The centre right has extended its lead over the centre left in the race for dominance in the European Parliament elections this week, a poll showed, but both sides are expected to fiercely contest the presidency of the European Commission.
Six out of 10 Europeans are “not that interested” in the European Parliament elections later this month, according to a poll released ahead of Friday's Europe Day events and despite huge efforts by campaign managers to make the ballot more relevant.
US President Barack Obama has told the European Union it cannot rely on the United States alone to reduce its dependency on Russian energy, as relations with Moscow chill over its seizure of Crimea from Ukraine.
The European Union and Mercosur held last Friday in Brussels the technical meeting, as was scheduled to assess the state of negotiations for a long delayed and ambitious association and trade agreement, but concluded with no calendar for the exchange of tariff reduction proposals, which is central to the discussions.
Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman has revealed that the European Union has requested direct talks with Argentina, after a meeting held between President Cristina Fernández and European Commission vice-president Antonio Tajani on the sides of the official inauguration of Michelle Bachelet as Chilean president.
The Spanish Government is “furious” at Gibraltar’s high profile with EU decision makers, the Rock’s Liberal Democrat MEP, Sir Graham Watson, said on Monday. The lawmaker was speaking on the eve of a three-day visit to Brussels by a delegation from the Gibraltar Government led by Chief Minister Fabian Picardo.
The Spanish Government has “not taken any step back” in relation to its Gibraltar policy “but it has taken many steps forward”, the country’s foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia Margallo has declared. Despite the issue having dropped profile in the news since recent weeks, it is an issue “permanently” on the Spanish agenda, the Spanish official told Onda Cero radio.
Gibraltarian and Spanish unions and business organizations on Tuesday called on their respective governments to act and implement measures that will guarantee the free flow of persons across the border. In a memorandum that will be sent to the European Commission and the European Parliament, the cross-border group expressed its “absolute aversion” to the current situation at the frontier, reports the Gibraltar Chronicle.
Gibraltar has changed its tax laws to tweak the Income Tax Act 2010 to meet EU requirements. The Chief Minister Fabian Picardo certified the bill as urgent to speed up its process through Parliament.
Brazil on Thursday strenuously denied European Union charges it engages in protectionism and said it would show its trade programs conform to WTO rules. The EU took Brazil to the World Trade Organization Thursday, complaining it was using taxes to discriminate against imports and illegally help its exporters