EU-Staaten streiten über Flüchtlingsrettung vor Libyen

Die Bilanz der EU-Außenminister zur Flüchtlingskrise fällt ernüchternd aus. In diesem Jahr haben schon Zehntausende von Libyen aus die Überfahrt nach Europa gewagt. Italien sieht sich inzwischen an der Kapazitätsgrenze.

Paris und Berlin sagen Italien Hilfe in Flüchtlingskrise zu

Wegen stark gestiegener Flüchtlingszahlen hat Italien Alarm geschlagen und mehr europäische Unterstützung verlangt. Nun sichern die Innenminister Deutschlands und Frankreichs Italien "ihre entschlossene Solidarität" zu.

EU must help fund Balkan flood relief effort, European Parliament President Schulz says

The collective solidarity that inspired cross-border rescue and relief efforts in the aftermath of the May 2014 floods in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Croatia must be matched by EU aid and funding, European Parliament President Martin Schulz said on July 14 at the opening of the EP’s July II session.

Many lives were lost in the floods, which forced the evacuation of 150 000 people in Croatia and washed away an entire quarter of the Bulgarian city of Varna. Agriculture and the regional economy would take many years to recover, Schulz said.

Syria: UN agency urges Europe to shoulder more of refugee challenge

 UN, 11 July 2014 – With Syria heading into its fourth year of conflict, a United Nations agency today called on Europe to do more to help Syrian refugees, after a new report found that some nations in the region are turning back asylum seekers and ‘shouldering only a small part’ of the challenges.

“In fact, they are minuscule and represent only four per cent of Syrian refugees,” UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) spokesperson Melissa Fleming told journalists in Geneva in reference to the Syrian refugee figure in Europe.

Syria condemns terrorism in Iraq amid insurgent advances

Syria on Wednesday condemned the "terrorist" acts currently taking place in neighboring Iraq, expressing support for the Iraqi government's counter-terrorism campaign just a day after insurgents overtook a major Iraqi city, according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

"We stress that what brotherly Iraq is confronting, is the same foreign-backed terrorism facing Syria," the ministry said in a statement carried by the official SANA news agency.

The Syrian ministry urged "all countries to work hard to dry up the terrorism sources."

Russian Orthodox church helps flood victims in Serbia

Over the past two days Belgrade cathedrals have received 47 tons of humanitarian aid and turned it over to the people who need it...

The Russian Orthodox church has organized assistance to flood victims in Serbia. On Tuesday a group of Russian Orthodox volunteers have left for Serbia. First, they intend to buy relief supplies in Belgrade and then deliver the humanitarian cargoes to the flood-stricken territories, a source from a charity department of the Russian Orthodox church said on Tuesday.

European Commission welcomes adoption of temporary tariff cuts for Ukrainian exports to the EU

European Commission, Brussels, 14 April 2014
Statement by EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht:
"I'm very pleased that the EU's Foreign Affairs Council has today adopted the Commission's proposal for autonomous trade measures providing tariff preferences for Ukraine. This decision not only expresses our solidarity with the Ukrainian people. It also shows that the EU is willing and capable to take immediate steps to improve the situation of our Eastern neighbours.

Today's decision follows the European Parliament's overwhelming support for this proposal at its plenary session of 2-3 April. The regulation can now be signed into law in the coming days, a record under the ordinary legislative procedure.

Moscow Outraged with Bulgaria's Soviet Army Monument Vandalism. -Painted in solidarity with Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Ministry has expressed indignation at another case of vandalism of the Soviet Army monument in Bulgaria's capital city of Sofia.

The Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been given a letter of protest demanding "a thorough investigation of the vandal incident, indicting the perpetrators and taking the necessary measures to maintain the monument presentable," ITAR-TASS news agency reports.

On the night of 22 February the Soviet Army monument in Sofia was painted in solidarity with Ukraine.

Migrants: MEPs endorse search and rescue rules to prevent further deaths at sea

Binding rules on search and rescue to clarify how border guards serving in Frontex sea operations should deal with migrants and where they should disembark them were approved by the Civil Liberties Committee on Thursday. The rules were informally agreed by Parliament and Council negotiators on 11 February.

"Our key aims have been met: we have mandatory rules on search and rescue operations and on the identification of migrants intercepted at sea; we have deleted the possibility of ‘pushback’ on the high seas and we have strengthened the ‘non-refoulement’ principle. These new rules will enable Frontex to respond more effectively and to prevent deaths at sea", said rapporteur Carlos Coelho (EPP, PT).

A sign of solidarity

FFO, 9/1/14
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier arrives in Greece today to continue his series of official visits to European partners. At the start of Greece’s EU Council Presidency, the Foreign Minister will meet a range of high-ranking representatives from the fields of politics, business and civil society for discussions in order to see the situation in the country for himself and to show solidarity with the people in Greece.

Außenminister Steinmeier sagte am Tag vor seiner Reise nach Athen zu Spiegel Online (08.01.2014)

AA, 8/1/14 
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Die Griechen durchleben schwere Zeiten. Die Regierung von Premierminister Sa maras und Außenminister Venizelos hat sich ein ehrgeiziges Reformprogramm vorgenommen. In wenigen Jahren muss das nachgeholt werden, was über Jahrzehnte liegen geblieben ist.
 
Die Fortschritte dieser Modernisierung im Zeitraffer sind unübersehbar, die damit verbundenen sozialen Härten aber auch. Es ist noch ein langer Weg zu gehen.

Spaniards seek free food as soaring costs bring cruel Christmas

After dropping off her children at school in Barcelona, Esmerelda Ingles eats out for breakfast, not at one of the Spanish Mediterranean city's swanky cafes but at a soup kitchen.
The 31-year-old mother of three survives the winter on free food, as the soaring cost of heating her family's home is devouring her meagre budget.
Each morning Ingles joins around 100 other diners -- drug addicts, the homeless, unemployed families and battered wives -- at the Caliu centre, a church-run soup kitchen operated by volunteers in the city's humble district of Horta.

All eyes on Taksim as crowds start to gather for meeting at 7 pm

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Crowds are gathering in Istanbul’s Taksim square on a call from the Taksim Solidarity Platform for a meeting at 7 p.m. following an all-day police intervention in central Istanbul.

The platform, an initiative organized to prevent a development project in Istanbul’s Taksim Gezi Park, has called on everyone to support the ongoing protest at Gezi Park.

The platform voiced its concerns over the police intervention at Taksim and Gezi Park today, saying that none of the protesters demands had been realized by now, in a statement posted on its Facebook page.

Reparationszahlungen: Was Deutschland meinem Land heute noch schuldet (Brief an die "Welt" - von Manolis Glezos)

Ein griechischer Kriegsheld stößt sich am Unwissen vieler Deutscher. Sie seien sich nicht klar über die moralische Verpflichtung des Landes zu Reparationen. 
Ein persönlicher Brief an die "Welt"-Leser.  

[Von Manolis Glezos]

In diesem September werde ich 91 Jahre alt. Ich beginne, diesen Text zu schreiben, auf den Tag genau 72 Jahre, nachdem ich die Deutschen in Athen einmarschieren sah, voll bewaffnet, mit Motorrädern und Autos. Es war der 27. April 1941. Die meisten Leser der "Welt" waren damals noch nicht geboren. Aber ich war schon 19 Jahre alt. Ich habe daher keine Zeit für Lügen oder Halbwahrheiten.

Δήμαρχος Αμβούργου: «Η Ελλάδα αξίζει την αλληλεγγύη μας»

«Η Ελλάδα αξίζει την αλληλεγγύη μας», δηλώνει ο αναπληρωτής πρόεδρος των Γερμανών Σοσιαλδημοκρατών και δήμαρχος του Αμβούργου Όλαφ Σολτς και τονίζει ότι «η Ελλάδα δεν πρέπει να οδηγηθεί εκτός νομισματικής ένωσης, ούτε από τα λόγια των Γερμανών πολιτικών».

Σε συνέντευξη που παραχωρεί στην «Welt am Sonntag», ο κ. Σολτς παραπέμπει στην Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση για την απάντηση στο ερώτημα της επιμήκυνσης του ελληνικού προγράμματος, επισημαίνει πάντως ότι «η Ελλάδα πρέπει να προσφέρει μια ανταπόδοση για την αλληλεγγύη που λαμβάνει», αναφερόμενος στην σταθεροποίηση των δημόσιων οικονομικών, την μεγαλύτερη φορολογική εντιμότητα και την λειτουργική διοίκηση.