The European Sting is Your democratic, independent and top quality political newspaper specialized in European Union News. Unique Features: iSting & Harry Sting
On the first day of 2015, when all the world was waking up ready to taste what this New Year will be like, the treaty creating the Eurasian Economic Union took effect. The new EEU has now become a reality, allowing free movement of trade, services, and capital between Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia. What […]
The time of truth for the European Union’s strategy on the Ukrainian question finally came. Brussels is about to let the poor country not only be dismembered, but what will be left of it will be pushed into an economic and political inferno. As it happens, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker essentially ‘ordered’ Kiev to “bring […]
The year 2014 has seen many changes and overturns in the EU-Russia relations, but although the New Year is just a few hours away, there is still time for the last swing. From both sides. Yesterday a few Russian media outlets reported that the High Representative of the European Union Federica Mogherini stated that Western powers […]
One month is more than enough in international diplomacy to flip the world. During the last month of this long 2014 we were cought by surprise by the speed of the evolutions regarding the “EU-Turkey” project. Things were changing so fast every week of this December that even the most experienced analysts remained numb and thus preferred […]
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 […]
“The EU and the US should make all efforts to conclude negotiations on an ambitious, comprehensive and mutually beneficial TTIP by the end of 2015”, was the first conclusion of the first day of the 18-19 December EU Council. That our EU leaders are in an unprecedented rush to conclude the “notorious” trade deal with the […]
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 – […]
France gets once more under the microscope. Apparently the second biggest economy of Europe is il for the past couple of years in trouble. Given its enormous political power historically in Brussels L’Exagone was getting away with it for quite some time but it seems that now the time has come for drastic medication. The Macron […]
Last Monday, the Greek government scheduled an early Presidential election before the end of the year, which according to the constitution is to be held in the Parliament. If the Parliament proves unable to elect a new President of the Republic (180 votes are needed in a house of 300) a new legislative election must […]
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, […]
Judging from their first days in office, the new leadership of the European Union appears functioning on a much more ‘political’ platform than their Barroso-Rompuy predecessors. Actually Jean-Claude Juncker the one month old President of the European Commission had cautioned us all about that in his inaugural speech. Nevertheless, nobody had thought that Donald Tusk, […]
The much awaited succession ceremony at the EU Council took place yesterday in Brussels. Herman Van Rompuy, leaving President of the EU Council, handed over Europe’s top job to Poland’s Donald Tusk. Mr Tusk, who served as Premier Minister of Poland two times, is considered to be one of Europe’s most successful politicians of the past […]
Jean Claude Junker, the president of the European Commission (EC), announced details of his 315 billion euros promising investment plan two days ago in Strasbourg. This three year project will use money from EU institutions in order to create a fund that will motivate investors to bring back their money in Europe and increase growth […]
Ahead of the 18-19 December Summit of the 28 EU leaders, the European economy dives deeper in recession and disinflation. Brussels sources estimate that November inflation plunged again to 0.3% from 0.4% in October, widely diverging from the institutional target of below but close to 2%. There is more to it though. According to Eurostat, […]
How many years can an antitrust case endure in the EU? It certainly depends on many factors but in the case of Google 4 is the minimum. This is because the topic of a ‘digital monopoly’ of a search engine is so refined and sophisticated that for the majority of EU stakeholders it is “terra incognita”. Also […]
Emmanuel Macron, France’s minister of Economy, visited London this week in an attempt to step up for his country’s future policy reforms. Among others, Macron announced that Britain must remain an EU member state and that Germany should invest in the EU. However, it was not mentioned anything about the fines that the European Commission […]
Currently the significant success of the eurosceptic UKIP party in polarising the British voter in several social issues, like immigration, has set the agenda for other parties to follow. David Cameron and his conservative party has long seen that his electorate gets substantially motivated by anti-immigration campaigns. This is of course part of the general […]
Last weekend’s G20 Summit in Brisbane Australia in a direct way ineradicably mapped the abyss now dividing the West from Russia. American and European leaders including Barack Obama, Angela Merkel and David Cameron threatened Russia with more sanctions, meant to completely cut her off from western markets and besiege her economy, if Moscow doesn’t stop […]
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 […]
Jean-Claude Juncker is a ‘product’ of the 2008-2010 and still ongoing financial crisis in the Western economic volume. So is his Commission Presidency and he has a deep understanding of that. Juncker, as a President of Eurogroup had to face consecutive crises with Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy. What followed the financial meltdown is […]
An interesting topic was treated last Monday evening in Brussels and the European Sting was present to listen to some ideas on how to boost growth in the European Economy in a pragmatic manner. It would be unfair to say that the idea on the table of the discussion was original or innovative but nevertheless it […]
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 […]
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 […]
Whatever the outcome of this Thursday’s vote, Scotland is to leave the UK now or in the not so distant future. If it was not for the international intervention, including London’s financial and political sharks’ unprincipled meddling, the Scots would have voted for independence with overwhelming majority. During those last decisive days of the referendum […]
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 […]
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 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…”, […]
With the unemployment rate always at double digit levels (11.5%), inflation falling again nearer to naught (0.3% in August), the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) dropping and the Business Climate Indicator idling flat, the Eurozone economy is steadily heading to a dormant state at best or to a new long recession at worst. Speaking of overall […]
The relation between the UK and the EU is like that passionate thing usually developped between a cat and a dog. Historically since the very beginning of this love and hate affair in 1973, when London realized that the European project is a ‘good’ one, the UK always seeked to receive special attention, reminding to […]
Even if the Kiev government accomplishes the conquest of eastern Ukraine by the force of arms, the West in general, cannot be sure of a viable solution in the long-term. It is impossible to pacify this region, without some form of autonomy. The obvious reason is the great numbers of the Russian speakers, the majority […]
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 […]
The anthropoid beast that pressed the button to release the missile which brought down the MH17 Malaysian Airlines flight, killing all the 298 people aboard must be held responsible before humanity. Probably though, it will never be clarified for sure who was behind this hideous crime. The search for the culpable party may start from […]
The E.U. together with the U.S. decided to impose harsher economic sanctions against Russia last Wednesday. This action was expected since Russia continued to further scale its violent military intervention in eastern Ukraine despite the warnings that were given by the U.S. and E.U. U.S. sanctions focus on financial and energy sectors The U.S. are taking advantage of what is […]
