city:brussels

[ffii] FFII condemns investor-to-state arbitration in trade talks with US
http://lists.ffii.org/pipermail/news/2013-June/000433.html

Investor-to-state dispute settlement gives multinationals the possibility to sue states for special tribunals if changes in law may lead to lower profits than expected. This threatens democracy, the public interest and copyright and patent law reform, according to the FFII.

Pas entendu parler de ça dans les grrraaaaands médias. Mais je vous rassure, l’esssepsion cutlurelle est maintenue hors négociations, ça oui, ils l’ont dit.

En français ici, tiens : http://www.ffii.fr/La-FFII-condamne-arbitrage-investor-to-state

Cette inclusion au mandat visant au règlement des différends entre les investisseurs et les états donne la possibilité de poursuivre les états auprès de tribunaux spéciaux lorsque des modifications de lois peuvent entrainer des baisses de profits par rapport à ceux attendus. Selon la FFII la démocratie est menacée ainsi que l’intérêt public ou encore la réforme des copyrights ou celle de la juridiction des brevets

Comme le souligne médiapart, la réaction de la commission européenne à la censure brutale d’ERT est hallucinante (si quelqu’un trouve la version française, allemande ou grecque...) :

http://www.mediapart.fr/journal/international/120613/europe-la-strategie-de-la-destruction

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-545_en.htm

Statement by the European Commission on the closure of the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation

The European Commission has taken note of the decision by the Greek authorities to close down the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), a decision taken in full autonomy.

The Commission has not sought the closure of ERT, but nor does the Commission question the Greek Government’s mandate to manage the public sector. The decision of the Greek authorities should be seen in the context of the major and necessary efforts that the authorities are taking to modernise the Greek economy. Those include improving its efficiency and effectiveness of the public sector.

The Commission understands the difficult situation of ERT staff and expects the announced dismissals to be carried out in full accordance with the applicable legal framework.

The Commission supports the role of public broadcasting as an integral part of European democracy. The Treaty makes it clear that the governance and strategic choices on public service broadcasting lie with Member States. So while the Commission cannot prescribe Member States how to organise their public service broadcaster, we would like to highlight the role of public service broadcasters regarding European values in all economic circumstances, for the sake of media pluralism, media freedom and media quality and for the expression of cultural diversity. So we welcome the commitment of the Greek government to launch a media actor that fulfils the important role of public broadcasting and is financially sustainable.

Du caractère systématique de l’espionnage d’internet réalisé par les administrations américaines pour leur propre compte. Il est grand temps de percevoir qu’internet est devenu, à son tour, l’auxilliaire de l’ordre capitaliste :

The US National Security Agency (NSA) snoops on all EU member states and on Germany the most, new data reveals.

A colour-coded map of secret surveillance activities by the NSA ranks countries according to how much they are surveilled - green for the least and red for the most watched.

All EU member states have variant shades of green except for Germany, which is colour-coded orange.

The NSA tool, called Boundless Informant, is among the documents disclosed by 29-year-old Edward Snowden who has since sought refuge in Hong Kong.

http://euobserver.com/justice/120431

Resistance Seen in EU to Blacklisting Hezbollah
http://stream.wsj.com/story/latest-headlines/SS-2-63399/SS-2-245700

All 27 EU member states must agree for Hezbollah to be added to the list. U.K. officials have said they hope for a final EU decision in June.

“My guess is it’s going to take some time” to reach a decision, said one EU diplomat briefed on the discussions. “There is no unanimity yet” on blacklisting Hezbollah, the person added, citing “big doubts” among a handful of member states.

Two other diplomats said about six countries appeared reluctant, including Finland, Austria and Ireland, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union. Sweden has also traditionally been cautious.

[…]

One of the main concerns is the clarity of evidence linking Hezbollah to the Burgas attacks, which even some officials from member states in favor of blacklisting say appears circumstantial. The new Bulgarian government’s caution about whether to include Hezbollah on the terror list has also weighed on discussions, several diplomats said.

Parce qu’il faut sauver Alcatel, la fibre optique, etc.

LONDON—Europe was a trailblazer in cellphone technology 15 years ago. Now it is lagging badly in the rollout of high-speed mobile services and desperately trying to catch up.

The continent trails the U.S. and parts of Asia in embracing fourth-generation technologies such as LTE, which enable faster Internet surfing and video streaming for computers, tablets and smartphones.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324412604578515222989449746.html

A peine née, sans même avoir le moindre bilan à présenter, la banque publique européenne se distingue déjà par son comportement prédateur et son insoumission.

BRUSSELS - Last week an internal document was made public which revealed that the European Investment Bank (EIB) is seeking an exemption on the Financial Transaction Tax (FTT).

After speaking out against US legislation regulating over-the-counter financial derivatives trading last year, it is the second time the EIB advocates the need to be exempt from much-needed financial regulation. The incident tells us several things about the business model of the ‘EU house bank’ and raises many questions about its added value which should lie in boosting the real economy and satisfying long term finance needs in line with EU objectives.

http://euobserver.com/opinion/120309

Les capitalistes ne sont pas rassasiés : il leur faut de plus détruire l’europe :

EU energy policy must shift towards diversifying supply, with natural shale gas likely to be part of the mix, EU leaders said at a summit in Brussels on Wednesday (22 May).

http://euobserver.com/news/120202

Liban. Hezbollah (21 mai 2013)

La Grande Bretagne demande que la branche militaire du Hezbollah soit inscrite sur la liste européenne des organisations terroristes. (1) Bruxelles pourrait examiner cette requête début juin. Londres argue que le Hezbollah est responsable de l’attentat à l’aéroport de Burgas (Bulgarie, 18 juillet 2012) qui a coûté la vie à cinq Israéliens et un Bulgare (juillet 2013) et qu’il a été impliqué dans la préparation d’opérations contre des touristes israéliens à Chypre. Les Etats membres de l’Union européenne – notamment la France et la Suède - ont toujours été réticents à adopter cette mesure avec le souci de préserver le fragile équilibre politique libanais, de continuer à considérer le Hezbollah comme un parti politique et de garder une ligne de communication avec un mouvement qui, par ailleurs, offre de nombreux services sociaux à la population libanaise. Certains s jugent que la distinction entre parti politique et branche militaire du Hezbollah n’est pas pertinente et que le Hezbollah devrait être considéré comme une seule entité (2).

Le contexte est favorable à l’examen de la demande britannique par les Européens. La participation du Hezbollah libanais aux combats dans la ville de Qoussaïr (Syrie) aux côtés du régime d’Assad ne peut que contrecarrer les objectifs de ceux qui soutiennent l’opposition syrienne. La Grande Bretagne (en 2008) et les Pays Bas sont les deux seuls Etats membres qui ont déjà inscrit le Hezbollah (branche militaire) sur leur liste nationale de personnes et d’organisations terroristes. C’est aussi le cas des Etats Unis. La France (3) et la Suède ont fait savoir qu’elles n’avaient encore rien décidé. L’inscription sur une « liste terroriste » européenne vaut interdiction de toutes opérations bancaires sur le territoire européen (ce qui rend impossible par exemple la collecte de fonds à destination), gel des avoirs, interdiction de circuler, etc. Les sanctions sont modulables. Elles doivent être décidées à l’unanimité des 27.

Britain asks EU to put Hezbollah armed wing on terror list (21 May 2013)

(1) http://www.euronews.com/newswires/1963974-uk-asks-eu-to-put-hezbollah-military-wing-on-terror-list-diplomat
(2) http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/why-doesnt-europe-think-hezbollah-is-a-terror-group
(3) http://basedoc.diplomatie.gouv.fr/vues/Kiosque/FranceDiplomatie/kiosque.php?type=ppfr

L’Europe et le dégoût du “citoyen”
http://www.dedefensa.org/article-l_europe_et_le_d_go_t_du_citoyen__21_05_2013.html

Citation et commentaire du 21 mai 2013 – contribution de dedefensa.org

New poll: Dramatic rise in pessimism in the EU | Debating Europe
http://www.debatingeurope.eu/2013/05/17/new-poll-dramatic-rise-in-pessimism-in-the-eu

Since the 1950s, there has been an expectation that the next generation will be better off than their parents’ generation. However, new Gallup research (online here) conducted for Debating Europe has found that the economic crisis has crushed this sense of progress. Europeans now expect the next generation to have less job security, less job satisfaction, less secure pensions, earn lower salaries, spend less time with their families and have less comfortable housing than their parents’ generation.

street art Bruges | Flickr : partage de photos !
►http://www.flickr.com/photos/kriebel/8738413375/in/faves-ancatphil

http://flic.kr/p/ejbDRz

#Tobacco industry employs over 100 full-time lobbyists in Brussels, each of whom is complicit in murder - http://www.euractiv.com/health/tobacco-debate-hotting-council-m-news-519732 #EU #Europe #lobbying

on est mardi ! #suivre_mardi #sm ... allez quelques recommendations ?

Luxembourg affirme qu’il posera son véto à toute règlementation européenne destinée à s’opposer à l’évasion fiscale.

Et maintenant, que faire d’autre que sortir de l’Europe ?

http://euobserver.com/economic/120115

Edifiant : l’Union Européenne constate que les banques chypriotes ne cherchent absolument pas à connaitre l’origine des dépôts qu’elles acceptent, mais versent quand même l’argent pour les garantir :

http://euobserver.com/justice/120107

Blurring the Borders: Syrian Spillover Risks for Turkey

As the humanitarian crisis reaches catastrophic proportions, Syria needs to open its borders to external aid, while Turkey and its international partners need more long-term planning to meet growing refugee needs and avoid having instability spill over the porous border.

http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/publication-type/media-releases/2013/europe/blurring-the-borders-syrian-spillover-risks-for-turkey.aspx

#frontière #migration #réfugiés #asile #Syrie #Turquie

Austerity policies heighten national divisions in Europe - World Socialist Web Site

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/05/06/euro-m06.html

Austerity policies heighten national divisions in Europe
By Stefan Steinberg
6 May 2013

In recent weeks, debate has been raging in political circles and the media over the merits of implementing austerity measures in Europe. The background to the polemics is the rapidly worsening economic crisis in Europe and the emergence of mass opposition to austerity policies in Europe.

The Italian election in February was the most recent and clearest expression of the mounting hostility to austerity. The unelected technocrat regime of Mario Monti, which had carried out a series of swingeing spending cuts at the behest of the EU and the banks, suffered a devastating defeat. The right-wing populist comedian Beppo Grillo was the initial beneficiary of the broad anti-government sentiment, which exposed the alienation of millions not only from the Monti government, but all of the established parties.

#europe #crise #austérité

#democracy, #solidarity and the European Crisis
http://www.kuleuven.be/communicatie/evenementen/evenementen/jurgen-habermas/democracy-solidarity-and-the-european-crisis

Lecture delivered by Professor Jürgen #habermas on 26 April 2013 in Leuven Tags: democracy solidarity #europe habermas

Geneva Document Key To End Syria Stalemate
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/04/geneva-agreement-syria-solution.html

Most players on either side of the battlements fear such an outcome for their own reasons. But too close or literal a reading of the Geneva understandings is unnecessary if a diplomatic outcome is favored. Assad, in his January 2013 speech and former opposition president Moaz al-Khatib, as well as Tehran, have noted interest in a political dialogue. Geneva, as Kerry himself implied in his Brussels remarks, offers the only hope of a diplomatic path that leaves the country intact. Bitter and esoteric disputes about its details in this context are all but irrelevant, and even counterproductive. Argument over the precise meaning of the text not only misses this important point but also risks discrediting the creation of an effective, joint US-Russian plan and distracting attention into fruitless debates about the real intentions of Geneva’s authors. As Kerry himself acknowledged, “you have Assad and you have the opposition, and until they come to some kind of an assessment of what they’re willing to do here, this remains a very, very difficult diplomatic initiative to achieve.”

It is enough to say that a diplomatic solution entails Washington “walking back” its pre-emptive demand for Assad’s departure and Moscow’s support for the regime’s pre-eminence. Geneva is the first way station along this road, a hesitant step in a long journey that has only just begun.

Insecticide firms in secret bid to stop ban that could save bees | Environment | The Observer
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/apr/28/europe-insecticides-ban-save-bees

On en est là : un ministre de l’environnement qui s’offusque qu’on puisse chercher à protéger l’environnement, et un pollueur qui menace de poursuites judiciaires ceux qui veulent l’empêcher de polluer,

the environment secretary, Owen Paterson, told the chemicals company Syngenta last week that he was “extremely disappointed” by the European commission’s proposed ban. He said that “the UK has been very active” in opposing it and “our efforts will continue and intensify in the coming days”.

The chemical companies, which make billions from the products, have also lobbied hard, with Syngenta even threatening to sue individual European Union officials involved in publishing a report that found the pesticides posed an unacceptable risk to bees, according to documents seen by the Observer.

Füle : EU-Armenia Readmission Agreement key to increased mobility

http://www.enpi-info.eu/maineast.php?id_type=1&id=32781&lang_id=450

“key to moving towards further enhancement of mobility,”

Quand on sait ce qu’est un "accord de réadmission", la violence, la brutalité que subissent les êtres humains qui en sont victimes, cette manière de présenter les choses est assez cynique (to put it mildly comme on dit de l’autre côté du Channel)

Successful implementation of the EU-Armenia Readmission Agreement is “key to moving towards further enhancement of mobility,” Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Stefan Füle told Armenia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Edward Nalbandian after the signature ceremony of the Agreement last Friday in Brussels.

#migrations #asile #réadmission #ue #europe #arménie

Half of EU countries support labeling settlement goods from West Bank, East Jerusalem
By Barak Ravid
Haaretz Daily Newspaper

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/half-of-eu-countries-support-labeling-settlement-goods-from-west-bank-east-

La moitiés des pays européens, dont la France, demandent, dans une lettre à Catherine Ashton, la nécessité de la traçabilité des produits des colonies israéliennes.

Rappelons que le 25 février 2010, la Cour européenne du Luxembourg avait statué que les produits des colonies devaient être assujettis à des taxes spéciales et ne pouvaient bénéficier des accords Union européenne-Israël
http://euobserver.com/foreign/29558

Trois ans plus tard, rien n’a été fait en ce sens...

Rappelons aussi que, selon les statuts de la Cour pénale internationale, la création de colonies relève d’un

crime de guerre

.

UAE mission opened at NATO HQUAE
►http://www.uaeinteract.com/docs/UAE_mission_opened_at_NATO_HQ/54548.htm

Foreign Minister Shaikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan opened the headquarters of the UAE mission at the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) in the Belgian capital of Brussels on Friday. Nohammed Ali Al Naqbi, head of the UAE Mission at the NATO, was also present.

The UAE is the first Arab and Gulf country to have a mission at the NATO headquarters.

The Austrian finance minister, Maria Fekter, described Britain as “the island of the blessed for tax evasion and money laundering” in an interview with her country’s Kurier newspaper on Thursday (11 April).

Comparing the UK and its “protectorates” - micro-states subject to British law - to Cyprus in terms of hosting secretive foundations and trusts, she noted: “Just as we urged the abolition of sealed foundations in the Cyprus rescue to drain the money laundering swamp, we must demand the same of the United Kingdom.”

She added: “We want a trust registry for the Channel Islands, but also for countries where British law applies, such as the Cayman Islands, the [British] Virgin Islands or Gibraltar … These are all areas that are havens for tax evaders.”

http://euobserver.com/economic/119781

Pour terminer ce soir le référencement de trois années de biblio en retard, cette série de liens cartographiques en vrac où il y a beaucoup de savoirs passionnants

Cartographie Blog
►http://www.savoirsenreseau.com/2007/11/23/cartes-heuristiques-et-performances-scolaires

Cartographie interactive
http://education.france5.fr/?EspId=1&DiscId=85&ObjId=17565
http://www.autrement.com/cartotheque.php
http://www.histoirealacarte.com

Cartographie Antje Lehn
http://socialtapestries.net
http://research.urbantapestries.net
http://diffusion.org.uk

Cartography Imaginary museum project
Tjebbe van Tijen - Imaginary Museum Projects
Avec quelqus planches des oeuvres d’Otto Neurath
http://imaginarymuseum.org
info@imaginarymuseum.org
t.tijen@chello.nl
http://imaginarymuseum.org/MHV
http://imaginarymuseum-archive.org/PILWARstat/PILWARstat01.html (Mapping Human Violence)

Histoire de la cartographie
http://maphistory.info/harlflws.html

Cartographie Peuples premiers
http://survivalfrance.org/related_material.php?id=508

Presse alternative En anglais
http://www.newsbatch.com
http://www.theglobalist.com
http://www.alternet.org
http://www.motherjones.com

Conflits, géopolitique
http://www.crisisgroup.org
http://www.grip.org

#cartographie #presse-alternative #cartographie-radicale #savoirs #connaissance #géopolitique