⊂ EUROPE ⊃
EU seeks more controls for Schengen borders: Several European Union states plan to prolong their temporary border controls for as much as two years, because many migrants are continuing to head north from Greece. EU interior ministers urged Athens on Monday to do more to control the influx of migrants, some threatening to have it excluded from the continent’s prized passport-free travel zone. Macedonia – not in Schengen – is only letting through migrants whose Greek registration papers show their final destination to be Germany or Austria. EU foreign affairs chief Mogherini expressed confidence Turkey would soon receive a package of 3 billion euros for mainly Syrian refugees.
bbc.com, reuters.com, euractiv.com
Syria talks delayed: Peace talks on Syria that were scheduled to begin in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday have been delayed because of ongoing discussions about who should represent the opposition. At a news conference, the UN’s special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said the invitation list was nearly finalized and invitations would be sent Tuesday. Earlier, US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart had urged de Mistura to announce a date soon for the start of talks.
cnn.com
Europol warns of new terrorist attacks: The EU’s police agency Europol warns that militants of „Islamic State“ (IS) or other groups could be planning another big strike in Europe. New attacks were possible in the near future, a Europol report said, adding that it was nearly impossible to exactly predict when and where the next terrorist attack will take place and what form it will take. The report also mentioned that the IS had developed a special forces style operation, in which the organization’s central command in Syria mapped out a broad strategy and left local leaders to decide the specifics of their operation.
dw.com
Banking association demands transparency from ECB: In many ways the European Central Bank can be very secretive. For example, it directly controls the capital buffers for all of the 129 banks under its supervision. The buffers are different for each bank and often significantly higher than the legal minimum. The banks are not allowed to talk about it. The head of the private banking association BdB, Michael Kemmer, believes that these regulations for capital surcharges are wrong. He calls for more transparency.
handelsblatt.com
Pegida meets with European allies: Germany’s anti-immigration movement Pegida has signed a declaration with like-minded groups from 14 European countries, agreeing on international protests on February 6th, dubbed the „Day of the European Patriots”. The protests are to be held in Pegida’s stronghold of Dresden as well as in Prague, Warsaw and other European cities. The representatives of the far-right movements signed a joint „Prague declaration,“ warning that the „history of Western civilization could soon come to an end through Islam conquering Europe”.
dw.com
Member states: Fiscal Sustainability Report 2015 ec.europa.eu
Report: EU research funding boosts scientific excellence and competitiveness europa.eu
Civil Liberties Committee: Debating anish law on asylum and refugees europarl.europa.eu
Michael O’Flaherty: „Fundamental rights are always under threat“ europarl.europa.eu
⊂ QUOTES ⊃
„Many of those who are sent back to Austria are back at the border crossing a few hours later, and freely enter the country because they weren’t registered.“
The head of the German police union, Rainer Wendt, criticises statements made by Interior Minister de Maiziere that the situation at the border is under control.
faz.net
„I am concerned that Kaczynski is out for revenge. He wants revenge because he was voted into government once and then voted out of it. He has the feeling that the voters did him wrong.“
Tomasz Lis, head of Polish “Newsweek”, is deeply concerned about the state remodeling in his home country.
welt.de
⊂ COUNTRIES ⊃
Russia’s economy is shrinking: Russia’s economy, facing renewed pressure from plunges in energy prices and the ruble, contracted the most since 2009 last year on oil’s decline and sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine that curbed access to international financing. Gross domestic product fell 3.7 percent after growth of 0.6 percent in 2014, the Federal Statistics Service said Monday on its website, citing preliminary estimates.
bloomberg.com
Concern over Italy: Experts are concerned about bad loans worth 200 billion euros weighing down Italian banks. The country has been negotiating for some time with the EU Commission about a bad bank as a possible solution. Growth has also slowed in Italy to only 0.8 percent in 2015. Italy’s debt declined to 134.6 percent of GDP.
bloomberg.com
Same-sex marriage in Italy: Hundreds of thousands of people joined demonstrations across Italy over the weekend in support of gay rights, amid mounting concern that a proposal to legalise civil unions between same-sex couples could falter in the final hour. The Italian senate is due to begin debating the historic legislation on Thursday, and it is far from clear whether prime minister Matteo Renzi’s left of centre government has enough support to pass the measure in the upper chamber, where it will be voted on in a secret ballot.
theguardian.com
Did Iran finance Podemos?: Spain’s conservative Popular Party on Thursday demanded explanations from far-left party Podemos after the media reported that police had opened an investigation into alleged illegal party financing from Iran. Conservative daily newspaper ABC and online news site El Confidencial reported that police were probing payments allegedly made to Iglesias for his work presenting „Fort Apache“, a programme broadcast by Iran’s Hispan TV.
yahoonews.com
Spain’s lack of government could hurt reforms: The EU Commission is likely to warn next month that if problems with forming a government in Spain were to continue, they could stall reforms and hurt economic sentiment, a draft report showed. The difficulties of forming a government could slow down the agenda of reforms and trigger a loss of confidence and a decline in market sentiment, the Commission’s draft country report on Spain said.
reuters.com
Spain: Earthquake in Costa del Sol tagesspiegel.de
Germany: Increasing amount of threats against politicians faz.net
France: Numerous attacks like the one in Paris were foiled europeonline-magazine.eu
Poland: Planned supermarket tax dailymail.co.uk
⊂ DATA ⊃
Euro area annual inflation was 0.2 percent in December 2015, up from 0.1 percent in November.
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 ⊃
The tabloid for “Islamic State”: Issues of the “Islamic State” (IS) online magazine “Dabiq” target the terror group’s fellow Muslims even more than the West. The magazine is a disturbing blend of blood thirst, glamour and gossip, and customer pamphlet. Some fighters are written about like celebrities. Dabiq devotes a majority of the 56 pages in one issue to justifying the killing of Shia Muslims.
foxnews.com