Tag Archives: European Union

Finally, UK Begins Exit Process From European Union.

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The United Kingdom has formally begun the country’s departure from the European Union.

The country’s permanent representative to the European Union, Sir Tim Barrow has handed a letter triggering Article 50 to the European Council President Donald Tusk.

This follows a June referendum which resulted in a vote to leave the EU.

Prime Minister Theresa May, an initial opponent of Brexit, who won the top job in the political turmoil that followed the referendum vote, now has two years to settle the terms of the exit before it comes into effect in late March 2019.

 

Source: Channels TV

Tunisia To Get $560m EU Loan To Boost Economy

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The European Union said on Friday it would give a loan of half a billion euros ($560 million) to boost Tunisia’s economy.

 

In a statement in Tunis, the union said the assistance was part of broader efforts by the EU to help Tunisia overcome the serious economic difficulties that beset it.

 

The EU said the assistance came at the request of Tunisia and would take the form of medium-term loans on favourable financial terms.

 

Few weeks ago, an unemployed man committed suicide when he was refused work, sparking riots by thousands of young men across the country.

 

Tunisia was the cradle of the 2011 Arab Spring revolts, triggered by a street vendor setting himself on fire after his vegetable cart was confiscated.

 

The incident has been hailed as a success story for its transition to democracy.

 

But economic development and reforms have failed to keep pace with the political changes since the fall of autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali.

 

Three attacks last year by Islamist militants: against a museum in Tunis, tourists in a Sousse beach resort and a suicide bombing in the capital, have hit the tourist industry especially hard.

 

Tunisia relies heavily on tourists for jobs and revenue.

 

France, Tunisia’s former colonial ruler, last month pledged 1 billion euros over five years to help Tunisia, whose young democracy brought a new constitution.

 

Tunisia managed to avoid the violent after-shocks seen in other Arab Spring countries that toppled long-standing leaders in Egypt, Yemen and Libya.

 

 

(Reuters/NAN)

Italy’s President Giorgio Napolitano Resigns

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Giorgio Napolitano, Italy’s longest-serving president, resigned today, creating a challenge for Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s plans to overhaul the nation’s economy and political system.

The dilemma for Renzi is to find a successor to Napolitano, 89, who is willing to support his reform agenda and help him broker political compromises in a deeply fragmented parliament, as the president did over the past few months.

“The president of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, signed this morning, at 10:35, the resignation from his office,” according to a statement from the presidential palace.

The 40-year-old prime minister also needs a candidate willing to dissolve parliament at his request. Calling snap elections could be a weapon of last resort for Renzi, who’s trying to push through changes to the country’s electoral system and adopt measures to spur growth amid opposition even from some members of his own party.

“I think Renzi wants the presidential college to choose a low-profile president, someone who is not too independent like Napolitano, and who is willing to agree on early elections if the premier needs them,” Giovanni Orsina, a history professor at Luiss Guido Carli University in Rome, said in a telephone interview. “It remains to be seen if Renzi will succeed.”

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Matteo Renzi, Italy’s Prime Minister.

Leaders of Renzi’s Democratic Party will meet this week to start discussing possible names of a candidate to propose to their political allies, party member Valentina Paris told reporters in Rome today.

Ukraine Applying for EU Membership ‘in 6 Years Time’

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Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko said, he would present a broad plan of social and economic reforms on Thursday which would allow the former Soviet republic to apply for membership of the European Union in six years.

Ukraine’s parliament ratified a landmark agreement on closer ties with the EU on Sept. 16, though implementation of the trade part of the accord has been delayed until January 2016 to appease Russia, which says the pact will hurt its markets.

Poroshenko, speaking to Ukrainian judges, also said that for the first time in many months no deaths or wounded had been reported in the past 24 hours in a conflict with pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, indicating that a ceasefire struck on Sept. 5 “has finally begun working”.

“I will present my vision of Ukraine’s development, our strategy for the period up to 2020,” Poroshenko said, referring to a news conference set for later on Thursday.

“It (the strategy) provides for 60 separate reforms and special programmes, which will prepare Ukraine for applying for membership in the European Union in six years time,” he said.

Ukrainian and foreign analysts say Kiev needs to carry out deep-rooted and effective political and economic reforms to overcome years of inefficient and corrupt governance to make the country eligible for possible EU membership.