⊂ EUROPE ⊃
German coalition reaches deal on new asylum laws: According to Deputy Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s coalition leaders have struck a compromise on changes to asylum laws, especially concerning deportations. In the future, for refugees who are not being personally persecuted, a waiting-period of two years would be introduced for families seeking to join them. Other new regulations under discussion on Thursday included designating Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria as safe countries of origin, meaning refugees from these countries could be rejected with greater ease in the future.
dw.com
Europe plans deportations: Finland joined Sweden on Thursday in announcing plans to deport tens of thousands of failed asylum seekers. Finland will deport 20,000 migrants, around two thirds of the 32,000 asylum seekers that arrived in 2015. Sweden had announced that it will reject around half of the 163,000 asylum requests received last year. The Netherlands is preparing a plan that would swap migrants in Greece for 250,000 refugees in Turkey. At least 25 people have died after the latest refugee boat sinking off an eastern Greek island.
yahoonews.com, dw.com, theguardian.com
Brussels makes an offer: The European Union is offering Britain a new „emergency brake“ rule that could help curb immigration from other EU states in a reform package before a British referendum on EU membership. The proposal would give any member state that could convince EU governments its welfare system was under excessive strain a right to deny benefits to new workers arriving from other EU countries for up to four years.
uk.reuters.com
WHO warns of Zika virus: The World Health Organization (WHO) will meet on Monday in Geneva to decide whether the rapid spread of the Zika virus in South Africa should be treated as a global emergency. WHO head Margaret Chan said the mosquito-borne virus has gone from being „a mild threat to one of alarming proportions”. The WHO predicts that three to four million people could be infected with Zika virus in the Americas this year.
npr.org, bbc.com
Commission presents new measures against corporate tax avoidance: A new package of EU measures aims for a coordinated EU wide response to corporate tax avoidance, following global standards developed by the OECD last autumn. Under the proposed rules, national authorities will exchange tax-related information on multinational companies‘ activities, on a country-by-country basis. The proposal also includes legally-binding measures to block the most common methods used by companies to avoid paying tax. Experts criticise that tax avoidance will still be possible.
europa.eu
Uber: Brussels to issue sharing economy guidelines in March euractiv.com
Trade secrets: Protecting creation and innovation in Europe europarl.europa.eu
Trade policy: Promoting sustainability and human rights europa.eu
Accession: Foreign affairs MEPs assess reform efforts of Serbia and Kosovo in 2015 europarl.europa.eu
Oil price: Chances of OPEC, Russia oil deal slim to none cnbc.com
⊂ QUOTES ⊃
„I believe we are facing an age of fear, widespread fear that is being exploited by right-wing politics. Poland is an example of how fragile freedom is. It is a shock to see the speed at which Poland has set up an authoritarian system.“
The historian Fritz Stern predicts dark times for Europe.
tagesspiegel.de
„When we wanted Poland to join the EU, populists resisted. Today we must decide whether we will aceppt the veto of those states whose integration we once fought for. We contributed to the fall of the Iron Curtain. Can we allow those states that once lived behind that curtain to build a wall today against those who are fleeing from violence, hunger, and war?“
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi criticises Poland’s and Hungary’s response to the refugee crisis.
faz.net
⊂ COUNTRIES ⊃
Propaganda war continues: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has once again criticises Germany over the case of a 13-year old girl who was allegedly raped in Berlin. He rejected accusations by the German government that Moscow was using the reports for political propaganda. A student from Berlin was reported missing on January 11th. German police have repeatedly stated there was no evidence of kidnapping or rape. Lavrov had said he hoped “migration problems“ wouldn’t drive authorities to paint over reality with political correctness.
dw.com
Italy’s banking woes seen dogging Renzi: Italy’s banking woes are set to plague Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi for months to come after a long-sought deal with the EU on bad debts disappointed investors. The agreement struck with the EU allowing banks to offload soured loans after buying a government guarantee won’t clean up the financial system and revitalize lending as fast as some in the markets had hoped.
bloomberg.com
Erdogan wants more power: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has laid out his case for a new constitution and a more powerful presidency on Thursday. Erdogan said it was not a matter of personal ambition but a necessity in a country whose parliamentary system he said was out of date.
businessinsider.com
Aid for Scottish oil sector: The British and Scottish governments announced a 250 million pound deal on Thursday to support the city of Aberdeen, hit hard by job losses in an oil sector ravaged by steep declines in the price of crude. The deal will help fund an expansion of Aberdeen harbour, necessary to allow local companies to bid for work in the oil and gas decommissioning sector.
uk.reuters.com
Catalonia stalls plans for independence from Spain: Catalonia‘s separatist regional government has stalled plans to split from Spain by mid-2017. Instead, the region plans to draft a declaration of intent, Catalan government spokeswoman Neus Munte said in the regional capital Barcelona. She confirmed an earlier statement by Catalan premier Carles Puigdemont, who recently said in a television interview there would not be a unilateral declaration of independence as the government lacked support from the people and from parliament.
europeonline-magazine.eu
Italy: Rome pursues Google for millions in back taxes wsj.com
France: Man with guns arrested at Disneyland Paris cnn.com
Georgia: ICC opens investigation into Georgia-Russia war cnn.com
Germany: 75 attacks against politicians last year n-tv.de
Turkey: Curfew widened in southeast Turkey reuters.com
⊂ DATA ⊃
In the euro area, in real terms, household income per capita increased by 0.5 percent in the third quarter of 2015, after an increase of 0.1 percent in the previous quarter.
europa.eu
⊂ JOB-BOARD ⊃
politjobs.eu: 350.org seeks campaigner *** Steltemeier & Rawe seeks Senior Associate (m/f) *** 1&1 sucht EU Public Affairs Manager VKU sucht Referentin/en *** Afore Consulting seeks Junior Consultants in European Public Affairs
politjobs.eu, politjobs.eu/submit (Inserat schalten)
⊂ MALFUNCTION ⊃
Lego unveils first figure in wheelchair: The first ever Lego figure in a wheelchair has been spotted at the Nuremberg and London toy fairs, featuring a beanie-hatted character alongside a helper dog. The sighting is significant, given Lego has recently been accused of a lack of diversity in its figures. The #ToyLikeMe campaign, launched last year, resulted in over 20,000 signatures to a Change.org petition, which lobbied Lego to include disabled figures in its sets.
theguardian.com