UK’s Prime Minister David Cameron will probably remember last European Council summit, held in Brussels at the end of last week, not only for the delicate discussions on Russia and talks to improve the functioning of the Eurozone next June. His bid to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with the European Union was one of the hottest […]France and Poland to block David Cameron’s plans on immigration
December 23, 2014 by Leave a Comment
UK’s Prime Minister David Cameron will probably remember last European Council summit, held in Brussels at the end of last week, not only for the delicate discussions on Russia and talks to improve the functioning of the Eurozone next June. His bid to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with the European Union was one of the hottest […]Bundesbank’s President Weidmann criticises France and the EU. Credibility at risk?
December 16, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Just a few days have passed since an official report by the Directorate General for Economics and Finance Affairs of the European Commission told the world that French economy is stagnating, and the second economic power of the Eurozone is still under the spotlight. It’s time for the Bundesbank to raise the voice against – […]EU’s Mogherini visits Turkey “to step up engagement” and highlight interests
December 9, 2014 by Leave a Comment
As announced last week through an official European Union statement, EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini and two other senior EU officials are visiting Turkey this week. The High Representative of the EU, together with Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement, Negotiations Johannes Hahn, and Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Christos Stylianides, […]Iran nuclear talks’ deadline extended: the match is still open for many
November 25, 2014 by Leave a Comment
One year and one day has passed since the Joint Plan of Action (JPA) was forged in Geneva, on November 24 2013, between Iran and the P5+1 Countries. The interim agreement went into effect on January 2014, and its first extension deadline was set to 24 November 2014, the date that was originally seen as […]UK’s Cameron takes the field to speed up TTIP talks. Will “rocket boosters” work?
November 18, 2014 by Leave a Comment
In the last few months negotiations over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) seemed to have slowed down significantly. TTIP talks have never been too lively but it looks like the growing critics and the loud protests of late summer and early autumn made the whole process reach a sort of deadlock. The huge interests, […]Catalonia’s vote for independence and the power of symbols
November 11, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Although the polling has no legal force, the officers were all volunteers, and the election might be illegal, Catalans voted on 9 November. And the outcome was quite clear-cut. As expected the vote resulted in an overwhelming secessionist victory, with 80.7 percent of 2.25 million Catalans who participated in the referendum voting in favor of […]Italy’s rescue operation Mare Nostrum shuts down with no real replacement. EU’s Triton instead might put lives at risk
November 4, 2014 by 1 Comment
The European Union’s border control agency Frontex officially launched a mission in the Mediterranean Sea to face the mass attempt of migrants from Africa and the Middle East to reach Europe by boat. And this was not the only official news about this emergency last week. After rumours and denials Italy confirmed last Friday that its […]EU leaders agree on 2030 Climate and Energy Package: is “flexible” brave enough?
October 28, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The European Union Heads of State last week reached an agreement on what it was welcomed as “the world’s most ambitious” target yet for cutting carbon emissions. European leaders have defined the headline targets and the architecture for the EU framework on climate and energy for 2030, having signed a pact obliging the EU as […]10th ASEM in Milan and the importance of being one: EU’s big challenge on the way to China
October 21, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The 10th Asia-Europe meeting (ASEM) in Milan, Italy, concluded last Friday after two full days of work. The meeting was established in 1996 and it has since become a key forum for new cooperation proposals between Europe and Asia. Russia-Ukraine question has probably been the this edition’s hottest topic under the spotlight, as Milan summit […]EU makes key TTIP document public as protests get louder
October 14, 2014 by 1 Comment
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, known as TTIP, has always been largely criticized, and this is not news. However, the demonstrations that took place across Europe on Saturday, with large numbers of events in 22 countries across Europe, might tell that the time of huge protests against the agreement is here. Tens of thousands […]“Health and environment first of all”, EU says with forced optimism after 7th round of TTIP talks
October 7, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Last Friday the United States and the European Union concluded the seventh round of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership talks in the US. After a year of negotiations in both Washington and Brussels, and many notable obstacles on the way, the diplomats last week displayed some optimism. The official outcome was that the process […]Facebook wins EU approval for WhatsApp acquisition; just a sign of the times
October 1, 2014 by Leave a Comment
After a few months of sleepless nights, Facebook founder and young billionaire Mark Zuckerberg can finally relax a bit. The world’s largest social network will likely receive approval by the European Union for its $19 billion purchase of mobile messaging startup WhatsApp, reports said. Citing two people “familiar with the matter” Reuters revealed on Thursday […]
Canada and EU officially sign the trade agreement that could open-up the road to TTIP
September 30, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Last Friday the European Union and Canada officially marked the end of five years of negotiations and talks: the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the two parts was signed. The agreement was presented by the outgoing Commission President Manuel Barroso, the European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and Canada Prime Minister Stephen Harper […]Turkey presents a new strategy for EU accession but foreign policy could be the lucky card
September 24, 2014 by 1 Comment
Last Thursday, September 18, while the entire continent was looking towards Scotland, Turkey announced a new strategy to join the EU. Despite the tensions that characterized the country’s recent history, which is made by protests, brutal actions by the police, attempts by the government to shut down social platforms such as Twitter and You Tube, Turkey has […]Scotland “shows the way” to separatist movements as Catalonia calls a vote on independence
September 23, 2014 by 1 Comment
The fact that Scotland’s vote for independence was a milestone in the separatist movements’ history within the European Union was already clear. In the last weeks everybody was looking northwards as it was evident that any decision by the Scots would have changed the path and probably the weight of the regionalist parties inside the parliament houses […]Ukraine-EU deal sees the light but there’s no defeat for Russia
September 17, 2014 by Leave a Comment
While the ceasefire between Ukraine’s military forces and the separatists appears to be holding since the September 5th truce, something “historic” – as leaders called it – might have happened yesterday. Ukraine ratified a landmark trade-and-political deal with the European Union, officially moving towards the West. The moment was crucial not only for the importance […]France breaks budget promises once again and the EU’s finance offices are shaking
September 16, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Last Wednesday, just two days before Eurozone’s finance ministers met for informal talks in Milan, the news had come in: France will not achieve a 3% EU budget deficit target this year. During a conference in Paris, the French finance minister Michel Sapin said that the country’s budget deficit will be around 4.4% of GDP in 2014 […]Currency Union might not let an independent Scotland join the EU as the “Yes” front now leads
September 10, 2014 by 3 Comments
It is almost a week away now. Scotland’s independence referendum is next week, and the situation has never been as delicate and confused as it is now. The news came in last Sunday, and it was a shock: Scottish PM Alex Salmond’s “Yes” campaign is in the lead for the first time. A YouGov poll by […]EU’s new sanctions on Russia into force “in the next few days”: strength, weakness or strategy?
September 9, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Last Saturday appeared as the possible beginning of a new phase for the Ukraine-Russia question, after a ceasefire was signed in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, between the Ukrainian government and rebels on Friday. Although both sides claimed on Saturday that the other had violated the ceasefire, the Associated Press reported that Donetsk was relative calm, the […]If on a summer’s night: is UK businesses’ “new deal” the only key to the “best of all worlds”?
September 3, 2014 by Leave a Comment
If you are a loyal reader of the European Sting, or at least a well-informed European citizen, you will certainly know that surveys don’t really bring good news for the Union. Anytime a new survey about the public opinion around the bloc comes out, the European Parliament is shaking a bit. “People are not really interested…”, […]Qualcomm to be the next target of EU antitrust regulators? China might be the answer
August 29, 2014 by Leave a Comment
This hot, rich summer 2014 is approaching its end, but it seems like a hot fall is awaiting already. Google’s antitrust case is still a big question for European regulation on competition, but another case might be giving a big shake to the whole scene. Reuters recently reported that Qualcomm, the world’s No. 1 mobile […]Google’s hot summer never ends: EC to launch ANOTHER antitrust inquiry against the American giant
August 8, 2014 by Leave a Comment
We must admit it: this is not exactly a quiet summer for Google. Not in the Old Continent at least. After the “Right To Be Forgotten” case has disturbed Google’s top management’s sleep recently, a new dark cloud may come soon. According to Reuters, the Mountain View, California-based company may soon face a new probe […]Cancer research put at risk by General Data Protection Regulation? The possible dangers of a data privacy EU mania
July 30, 2014 by Leave a Comment
One of the most important debate topics of the last months in the EU has been data privacy and data protection regulation. Whether it was for a major trade agreement proposal or for the biggest search engine of the world, it makes no difference since all data privacy stakeholders have been always kept busy. Having remained basically static for […]EU Top Jobs summit ended with no agreement: welcome to Europe’s quicksand!
July 23, 2014 by 3 Comments
If finding the right balance in things is some kind of art, we should say that finding the right balance in the right time is for sure the key to success. And something rare for real. The European Union can be for sure a good case study of how difficult it is to reach a […]I’m not feeling lucky: The “Right to Be Forgotten” ruling puts Google inside a box
July 16, 2014 by Leave a Comment
“How should one person’s right to be forgotten be balanced with the public’s right to know?” This is the question that Google is asking to its users with an open form which allows the general public to offer its advice. This happens in a moment that the first effects of the decision of the European Court […]TTIP fight round 6: last chance for the negotiators to finally open up as they touch the Brussels ring
July 9, 2014 by 1 Comment
The next round of the EU-US talks on the ‘infamous’ trade and investment deal, known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, is just around the corner now, but new, fierce critics against the deal are launching back. The gigantic trade agreement, known as TTIP, has been largely criticized from the day 1 by many detractors, who claimed major risks […]The European Commission cuts roaming charges. But “it’s not enough”…
July 2, 2014 by 1 Comment
With an official communication the European Union has finally announced it: starting from yesterday, 1st of July, using our mobile overseas will be cheaper. The press release stated with an unusually lively spirit, full of exclamation marks and fresh words, that the EU has finally cut the price caps for data downloads by more than half: […]Switzerland to favour EU citizens in immigration quotas as the risk of a new referendum looms
June 25, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Four months have passed since Swiss voters narrowly approved the introduction of quotas on immigration with a referendum last February and the central European country has now revealed its ‘great’ plan. Last Friday, with an official government statement, the Federal Council has finally set out the intentions for new immigration quotas, and surprises were not missing. Switzerland apparently […]Intel, Almunia and 1 billion euros for unfair potatoes
June 18, 2014 by Leave a Comment
“The General Court upholds the fine of 1.06 billion euros ($ 1.4 billions) imposed on Intel for having abused its dominant position on the market for x86 central processing units between 2002 and 2007”. With these words the judge of the General Court of the European Union dismissed Intel’s action against the decision of the Commission […]France sneaks into the Geneva US-Iran talks to claim its business share in Tehran
June 11, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The just-concluded bilateral talks between the US and Iran, held Monday and Tuesday in Geneva, can be determinant for the future, shaping of a comprehensive nuclear deal between Iran and the West. The talks were announced last Saturday and indeed took place during a decisive time, after a hot winter of discussions and right before […]Happens now in Brussels: Green Week sets the EU and global climate policy agenda
June 4, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Brussels is all green this week. The eyes of Europe are focusing these days on the Egg Centre, where the 2014 edition of the Green Week is taking place. The conference centre in Rue Bara is hosting the biggest annual event on European environmental policy, whose theme this year is “Circular Economy, Resource Efficiency and Waste”. […]The umpteenth Italian overturn takes Renzi and PD to unprecedented victory at EU elections
May 28, 2014 by Leave a Comment
It’s been already three days since the final results of the EU Elections entered our homes and we had some time to digest and discuss about them. No matter how you would like to see it, Italy has surprised Europe once more. This is not exactly a positive thing for a country that is in […]Arlington, USA: kick-off of the fifth round of the EU-US boxing match
May 21, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The time for the fifth round of negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, TTIP, has come, and lights were concentrated on Monday in Arlington, Virginia for the fifth round of negotiations. In the week of the European Parliament elections, which could change the Union’s political scene, there might be more news to come for […]
