How Paris 2024 aims to become the first-ever gender-equal Olympics

This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum. Author: Victoria Masterson, Senior Writer, Forum Agenda A “monumental achievement” will be celebrated at this year’s Olympic Games in Paris, France. For the first time in Olympic history, women athletes will have as many places in the Games as […]

How Europe can reshape its cities to boost vibrancy, resilience and climate action

This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum. Author: Janez Potocnik, Co-Chair, International Resource Panel, Julia Okatz, Director Natural Resources, SYSTEMIQ Most people hold two assumptions about European cities. First, they naturally represent a vibrant way of life, world-renowned for their culture and relative safety. Second, they are […]

The best way to keep cool in heatwaves? Plant 170,000 trees, according to Paris

This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum. Author: Victoria Masterson, Senior Writer, Formative Content Paris plans to plant 170,000 new trees by 2026 to help the city keep cool and fight climate change. Other cities working on urban greening initiatives include Seoul, Singapore, London and Curitiba […]

Paris or Manhattan: Which type of city is best for reducing emissions?

This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum. Author: Jatinder Sidhu, Writer, Formative Content A new report has looked at greenhouse gas emissions over the whole lifecycle of a building, including building and servicing. It suggests high-density, low-rise cities such as Paris may be best for reducing […]

G7 corporations can align with Paris goals through science-based targets

This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum. Author: Lila Karbassi, Chief of Programmes, United Nations Global Compact Despite the climate ambitions of the G7 nations, no major G7 stock index is on track to meet the Paris Agreement goals. The world’s leading companies need to set […]

Fall asleep in Vienna, wake up in Paris – Europe’s night trains make a comeback

This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum. Author: Alex Thornton, Senior Writer, Formative Content Germany, France, Switzerland and Austria bring back routes for night trains. Traveling by rail emits much less carbon per kilometre than going by air or road. 2021 is set to be designated […]

Can the Notre-Dame fire freeze the ‘Yellow Vests’ uprising?

Can the fire that partially destroyed Notre-Dame act as a game changer in the French socio-political scene? Probably yes, but let’s see to the forces in motion, the national grief and the anger of the left behind. Luckily on the Seine river islet, in the heart of Paris, the eight hundred year monument still stands. […]

Logo Mania: A call to action to our crisis of connection

This article was exclusively written for The European Sting by one of our readers, Dr. Paul L. Hokemeyer, an internationally renowned clinical and consulting psychotherapist. The opinions expressed within reflect only the writers’ views and not The European Sting’s position on the issue.  At this year’s Fashion Week in Paris, the runways and sidewalks were littered not with luxurious materials, […]

The ‘yellow vests’ undermined Macron in France and the EU

Paris was a blockaded city this weekend. The government was forced to close down all the main tourist sites in the French capital. The Eiffel Tower, the Opera of Paris, the Louvre museum and tens of other sites which may attract the fury of the ‘yellow vest’ movement are closed and heavily guarded. Galerie Lafayette […]

France, Germany challenge Trump’s America on Iran and the reign of the dollar

Last week, the French President Emmanuel Macron and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel challenged the US President Trump by deciding to create a real European army. This week, the two European leaders said they are seriously working on the project to build a financial/trade-clearing mechanism, meant to override the American sanctions against Iran. In both […]

Paris is building the world’s greenest business district. What can other cities learn from it?

This article is brought to you thanks to the strategic cooperation of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum. Author: Navi Radjou, Author, Conscious Society The City of Paris and the RATP Group, the state-owned public transport operator that runs the Paris Métro subway, have jointly launched Les Deux Rives, a bold initiative to build the world’s greenest […]

Populist Eurosceptics helped by Trumpists seriously threaten the EU edifice

The confrontation between the populist Italian government and the European Union’s leadership has already left a clear trail on the European ground that permits us to project the itinerary of this conflict in the future. The Italian government is an unorthodox coalition of the extreme right wing party Lega, under its rebellious leader Matteo Salvini […]

Window for a Brexit deal: Brussels to think again May’s proposal

This is the first time the British Prime Minister Theresa May can tell mainland Europeans, she can guarantee her Tory conservative Party won’t topple her over her Brexit proposal. The reason is that, last week, she marked a triumph at the annual conference of the governing Party at Birmingham. Obviously, the burning subject of the […]

Impossible Brexit options: WTO or new referendum?

In western Austria’s ‘saltcastle’ – Saltzburg – the baroque native city of Mozart, the last EU Summit which took place there left a very bitter Brexit taste. The city’s confectioners’ efforts of supplying an unlimited variety of chocolates, baring the face of the celebrated composer, were to no avail. The British Prime Minister, Theresa May, […]

Trump fines China with $50 billion a year plus some more…

The New Yorker President of ‘America first’, Donald Trump, has figured out the cash China has to pay the US every year, in order to continue exporting her products to the largest market of the globe. It’s something like the ‘protection’ cash New York shopkeepers have to pay the gangs in order to get on […]

Germany takes cover from Trump in Eurozone and decides to pay for it

Nobody in Germany doubts it any more that Donald Trump’s America is not a friendly country and market any more, or a guarantor of European security, as was the case for the last 70 years after WWII. To ward off any confusion about that, the German ambassador to the US made a clear statement. Peter […]

Macron in St. Petersburg didn’t oppose Trump on Iran, in Putin’s presence

Emmanuel Macron, the French President, who has regained the European political initiative for his country, traveled to St. Petersburg, in Russia last Thursday. This was not an official state visit though. Macron just decided to participate in St. Petersburg’s annual International Economic Forum (SPIEF). A high end business delegation accompanied him. Macron met Putin only […]

Is Germany closer to Russia than the West? Nord Stream II and Iran count more

Last Friday, Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, rushed to Sochi, the Black Sea seaside Russian resort to meet Vladimir Putin. It was the first visit by a Western leader to meet him at home, after his fourth inauguration on 7 May as President of the vast country, this time for six more years. Looking through […]

Europe split in confronting the US sanctions on Iran, Washington isolated

Donald Trump, the ‘America First’ President in withdrawing from the Iranian nuclear non-proliferation deal, doesn’t seem to be honoring his lead electoral motto. It seems that he is serving more the interests of Saudi Arabia and to a lesser extent of Israel. Riyadh has much at stake in its inimical interaction with Iran. Israel on […]

France-Germany: Divided in Europe, USA united in…Iran

Last Tuesday afternoon the President of ‘America first’ Donald Trump withdrew the US from the Nuclear non-Proliferation Agreement with Iran. The deal is known as P5+1 and was co-signed by the US, France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China. There is no information regarding when the US is to re-introduce its economic sanctions against Iran, and […]

Britain aligns with EU rivaling US on trade and Iran, abandons bilateral ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’

Last Sunday 29 April, Britain determinedly joined the other two major European Union powers, Germany and France in cautioning the US not to activate its super levies of 25% and 10% on imports of steel and aluminum respectively. Donald Trump, the president of ‘America first’, on 23 March had announced the imposition of the above […]

Macron crowned king of Europe in Washington D.C.; just a working meeting with Trump for Merkel

A rare service Donald Trump is currently doing for the Europeans is that he offers them a platform for important common action to be undertaken by the French President Emmanuel Macron and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel. They are both visiting the White House this week, but expect quite different reception from Trump; pompous state […]

Germany resists Macron’s plan for closer and more cohesive Eurozone; Paris and Berlin at odds

Last week, surprising everybody, Francois Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the Bank of France and member of European Central Bank’s Governing Council said that the decision to stop ECB’s extraordinarily accommodating monetary measures this year, is premature. So, according to him, the central bank must continue applying its extra relaxed measures well beyond this year. […]

The West cannot ignore Russia; dazed Germany sitting on the fence

After the missile attacks by the Western trio of US, Britain and France against Damascus and other positions in war torn Syria, the Russian overlords and Assad regime in that part of the world, continues pursuing their agenda, as if nothing happened. From a certain angle truly nothing has changed regarding the military and political […]

The missiles fired against Damascus, Syria divided Europe deeply

Last Friday night till the early hours of Saturday morning the US-France-Britain alliance attacked the Assad/Putin regime of Damascus, with a precipitation of missiles. Seemingly though, the hits have had a greater political impact on Europe than in Syria itself. Germany and Italy, the other two major European Union countries with strong interests in the […]

A new catastrophic phase in the Syrian carnage

At a time when Donald Trump, the US President of ‘America first’ had just urged his military to leave Syria, the gas attack in Douma, near Damascus seems to change the prospect for Washington abandoning this country to Assad, Putin, Erdogan and the Iranians. Last Saturday, more than 60 people died and about 1000 were […]

Germany may have a stable and more cooperative government

The center right and center left German mainstream political parties agreed yesterday evening to form a new grand coalition government. It will be the third time since 2005 the two Christian parties and the socialists jointly govern their country. The socialists will control the Finance, Foreign and Labor ministries, with Martin Schulz, the Social Democratic […]

‘Safe Eurobonds’: a new trick to betray the south euro area countries

All along the years after the 2008-2010 financial crisis, which in the European Union took the form banking/government debt breakdowns starting with Greece, there were cries for the creation of a solid Eurozone. In every respect, these calls amounted to demands that super prosperous Germany accepts some degree of risk-sharing with the rest of the […]

What Merkel and Macron are to tell Trump in Davos?

Donald Trump, the American President, is to deliver the closing speech at this year’s World Economic Forum Annual Meeting of 23-26 January in Davos, which as usually is set in the unsullied Alpine landscape. Perhaps, he has something new to say about how America sees Europe. Most probably though, he is simply to repeat his […]

VW diesel scandal and climate change: can increased independent car checks lead to cleaner mobility?

It was last Thursday when the European Parliament together with the Council and the Commission agreed to enhance the car testing system by providing extra checks to the cars that are or will be placed in the market based on the proposal of the European Commission made on January 2016. Despite the fact that this […]

Trump: Hostile to Europe, voids Tillerson’s “ironclad” ally pledge

At the end of last week, Rex Tillerson, the US State Department Secretary was intentionally undermined by President Donald Trump. This surprise move from the White House came only hours after the former gave an “’ironclad’ promise of U.S. support to its oldest allies in Europe”. To undercut this pledge, the White House leaked information […]

Britain offers more money for an orderly Brexit but the Irish question resurges

If last Friday’s Reuters report from Brussels is correct and Theresa May and Donald Tusk agreed to solve the Brexit dead-end in ten days, then the wild Brexiteers must have retreated  and the orderly exit side has won the first round. Tusk, the President of the European Council said in a tweet that he told […]

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