At the next European Council of 18-19 February, the 28 European Union leaders are expected to deliberate and possibly finalize the terms on Britain’s position in the club. David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, has set four conditions in order to support the ‘yes’ vote in the referendum which can definitely decide his country’s position […]Cameron readies to support ‘yes’ for Britain in the EU
January 18, 2016 by Leave a Comment
At the next European Council of 18-19 February, the 28 European Union leaders are expected to deliberate and possibly finalize the terms on Britain’s position in the club. David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, has set four conditions in order to support the ‘yes’ vote in the referendum which can definitely decide his country’s position […]Schengen is losing ground fast revealing Europe’s clear inability to deal with migration crisis
January 6, 2016 by Leave a Comment
It was last Monday when Sweden decided to impose ID-checks at its borders with Denmark. Of course, this action didn’t remain unanswered by Denmark which tightened controls at its southern border with Germany. This anti-Schengen spirit has been created by the influx of migrants and refugees coming to Europe daily in thousands and is meant to stop undocumented […]Brexit Update: EU endorses unprecedented compromise to help Cameron out of the referendum mess he got himself into
December 30, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Following the failure of the European Council’s summit on December 17-18 to answer positively to UK’s requests regarding EU migrant’s social benefits ban, it was time for the German Councellor and French President to take the lead and try to avoid a possible Brexit. Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande thus proposed to the British Prime Minister […]The representatives of the regions and the cities know better what the EU needs on migration, trade, poverty and taxation
December 14, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The 115th plenary of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR) was convened on 3 and 4 December and discussed a number of burning issues, which have been haunting the European Union during the last difficult years. The CoR is the voice of regions and cities of the European Union. Its 350 members are the […]EU responds to terror fallout by eroding borderless Europe and molesting the refugees
November 23, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The very title of the Press release which the extraordinary Justice and Home Affairs Council of the European Union issued after its 20 November meeting, is quite indicative of the multiple fractures that the Union suffers after the terrorist attacks, which took place in Paris on 13 November 2015. The title reads as follows: “Conclusions […]G20 LIVE: “United States and Turkey stand in solidarity with France and its people in handing the perpetrators of this crime and bringing them to justice”, US President Barack Obama underlines from G20 in Antalya Turkey
November 15, 2015 by Leave a Comment
It was just before noon on November 15 in Antalya when the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan gave a joint press conference with Barack Obama, president of the United States of America following the completion of their meeting in the context of the G20 Leaders’ Summit. The major topic that was discussed between the two leaders […]G20 LIVE: “This was not an attack against France, this was an attack against the universal human values!”, EU President Juncker cries out from G20 in Antalya Turkey
November 15, 2015 by Leave a Comment
G20 has just kicked off a few minutes ago with the joint press conference of President Juncker of the European Commission and President Tusk of the European Council. As expected, the very first words of the leaders were about the new horrible Paris attack of last Friday. Juncker’s Statement President Juncker firmly declared: “This was not […]G20 LIVE: The European Sting covers online world news and the latest developments at G20 from Antalya Turkey
November 13, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Just a few hours now separate us from the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Antalya, Turkey. The Sting’s extensive editorial team is being installed now at the beautiful summer resort of Antalya in the Mediterranean sea. Populous delegations of the 20 most powerful nations and economies of this world are effectively on their way to Antalya to […]Refugee crisis update: EU seeks now close cooperation with Africa while Schulz is shocked to witness live one single wreck full of immigrants
November 11, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Last Monday’s Extraordinary Justice and Home Affairs Council was meant to give just an update on the ongoing refugee crisis, a few days before the summit between EU and African leaders which in Valletta, Malta today and tomorrow. The Interior Ministers convened thus to discuss about the progress shown so far since the Western Balkans’ route summit […]David Cameron’s formal letter/threat that officially opens pandora’s box for the UK
November 10, 2015 by Leave a Comment
One of the most ambitious promises UK’s Prime Minister David Cameron made during the last years was to hold a referendum on the UK’s relationship with the European Union. But after some time in which the attention was being dragged away by some major evolutions in the news agenda like the escalation of the migrants crisis or the […]Erdogan’s electoral win on a ‘me or chaos’ dilemma means trouble for everybody
November 5, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The dilemma ‘me or chaos’ that the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hurled at his compatriots in last Sunday’s election paid dividends. And this despite the fact that he did what he could to produce frightening samples of the kind of chaos he had in mind. Understandably, then the Turkish voters didn’t give a super-majority […]Migration has set EU’s political clock ticking; the stagnating economy cannot help it and Turkey doesn’t cooperate
October 29, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The more action clauses a document of a Western Balkans-EU agreement contains, meant to “improve cooperation and step up consultation between the countries along the migration route”, the less cooperation there will be. That was the case last Sunday 25 October when 11 leaders of Balkan and EU countries met in Brussels. They knew very […]EU takes again positive action on migration crisis while Turkey asks for dear favors in exchange for cooperation
October 28, 2015 by Leave a Comment
A mini-summit took place in Brussels last weekend involving the Western Balkan countries and aiming at tackling the escalating migration crisis in the EU. The outcome was the promotion of a 17-point plan which aspires to tackle the issue. The problem that keeps on lingering though is whether the EU countries will look at the greater good of […]Europe slammed by Turkey’s shaky Erdoğan; both playing with immigrants’ agony
October 19, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Probably the greatest achievement of last Thursday’s European Council was that its conclusions were refuted within hours after they were published. While the official text of the Council results boasts about a “joint action plan with Turkey”, to stem the immigration flows to the EU, the Turkish minister of Foreign Affairs Feridun Sinirlioglu commented otherwise. […]“We are in Europe, but not of it”, from Churchill to Cameron: British Exceptionalism now threatens the entire EU Edifice
October 14, 2015 by Leave a Comment
It all began back in January 2013 when one ambitious politician promised the world in order to get elected. Once elected, chaos reigned when he realised that his promise is hard to accomplish. While this is the life’s story of most career politicians in this world, for David Cameron things just seem to have turned too complicated recently. […]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 […]Catalan Pro-Independence vote: how many hits can Brussels sustain at the same time?
September 29, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The Catalan separatist parties won last Sunday a majority of the seats in the regional parliamentary elections. September 27 elections saw the separatist alliance winning 72 seats in the 135-seat regional parliament. Pro-independence parties did not win the absolute majority of votes though, as the 1.9 million victory out of 4 million ballots cast does not […]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 […]Why the Greeks forgave Tsipras’ pirouettes around austerity and voted again for SYRIZA
September 24, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Last Sunday the Greek voters, at least those who went to the polls, gave to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras not only a second chance to continue in the premiership, but voted also for Panos Kamenos a nationalist right winger, the junior partner of the governing SYRIZA-ANEL coalition. And this as if nothing had happened in […]Two major EU projects falter; the Schengen Agreement now freezes and Eurozone fails to resolve the Greek enigma
September 17, 2015 by 2 Comments
The usually so cool north Europeans seem to have lost their composure when the first waves of refugees and immigrants reached their borders. Germany and Austria within a few days made full immigration policy u-turns and finally closed their borders. Both Chancellors, Angela Merkel in Berlin and Werner Faymann in Vienna, said last week they […]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 […]From Russia with love: Brussels and Moscow close to an agreement on Ukraine’s gas supplies
September 15, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Following a few months of mere “meditation”, the European Commission and Russia held a bilateral meeting in Vienna last week where they finally made progress on Ukraine gas supplies and energy security. Russia was represented by the Minister for Energy, Mr. Alexander Novak and the CEO of Gazprom, Mr. Alexej Miller. The EU was represented by Maroš Šefčovič, Vice-President […]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 […]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 […]Yanis Varoufakis: “Unsustainable debt turns the creditor into Leviathan; Life under it is becoming nasty, brutish and short”
August 10, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The Lethal Deferral of Greek Debt Restructuring Written by Yanis Varoufakis ATHENS – The point of restructuring debt is to reduce the volume of new loans needed to salvage an insolvent entity. Creditors offer debt relief to get more value back and to extend as little new finance to the insolvent entity as possible. Remarkably, […]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 […]Finally an answer to the hottest question of European youth today: How to make sure Juncker’s Investment Plan works for youth
July 15, 2015 by Leave a Comment
It was last month, on 25 June 2015, that the ETUC Youth Committee in collaboration with the European Youth Forum organised a rather stimulating conference at the European Economic and Social Committee called “Quality jobs creation for young people: what, how and when?” The Sting was there, attended the conference with interest and at the end made a […]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 […]Juncker and Tusk killed Greece on 07 July 2015 to meet the Commission’s summer vacation plan? #Grexit #Greferendum #Graccident
July 8, 2015 by Leave a Comment
The worst moment in the history of Eurozone took place on 07 July 2015 in Brussels. The common currency union leaders decided that the moment has come to kick Greece out. Although nobody had the guts to officially announce it yesterday the leaders of the 18 Eurozone countries together with Juncker’s Commission made just yesterday […]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. […]Greferendum: the biggest political gaffe in western modern history to tear Europe apart? #Grexit #Graccident
June 28, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Once upon a time there was a beautiful historical country that used to be part of the European Union. It became the 10th country to join the block in 1981 and was evolved ever since to become a pole of stability and growth in the Balkan region and serve crucial geo-strategic interests in the Mediterranean. The introduction in the […]
