European Union

According to UN envoy Staffan de Mistura, the ceasefire that began almost a week ago in Syria has "in general" held. However, there are areas where the fighting continues. Can the unequal partners in the struggle for peace achieve a permanent cessation of hostilities?

The British are set to vote on whether to stay in the EU or not on June 23. The UK and its EU partners have agreed on compromises regarding London's reform demands but the deal will only bolster those who want a Brexit, some commentators write. Others say that even if Britain doesn't leave Cameron has already done irreversible damage to the EU.

The situation in Greece is coming to a head: thousands of refugees are still flooding into the country but are being prevented from crossing the border into Macedonia to head for other destinations. The EU Commission has announced a 700-million-euro aid package to help those member states worst hit by the refugee crisis. Can this prevent a disaster in Greece?

Slovakia elects a new parliament on Saturday. Prime Minister Robert Fico's social democratic party Smer is leading in the polls but may fall short of an absolute majority. Commentators voice disappointment at the way the election campaign was conducted and hope for change after four years of Fico.

During his visit to Berlin Croatia's Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković announced that his country will convert to the euro in four years' time. In view of Croatia's huge debts and poor economic statistics commentators doubt his plan will work out.

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Cypriot finance minister Harris Georgiades, left, with eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem

And then there was one. If all goes according to plan, eurozone finance ministers will bid a fond farewell to the Cypriot bailout on Monday, making the island nation the fourth of the five countries that were forced into a rescue programme at the height of the crisis to exit. Only Greece remains.

In many respects, the Cypriots have been model bailout students. Nicosia only spent about €7.5bn of the €10bn originally allocated in the programme, and its economy returned to growth last year, a full year earlier than the bailout’s architects anticipated. Indeed, it has out-performed on almost every major economic indicator: its debt levels are lower than originally forecast, its projected budget deficit isn’t a deficit, and its current account is almost in balance.

Still, not everything is so rosy. Most importantly, the bailout will end without the Cypriot government completing all the reform tasks it was supposed to – the privatisation of the state telecommunications operator proved too politically radioactive so close to parliamentary elections, so won’t be done in time. As a result, Monday’s eurogroup meeting will be a farewell, but not a formal closure of the programme. That will happen at the end of the month when the three-year rescue just expires.

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Plenary session in Strasbourg

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Britain belongs with the European Union, despite their differences.

The European Union is a crucial part of the fabrics that make up Great Britain. Although, it is nowadays one of the most important talking points in British politics, for a very long time, the European Union had not occupied the consciousness of many British people. As times keep changing the picture of British politics, factors such as the eurozone crisis happening in fellow European countries, has not managed to alter the perspective that if the British are faced with a sudden in-out referendum, then they are going to overwhelmingly steer clear from the thought of Britain exiting the European Union.

David Cameron started playing a risky game in politics the moment he decided to launch a referendum for Britain’s status within the European Union. His basket of thoughts on complex issues such as sovereignty and migration has called for an upheaval of the European Union simply to push in a limited set of reforms that could have been done without, like his avoidance of addressing his own instigated referendum, for a noticeable period of time. This pieced-together decision of numerous heads of governments is singularly suggestive of the referendum scheduled for June 23 to be an aimless, unclear, harmful, senseless and odd piece of political work.

People who are for a Brexit have no clue about what are the positives of leaving the European Union and the British are far too conservative to entertain the idea that their own sovereign state will ever be acting independently from the European Union. Great Britain had signed the Maastricht Treaty, with its fellow European countries in 1992 that had officially proclaimed the European Union into reality, so the public have never really been denied the chance to express their opinion with freedom about the Union. This legally binding referendum should, therefore be looked upon as an opportunity instead to let the British permanently become a part of the European Union with the help of international law. The deal should be more authoritative and not be subjected to the decisions of the heads of governments of all of the member states, at any point in time.

The Eurozone crisis is posing as a major problem for the British perspective on the European Union.

If there is any dissatisfaction involved with Britain’s position in the European Union, then it should be reserved for certain proposed amendments instead, which the 1969 Vienna convention already permits. Let’s not beat around the bush: Euroscepticism is a major driver of political ideologies for all British parties and they have very rarely been able to address concerns over European integration. Geographically, Britain is detached from Europe as an island country and has had a victorious record at the Second World War. The foundations of British thought were laid with those ideas in mind and factors, such as pride, a love for democracy, liberty and independence, made Britain what it is today: individualistic.

Britain never thought it necessary to cooperate with fellow European powers for the common good because it also had the Commonwealth (and a positive relationship with the United States) to ponder about. Furthermore, Britain still runs on the Anglo-Saxon model of less regulation and more capitalism inclusive of national social welfare, unlike European states who like to put their faith in state interference. Meanwhile, the eurozone crisis sounds alarming to Euroscepticism here because now whilst doing common good to Europe, states are also being asked to pitch in and support weaker states, through national wealth redistribution. This crisis is denting the idea of Europe for the British, coupled up with fluctuating levels of British interest in the EU, when you want to talk about the nation’s history. During the early eighties, most British people were not concerned with the thought of Europe and in the nineties, many members of the general public quizzed the European agenda for Britain.

The European Union influences policy in Great Britain but there is this likelihood that the British public will want different sets of opinions guiding all of that for the many different policy divisions, such as for foreign policy and social policy. But the European Union does not need to dictate British national policy if it doesn’t want to because subjects such as the labour market, education and employment can be led with a different British point of view, than the kind that would perhaps guide a more European policy framework. It is also important to note that since post-2011 (and specifically when the Masstricht Treaty was signed) the popularity index for Britain’s position inside of the European Union peaked. This means that despite the differences in attitudes and thinking over Europe, the British are still deeply interested in Britain remaining a part of the European Union.

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