Juniper, the pan-Cypriot dog born in the UN buffer zone, contemplates the Cyprus problem as she stares across the tarmac of the old Nicosia International Airport. The airport stands abandoned in the buffer zone that cuts across the island, dividing the Turkish Cypriot north and the Greek Cypriot south, following Turkey’s invasion of northern Cyprus…
In the past inflation was the number one enemy of economists. Nowadays, you might find that the exact opposite is true, and that a fall in prices is now in the spotlight. Deflation has arisen as the main threat to the economy, and the European Central Bank (ECB) is under pressure to take decisive measures against it. Prices in the Eurozone have seen the first year-on-year decline in five years, according to Eurostat.
Youngsters from all over the world are attracted by the
spectacular music festivals, crazy night clubs and laid back coffee
shops.
The EU capital is having some laid-back moments during the holiday season.
…Apart from maintaining its single market, Europe must promote among others its cultural and historic wealth through the media, its educational system and through appropriate festivals and gatherings. The European identity, what unites us, needs to be stressed and take precedence over what divides us. This will serve everybody well in times of crisis, keeping the unity of the continent and benefiting from the accumulated strength of all EU nations. It will also help strengthen the sense of solidarity and promote equality in opportunities and living standards across the EU.
On Sunday, 14 December 2014, representatives of all UN member countries and the European Union managed to agree on the “Lima Call for Climate Action”. This was the most important result of two weeks of exhausting deliberations at the conference but also before. If one reads the three-and-a-half pages of this decision one will see many repetitions of code words that may not mean much to non-negotiators. The question easily arises: is all this diplomatic commotion of any use? How is it connected, if at all, to the real world of climate impacts and much-needed climate action?…
A drama in many funny acts unfolding in the bowels of the EU headquarters in Brussels
(Part II of Episode 1 just published!)
Author: Teresa Barrio Traspaderne Airports are symbols of power, not only in a political sense but also in an economic one. They represent the power of the State to control its borders, yet they also embody a relentless appetite for profit of those transnational corporations that are omnipresent at every single airport throughout the EU….
The purportedly most democratically legitimate President of the European Commission has made a surprising statement, just days before the Greek parliament votes for a new president of the republic, by telling Greeks who they should not vote for. The President of the European Commission cannot tell European citizens, or their representatives, what to decide, it should be the other way around: Greek citizens, together with the rest of Europeans, should be telling Juncker what to do.
“Play me, I’m yours,” said the piano, which sits on the concourse of St Pancras International railway station. And the silver-haired man played. Beethoven’s sonata filled the cathedral-like building, which is a grand union between ornate Victorian redbrick architecture, and late 20th century glass and steel.
