It was only last Tuesday when the European Commission (EC) together with the Moroccan government, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) convened at the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) Forum in Morocco to discuss the overall effect of countries’ contributions to the climate agreement which is going to be concluded […]Why will Paris upcoming “loose” climate change agreement work better than the previous ones?
October 16, 2015 by 1 Comment
It was only last Tuesday when the European Commission (EC) together with the Moroccan government, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) convened at the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC) Forum in Morocco to discuss the overall effect of countries’ contributions to the climate agreement which is going to be concluded […]Will the Greek economy ever come back to growth?
October 7, 2015 by 2 Comments
Eurozone’s Finance Ministers convened in Luxemburg two days ago and proposed that Greece should immediately focus on the necessary reforms in order to be able to cope with the third bailout programme. Both sides (creditors and Greece) agreed that Greece will have to implement the 48 prerequisites- measures that will unlock the next much needed tranche […]Refugee crisis update: Commission still in panic while Turkey is to be added in the equation
October 2, 2015 by Leave a Comment
It was only last Wednesday that Russia officially launched airstrikes in Syria which are supposed to target terrorist groups such as Islamic State (IS). The attacks however aim at western Syria where “strangely” IS has no activity. Consequently, while Russia is mitigating the war in Syria backing-up Assad and his government, refugees continue leaving massively the […]Why the 33,000 staff European Commission did not have a real contingency plan for the refugee crisis?
September 25, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Last Wednesday the EU leaders convened in Brussels to discuss the migration crisis in view of the decision made by the Interior Ministers one day ago. The Heads of States finally decided to “work together in a spirit of solidarity and responsibility” supporting the positive vote taken by the majority of Ministers at the Extraordinary […]The refugee crisis brings to light EU’s most horrible flaws and nightmares
September 16, 2015 by 1 Comment
Last Monday, the EU Interior Ministers convened in Brussels in order to discuss about the quotas of the 120.000 refugees proposed by the European Commission (EC) but didn’t manage again to come to a common decision. Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary belong to the group of countries that are against the latter proposal which […]EU migrant crisis: Germany, France and UK to show the way. Will the rest of the EU follow?
September 9, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The recent migrant crisis keeps on plaguing Europe and our good EU leaders and officials strive to find solutions to tackle it. Jean Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission (EC), will present today his plans for sharing asylum seekers among the 28 EU countries. It will be a crucial day for Juncker’s Commission because […]Migration crisis will keep deteriorating as common EU political will is simply not there
August 28, 2015 by 1 Comment
The migration crisis in the European Union was the main issue of the Western Balkans Summit yesterday in Vienna, but was largely overshadowed by the deaths of at least 20 refugees who were found dead in a truck in Austria. This tragic event shocked everyone in the Summit who expressed the need for immediate actions by […]Climate change will never be combatted by EU alone while some G20 countries keep procrastinating
August 21, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The EU Commissioner of Climate Action and Energy stressed out yesterday the sluggishness of the required actions that must be taken in order to combat climate change effects. Miguel Arias Cañete was critical to some G20 countries that have not yet provided their climate contributions and are not helping to create a constructive agreement. The Commission’s official made […]The third bailout agreement for Greece is a done deal amid European economies full of problems
August 16, 2015 by Leave a Comment
After a very long session that lasted nearly 25 hours, the Greek government through 222 MP’s said a clear YES to the terms of the third bailout agreement. This strong positive vote provided to Euclid Tsakalotos, the Greek Finance Minister, the necessary tools to seal the deal with his counterparts, which realized late last night at […]EU should promote immigration as a humanitarian issue in order to provide a more permanent solution
August 7, 2015 by 1 Comment
Only a few days after the Calais migration incident, a new shipwreck just 10 miles off the coast of Libya caused the death of 25 people while there are still 200 people missing out of the 600 who were on board. The European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship, Dimitris Avramopoulos in a common […]China’s stock markets show recovery signs while EU is closely watching in anticipation of the €10bn investment
July 31, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The recent turbulence of the Chinese stock exchange has caused great concerns not only to the second biggest world economy but also to the European Union (EU) as a whole. Junker’s European Commission (EC) is anxiously waiting for China to invest in the EU given the fact that not long ago the Chinese Premier promised to […]EU seems to fail its moderate migration promises postponing them for end 2015
July 22, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The European Union’s Interior Ministers convened last Monday on migration but didn’t come to the preferred outcome which was set by the EU leaders only one month ago, in June. Many EU member states opposed to the proposed, by the European Council (EC), distribution of the 40.000 asylum seekers coming from Greece and Italy within […]Greece will probably stay in the Eurozone but at what cost?
July 10, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The technical teams of the European institutions are now discussing the Greek proposal which was approved yesterday evening by SYRIZA’s governmental council and submitted to the institutions minutes before the deadline in order to have a final agreement at tomorrow’s Eurogroup. The fact that the Greek government has come up with a more professional and […]The time is up but the game is still not over for Greece: negotiations continue in anticipation of a new deal
July 1, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The deadline of the 4-month extension that the Greek government had received on February 20 just expired today. However, the Greek government and particularly the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on a last moment decision to return to the negotiating table sent a letter to the institutions only hours before the expiration of the bailout programme. […]Who is to lose from the 6-month extension of the EU economic sanctions against Russia?
June 24, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The European Foreign Ministers gathered in Luxembourg two days ago and decided to continue imposing economic sanctions to Russia for another six months. This shows the strong intention of Europe to weaken Russia’s power in Ukraine and thus put a stop on Russia’s imperialistic plans. However, Russia claims these sanctions as “illegal and unfounded” and will fight […]Can the world take the risk of a new financial armageddon so that IMF doesn’t lose face towards Tsipras?
June 17, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The next meeting of the Finance Ministers of the Eurozone (Eurogroup) is convening tomorrow and the main topic will be the Greek deal with the three institutions. However, the fact that the negotiations haven’t yet reached an accord from both sides makes the agreement very unlikely. That is the reason why the European leaders are preparing […]Changing the EU copyright law won’t bring us much closer to Digital Single Market
June 10, 2015 by Leave a Comment
It was last Monday in Cannes when Andrus Ansip, Vice President of the European Commission (EC) for Digital Single Market (DSM), was interviewed in the context of the music industry’s annual Midem event. Supporting the Commission’s view and strategy for a Digital Single Market in the EU Mr Ansip mainly focused on the part of eliminating […]EU to lead one more fight against climate change at G7 summit
June 3, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The UN talks that are being held in the context of a 10-day climate conference in Bonn are highly crucial for the preparation of the final agreement that must be signed at the climate summit in Paris in 6 months from now. Therefore, officials from 190 nations are gathered in the German city to discuss […]Spanish and Polish voters are crying out for an imminent European change while US urge now Germany to change route
May 27, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The election outcomes in Spain and Poland last week were enough to cause even more uncertainty and turbulences to the already shaken European economy. The European leaders and especially Germany is facing another thorn while they struggle to come to a deal with Greece, which focuses on the austerity policy that is constantly followed by the […]Alexis Tsipras against internal and external “enemies” in pursue of a two-phase deal now
May 20, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The Greek government and particularly the Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is currently looking at a deal with the creditors but is facing both interior and exterior “enemies”. Mr Tsipras had extensive talks yesterday in Athens with the government’s officials in order to inform them about the negotiations’ progress. The Finance Minister of Greece – “pop star”, […]Although Greece is struggling to pay salaries and pensions Varoufakis is “optimistic”; the Sting reports live from EBS 2015
May 13, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The Greek government found a very last-minute solution to pay its debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that was only due yesterday. However, it was last Thursday when Yanis Varoufakis was appearing to be optimistic about Greece’s situation and the overall negotiations with its creditors while attending the European Business Summit (EBS) 2015 where the […]Bankruptcy or referendum: which one is going to be first?
April 29, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The move by Alexis Tsipras, the Greek Prime Minister, to reshuffle its negotiating team will certainly ease the tense in Brussels but is not going to bring the desired deal. The main thorns for unlocking the next tranche are the “red lines” of the Greek government and its anti-austerity policy. Greece is struggling to pay wages […]Why do thousands of migrants need to be drowned for Brussels to wake up?
April 22, 2015 by
The European Union is once more hit by migration. Last Sunday, around 800 illegal immigrants are believed to have died when their ship sank on the way from the Libyan coast to the Italian Island of Lampedusa. As a result, the EU foreign and interior ministers gathered in Luxembourg earlier this week to discuss about the migration crisis […]EU’s new environmental policy on biofuels impacts both the environment and the European citizen
April 15, 2015 by
The proposal of the European Commission (EC) back in 2012 regarding the reduction of traditional biofuels as renewable energy sources to 7% of final energy consumption in transport by 2020 seems to have serious chances of being adopted by the European Parliament (EP) since the environment committee was in favor of this proposal during yesterday’s meeting. […]Does Greece really weigh what is asking for today in Russia?
April 8, 2015 by
Today is the day that Alexis Tsipras meets Vladimir Putin in Moscow to discuss about business and trade under a spiritual Easter atmosphere for the “Orthodox brothers”. The date of this summit was strategically decided to be this week, in order to put some pressure, at least this is what the Greeks believe, to the European leaders-creditors who […]On Brexit: the outcome of UK elections next May to be based on false promises?
April 1, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The British elections that will take place on 7 May will show whether UK’s relationship with the European Union is about to change dramatically or not. Britain has always been seeking to have a different and more privileged approach in comparison to the rest of the EU member states and now is even proposing to hold a referendum with […]Except Poland, can climate change also wait until 2021 for the EU Market Stability Reserve to be launched?
March 27, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The EU member states came to an agreement last Wednesday regarding the set up of the Market Stability Reserve (MSR) which will eventually lead to further discussions and negotiations with the European Parliament (EP) on the 30th of March. The starting date of the MSR is proposed to be 2021, in contrast with what “big” countries […]Greece lost a month that cannot be found neither in “mini Summits” nor in Berlin
March 20, 2015 by Leave a Comment
It has been one long month since the Greek deal on the Eurogroup of 20 February where Greece and the rest of the Eurozone agreed to give to the former a four-month extension of the loan agreement. However, the Greek government does not seem to cooperate with the three institutions (ECB, IMF, EU) to actively and urgently […]Juncker’s Investment Plan in desperate need for trust and funds from public and private investors
March 13, 2015 by 3 Comments
Last Tuesday the EU Finance ministers gathered in Brussels to decide for the fate of Juncker’s Investments Plan. The news is quite promising for EU Investments since all ministers agreed to support this Plan by setting up the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). Italy also announced its contribution by pledging to invest 8 billion […]EU to fail 2050 Green targets due to lack of European citizens’ engagement
March 5, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The European Environment Agency (EEA) published last Tuesday a report that shows the substantial efforts that have been made in the EU regarding the objective of “living well within the limits of the planet”. It also clearly states that substantial steps must be made in order to be able to reach the environmental goals by 2050, one of which […]European Energy Union: Integration of markets and need for in-house energy production
February 27, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The European Commission (EC) official convened in Brussels two days ago to discuss and decide about the crucial matter of the European Energy Union. The strategy of the implementation of this Union was presented and according to Maros Šefčovič, vice-president of the EC, would be “the biggest energy project since the Coal and Steel Community”. However, […]Greece’s last Eurogroup or the beginning of a new solid European Union?
February 20, 2015 by
Today everyone’s eyes are fixed on the extraordinary Eurogroup meeting which is taking place in Brussels. This is simply put one of the most important gatherings in the Union’s history because one of its member states is under the “dilemma” of staying within the Eurozone by signing an extension agreement or exit and face imminent bankruptcy. […]German stock market is not affected by the Greek debt revolution while Athens is running out of time
February 4, 2015 by Leave a Comment
More than a week has passed since the Greek elections and the main European markets, except for the Greek one, do not seem to be influenced to a great extent by the victory of the left-party SYRIZA. The attempt of the Greek Prime Minister to calm down not only the markets but also the European […]
