Angela Merkel are likely to remain within the framework of France’s long-term ‘Gaullist’ strategy of maintaining European power in the world and French influence in Europe, argues George Friedman.

EU threatens China, India over airline emissions (News)

Tue, 15 May 2012 14:02:05 +0200

The European Commission today (15 May) gave defiant Chinese and Indian airlines one month to report their carbon emissions after they failed to meet their deadline, expanding a transcontinental feud over the EU’s Emissions Trading System.

UK wants EU to focus on new CO2 targets instead of renewables (News)

Tue, 15 May 2012 13:57:16 +0200

Europe should focus on cutting carbon emissions instead of just repeating the existing EU green policy targets which expire at the end of the decade, Britain's energy and climate chief Edward Davey told a global energy and environment summit.

Half of EU computer users admit they pirate software (News)

Tue, 15 May 2012 12:35:26 +0200

Almost half (48%) of the computer users in the EU admit they have acquired pirated software, according to a new report by the Business Software Alliance (BSA).

Who will be the president of Ukraine in 2015? (Analysis)

Tue, 15 May 2012 11:44:59 +0200

Europe's second-largest country faces an uncertain future, with both the opposition and the government unable to provide either genuine democracy or economic hope, making necessary the rise of an entirely new political leadership, argues Viktor Tkachuk.

EU ponders ‘losing Ukraine to Russia’ (News)

Tue, 15 May 2012 08:58:52 +0200

EU ministers held an animated discussion in Brussels yesterday (14 May), evaluating the risks of “losing Ukraine to Russia” if too much pressure is put on the country over the treatment of imprisoned former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

Economists give Poland a thumbs up (News)

Tue, 15 May 2012 08:52:15 +0200

The European Commission’s latest economic forecast ranked Poland as the fastest developing EU member state in 2012, although it revised the country's growth estimate downwards for 2013. But analysts appear much more optimistic than the EU executive and insist that the Polish economy will do even better next year.

Report calls for action at Rio to reverse biodiversity free fall (News)

Tue, 15 May 2012 08:37:01 +0200

Biodiversity has decreased by an average of 28% globally since 1970 and the world would have to be 50% bigger to have enough land and forests to provide for current levels of consumption and carbon emissions, the conservation group WWF said today (15 May).

Talk of Greek exit from eurozone gathers pace (News)

Tue, 15 May 2012 08:36:42 +0200

As eurozone finance ministers gathered in Brussels yesterday evening (14 May), the official line was that talk of a Greek euro exit was "nonsense and propaganda". But the discussion has certainly gathered pace in recent days as European leaders admit they are preparing contingency plans.

UK faces isolation or climb-down on bank rules (News)

Tue, 15 May 2012 08:00:06 +0200

British Chancellor George Osborne is set for a showdown or climb-down with his EU counterparts today (15 May) as finance ministers meeting in Brussels seek to push through capital requirements proposals against opposition from the UK and Bulgaria.

Is Greece's Golden Dawn a neo-Nazi party? (Analysis)

Mon, 14 May 2012 14:13:04 +0200

The European Union should recognise the Greek party 'Golden Dawn' as a racist organisation opposed to fundamental European values and should genuinely work against the catastrophic economic conditions that have given rise to such extremism, argues Chibo Onyeji in an open letter to Commission President José Manuel Barroso.

Power utilities push for quick deal on EU energy savings law (News)

Mon, 14 May 2012 11:02:47 +0200

European energy companies want the negotiations on the Energy Efficiency Directive, deemed as the EU’s main tool to achieve the bloc's promised 20% energy cuts by 2020, to wrap up in the coming weeks.