Tuesday, 30 September 2014
Sunday, 28 September 2014
Surprise: EU industrial targets are not binding
European Union member states consider impossible to have a share of industry in GDP at 20% by 2020. Nelli Feroci: «We have to be realistic»
by Emanuele Bonini
European Commission industrial strategy is over. EU member states don't want to intensify the efforts in order to foster the sector, EU commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship said at last Competitiveness council meeting. «The goal of industry's share of GDP at 20% by 2020 has been interpreted as not binding», Ferdinando Nelli Feroci stated in Brussels. This means Europe will stop pushing industrial effort despite the European Commission commitment. Antonio Tajani's political agenda included the 20% of EU GDP share as one of the main goal: it was included in the "Communication for a European industrial renaissance" as well as in the "New industrial policy communication". Furthermore, the president fo the European Commission, Josè Manuel Barroso itself, has repeated during last years that raising the the share of industry in GDP up tp 20% by 2020 had to be considered as an «explicit target». Now something changed. Nelli Feroci clarified first of all the goal «has never been endorsed by the Council», and secondly in Europe the situation can't bring to such a scenario. «We have countries with an GDP share from industry even higher than 20%, while other countries are well below and structurally can't reach it». Thus «we have to be realistic, considering the target as an aspirational target».
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European Commission industrial strategy is over. EU member states don't want to intensify the efforts in order to foster the sector, EU commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship said at last Competitiveness council meeting. «The goal of industry's share of GDP at 20% by 2020 has been interpreted as not binding», Ferdinando Nelli Feroci stated in Brussels. This means Europe will stop pushing industrial effort despite the European Commission commitment. Antonio Tajani's political agenda included the 20% of EU GDP share as one of the main goal: it was included in the "Communication for a European industrial renaissance" as well as in the "New industrial policy communication". Furthermore, the president fo the European Commission, Josè Manuel Barroso itself, has repeated during last years that raising the the share of industry in GDP up tp 20% by 2020 had to be considered as an «explicit target». Now something changed. Nelli Feroci clarified first of all the goal «has never been endorsed by the Council», and secondly in Europe the situation can't bring to such a scenario. «We have countries with an GDP share from industry even higher than 20%, while other countries are well below and structurally can't reach it». Thus «we have to be realistic, considering the target as an aspirational target».
Friday, 26 September 2014
Thursday, 25 September 2014
Pressmen, chapter 3
«Thou shalt have no other gods before a journalist», states the first commandment of the press world. And considering there's no world outside the pressman's dimension, between press world and press there's no difference. It has been already written about pressmen, but as far as you can write it, it will never be enough. Or well, as far as you can write it will be always non-sense. The second commandment of the press world comes directly from the first one. «What is written is written. Thou shalt have no other truth before what a journalist wrote». This is the second commandment, and as every commandment it has to be strictly respected. Since pressmen are divinities, recognizing they can write something wrong would mean calling divine infallibility into question. Furthermore, it's not professional think the possibility to be mistaken exists: it would mean press men are not trustworthy. That's the reason why any journalist never follow professional ethics. Of course there are professional ethic rules, but are nothing compared to commandments. Thus don't pretend to see CRTs to be published, please! Oh, sorry. CRTs are Correct Re-Typing, operations foreseen by ethics. Ethics rules oblige any journalist to correct and/or rectify in case of wrong or false information. When articles are wrong, the same has to be re-typed. But, come on! Do you really believe a pressman can be wrong? Please! Even if it happened someone would mislead you have to keep in mind: a) hardly ever readers can distinguish truth from untruth because they are not experts in subject the article talks about, and have thus no competence to identify the mistake; b) most of the time editors-in-chief can't recognize mistakes because they are not experts in subject the article talks about, and have thus no competence to prevent a false information be published; c) by practice when a correction has to be made, a second artificial new article is published in order to update the previous article containing "obsolete" information; d) in any case «what is written is written».
Tuesday, 23 September 2014
EU member states divided on budget again
European Council cut 2,1 billion Euros for next annual financial cycle. Countries don't want to pay the 2015 budget, and amending proposals for 2014 are on the table as well
by Emanuele Bonini
Once again the European Union is divided over financial questions. Annual or multi-annual financial framework it doesn't make any difference: the EU member States have argue and complain. For 2015 the European Council - the European institution composed by the government of the member States - have decided to reduce the total amount of payments. The European Commission proposed 145,6 billion Euros in commitments and 142,1 billion in payments. On the contrary, compared to the EU commission text, the European Council drafted a 2015 budgetary plan with a reduction of 0,5 billion in commitments and 2,1 billion in payments. Now a clarification is needed. The EU budget has to different voices of spending: commitments and payments. The first ones represent authorized ceilings to finance both programmes and projects, the second ones are the liquidity put at disposal by the member states. In other words, commitments mean nothing without payments. The European Council decided to disengage. Basically when the Council decides to cut the total payments ceilings means there are countries don't want to pay, as explained EU officials. These countries are the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark, plus France with internal fiscal imbalances and for this reason not really ready to put so much money on the table. There's also to be considered the EU 2015 budget is just one part of the problem, since Draft amending budgets (DABs) have been proposed for the current annual financial framework. From February to September five DABs have been presented, for total 152 million of Euro of extra money to be put into the European budget for 2014. Now, this is not a huge amount of fresh resources, but of course countries are ready to postpone the disbursement as late as possible.
Once again the European Union is divided over financial questions. Annual or multi-annual financial framework it doesn't make any difference: the EU member States have argue and complain. For 2015 the European Council - the European institution composed by the government of the member States - have decided to reduce the total amount of payments. The European Commission proposed 145,6 billion Euros in commitments and 142,1 billion in payments. On the contrary, compared to the EU commission text, the European Council drafted a 2015 budgetary plan with a reduction of 0,5 billion in commitments and 2,1 billion in payments. Now a clarification is needed. The EU budget has to different voices of spending: commitments and payments. The first ones represent authorized ceilings to finance both programmes and projects, the second ones are the liquidity put at disposal by the member states. In other words, commitments mean nothing without payments. The European Council decided to disengage. Basically when the Council decides to cut the total payments ceilings means there are countries don't want to pay, as explained EU officials. These countries are the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark, plus France with internal fiscal imbalances and for this reason not really ready to put so much money on the table. There's also to be considered the EU 2015 budget is just one part of the problem, since Draft amending budgets (DABs) have been proposed for the current annual financial framework. From February to September five DABs have been presented, for total 152 million of Euro of extra money to be put into the European budget for 2014. Now, this is not a huge amount of fresh resources, but of course countries are ready to postpone the disbursement as late as possible.
Monday, 22 September 2014
«Recovery in the Euro area is losing momentum»
ECB president Mario Draghi warned about the weakness of the internal economy and called member states to implement reforms
by Emanuele Bonini
Economic crisis is not over yet, said the president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, during the economic dialogue in the European Parliament. At the moment there's no reason to be optimistic. Or, well, there was too much optimism during the past month. «The economic recovery in the Euro area is losing momentum», warned the ECB chief. «Following some moderate expansion in recent quarters, growth of the Euro area real GDP came to a halt in the second quarter of this year». In fact «the early information on economic conditions which we received over the summer has been somewhat weaker than expected». As Draghi explained, «while industrial production and manufacturing orders in July gave some reason for optimism, more recent survey indicators have given no indication that the sharp decline registered in August has stopped». At the same time «unacceptably high» unemployment and «continued weak» credit growth are likely to curb the strength of the recovery, pointed out Draghi during his intervention. To make the situation more difficult there are also the international framework and the inaction of member states of the Euro area. In Draghi's opinion «heightened geopolitical tensions could dampen business and consumer confidence», while on the other hand «risks of insufficient structural reforms could weigh on the business environment».
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| Mario Draghi |
Economic crisis is not over yet, said the president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, during the economic dialogue in the European Parliament. At the moment there's no reason to be optimistic. Or, well, there was too much optimism during the past month. «The economic recovery in the Euro area is losing momentum», warned the ECB chief. «Following some moderate expansion in recent quarters, growth of the Euro area real GDP came to a halt in the second quarter of this year». In fact «the early information on economic conditions which we received over the summer has been somewhat weaker than expected». As Draghi explained, «while industrial production and manufacturing orders in July gave some reason for optimism, more recent survey indicators have given no indication that the sharp decline registered in August has stopped». At the same time «unacceptably high» unemployment and «continued weak» credit growth are likely to curb the strength of the recovery, pointed out Draghi during his intervention. To make the situation more difficult there are also the international framework and the inaction of member states of the Euro area. In Draghi's opinion «heightened geopolitical tensions could dampen business and consumer confidence», while on the other hand «risks of insufficient structural reforms could weigh on the business environment».
Saturday, 20 September 2014
AS Gryffindor, red and yellow magic
Gryffindor team are magic, we've already said and repeated. It's basically because of wizards playing in the team, we explained. But Gryffindor supporters are wizard too, so also Gryffindor fans are magic. It's something to keep well in mind, otherwise it would be impossible to understand how it is possible in southern stand of the stadium special effects take place. That's true: most of the time red and yellow fans prefer realizing amazing choreographies without the magic, but in other cases they do, as visible on the left side. Here we can see Gryffindor supporters using magic sticks to produce this coulored mist at the stadium...
Thursday, 18 September 2014
«A mistake to stop EU enlargement», said Bettel
Luxembourgish prime minister critic on Juncker's policy
Emanuele Bonini
Jean-Claude Juncker's decision to stop the European enlargement process for the next five years «is a mistake», said the prime minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel, meeting the international press in Luxembourg city. «When we start a race we have to finish it», underlined the head of government criticizing next European commission president's policy. «We can't say to Turkish and to Macedonian we will let them enter but not now». That's the reason why «I believe it's a mistake saying that for the next five years enlargement is over».
Bettel, Juncker's political opponent in Luxembourg, was referring to what Juncker said in Strasbourg the 15th of July during his speech in the Plenary in the occasion of the vote for his presidency of the next European Commission. In that occasion Juncker stated that «there will be no new enlargement in the next five years», and that because «the EU needs to mark a pause in its enlargement process so that we can consolidate what has been done with twenty eight». Marking the distance from Juncker, Bettel told «it's not me who will stop the European enlargement process».
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| Xavier Bettel |
Jean-Claude Juncker's decision to stop the European enlargement process for the next five years «is a mistake», said the prime minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel, meeting the international press in Luxembourg city. «When we start a race we have to finish it», underlined the head of government criticizing next European commission president's policy. «We can't say to Turkish and to Macedonian we will let them enter but not now». That's the reason why «I believe it's a mistake saying that for the next five years enlargement is over».
Bettel, Juncker's political opponent in Luxembourg, was referring to what Juncker said in Strasbourg the 15th of July during his speech in the Plenary in the occasion of the vote for his presidency of the next European Commission. In that occasion Juncker stated that «there will be no new enlargement in the next five years», and that because «the EU needs to mark a pause in its enlargement process so that we can consolidate what has been done with twenty eight». Marking the distance from Juncker, Bettel told «it's not me who will stop the European enlargement process».
Tuesday, 16 September 2014
Fiji votes finally. EU to resume ties
Tomorrow first electoral competition since the 2006 takeover and the 2009 failure
Emanuele Bonini
Here we go. For the first time after the 2006 coup Fiji come back to vote. Tomorrow the South Pacific ocean archipelago will (hopefully) restart to be a normal country. After his military takeover in 2006, Josaia Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama, commander of the republic of Fiji military forces, was not able to held the election called in 2009 and Fiji was firstly suspended from participation in the Pacific Islands Forum, and then it was suspended from the Commonwealth of Nations. Now the international community is focused on Fiji: the future of the national will depend on the elections. Main runners are Frank Bainimarama, from his Fiji First party, and Roko Tui Dreketi Ro Teimumu Kepa, from the mainly indigenous i-Taukei Social Democratic Liberal party. «Fiji return to democracy is crucial», said the European Union today through Maja Kocijancic, spokesperson of the High Representative for foreign affairs and security policy for the EU. The European Union, she added, calls for «credible elections» and will monitor the situation on the ground. «With the return to democracy we plan to resume full cooperation» with Fiji, underlined Catherine Ashton's spokesperson.
Following the 2006 military coup and Fiji's violation of human rights, democratic principles, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law, the EU suspended its development assistance to Fiji. Since then, the EU has promoted a return to democracy, the respect for human rights and the rule of law in Fiji via enhanced political dialogue. General election will take place tomorrow, but only the day after will be possible to know what Fijians decided. The Fiji elections office said results should be known within 24 hours of the close of the poll.
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| source: truthforfiji |
Here we go. For the first time after the 2006 coup Fiji come back to vote. Tomorrow the South Pacific ocean archipelago will (hopefully) restart to be a normal country. After his military takeover in 2006, Josaia Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama, commander of the republic of Fiji military forces, was not able to held the election called in 2009 and Fiji was firstly suspended from participation in the Pacific Islands Forum, and then it was suspended from the Commonwealth of Nations. Now the international community is focused on Fiji: the future of the national will depend on the elections. Main runners are Frank Bainimarama, from his Fiji First party, and Roko Tui Dreketi Ro Teimumu Kepa, from the mainly indigenous i-Taukei Social Democratic Liberal party. «Fiji return to democracy is crucial», said the European Union today through Maja Kocijancic, spokesperson of the High Representative for foreign affairs and security policy for the EU. The European Union, she added, calls for «credible elections» and will monitor the situation on the ground. «With the return to democracy we plan to resume full cooperation» with Fiji, underlined Catherine Ashton's spokesperson.
Following the 2006 military coup and Fiji's violation of human rights, democratic principles, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law, the EU suspended its development assistance to Fiji. Since then, the EU has promoted a return to democracy, the respect for human rights and the rule of law in Fiji via enhanced political dialogue. General election will take place tomorrow, but only the day after will be possible to know what Fijians decided. The Fiji elections office said results should be known within 24 hours of the close of the poll.
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