EURCP NEWS 10JULY2010

EUROPEAN PRAYER WALL EDITION

EU PARLIAMENT ADJUSTMENT*Parliament banking tax*EU GREEK CORRUPTION* EU UK DIPLOMACY*UK VOTING REFORM*EU GERMAN STRONGER LEADERSHIP*ITALY LANGUAGE *US ISRAEL TENSIONS*AFGHANISTAN NEART OF DARKNESS FOR THE STROOPS*

NOW TWICE A MONTH –  short copy 10^th of MO and MO.1/ MO2.]

[EU Review and Call to Prayer, Targeted Prayer Ministries] –Prepared by Hugh & Norma Davis 

Calling Christians in Europe to pray...before it’s too late [you have authority [ "... that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made…for kings and all who are in authority“ (1 Tim. 2:1-2 and Matt 6:33) :WEB http://euprayer.com/    

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CENTRE-RIGHT LOSING GROUND IN EU PARLIAMENT

http://euobserver.com/9/30408/?rk=1

The survey called the Liberal group the "kingmaker" of the EU parliament (Photo: European Parliament)

ANDREW RETTMAN

02.07.2010 @ 09:30 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The centre-right European People's Party (EPP) group in the European Parliament is losing ground despite winning the last elections, a new study of voting patterns says. The EPP has been on the winning side in parliament 93 percent of the time, voting Yes or No when the majority of MEPs voted Yes or No, in the 792 votes that took place in the past year, the survey, carried out by academics in the VoteWatch project, said.

The level is the same as in the assembly's previous sitting. But in the meantime, the Liberal group has moved into first place (97%) while the centre-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group has gone up from 90 percent to 92 percent.

The developments come despite the fact the EPP was the biggest winner in last year's elections. The group won 265 seats compared to 268 last time around. But it would have had 290 seats if the British Conservatives had not walked away to form a new anti-federalist grouping in the chamber. The S&D lost 16 seats last year and the Liberals lost thre.

PRAY THAT THE CHRSITAN INFLUENCE REMAINS STRONG AND GROWS

EU PARLIAMENT

EUROPE IMPOSES CAPS ON BANKER BONUSES

http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/finance-economy-pay.5gy

07 July 2010, 17:17 CET

— filed under: finance, bonus, pay, banking, Headline1, regulate, economy

(STRASBOURG) - The European Parliament on Wednesday sounded the death knell for unrestricted banker bonuses, blamed in part for causing the global financial crisis, approving limits from January.MPs said the limits showed the EU was leading the way on one of the most contentious reforms proposed to prevent a repetition of the financial crisis which brought the global economy to its knees.The banking industry, for its part, has warned that the restrictions could hurt Europe's competitiveness to the benefit of rival financial centres from Wall Street to Hong Kong.Pascal Canfin, a Green MP from France, said that the caps on bonuses imposed by the European Parliament were "the most ambitious in the world" and would end "extravagant bonuses synonymous with extravagant risks."

The new EU rules will mean a far lower proportion of cash in the bonus, with much less payable up-front. Remaining sums would be "contingent" on subsequent company performance as well as directly linked to salaries.From January 2011, 60 percent of bonuses should be variable and for future payment only, with at least 40 percent of such revenue locked away for three years, according to the legislative text.Cash payments are capped at up to 30 percent of the total bonus."The EU is leading the way in curbing unsound remuneration practices in banks," said EU financial services commissioner Michel Barnier."Banks will need to change radically their practices and the mentality that have led in many cases to excessive risk-taking and contributed to the financial crisis," he said.

The European Parliament voted 594-24 in favour of the legislation, which followed a deal between EU member states and lawmakers on June 30."Financial experts agree that a high-risk, short-term bonus culture, combined with a lack of capital, were at the heart of the global financial crisis in 2008," said British Labour European MP Arlene McCarthy.  "Despite claims by the banks that they have learned lessons, they have actually increased salaries and bonuses as a proportion of revenues," she said."When governments are cutting budgets and people suffer reduced services and support, we cannot accept a banking culture that puts pay and perks above sustaining capital and credit for Europe's economic recovery."

The banking community has warned that the measures could reduce the competitiveness of the European financial sector."We believe the agreement goes too far because at the international level, there are already some principles" in the form of recommendations made by the Financial Stability Board, Guido Ravoet, secretary-general of the European Banking Federation, said recently."We believe that this is not up to public authorities to put in place figures, percentages," said Ravoet, who advocates self-regulation by banks.

PRAY FOR THE EU PARLIAMENT THAT ITD MAY SET THE RIGHT LEGISLATION FOR THE EU BANKS

EU GOV ECONOMICS

 GREEK CORRUPTION WORTH €800 MILLION A YEAR

http://euobserver.com/9/30398/?rk=1

VALENTINA POP

02.07.2010 @ 09:27 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - With Greece feeling the pressure from member states, the EU commission and the IMF to get a grip on its public spending, a transparency watchdog has estimated that the cost of bribes paid out by Greek citizens for public and private services is at least €800 million a year.Paying bribes is part of everyday life in Greece (Photo: Aster-oid) "Corruption is one of the main reasons why we have this economic crisis in Greece. It's not the only one, but it's a very important one," Aris Syngros, head of Transparency International's office in Greece, said on Thursday (1 July) during a hearing in the European Parliament.

He presented the results of a survey carried out in the second half of 2009 which puts the cost of day-to-day corruption between €717 million and €857 million, an increase by some €40 million compared to results published a year before.

The calculation is based on telephone interviews with a sample of 6,122 individuals, carried out between July and December 2009.The survey shows that the public sector in Greece is the most prone to corruption, with 9.3 percent of households reporting that they were asked to pay a bribe in order to speed up administrative processes, get fair treatment in hospitals or avoid a penalty for traffic offences. The average bribe paid in 2009 for public services was €1,355.But private companies and services also ask for bribes, as 5.3 percent of the people who participated in the survey admitted to have paid an average €1,671 to the private sector.

PRAY FOR THE GREEK GOVERNMENT AND AN INCREASE IN RESISTING INTERNAL CORRUPTION

EU UK  GOVERNMENT

HAGUE REASSERTS ROLE OF DIPLOMACY

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cf210026-8523-11df-9c2f-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=rss

By James Blitz in London

Published: July 1 2010 16:50 | Last updated: July 1 2010 19:41

William Hague warned on Thursday that deep cuts to the Foreign Office budget in the spending review would damage the country’s prosperity, arguing that economic recovery depends on “looking beyond our shores for new opportunities and new partners”. In his first keynote speech since becoming foreign secretary, Mr Hague set out “an ambitious approach” to diplomacy, conceding that the UK will have to fight harder if it is to maintain influence and build durable relationships in a changing world.

Seven weeks after the governing coalition took office, Mr Hague made an effort to ditch the Conservatives’ Eurosceptic tone, saying he would promote a “distinctive foreign policy that is active in Europe and across the world”.He put particular emphasis on the need to have more “bright British officials” in senior jobs at the European Commission, ar-guing that the previous government had “failed to give due weight to the development of British influence in the EU”. But as the Foreign and Commonwealth Office prepares for budget cuts that could be at least 25 per cent over the next three years, one of Mr Hague’s messages was that a major reduction in spending on international diplomacy risked undermining UK trade and economic growth.

PRAY FOR THE NEW  UK FOREIGN MINISTER AND HIS SETTING OF NEW POLICIES

. EU NATION UK

BRITAIN MUST INCREASE EU INFLUENCE, SAYS WILLIAM HAGUE

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/7865638/Britain-must-increase-EU-influence-says-WIlliam-Hague.html

Published: 10:41AM BST 01 Jul 2010

Britain will seek to increase the country's influence in the European Union by putting forward more candidates for roles in Brussels, William Hague said. The Foreign Secretary said relations with the EU were crucial and had been neglected under the previous 13 years of Labour rule. The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition has worked constructively with its European partners, surprising those who had expected a strongly Eurosceptic stance, he added.

Tony Blair faces disappointment in bid to become European Union's president"It is mystifying to us that the previous government failed to give due weight to the exercise of British influence in the EU," Hague said in the speech. "They neglected to ensure that sufficient numbers of bright British officials entered EU institutions, and so we now face a generation gap developing in the British presence in parts of the EU," he said. The number of British officials at director level in the EU Commission had fallen by a third since 2007 and Britain was sharply under-represented at junior official level, he said. "We are determined to put this right," he said. Hague also said Britain had an "unbreakable alliance" with the United States.  He also noted that diplomacy could play a key role in supporting Britain's economy, which is slowly recovering from recession.

PRAY FOR WILLIAM HAUGE AS FOREIGN POLICY LEADER IN THE UK

EU NATION UK

[UK] VOTING REFORM REFERENDUM SET FOR MAY 5 [2011]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/62031c56-85c6-11df-990c-00144feabdc0.html

By George Parker and Kiran Stacey

Published: July 2 2010 03:00 | Last updated: July 2 2010 13:13

A referendum on voting reform that will be a crucial test of the Con-Lib coalition will be held on May 5 next year, Nick Clegg, Liberal Democrat leader, will announce next week. Voting reform was one of the biggest stumbling blocks in creating Britain’s first coalition government in 65 years after an inconclusive election in May ended 13 years of Labour rule. David Cameron, Conservative prime minister, had long opposed any reform, but said after the election he would compromise and agree to a referendum, in spite of opposition from within his own party, in order to form a stable government. May 5 – a date which coincides with elections in Scotland and Wales and some local councils in England – has long been his favoured choice for the referendum on whether to switch to the alternative vote system for the election of MPs.  The Lib Dems support the switch. Tory MPs will be whipped to vote for the referendum, but will then be free to campaign against it and in favour of retaining the existing first-past-the-post system, which has marginalised the Lib Dems in previous elections.

EU NATION  GERMANY MERKEL

MERKEL’S ALLIES CALL FOR STRONGER LEADERSHIP

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3d029ba6-8540-11df-9c2f-00144feabdc0.html

By Quentin Peel in Berlin

Published: July 1 2010 23:15 | Last updated: July 1 2010 23:15

Leading members of Angela Merkel’s centre-right government in Germany on Thursday called for stronger leadership and a clearer sense of direction from the chancellor, after a revolt by party delegates during the election of a new federal president.The three parties in the ruling coalition sought to close ranks after the hard-fought vote, which saw Christian Wulff, the government candidate, forced to go through three rounds in a specially constituted federal assembly before he gained a clear majority.

The coalition has failed to seize the opportunity of making a new start,” said Stanislaw Tillich, premier of the federal state of Saxony, and a leading member of Ms Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union.Horst Seehofer, premier of the southern state of Bavaria and leader of the Christian Social Union, sister party of the CDU, called for stronger leadership, coded criticism of Ms Merkel and Guido Westerwelle, her vice-chancellor and leader of the liberal Free Democratic party. The rebellion by up to 44 members of the ruling parties during the election of Mr Wulff surprised most commentators, and was interpreted as a concerted effort to send a message of dissatisfaction to Ms Merkel. Mr Seehofer said that the coalition parties could not simply “return to the current agenda”.

PRAY FOR CHANCELLOR MERKEL AND GOD’S GUIDANCE FOR THIS STERONG CHRISTIAN LEADER IN THE EU.

EU NATION ITALY

ITALIAN MINISTER SLAMS THREE-LANGUAGE EU PATENT PROPOSAL

    http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/italy-industry.5f7

02 July 2010, 16:12 CET

— filed under: Headline1, patent, industry, Italy

(ROME) - An Italian minister deemed "not acceptable" a European Commission proposal to grant EU patents only in French, German and English in order to rein in costs for companies operating in the EU."We are open to a solution based on a single language, English, which would represent a true simplification... and would be politically acceptable," EU affairs minister Andrea Ronchi said in a statement.

Europe's financial services chief Michel Barnier on Thursday presented a proposal for all EU patents to be examined and granted solely in the three languages.Currently, patent holders need to submit translations of the patents in the language of each EU country they want their patents approved in.

The proposal "will not receive Italy's consent, and I don't think it will just be Italy," Ronchi said, adding that the new system would harm Italian businesses.The validation of a patent in 13 EU countries can cost as much as 20,000 euros (25,000 dollars) because of translations costing almost 14,000 euros"This makes a European patent more than 10 times more expensive than an American patent," the European Commission said in a statement.

PRAY FOR A FAIR RESOLUTION OF THIS QUESTION

ISRAEL

POLITICAL THEATRE MASKS US-ISRAEL TENSIONS

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/middle_east/10537613.stm

Page last updated at 11:23 GMT, Wednesday, 7 July 2010 12:23 UK

E-mail this to a friend Printable version By Jeremy Bowen

BBC Middle East editor

  The US has been very publicly making up with Israel after a bitter falling-out in March After their meeting at the White House, President Barack Obama walked his guest, the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, to his limousine.

The solicitous host waited, slightly awkwardly, as Mr Netanyahu settled himself into the back seat. Immaculately uniformed servicemen stood rigidly to attention on either side of the vehicle. And then the video ended, before you could see whether Mr Obama waved until his new pal was out of sight. Actually he was only staying a few minutes walk away, at the official guest quarters, Blair House. But it was time to bring the curtain down on the final scene in the day's political theatre. Continue reading the main story In the age of political spin, it is always useful to counter criticism by exaggerating it Jeremy Bowen

PRAY FOR ISRAEL AND ITS REIGHTFUL PLACE IN GOD’S KINGDOM AND THE WORLDS ORDER

AFGHANISTAN

TROOPS CALL IT THE HEART OF DARKNESS, THE SPIRITUAL HOME OF THE TALIBAN

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/7868176/Troops-call-it-the-Heart-of-Darkness-the-spiritual-home-of-the-Taliban.html

By Ben Farmer with 101st Airborne Division in Zhari district

Published: 10:00PM BST 02 Jul 2010

US forces are taking on the insurgents in their own back yard in Zhari district, reports Ben Farmer with the 101st Airborne Division.  American soldiers 101st Airborne Division rest during a dawn patrol into mountains overlooking Zhari district of Kandahar swept the young private's face as the armoured convoy pulled off the road and moved behind the outpost's sandbags. "Welcome what we call to the Heart of Darkness, or the Alamo," he said and spat as he made safe the turret-mounted machine gun at the end of a tense five-minute drive.

Afghans armed to protect villages in new American initiativeGeneral David McKiernan: Taliban have achieved stalemate in AfghanistanTwo convoys travelling to the combat outpost in the Pashmul area of Zhari district had been attacked the previous day. The craters left in the giant sandbagged perimeter by rocket propelled grenades were clearly visibly. American soldiers arriving in Kandahar for this summer's long-awaited operation to secure Afghanistan's second city have found a well-prepared enemy.

PRAY FOR THE TROOPS FIGHJTING IN AFGHANISTAN AND FOR A CERTAIN DEFEAT OF THE TERRORISTS