Kategória: English

Who rules Europe? – The Power of the Financial Lobby

The Fire Power of the Financial Lobby:  A Survey of the Size of the Financial Lobby at the EU level

Published by Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO), The Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour (Arbeiterkammer) and The Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB) – April 2014.

Executive Summary:

Despite this manifest presence of “the financial lobby”, until now there has been no comprehensive survey of its size and power in the EU. This report is intended to fill that void. The enormous influence and destructive power of financial markets became apparent with the global economic collapse of 2008 which fuelled a financial crisis from which Europe has yet to recover. These events revealed the dire need for stronger rules on financial markets. But  reform has proved difficult, not least due to successful campaigns waged by the financial lobby in the European Union: its “fire power” in resisting reforms it dislikes has been all too evident with issues such as banking regulation, derivatives, credit rating agencies, accounting rules, and many more.  Who rules Europe? – The Power of the Financial Lobby részletei…

The Guardian: It’s not Russia that is destabilising Ukraine

The Guardian, Monday 7 April 2014 18.00 BST

The west has been needlessly whipping up tension – if we don’t co-operate soon, chaos may take hold, By Sergei LAVROV

The profound and pervasive crisis in Ukraine is a matter of grave concern for Russia. We understand perfectly well the position of a country which became independent just over 20 years ago and still faces complex tasks in constructing a sovereign state. Among them is the search for a balance of interests among its various regions, the peoples of which have different historical and cultural roots, speak different languages and have different perspectives on their past and present, and their country’s future place in the world. The Guardian: It’s not Russia that is destabilising Ukraine részletei…

Sharp rise in tensions in Eastern Ukraine

The SAKER (1) , MONDAY, APRIL 7, 2014:  Sharp rise in tensions in Eastern Ukraine

It is hard to get a good picture of what is happening in the eastern Ukraine, but looking at various sources it appears to me that large protests have occurred in the cities of Lugansk, Kharkov and Donetsk. From the video footage some rather large crowds, including a lot of women, have assembled in the city centers. In Donetsk and Lugansk the demonstrators have seized the governmental buildings including the local HQs of the Ukrainian SBU (security service). In Donetsk the demonstrators have gathered into something like a popular assembly and have declared the creation of a „People’s Republic of Donetsk” and have announced that they plan to hold a referendum on the future of the region on April 11th. The best sign, however, that things are becoming very serious in, that the entire top ruling elite of the revolutionary government in Kiev – including Yulia Timoshenko – has relocated to the eastern Ukraine to try to get the situation under control. Sharp rise in tensions in Eastern Ukraine részletei…

Gregor Gysi: Ukraine – Diplomacy Is the Only Way

The Bullet: The following is the text from a speech delivered on March 13, 2014 by Gregor Gysi, a prominent member of the German Left Party (Die Linke). As the chairman of the largest opposition party in the Bundestag, Gregor Gysi has the right to be the first to respond to Angela Merkel. In his address to the Bundestag, Gysi sharply criticizes Germany and other Western countries, as well as Russia, for their intervention in Ukraine. He points to a new power struggle between the United States and Russia and to violations of international law by all sides. In addition, he draws specific attention to the positions of power obtained in the new Ukrainian government by known fascists. The speech was given just days before Crimeans voted in a referendum to secede from Ukraine; a referendum Gysi considers to be illegitimate. Gregor Gysi: Ukraine – Diplomacy Is the Only Way részletei…