Tag Archives: Country: European Union

Bloomberg: “European Union regulators opened a probe into Italian tax breaks on real estate granted to the Catholic Church, saying they may distort competition.”

AP: “Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is pressing political reforms to the restive Balkans with the hope that such changes will lead to the region’s full integration into the European Union and NATO.”

Sergio Carrera and Joanna Parkin, The Place of Religion in European Union Law and Policy: Competing Approaches and Actors Inside the European Commission (September 30, 2010). RELIGARE Working Paper No. 1. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1688252

“While the EU has no explicit legal competence in the sphere of religion and the management of relations with faith communities, religious concerns have taken on increasing importance within the legal and institutional framework and policy discourses of the European Union in the last years. This paper provides an overview of how religion and issues of religious diversity are being framed and addressed in EU law and policy by undertaking a critical analysis of the ways in which EU law and policy deal with, engage and understand religion at the policy level of the European Commission.”

CCFON: “The EU Council has refused to allow the public to access documents concerning the highly controversial EU Equal Treatment Directive, which is currently being negotiated in secret between European Member States. The refusal follows a public access request by Christian Concern for our Nation (CCFON). The Directive seeks to outlaw discrimination on several grounds, including sexual orientation and religion in the provision of goods and services, and includes a controversial harassment provision which threatens free speech.”

Catholic Herald: “Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world, according to a European commission of Catholic bishops. A report issued this week by the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE) said that at least three-quarters of all religious persecution was directed at Christians.”

WorldNetDaily: “[Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life] Study coordinator Brian Grim says that of the estimated 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide, most are South Asian, largely in India and Indonesia. The second largest Muslim group comes from the Middle East. But in other parts of the world, such as Western Europe and America, they also are wielding increasing influence, and Grim says it’s simply a flexing of their power through outnumbering other groups.”

EU Observer: “The Belgian EU presidency is keeping alive hopes that disabled, gay and old people will in the coming years have equal access to services in the Union’s single market.”

EU Observer: “The EU’s ambassador to Serbia, French diplomat Vincent Degert, has said he is willing to put his neck on the line in support of what he calls EU values by personally attending the Belgrade Pride event in the Serb capital on Sunday (10 October).”

“This Thursday the Council of Europe, a transnational body created in 1949 to promote democracy and human rights, will vote on a resolution and series of recommendations on conscience protection.”

Associated Press: “European leaders on Tuesday urged China to let its currency rise and narrow a trade deficit that has strained relations, while promising Asian countries in return more power in global financial institutions.”

Flora Goudappel, The Effects of EU Citizenship (October 1, 2010). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1685851

“The notion of citizenship has undergone significant changes over the last few years because of European Union developments. Citizens have obtained additional economic, social and political rights but have also seen privacy and other rights limited because of the European fight against terrorism. Recent developments, such as the European Constitution and the Treaty of Lisbon, have aimed to change citizenship rights for European citizens and third-country nationals in the European Union. This book explores the influence of the EU on citizenship rights, especially in view of the fight against terrorism and the constitutional changes negotiated in the last decade. It is highly recommended to academics, policy makers, civil servants and those interested in EU Citizenship.”

Daniel Hannan writing at his Telegraph blog: “The President of the European Commission, José Manuel Durrão Barroso, has offered one of the few utterly honest arguments for European integration. The reason we need the EU, he suggests, is precisely because it’s not democratic. Left to themselves, elected governments might do all sorts of things simply to humour their voters: ‘Governments are not always right. If governments were always right we would not have the situation that we have today. Decisions taken by the most democratic institutions in the world are very often wrong.’”

LifeSiteNews: “The European Union’s proposed Equal Treatment Directive overturns centuries of legal philosophy of justice and will restrict legally guaranteed rights of freedom of conscience, says Sophia Kuby of European Dignity Watch, a pro-life and pro-family NGO working at the European level. Kuby told LifeSiteNews.com at a conference in Rome last week, that, if adopted, upcoming EU initiatives will severely restrict basic democratic freedoms for Christians, all under the rubric of ‘equalities.’”

Spiegel Online: “All across Europe, right-wing populist parties are enjoying significant popular support. Led by charismatic politicians like Geert Wilders, they are exploiting fear of Muslim immigration and frustration with the political establishment — and are forcing mainstream parties to shift to the right.”

Boston.com (AP): “Labor unions are preparing what they say will be a march of 100,000 workers on European Union institutions in Brussels on Wednesday, as well as a general strike in Spain to protest the budget-slashing plans and austerity measures of governments seeking to control debt.”

FindLaw (AP): “Oil-producing countries on Thursday rejected a German proposal for a moratorium on deep-water drilling in the Northeast Atlantic that reflected environmental concerns after the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill.”

Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life: “Over the past two decades, the number of Muslims living in Western Europe has steadily grown, rising from less than 10 million in 1990 to approximately 17 million in 2010.1 The continuing growth in Europe’s Muslim population is raising a host of political and social questions. Tensions have arisen over such issues as the place of religion in European societies, the role of women, the obligations and rights of immigrants and support for terrorism. These controversies are complicated by the ties that some European Muslims have to religious networks and movements outside of Europe. Fairly or unfairly, these groups are often accused of dissuading Muslims from integrating into European society and, in some cases, of supporting radicalism.”

Pink News: “Members of the European Parliament have called for action to ensure gay couples in marriages and civil partnerships are recognised across the continent. While EU member states are required to simplify entry and residence for couples in recognised relationships and the directive does not mention gender, it does not require states to explicitly demand that countries must recognise gay couples in marriages or civil partnerships.”

Telegraph: “France was told by the European Parliament in a rare move to stop its programme of forcibly sending Roma gipsies back to their home countries. In a resolution passed by 337 votes to 245, the European politicians requested that the French authorities to ‘immediately suspend all expulsions of Roma,’ saying that they ‘amounted to discrimination.’”

Wall Street Journal / New Europe: “Opposition to Poland’s possible adoption of the euro is growing in the country in reaction to the Greek public finance crisis, with 47% of Poles against the plan, according to the results of a survey conducted in June, Poland’s finance ministry said in a statement Thursday.”

Irish Central: “Father Piero Gheddo, a senior Vatican official said the low European birth rate of indigenous European’s along with the influx of Muslim migrants with large families would mean that Europe would soon be dominated by Islam . . . He said ‘If we consider ourselves a Christian country, we should return to the practice of Christian life, which would also solve the problem of empty cradles.’”

Soeren Kern writing at Hudson New York: “During his recent two-day state visit to Italy, Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi declared that ‘Islam should become the religion of the whole of Europe.’ He also said that Europe’s conversion would become a fait accompli ‘when Turkey becomes a member of the European Union.’ Europeans mostly dismissed Gaddafi’s proselytizing as ‘Islamic propaganda,’ and as a ‘non-solicited provocation lacking seriousness’ . . . Gaddafi’s vision of an Islamicized Europe is closer to becoming a reality than many Europeans are willing to admit . . . ”

“The European Union says the number of children born out of wedlock in the 27-nation bloc has doubled over the past two decades and now accounts for over one-third of the region’s births.”

European Parliament: “MEPs will ask the Commission on Tuesday about its plans to combat discrimination encountered by same-sex couples. Same-sex couples, whether married or in civil partnership, still face discrimination when working, studying and travelling in the EU, since the spouse is not legally recognised as a family member by many Member States. MEPs will quiz the Commission about its lack of concrete proposals in this area.”

Guardian: “The HIV epidemic in Europe, including the UK, is being fuelled by the risky behaviour of young gay men, according to research published today . . . Those infected are almost all white, male, gay and young, they say. These men also tend to have other sexual diseases, such as syphillis, which suggests that they are involved in unsafe sexual behaviour and are not using condoms.”

Telegraph: “Italian Father Piero Gheddo said that the low birth rate among indigenous Europeans combined with an unprecedented wave of Muslim immigrants with large families could see Europe becoming dominated by Islam in the space of a few generations.”

Associated Press: “The European Union on Tuesday condemned the stoning to death sentence passed against an Iranian woman convicted for adultery, saying it was ‘barbaric.’”

Peter G. Danchin, Islam in the Secular Nomos of the European Court of Human Rights (September 1, 2010). University of Maryland Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2010-41. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1670671

“The Article argues that a complex historical and normative relationship between Christianity and secularism can be seen to continue to define the modern contours and shape of the public sphere and the right to religious liberty alike and that assertions of claims of right by Muslims have thus made visible both the historical contingency and cultural particularity of these norms and forms of legal ordering. An argument is advanced which views the Court’s reasoning under Article 9 as entangled with not one but two rival liberal traditions: one dialogic which defines the right to religious liberty in strongly value pluralist terms and the public sphere in terms of social peace; the second rationalist which defines the right more narrowly in terms of autonomy and rational choice and the public sphere in terms of a particular substantive theory of justice. The Article concludes by suggesting that a better understanding of how religious freedom emerged in early modern moral and political thought will show that the second pluralist strand is deeply encoded in the logic and normative structure of Article 9 and how this may open new pathways by which to re-imagine the current limits of the Court’s jurisprudence.”

Charles Kupchan writing in The Washington Post: “The European Union is dying — not a dramatic or sudden death, but one so slow and steady that we may look across the Atlantic one day soon and realize that the project of European integration that we’ve taken for granted over the past half-century is no more . . . This renationalization of politics has been occurring across the E.U . . . right-wing populism is on the upswing — a product, primarily, of a backlash against immigration. This hard-edged nationalism aims not only at minorities, but also at the loss of autonomy that accompanies political union . . . The renationalization of European politics is a product, first and foremost, of generational change.”

EU Observer: “An Italian MP is planning to ask gay couples to hold a day of mass-scale public kissing in September in a fight against petty homophobia. But a draft EU law combatting the same problem is likely to stay off the agenda for years.”

“We face an aggressively secular political vision and a consumerist economic model that result – in practice, if not in explicit intent – in a new kind of state encouraged atheism.”

Vatican Radio: “Archbishop Martin said that Ireland is undergoing a revolution of its religious culture, and that there are many parishes in Dublin where the presence at Sunday Mass is at 5 percent, and in some cases even below 2 percent.”

Patrick Macklem, Guarding the Perimeter: Militant Democracy and Religious Freedom in Europe (August 17, 2010). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1660649

“This essay tracks the concept of militant democracy in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, where it has migrated from a principle that authorizes a state to act in a militant manner to preserve democratic processes to one that entitles a state to establish perimeters and guard against threats of a different kind. Militant democracy now authorizes a state to assume a militant stance toward the exercise of religious freedom that threatens substantive conceptions of democracy instantiated in its constitutional order. The essay identifies four substantive conceptions of democracy – liberal democracy, secular democracy, republican democracy, and conservative democracy – to which militant democracy has migrated in recent years. It argues that militant democracy’s migration signals an ominous shift in the way in which the European Court of Human Rights comprehends the relationship between religion and state power.”

Teresa Russo, Joanna Krzeminska-Vamvaka, and Nuno Ferreira, Horizontal Effects of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms in European Union Law (2010). FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND PRIVATE LAW IN THE EUROPEAN UNION: A COMPARATIVE OVERVIEW, G. Brüggemeier, A. Colombi Ciacchi and G. Comandé, eds., pp. 8-116, Cambridge, CUP, 2010. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1656322

“Contribution to a two-volume comparative study, carried out by the Research Training Network on Fundamental Rights and Private Law in the European Union, which offers an overview of the doctrines and case law on the direct or indirect application of a fundamental right, for example a national constitutional right or an international human right, in order to solve a dispute between private parties in England, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. Volume I contains national reports for each country, preceded by a brief introduction explaining the project terminology and methodology and followed by a comparative chapter. A contribution on the horizontal effect of fundamental rights and freedoms in EU law is also included. Volume II includes ten comparative analyses of selected case patterns in contract, tort, property and family law, which have been adjudicated with reference to fundamental rights in many or at least some of these countries.”

Chiara Favilli and Nuno Ferreira, Different Treatment of Married and Unmarried Couples in the European Union (2010). FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND PRIVATE LAW IN THE EUROPEAN UNION: COMPARATIVE ANALYSES OF SELECTED FACT PATTERNS, G. Brüggemeier, A. Colombi Ciacchi and G. Comandé, eds., pp. 325-374, Cambridge, CUP, 2010. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1656308

“Contribution to a two-volume comparative study, carried out by the Research Training Network on Fundamental Rights and Private Law in the European Union, which offers an overview of the doctrines and case law on the direct or indirect application of a fundamental right, for example a national constitutional right or an international human right, in order to solve a dispute between private parties in England, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. Volume I contains national reports for each country, preceded by a brief introduction explaining the project terminology and methodology and followed by a comparative chapter. A contribution on the horizontal effect of fundamental rights and freedoms in EU law is also included. Volume II includes ten comparative analyses of selected case patterns in contract, tort, property and family law, which have been adjudicated with reference to fundamental rights in many or at least some of these countries.”

Boston.com (AP): “This summer, Europe’s vacationers are hitting the highways with more or less uniform plates, after 12 years of slow-as-syrup and at times impassioned debate over color schemes and the EU’s role in everyday life. Belgium finally settled a political argument over the tags in June, clearing the last major hurdle to introducing the new plates in all 27 EU nations.”

The Economist: “Among Europe’s historically Catholic lands, France is an outlier. Its leap into modernity took the form of a secular revolution; that differs from places like Ireland or Poland, where church and modern nationhood go together. Things are different again in Bavaria or the southern Netherlands, where the church inspires local pride; or in Spain, where Catholicism is at issue in an ideological war. But in many European places where Catholicism remained all-powerful until say, 1960, the church is losing whatever remains of its grip on society at an accelerating pace. The drop in active adherence to, and knowledge of, Christianity is a long-running and gentle trend; but the hollowing out of church structures—parishes, monasteries, schools, universities, charities—is more dramatic.”

Christian Science Monitor: “Turkey is a member of a select geopolitical club: rising democracies. This club encompasses not only Turkey, but also India, Brazil, Indonesia, and South Africa. Their emergence is a crucial – but untold – development of the 21st century. Rising democracies offer the West an opportunity to perpetuate the international order founded in the wake of the Second World War.”

“Let’s be perfectly frank. These bans are outrages against religious freedom and freedom of expression . . . And yet the burqa must be banned . . . If Europe does not stand up now against veiling . . . there will be many cities in Europe where no unveiled woman will walk comfortably or safely.”

Smacking Lesson: How the Council of Europe’s Ban on Corporal Punishment Could Serve as a Model for the United States
Timothy John Nolen, 16 Cardozo J.L. & Gender 519 (2010)

“Part I of this Note will discuss statistics concerning corporal punishment in the United States, focusing on the negative effects such punishment has on children and suggesting why it should be outlawed. Part II will address the legal status of corporal punishment in the United States and the potential challenges a complete federal ban might face, suggesting means whereby the Federal government could implement a national ban. Part III will discuss the legal status of corporal punishment in some member states of the Council of Europe. Part IV will address the effects that European bans have had on discouraging corporal punishment. Finally, Part V will examine the Council of Europe’s recent campaign to ban corporal punishment throughout Europe as a model for the United States Federal government.”

Washington Times: “German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle appeared on Wednesday to offer support for Turkey’s stalling bid to join the European Union, saying in Istanbul that the country’s ‘direction is toward Europe.’”

Adventist News Network: “Seventh-day Adventist religious liberty proponents are monitoring a proposal from a European Parliament member who wants businesses in Europe to close their doors on Sundays. Parliament member Martin Kastler of Germany is urging for the passage of continent-wide laws similar to those of his home country, which encourage employees to take a day off work to be with their families, the New York Times reported . . . While many Adventists in Europe now live and worship in countries with similar laws, the church has traditionally opposed such laws, citing possible religious discrimination.”

Reuters: “Top European Union officials held talks this week with religious leaders, part of a policy of holding consultations with religious groups that was enshrined in the EU’s Lisbon reform treaty, which came into force last December. But not everyone supports the move. … It was the the sixth such consultation since 2005, but the first to take place in the context of the Lisbon treaty, the EU’s latest collective agreement. Article 17 of the treaty commits the EU to maintaining ‘an open, transparent and regular dialogue with … churches and (non-confessional and philosophical) organisations’.”

Spiegel Online: “Many believe that those who hide their faces are rejecting Western values along with integration and participation in the society in which they live. And, worst of all, those who hide their faces reject Europe’s most precious birthright: Respect for the individual. … According to a survey by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project, based in Washington, a clear majority of Germans, French, Spanish and British all support a ban. Most Americans however would reject such a ban. Yet do the majority of citizens have the inherent right to see the faces of their fellow citizens? Are people obliged to participate in society? Is a ban really necessary for security reasons — or do current bans on covering the face fulfill these requirements?”

Associated Press: “Spain’s foreign minister predicted Wednesday that Cuba’s release of dozens of political prisoners could eventually lead to a thaw in U.S. relations and the lifting of a decades-old embargo against the Communist-run island.”

The Independent: “Jewish and Muslim leaders have accused the European Union of ‘naked discrimination’ by ordering the compulsory labelling of all kosher and halal meat. An advisory group of imams and rabbis at the Office of the Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks, said it was wrong to single out meat acceptable to some communities while not requiring the identification of conventional methods of slaughter. MEPs voted overwhelmingly by 559 to 54 in favour of labelling meat from slaughterhouses that do not practise stunning, to inform secular consumers or those concerned with animal welfare how the animal died.”

EurActiv: “Taking their cue from the Lisbon Treaty, Irish MPs this month called for new scrutiny powers compelling the Dublin government to take their views into account before agreeing to new EU legislation. … The main proposal is that a more robust system of legislative scrutiny be introduced, whereby all ministers will pledge that – bar certain exceptional circumstances – they will not agree to anything in the EU Council of Ministers until it has been cleared by the Irish parliament.”

EurActiv: “Police officers in all EU countries might be required to present a standard letter of rights to criminal suspects in their custody before they are interrogated, resembling the so-called ‘Miranda Warning’ used in the US, according to a European Commission paper obtained by EurActiv.”

UPI: “But the plan would allow European Council President Herman Van Rompuy the privilege of addressing the General Assembly like heads of state. The EU would also be able to submit resolutions and amendments, to reply and to make points of order.”

ADF attorney Roger Kiska appeared on the Zeb Bell Show to discuss ADF activities in Europe including the Swedish homeschooling case. | MP3 15:30 mins

OneNewsNow: “The European Court of Human Rights has heard arguments in an appeal of a decision that would ban crosses in Italian schools, and a final ruling should come within a couple of months. … ‘Our religious symbols do have a place in the public square, and you can’t censor a message just because you don’t like it,’ [ADF Attorney Roger Kiska] contends. ‘That’s not free speech, and that’s not the way democracy works.’” | ADF News Release

LifeSiteNews: “When a European Christian pro-family group applied to join the Fundamental Rights Platform (FRP) of the EU’s Human Rights Agency, they did not expect to be denounced as promoters of ‘hate.’ The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) objected to a statement by the Alliance of Romania’s Families (ARF) calling same-sex ‘marriage’ an example of ‘human degeneration,’ and denied their request for membership.” | European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights

AP: “Traffickers who subject women and children to prostitution and forced labor are engaged in one of Europe’s most lucrative crimes – a euro2.5 billion a year, modern-day slave trade whose victims are growing by 50 percent annually, a United Nations agency said Tuesday . . . ”

Catholic News Agency: “The executive committee of the Bishops’ Conference of Spain has approved a statement on the public displaying of religious symbols in Europe, saying crucifixes should remain in schools in order to strengthen the identity and values of students. The statement comes as the EU Court in Strasbourg is expected to issue a ruling on June 30 on the displaying of religious symbols in public schools.”

Reuters: “Germany’s budget savings policy risks destroying the European project and a collapse of the euro cannot be ruled out, billionaire investor George Soros said in a newspaper interview released on Wednesday.”

Yemen News Agency: “The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), which regroups deputies from 47 European member countries, has declared Wednesday its opposition to ‘a general ban’ on the niqab or burqa as this would violate womens rights to wear such clothing, according to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).”

Catholic News Agency: “As the EU court in Strasbourg prepares to issue a new ruling on the public display of crucifixes on June 30, the president of the Bishops’ Conference of Russia, Bishop Joseph Werth, noted that the crucifix is not only a religious symbol but it also represents Europe’s true identity.”

Christian Today: “The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland has called on the European Court of Human Rights to uphold the principles of freedom and tolerance ahead of next week’s decision on whether schools in Italy will be allowed to display crucifixes in public school classrooms.”

Farmers Weekly Interactive: “All poultry meat may eventually carry a label displaying the method of slaughter as well as the country of origin after draft legislation was passed in the EU parliament. … In some religious practices such as Jewish (Shechita) and Muslim (Halal) slaughter, animals must be killed without stunning.”

Telegraph: “It shows that 1,023 Eurocrats pocket bigger salaries than David Cameron’s annual income of £142,500. … Among the 995 European civil servants, who are on the AD14 to AD16 grades earning £146,267 to £179,703, are at least 90 unelected British EU officials earning more than the Prime Minister. The Commission has admitted that the true numbers cannot be calculated and could be at least twice as high. After tax relief and generous perks are taken into account it is likely that over 2,000 officials are earning more than Mr Cameron.”

EurActiv: “International couples living in 14 EU countries will be able to choose which country’s jurisdiction should apply to their divorce as the European Parliament finally backed proposals tabled by the EU executive four years ago.” | Related: [6.11.2010] European nations seal divorce law pact

Religion Clause Blog: “In Grzelak v. Poland, (ECHR, June 15, 2010), the European Court of Human Rights by a vote of 6-1 held that a Polish school violated the European Convention on Human Rights when it failed to offer an ethics class for a student who opted out of the school’s religious education class.”

LifeNews: “The world may never know how many thousands of women have been injured, or even killed, by the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug. The best worldwide guess is that 13 women have been killed as a result of the mifepristone abortion pill, but the maker of the drug in Europe is saying 29 women have died . . . ”

Catholic Culture: “Economy and finance are not ends unto themselves,” Pope Benedict XVI reminded a group of European bankers at a private audience on June 12. He stressed that economic systems must serve human persons and families, reminding the financiers that human capital is “the only capital worth saving.”

Daily Mail: “Democracy could ‘collapse’ in Greece, Spain and Portugal unless urgent action is taken to tackle the debt crisis, the head of the European Commission has warned. In an extraordinary briefing to trade union chiefs last week, Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso set out an ‘apocalyptic’ vision in which crisis-hit countries in southern Europe could fall victim to military coups or popular uprisings as interest rates soar and public services collapse because their governments run out of money . . . ”

Religion Clause Blog: “Under pressure from the European Union, Greece’s Justice Ministry is drafting a new law that will do away with required religious oaths for members of Parliament, witnesses at trials, soldiers and various public officials.”

EU Observer: “Political activists labelled as ‘Extreme right/left, Islamist, nationalist or anti-globalisation’ may in future find themselves under surveillance in line with a new, so-called, EU “data compilation instrument” put at the disposal of police and security forces in member states. The 70-question long ‘instrument,’ covering ideologies, dissemination channels, personal and professional data on ‘agents,’ would help police and security officials gather comparable intelligence across the EU, which could later be pooled together into a single data base.”

AFP: “Couples of different European nationalities will be able to choose which divorce laws will apply under a new deal struck between 14 countries on Friday . . . ”

EU Observer: “The European Commission’s internal gay rights policy has been described as ‘quite impressive’ by campaigners. But activists would like to see more EU policing of homophobia in member states. The commission, which employs around 25,000 people in Brussels, and which sees itself as a model ‘modern working environment’ outlined its staffing policy in a statement prepared for EUobserver in June.”

AP: “All but a handful of countries in the 27-nation bloc are violating EU deficit limits and their ability to reduce debt is critical to maintaining trust in their economies, keeping borrowing costs down, avoiding national defaults and restoring faith in the 16-country euro.”

Daily Mail: “Every Google web search could be stored for up to two years under a controversial new EU plan that has the backing of more than 300 Euro-MEPs.
‘Written Declaration 29′ is intended to be used as an early warning system to stop paedophiles by logging what they look for using search engines.
But civil liberty groups have hit out at the proposal which they say is a ‘completely unjustifiable’ intrusion into citizens’ privacy.”

Hudson New York: “As there are no actually verifiable statistics, the truth may be better — or worse. ‘The fact is,’ said one seasoned political consultant, ‘that with the adoption of the acquis communitaire as a necessary requirement for the Eastern bloc nations to become members of the EU, means [sic] that up to 90% of all new laws come from Brussels. With a Western European nation such as the United Kingdom, the percentage is more likely to be 60-65%, but this still means that the European Parliament does really have a voice and serious clout.’”

AFP: “Couples of different European nationalities will be able to choose which divorce laws will apply under a new deal struck between 14 countries on Friday. The breakaway pact marks a significant extension of the process that allowed an inner core of European Union countries to set up the euro currency, or others to remain outside the continental border-free Schengen area.”

Stokholm News: “The new proposal gives spouses of different nationalities living in different countries or who live together in another EU-country the possibility to choose which counry’s divorce laws they intend to abide to . . . The Swedish resistance is about the issue that Swedish courts could be forced to base their judging on other countries’ laws.”

CNSNews: “Last Thursday, the Grand Chamber of the [European Court of Human Rights] granted a request by the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Alliance Defense Fund to intervene as a third party on behalf of the MEPs — from 11 different countries — who say the court’s decision is ‘defective for a variety of reasons.’ . . . [Roger Kiska], legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund in Europe, told CNSNews.com that the European court has no jurisdiction in the matter, and that the Italian courts are the only ones with the ability to properly adjudicate such cases. ‘Member states are the only ones who can understand their own traditions,’ Kiska said.” | ADF News Release