EU in the U.S. Media – Daily Summary
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
Unemployment in Euro Zone Continues to Rise: The New York Times states, “The euro zone jobless rate rose to a record 12.1 percent in March, a sharp reminder that unemployment remains among the region’s biggest problems. The unemployment rate in the 17-nation currency union ticked up by one-tenth of a percentage point from February, when the previous record was set, Eurostat, the statistical agency of the European Union, reported from Luxembourg. A year earlier, the rate was 11 percent.”
Euro-zone jobless rate rises to 12.1%: Also, the Washington Post reports, ” The euro zone’s unemployment rate hit a record high of 12.1 percent in March as the region continued to struggle with recession, government officials said Tuesday. The seasonally adjusted jobless rate for the 17-nation group topped the previous 12 percent record reached in January and February, according to Eurostat, the region’s statistical office.”
Idea of the Week: Unemployment in Europe: The New Yorker “News Desk” blog states, “Wednesday is May Day, the international celebration of the labor movement. And like all May Days since the financial crisis began, there’s not much to celebrate when it comes to labor—unemployment remains high in many countries. The United States has enjoyed steady improvement since the peak of the crisis, but unemployment is still at a relatively high 7.6 per cent. This rate, however, is lower than in much of Europe.”
As Earnings Season Rolls On, European Banks Show Signs of Health: “Despite persistent unemployment, malaise and continuing debt problems, one sector in Europe seems to be benefiting: European banks. After years of painful job cuts and moves to make portfolios less risky, several large European institutions reported strong first-quarter results in recent days, helped by cost-cutting and better performance of major units,” reports the New York Times.
OPINION: There Is No Debt Crisis In Europe: David Beckworth writes in a Business Insider blog, “As much I criticize the Fed for its shortcomings, it pales in comparison to the failures of the ECB. Under its watch, aggregate nominal income and broad money growth has faltered in the Eurozone. This, in turn, has created an economic crisis. Note that causality runs from a weakened economy allowed by the ECB to a debt and financial crisis in the Eurozone, not the other way around.”
Italy Promises Budget Rigor: The Wall Street Journal reports, “Italy will stick to its path for balancing its budget, the newly appointed Prime Minister Enrico Letta said after meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Tuesday — just hours after he was confirmed in office in Rome. Mr. Letta also insisted that Italy has “done its part” for stabilizing the euro by meeting all of its commitments to its European Union partners over the past 18 months, including enacting unpopular tax increases that shored up the country’s finances but deepened a recession and led to rising unemployment.”
Greeks Stage General Strike Against Austerity: The New York Times reports, “As workers around the world observed the international Labor Day holiday with demonstrations and rallies, thousands of Greeks walked off their jobs on Wednesday in the second general strike against government austerity measures this year, shutting down tax offices and schools, leaving state hospitals to operate with emergency staff and disrupting public transportation.”
First Stop: Berlin: “For new leaders in crisis-plagued Europe, it has become a ritual as obligatory as the oath of office: a visit to Angela Merkel’s Berlin. Germans might refer to it as a Pflichttermin—an awkward, yet mandatory appointment. Be they from Ireland or Portugal, Spain or Greece, newly sworn-in prime ministers from the debt-heavy region have in recent years made Berlin the first stop on their tour of European capitals. The pilgrimages seem to take on more importance the longer the euro crisis, which began in 2009, drags on,” informs the Wall Street Journal.
In Mexico Visit, Obama to Pivot From Security to Economy: The Wall Street Journal states, “Mexico wants to ensure it isn’t left behind as the Obama administration seeks to form free trade pacts with other regions. The country is already among those negotiating the trans-Pacific Partnership the U.S. is pushing. But it also would like to be involved in the U.S.’s effort to negotiate a trade deal with the European Union. Mexico already has its own separate free trade agreement with the EU.”
Other News:
Obama Considers Expanding Support for Syrian Rebels: “The White House is once again considering supplying weapons to Syria’s armed opposition, senior officials said Tuesday,” informs the New York Times. “Such a move would bring the United States in line with Persian Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which are funneling arms to the rebels, and with Britain and France, which favor the lifting of a European Union arms embargo to Syria to assist the insurgents seeking to topple President Bashar al-Assad.”
Obama moving toward sending lethal arms to Syrian rebels, officials say: “President Obama is preparing to send lethal weaponry to the Syrian opposition and has taken steps to assert more aggressive U.S. leadership among allies and partners seeking the ouster of President Bashar al-Assad, according to senior administration officials,” reports the Washington Post on its front page. “Close allies Britain and France also have moved out ahead of the United States with calls for the European Union to drop its arms embargo against Syria and indications that they are prepared to send weaponry to the opposition.”
Bangladesh building collapse victims buried: AP reports in the Sacramento Bee and other newspapers online, “Dozens of Bangladeshi garment workers, their bodies too battered or decomposed to be identified, were buried in a mass funeral Wednesday, a week after the eight-story building they worked in toppled down, killing at least 410 people and injuring thousands. […] EU officials said they are considering action including changes to Bangladesh’s duty-free and quota-free access to the giant EU market to “incentivize” responsible management of the nation’s garment industry. Catherine Ashton, the EU’s foreign affairs chief, and its trade commissioner, Karel De Gucht, called in a statement for Bangladesh authorities to act immediately to ensure factories comply with international labor standards.”
EU Hopes Pesticide Ban Will Halt Bee Decline: Voice of America states, “The European Union has decided to impose a two-year ban on three of the world’s most widely-used agricultural pesticides. The move follows a report in early April from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) that the three pesticides pose an acute risk to honey bees, which are vital to food production.”
OPINION: Bugged About Bees: The Washington Times editorial board argues, “A January report by Europe’s Food Safety Authority identified a certain class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids as the prime suspect in the mysterious death of bees in Europe. […] The predictable response of the European Union to this somewhat imaginative tale is to ban the pesticide, though there’s no good evidence that anything used has anything to do with the death of bees. […] Seed companies estimate Europe’s ban on pesticides will reduce crop yields by as much as 40 percent and cost the EU economy $22 billion over five years. An estimated 50,000 people will lose their jobs, and a million others will earn a lot less.”
Frustrated Air Travelers, the T.S.A. Chief Shares Your Pain: In an interview with the New York Times, John Pistole, administrator of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, said, “We reached an agreement with the European Union, Canada and Australia for them to accept PreCheck passengers from the United States. So starting in the near future, those people that are part of PreCheck or Global Entry will be allowed to go through PreCheck when they fly internationally.”
Scotland does the math on independence: USA Today reports, “Next year, when Scots go to the polls to decide whether to sever over 300 hundred years of political union with the United Kingdom they will face a simple Yes/No question at the ballot box: ‘Should Scotland be an independent country?’ A word problem would perhaps offer a better reflection of what’s at stake. Not only would Scotland have to stand on its own feet in the community of nations and re-negotiate, some legal experts say, over 14,000 international treaties including its relationship with the European Union, but the remaining members of the United Kingdom — England, Wales and Northern Ireland — would suddenly find themselves without a valued member.”
Jailed Official in Ukraine Gets Decision in Her Favor: The New York Times states, “Before she went to jail a year and eight months ago, Yulia V. Tymoshenko joked that she carried a toothbrush and a bottle of water in her purse in case of arrest. Although she is a former Ukrainian prime minister, Ms. Tymoshenko, 52, thought she should be prepared for a few days of rough conditions. The days stretched into months before the first significant legal decision in her favor came down on Monday, a ruling in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, which settles cases of rights abuse after plaintiffs have exhausted their appeals in their home country’s courts.”
WWII poster calls for calm; now it stokes frenzy, feud: The Los Angeles Times reports, “The bookseller who discovered the poster advising Britons to ‘keep calm and carry on,’ which sparked a cultural craze, has joined with other merchants hoping to overturn one man’s copyright of the slogan. […] The Manleys and their allies are hoping that their legal appeal to overturn the trademark, which gives Coop exclusive rights to ‘Keep calm and carry on’ in all 27 countries of the European Union, will succeed. A decision is expected soon.”
European Commission Begins Final Consultation on Film Subsidies: “The European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, has launched its third and final public consultation into its overhaul of rules governing the $4 billion (€3 billion) of film subsidies dolled out annually by EU member states,” informs the Hollywood Reporter.