New EU Human Rights Envoy Faces Big Expectations

The EU's new strategy for promoting human rights must be duly implemented, scrutinized and given proper visibility, Foreign Affairs and Human Rights MEPs told EU Special Representative for Human Rights Stavros Lambrinidis on his first day in office on Monday.

"I am delighted that this new office has been introduced," said Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Elmar Brok (EPP, DE), underlining that the strategic framework for human rights, agreed by the Council over the summer, should provide its substance. The fact that Mr Lambrinidis, himself a former MEP and Vice-President of the Parliament, met MEPs on his first day in office raises hopes for "a demonstration of accountability of our human rights policy", he added.

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The Bundesbank Doctrine. The End.

The ECB meets on Thursday, it will discuss the details of its new bond purchasing programme. For some, the new plan marks the final end of the Bundesbank doctrine; for others, it is a necessary evil to calm the crisis. It is obvious to us that Mario Draghi’s congeniality and some vague words alone will not have the same calming effect as in August. In our view, the ECB might eventually present targets for short-term bond yields linked to the refi rate.

However, not all the detail might be revealed this week, perhaps because there is not yet full agreement within the Governing Council, but maybe also to keep pressure on peripheral governments.

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What a cost-benefit analysis of EU membership might reveal

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100170980/what-a-cost-benefit-analysis-of-eu-membership-might-reveal/

Female Entrepreneurs Needed Now, Says Matera

“Flexible job opportunities and new entrepreneurial ventures help single mothers and the young unemployed female population to regain economic independence,” said Barbara Matera, MEP and Vice-Chair of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality. The Italian MEP, hosted over 100 participants from the European Parliament, government agencies and business stakeholders for a lunchtime debate on Female Entrepreneurship.

Speaking in the Parliament’s Members’ Salon, Madi Sharma, Member of the Economic & Social Committee, added: “It is not about social or gender arguments; the economic argument is the relevant one. To get us out of the crisis, women entrepreneurs can generate much economic development”. Read More...

"Split" Screens America's Verbal Civil War

Where’s Kipling when we need him? The poet penning ‘If’ saw much of man’s political calalmity, distasterous distractions, and the turbulence wrought on a maturing empire. Rudyard Kipling’s view of “Split”, Kelly Nyks Red v. Blue political documentary, would surely chime with Britain’s wartime slogan ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’, for Nyks brings to the screen a verbal civil war, and a sense that the enemy is within. Dutch-born American Nyks unplugs the network news cycle, driving across America in pursuit of a clearer perspective on the root causes of America’s divided politcal culture. His youth, relative to Kipling, does not diminish an aversion to visceral politics and unreasonable behaviour. Though we know the themes, the rhetoric, the pomp of Red versus Blue, Nyks brings a narrowed focus to the screen; blurring hues of political difference, he reveals a degree of self-interest in American society easily recognisable to Edmund Burke, Adam Smith, and perhaps even the unwashed wannabe proletarian, Marx. Read Article, Click Here

by Brian Maguire, Brussels

US - EU Partnership Must Tap Full Job Growth Potential

by Brian Maguire, Editor, Brussels, 24 May, 2012 2:30 AM GMT+0100

“The United States and the European Union face common economic challenges that require us to work even harder to enhance the competitiveness of our economies and workers and to support more and better jobs for our peoples,” said U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk. Speaking at the London School of Economics, Kirk remarked: “As we continue to recover from the worst recession since the Great Depression, a consensus has emerged on both sides of the Atlantic that we can – and we should – do even more to tap the full potential of this extraordinary relationship to boost our growth, support more and better jobs, and to help meet the competitive challenges of the coming decades.” READ MORE...

Germany - Europe's Comeback Kid!

The German economy has staged an impressive comeback in the first quarter. According to a first estimate of the statistical office, the Eurozone's biggest economy grew by 0.5% QoQ, from -0.2% in 4Q 2011. Compared with 1Q 2011, this is an increase of 1.7%.

The decomposition of growth will only be released at the end of the month but according to the press statement of the German statistical office and available monthly data, exports should have been the main growth driver. Consumption could have also added to growth, while investment should have been down. Read More...