ITALY

                                                 
                                                            ROME

                          
                          
                          
                          



                                                            FLORENCE

                          
                                    
                         

                                                    VENICE


                         
                         
                              




                       
                         

UNITED KINDOM

                                  

ENGLAND

LONDON

 

 

SCOTLAND 

EDINBURGH

 

 

 

 

IRELAND

 

 

 

SPAIN

  

                         

MADRID 

                                

     BARCELONA

 

ANDALUCÍA 

 

Crimea Votes To Join Russia, European Union Imposes Sanctions

 The United States and the European Union imposed sanctions including asset freezes and travel bans on a small group of officials from Russia and Ukraine after Crimea applied to join Russia on Monday following a weekend referendum.
Crimea's leaders declared a Soviet-style 97-percent result in favour of seceding from Ukraine in a vote condemned as illegal by Kiev and the West.
The Crimean parliament formally proposed that Russia "admit the Republic of Crimea as a new subject with the status of a republic". Russian President Vladimir Putin will address a special joint session of the Russian parliament on the issue on Tuesday, aides said.
The move would dismember Ukraine against its will, escalating the most serious East-West crisis since the end of the Cold War.
Russian forces took control of Crimea in late February following the toppling of Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich after deadly clashes between riot police and protestors trying to overturn his decision to spurn a trade and cooperation deal with the EU and seek closer ties with Russia.
U.S. President Barack Obama imposed sanctions on 11 Russians and Ukrainians blamed for the military seizure, including Yanukovich, and Vladislav Surkov and Sergei Glazyev, two aides to Putin.
Putin himself, suspected in the West of trying to resurrect as much as possible of the former Soviet Union under Russian leadership, was not on the blacklist.
Amid fears that Russia might move into eastern Ukraine, Obama warned Moscow at a White House press briefing that what he called further provocations would only increase Russia's isolation and exact a greater toll on its economy.
"If Russia continues to interfere in Ukraine, we stand ready to impose further sanctions," he said.
A senior U.S. official said Obama's order cleared the way to sanction people associated with the arms industry and targets "the personal wealth of cronies" of the Russian leadership.
In Brussels, the EU's 28 foreign ministers agreed to subject 21 Russian and Ukrainian officials to visa restrictions and asset freezes for their roles in the events.
The EU did not immediately publish the names. Washington and Brussels said more measures could follow in the coming days if Russia does not back down and formally annexes Crimea.
A senior Obama administration official said there was "concrete evidence" that some ballots in the Crimea referendum arrived in some Crimean cities pre-marked.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who was named on the White House sanctions list, suggested that the measures would not affect those without assets abroad.



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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/17/crimea-votes-russia_n_4978631.html

European Comisioners support Central Africa

European Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs, will today announce €81 million of new EU support to the Central African Republic (CAR) during a joint visit to the country with French Minister for Development, Pascal Canfin, and German Minister for Cooperation, Gerd Müller (on 13 – 14 March). The amount will help restore basic social services and livelihoods; particularly in the areas of education, health, and food security and nutrition.

Ahead of his arrival, Commissioner Piebalgs said: "The Central African Republic and its people are facing unprecedented challenges, and it is more important than ever that we act now to put in place the foundations for stability and future development¨.

British PM sets out priorities for European Union reform

British Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday outlined the EU reforms he thinks are needed to stop Britain being "sucked into a United States of Europe", ahead of a planned referendum on membership in 2017. 
The Conservative leader said he would campaign for Britain to stay in the European Union so long as he can secure changes to reduce the bloc's influence in British affairs. 
In an article in the Sunday Telegraph newspaper, Cameron outlined for the first time his seven priorities, ranging from cutting back red tape to limiting the rights of new EU citizens to work in Britain. 
He warned the changes would require "time and patience", an appeal to eurosceptic members of his party who are demanding an even tougher approach to Europe. 
"It will require a negotiation with our European partners. Some changes will best be achieved by alterations to the European treaties. Others can be achieved by different means." 
He stressed the reforms were achievable, despite the apparent lack of enthusiasm from Britain's EU allies to renegotiating the 28-nation bloc's complex treaties. 
During recent visits to London, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was cool on Cameron's reform agenda and French President Francois Hollande said outright that treaty change was "not a priority". 
Outlining his priorities, Cameron said Brussels should not always be seeking to take power from national governments, and said national parliaments should be able to work together to block unwanted EU legislation. 
He said businesses should be freed from EU red tape, and British police and the courts should be able to operate without "unnecessary interference" from European institutions. 
Cameron repeated his call for restrictions on the rights of EU migrants to claim welfare outside their home countries, and of citizens of new, poorer EU member states to work in places such as Britain. 
Finally, he said he wanted to free Britain from any obligation towards an ever closer union of EU nations. 
"People are worried that Britain is being sucked into a United States of Europe. That may be what some others want, but it is not for us," Cameron wrote. 
The referendum will only take place if Cameron is re-elected next year, after the leaders of the other two main parties at Westminster refused to back his pledge. 
Cameron made the promise last year under pressure from Tory eurosceptics and the anti-EU, anti-immigration UK Independence Party (UKIP), which is tipped to come first in Britain in elections for the European Parliament in May.

Ukraine live: EU foreign ministers working joint response to Russia

European Union foreign ministers are working on a joint response to Russia's military incursion in Ukraine's Crimean peninsula that could include economic sanctions. The 28 foreign ministers are holding an emergency meeting on Ukraine Monday to discuss what Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called "Europe's most dramatic crisis" since the end of the Cold War. Irish Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore said sanctions against Russia are an "option" that will be discussed. Several other ministers, however, cautioned the focus for now should be on diplomacy and forging a direct dialogue between Russia and the new leadership in Ukraine to deescalate the situation. Spain's foreign minister, Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo, said discussions are also underway on convening an emergency summit of EU leaders Thursday.




Read more at: http://www.firstpost.com/world/ukraine-live-eu-foreign-ministers-working-joint-response-to-russia-1416895.html?utm_source=ref_article

ELENA VALENCIANO, A SPANISH POLICITIAN CANDIDATE TO THE EUROPEAN´S ELECTIONS.

Elena Valenciano, Deputy Secretary-General and number one of the PSOE for the European elections, has urged the European Socialist leaders to focus employment as its main objective, especially to alleviate youth unemployment.So Valeciano has expressed it in his speech at the panel leaders 'Europe' that progress: "we won't stand a new generation if young European people keep away from us and the project of the Union. Europe will not hold, if the young europeans citiziens look us with suspicion; that should be the main cause of this campaign".Valenciano also believes that we should create jobs at any price. According to her, we must create wage employment: "the dignity of the workers is not only employment, is also a living wage. Those are flags, and the Europeanism and socialism are the tools to achieve this."For the Socialist, the right has increased the social divide: "It has helped expand fractures, which are not already bound in countries rich and poor, North or South. It is a fracture already citizens towards the policy, a democratic split, the worst that we have to combat."Why Valencia has appealed to the unity of all the countries of the European Union: "we should all be together and be strong because the risk is real. The European Union can begin to disintegrate".



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