On Friday, 24 June 2016, Brits woke up stunned to discover that the UK had voted to leave Europe. It was an earth-shattering sensation. As a Scot abroad, I was devastated. Thirty years for nothing? The vote of the ignorant, the elderly and some so rich that they don’t need to belong to anything, had turned their back to the world, progress, positive environmentalism and so many other elements that are an integral part of belonging to the EU.
The most troubling thing about the EU referendum in the UK isn’t its result but what the campaign revealed about the condition of our democracies.
One of Europe’s worse nightmares became a reality after last Thursday’s British EU referendum result. But could Brexit also be a blessing in disguise for Europe?
Ukraine wins Eurovision song contest
The 2016 Eurovision song contest held in Stockholm, Sweden, on 14 May, was won by the female singer Jamala for Ukraine with the song “1944”, which got the highest score (534 points).
By Andreas Marazis
No, Europe is not considered a victim of the economic phenomenon known as “Dutch Disease” or “resource curse”, referring to economies of countries that rely heavily on natural resource revenues. But it might suffer from a different kind of “Dutch Disease” brought about by the serious blow from the “NO” outcome of the April 6, 2016 Dutch referendum regarding the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement which has served to fragment the EU and weaken its unified decision-making power.
Over the past year and a half, Europe has been experiencing a growing threat of both radicalization and terrorism. Combined with the migration crisis, this threat has been growing to virtually existential dimensions for the European Union, which is scrambling to come up with ways to defend the safety of its citizens and tighten security at Europe’s borders. It is urgently needed to re-examine the effectiveness of European counter-terrorism agencies…
Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo visited European Parliament in Strasbourg earlier this week (19 January) to defend her government’s position on controversial laws it recently approved. She is from the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party which won the majority during the elections in October last year. Poland is under increased scrutiny by the European Union since the European Commission commenced dialogue surrounding the fundamental aspects of rule of law a week ago. The new government in Poland, led by Conservative Law and Justice Party passed restrictive laws at the end of 2015 that put Polish social rights in danger.
By Samira
Alors que le terrorisme fondamentaliste frappe à nouveau plusieurs continents en même temps, Paris, Bamako en l’espace de quelques jours ; il donne l’impression que c’est une guerre aux multiples fronts qui se développe et qui tourne en dérision les principes les plus fondamentaux du droit de la guerre comme le respect de la vie des civils.
At the entrance to European Union (EU) territory, asylum seekers are bound for different countries. Most of them want to continue their journey to Germany and Sweden, although they are technically allowed to ask for asylum in the first EU country they enter. So far, less than 50 persons have asked for asylum in Slovenia.
Those who blame refugees and Muslims hide the role of the alliance between the West and the petrol-monarchies.
By Lorenzo Feltrin (Translation from Italian by Carlo Geromel)
As it is well known, terrorist attacks are a manna from heaven for fascists and other xenophobic forces who point to the massacres as a confirmation of their theses: migrants and Muslims are a threat that must be erased in one way or another…
