Angela Merkel in the Bundestag on Friday. Photo: DPA German lawmakers gave Chancellor Angela Merkel the green light to negotiate a new bailout deal for Greece as EU members approved on Friday a 7-billion-euro bridge loan for the cash-strapped state. European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis told reporters in Brussels that all 28 EU member states had no agreed on the short term loan of 7.16 billion euros ($7.8 billion) to Greece. The loan, to be given through the EFSM rescue fund, will allow Greece to make a critical payment of 4.2 billion euros due Monday to the European Central Bank needed to keep the country in the euro. The short-term loan should allow Greece to make its international debt payments for a month while negotiations are wrapped up on a new 86-billion-euro bailout package. Those negotiations received a fillip when German lawmakers gave their approval to the talks. Merkel, who like Greece's hard-left Prime … [Read more...] about Schäuble ‘destroying the European idea’
European
Reader’s Digest names Minder European of year
Thomas Minder. Photo: Trybol Swiss politician and businessman Thomas Minder was on Tuesday named European of the Year for 2014 by Reader's Digest for his battle against “abusive” salaries paid to company executives. The publication praised Minder for his engagement in battling “fat cat” pay packets for top managers in Switzerland. Swiss voters last March approved Minder’s initiative to ban golden parachutes and advance payments to top managers of Swiss companies, while requiring shareholders to give an annual binding vote on pay for senior execs. With his campaign, the senator from Schaffhausen succeeded in making executive pay the subject of an important debate at the European level, while giving more power to shareholders, Reader’s Digest said in a statement. Minder’s initiative was backed by 68 percent of the Swiss electorate in a referendum after the politician waged a successful campaign that was opposed by the federal … [Read more...] about Reader’s Digest names Minder European of year
Swiss scrap social aid for European job seekers
Federal parliament buildings in Bern. Photo: Admin.ch Bern moved on Wednesday to scrap aid for European jobhunters, as rapidly rising immigration to the country fueled fears of "benefits tourism". EU citizens as well as those from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway "who come to Switzerland to look for work will have no right to social assistance," the Federal Office for Migration said in a statement. … [Read more...] about Swiss scrap social aid for European job seekers
European court to rule on denial of aided suicide
European Court of Human Rights. Photo: Wikimedia Commons The top chamber of the European rights court will rule in a case of denial of assisted suicide, it said on Tuesday after a Swiss woman in her 80s complained she could not obtain permission for a lethal dose of a drug to end her life. In a lower chamber judgement in May, the European Court of Human Rights held that Swiss law does not clearly specify in which cases assisted suicide is authorized, causing ambiguity, and a "considerable degree of anguish" for the applicant. … [Read more...] about European court to rule on denial of aided suicide
Report: Facebook Not Expanding Strict European Privacy Policies to America
Facebook will reportedly not be expanding a strict new European Union privacy law to their worldwide platform. Reuters reports that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has stated that although he agrees “in spirit” with a strict new privacy law from the European Union, the company has no plans to impose these EU rules worldwide — particularly not in the United States. Zuckerberg told Reuters that the company is working on a version of the EU law, which is set to take effect next month, that may bring elements of the law to a worldwide audience, but did not outline which elements of the law would be expanded.“We’re still nailing down details on this, but it should directionally be, in spirit, the whole thing,” said Zuckerberg. Based on Zuckerberg’s comments, many American Facebook users may not receive the same privacy guarantees that European users do. The EU law, titled the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), is one of the biggest … [Read more...] about Report: Facebook Not Expanding Strict European Privacy Policies to America