Tag Archives: European Union

Germany Pushes For Closer EU Fiscal Integration

Germany has called on the other members of the European Union to consider giving up more of their country’s economic sovereignty to the collective Union.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble is proposing that the EU create an “EU Economic and Monetary Commissioner” who will have power to regulate the national budgets of individual member nations. The Commissioner would have the ability to veto a nation’s budget if it breaks established EU deficit rules. Continue reading →

New EU Sanctions Against Iran

Iran’s unwillingness to stop its race to create nuclear weapons has resulted in the European Union leveling more sanctions against the nation.

EU Foreign Ministers meeting in Luxembourg passed measures strengthening restrictions against banks, trade and gas exports. The actions were taken in an attempt to hamper the ways Iran has earned revenues for their nuclear program. Continue reading →

EU Leaders Closer To “European Government”

The leaders of 11 European Union nations are putting plans in place to make the 27-nation bloc more of a “European government” that would direct elect it’s leader who then would appoint a continent-wide government.

The “Future of Europe Group” headed by German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle released a report that says the current Eurozone crisis has caused a “crisis of confidence” in the EU. A result of the crisis, the report states, is a necessity for a stronger European Commission and a directly elected head of the Commission. Continue reading →

EU Commission Head Calls For “Nation-States”

President Manuel Barroso, head of the European Commission, has issued a call for members of the EU to transform into “nation-states” as part of his annual address to the EU parliament.

If the group turned into a “federation of nation-states” then the group would be able to better withstand the economic crisis that is raging through the continent. He also laid out plans for a single supervisory entity for the banking system in all member nations.

“[The entity] is a quantum leap,” Barroso said in his speech. “The stepping stone to the banking union.” Continue reading →

Christians Take Belief Fight To European Court of Human Rights

Four Christians from Great Britain who lost their jobs as a result of discrimination against their Christian faith are taking their cases to the European Court of Human Rights in an attempt to stop infringement on the right to exercise their faith.

Secular critics of the four Christians are saying that if their right to practice their faith is upheld, it could “seriously undermine” UK equality laws. All four cases were submitted separately to the Court but are going to be heard together. Continue reading →

European Union Could Face Credit Downgrade

The European Union’s Aaa credit rating became endangered on Tuesday when credit ratings agency Moody’s changed the EU’s outlook to “negative.” Moody’s attributed the move to the negative outlook on ratings connected to the EU’s most key contributors to income.

Earlier this year, Moody’s placed Germany, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom into a negative economic outlook meaning those individual countries could soon face a downgrade in their credit status. All four countries currently have a Aaa rating. Continue reading →

EU Moves Closer To Centralized Budgeting

European Union officials announced that the group has moved closer to creating a central European treasury that would be able to override the individual budgets of member nations. The system would essentially create a government entity in Brussels that would have power over the economies of all member nations.

Several leaders in the EU want the debts of individual member nations to be guaranteed by all the members of the Eurozone instead of each member being individually a problem on the system like Greece and Spain have been in the last year. Continue reading →