Political Briefing #40/2017

Published in

EuVisions

5 min readMay 25, 2017

POLITICS & POLICY

After the Manchester attacks, the electoral campaign for the snap elections of June are making headlines in the UK. Although most of the political parties decided to resume their campaign efforts on Friday 26, the United Kingdom Independence Party announced it will launch its electoral manifesto on Thursday. The party leader, Paul Nuttall justified the breach saying that UK citizens “can not allow their life to be undermined by those who wish to do us harm”.

Meanwhile, a new report cast light on the feelings of UK citizens with reference to immigration in the country. The Aurora Humanitarian Index survey showed that more than half of Britons think that national culture is threatened by ethnic minorities. One out of four said think that immigrants take jobs away from natives.

In France, the legislative elections set for next June are under the spotlight. According to recent polls, The Republic On The Move (LREM) movement of the new French President, Emmanuel Macron, is set to gain about 30% of the vote. The numbers show a substantial rise in support for the Macron, from previously 22%. Meanwhile, the leader of the Front National, Marine Le Pen, announced that she will be candidate in the Northern district Pas-de-Calais.

Macron met with social partners at the Élysée Palace to discuss his intentions to reform the labour market. Earlier this week the European Commission (EC) stressed the need for the French government to address the policy domain. More specifically, the EC said that authorities need to do more to include second generation migrants and low-skilled workers in the labour market.

In other news, the destiny of the European integration process makes the headlines in Italy, Germany and in Brussels. On Tuesday, Germany’s Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble claimed that any “treaty-reform”, at this stage, would be “unrealistic”. On the occasion of the European Business Summit, Schäuble said that incremental steps via ad-hoc agreements among national governments. Moreover, the German Finance Minister blasted reform proposals previously forwarded by his Spanish colleague, Luis De Guindos. During the meeting, De Guindos said that “the Eurozone most move forward towards common debt management”, EurActiv reports.

Meanwhile, in an interview for Euractiv, former Minsiter of Infrastructure and Trasports of Italy, Graziano Delrio rounded on the German economic policy. “German austerity has weakened” Europe, Delrio said. Moreover, Delrio blasted the French-German axis claiming that the especially France prefers to strike deals with Berlin, rather than with the rest of Member states.

The refugee crisis continues to be one of the main concerns of politicians and institutions across Europe. On Thursday, 34 migrants died trying to cross the Mediterranean as a boat that carried about 200 person sank near Libya. Since the beginning of the year, more than 50,000 persons reached European borders. According to Italian authorities the numbers point to another year of massive immigration.

In Denmark, the radical right-wing, Dänische Volkspartei (DF),called for national institutions to close the borders with Germany along the border with the German state region, Schleswig Holstein. An MEP of the party, Anders Primdahl Vistisen, made the claim in the European Parliament, saying that Hungary’s policies on the matter represent a blueprint.

THE STATEMENT

“A well calibrated environmental policy could raise the growth rates of G20 Member States by almost 3% by 20150”.

OECD

Source: Le Monde, 24.05.2017

NUMBERS

13,200£

The level of hosehold debt in the UK, according to an anlysis of the Trade Union Confederation (TUC). The level is only 100£ short of record values registered at the brink of the financial crisis.

Source: The Guardian, 25.05.2017

Photo Credits CC European Parliament