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KoldPT posted:Without Tavares and Estrela, that statistic's sure to change, unless Marinho Pinto wants to visit neonazis in prison again. João Ferreira is still there, who is the one who most reports have presented, Marisa Matias and Inês Zuber are also busy bees. I'm more worried that Fernando Assis is the worst Portuguese MEP, with zero reports and 65% attendance rate, which makes him one of the worst. Apparently the tuga MEP with the best track record is one Vital Moreira(S&D). Who was also the only one from Portugal to vote in favour of ACTA. Yikes. Apparently not returning.
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Jun 9, 2014 00:42
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Marine Le Pen is having daddy issues. http://www.euronews.com/2014/06/09/marine-le-pen-criticises-own-father-over-anti-semitic-jibe quote:Jean-Marie Le Pen who is the party’s former head has embarrassed his daughter on a video posted on the FN’s website. Some months ago some FN member got the axe for posting anti-Semite comments on facebook, don't think the same will happen with Dad Le Pen.
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Jun 9, 2014 08:23
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Reminder that the FN list headed by Daddy Lepen got 29% of the vote in the South-East constituency. After he made the ebola comments. Kurtofan fucked around with this message at 09:31 on Jun 9, 2014 |
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Jun 9, 2014 09:29
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Ardennes posted:No, having below 1% inflation isn't a good thing, especially when it looks like it heading to zero and that is in the most central (and one of the better performing) economies of the EU. Of course, but I have the impression that's what people Electronico6 posted:Marine Le Pen is having daddy issues.  Our party has totally changed you see, just don't google us for god's sake.
suck my woke dick fucked around with this message at 09:38 on Jun 9, 2014 |
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Jun 9, 2014 09:36
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I CANNOT EJACULATE WITHOUT SEEING NATIVE AMERICANS BRUTALISED!
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quote:the daughter said her father should have known better. What did you expect, Marine? You can't teach new tricks to an old rear end.
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Jun 9, 2014 10:18
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It's scary how much more competent as a politician Marine Le Pen is, compared to her father.
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Jun 9, 2014 10:38
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Torrannor posted:It's scary how much more competent as a politician Marine Le Pen is, compared to her father. It never seemed like a high threshold to cross though...
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Jun 9, 2014 11:03
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Looks like Jean Marie Le Pen is having daughter issues. http://expresso.sapo.pt/jean-marie-le-pen-lembra-a-filha-que-e-o-guia-dela-e-da-fn=f874810 http://www.lemonde.fr/politique/article/2014/06/09/jean-marie-le-pen-replique-a-sa-fille_4434456_823448.html Edit: Now in English! http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27761534 "Daddy Le Pen posted:Mr Le Pen, who handed leadership of the party to his daughter in 2011, has now hit back. He said on Monday he did not know Bruel was Jewish - rather, that the name sounded "Breton" to him. Poor Jean-Marie, what's the world come to when you can't even say to a Jew "We will organise an oven for him next time", and not have your own racist party turning on you. Electronico6 fucked around with this message at 14:50 on Jun 9, 2014 |
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Jun 9, 2014 14:31
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I don't want to defend him, but what he said is kinda lost in translation.quote:« On fera une fournée la prochaine fois. » WordReference posted:
Knowing him, though, it's extremely likely he was making one of these offensive puns he likes so much. But there's enough ambiguity for him to weasel his way out of this one without any trouble, and in the meantime he gets a lot of publicity. His usual modus operandi is then to turn the outcry about his bon mot for a conspiracy to persecute him, so as to score pity points and some sort of "street cred" as an independent free-thinker that "They" try to silence. It's a tactic that has worked well for him in the past, even if he has actually been convicted a few times for hate speech. I thought he was going to stop after passing the reins over to his daughter, but apparently he got bored and resumed business as usual.
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Jun 9, 2014 15:28
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Cat Mattress posted:Knowing him, though, it's extremely likely he was making one of these offensive puns he likes so much. But there's enough ambiguity for him to weasel his way out of this one without any trouble, and in the meantime he gets a lot of publicity. His usual modus operandi is then to turn the outcry about his bon mot for a conspiracy to persecute him, so as to score pity points and some sort of "street cred" as an independent free-thinker that "They" try to silence. It's a tactic that has worked well for him in the past, even if he has actually been convicted a few times for hate speech. I thought he was going to stop after passing the reins over to his daughter, but apparently he got bored and resumed business as usual. If it was offensive or not, is not the most important bit, this was far more tame than the Ebola stuff, or his collection of dumb quotes over the years. The issue is that this time what he believes to be the PC police, is actually the leader of FN, and his own family.
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Jun 9, 2014 15:47
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KoldPT posted:Without Tavares and Estrela, that statistic's sure to change, unless Marinho Pinto wants to visit neonazis in prison again. I wonder if Marinho Pinto will befriend that Polish libertarian dude who hates women.
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Jun 10, 2014 00:46
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There are a few interesting charts here, showing historical yields on 10-year bonds for France, Italy, and Spain. French and Spanish borrowing rates have never been lower than they are right now, and Italian rates are the second-lowest they've ever been. German borrowing costs are also very low (in fact lower than any of these). As a stupid American, I would suggest that this is a great time for fiscal stimulus, which could be used to repair the tattered safety net, repair and upgrade infrastructure, or invest in renewable energy alternatives to lessen your dependence on unstable and sometimes authoritarian governments in Eastern Europe. Since borrowing costs are so low, the government's long-term return on investment is likely to be quite a lot, but even if it's not you would stop hemorrhaging human capital. Oh what's that? You're just going to ignore me and austere harder? Well, I suppose that's been working out well enough for you. Anyway, we'll be out of Afghanistan by 2016, so if you need us to come in again and topple any of the coming fascist governments, try to let our military rest up a bit first. Edit to keep on the thread's topic: Which of the mainstream European parties will be the first to break the Cordon Sanitaire and ally with fascists? I know that parties like the Tories and UMP have been moving towards extreme-right positions, but I mean a full-on, formal alliance. Or would you say that's already happened? Ponsonby Britt fucked around with this message at 01:16 on Jun 10, 2014 |
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Jun 10, 2014 01:14
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There is very limited room for fiscal stimulus. Tax rates are already greatly lower than they were before the Reagan/Thatcher era, and states still have to deal with a huge debt. Pissing money away to make further gifts to the wealthy and large corporations, while rising costs of living and stagnating wages are crushing the lower and lower-middle classes, would achieve nothing except piss off the people even more.
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Jun 10, 2014 08:20
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It is suspected most of those rate decreases are from heavy subsidization ie the ECB (and possibly with aid of the US federal reserve) has been desperate to lower rates because how weak the bond market was and if sovereign bonds went up, they would take most of the European banking system with them...especially in France. That said, if they are willing to intervene in bond markets, they should also be willing to subsidize needed fiscal stimulus. Of course, lower rates were also suppose to mean the "crisis was over" even through growth remains stagnant, unemployment is still very high and government budgets are still in the red. Ardennes fucked around with this message at 08:25 on Jun 10, 2014 |
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Jun 10, 2014 08:22
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Ardennes posted:It is suspected most of those rate decreases are from heavy subsidization ie the ECB (and possibly with aid of the US federal reserve) has been desperate to lower rates because how weak the bond market was and if sovereign bonds went up, they would take most of the European banking system with them...especially in France. Why would the Fed help? It's not like the US is particularly interested in protecting European banks, much to the contrary. Sidenote: that article ends up with this: quote:There is no easy answer to this problem. Diplomatically, it would give a better impression if the US regulators could be seen to be investigating US banks with the same zeal that they show towards European banks. But it is sadly a fact that European banks are a mess and European regulators have been captive and ineffective. Calls for regulatory action to be watered down because of legal differences and concerns about knock-on impacts in European countries, although understandable, do sound very much like special pleading. Cat Mattress fucked around with this message at 09:57 on Jun 10, 2014 |
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Jun 10, 2014 09:37
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It's Hopefully he dead. Edit: Sadly he not dead. Fascism Day carries on. Electronico6 fucked around with this message at 10:58 on Jun 10, 2014 |
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Jun 10, 2014 10:48
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CSM posted:Germany also has high and rising poverty. And large and rising inequality. So at least all that alleged economic prosperity isn't going to the German populace. On the matter of personal wealth in Germany, there was a 2013 study (data mainly from 2010) with results that run counter to the popular image of wealthy Germans as opposed to a wealthy Germany. ""Reuters" posted:Households in many peripheral euro zone countries are on average wealthier than those in the bloc's core, a study published by the European Central Bank on Tuesday showed. So maybe those rich periphery people should send care packages to the citizens of the Northern countries. 
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Jun 10, 2014 14:08
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IIRC, that study didn't consider debt secured against assets and the finding was an artifact arising from the high home ownership rates in the periphery compared to Germany.
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Jun 10, 2014 14:11
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Randler posted:On the matter of personal wealth in Germany, there was a 2013 study (data mainly from 2010) with results that run counter to the popular image of wealthy Germans as opposed to a wealthy Germany.
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Jun 10, 2014 14:15
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In other EU news: Communter trains are going on strike at midsummer in Stockholm as part of an ongoing dispute between the Unions and the Railway companies. It started in Malmö-Copenhagen because private Railway companies basically told everyone they'd have to reapply for their jobs as temps, since they don't want full time employees anymore. This is in spite of the fact that they'd end up working more hours for less pay, with competition from temp agencies with awful job security. Not only is this illegal in the EU, Our PM is entertaining Cameron and Merkel to solve the power struggle regarding whom gets the job of EU Comissioner. And it's not like the economy is doing badly either, fortunately popular support for the strikers is big. Meanwhile Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt asks Angela Merkel for advice so he won't be out of a job after the election...
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Jun 10, 2014 15:44
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Postorder Trollet89 posted:private Railway companies basically told everyone they'd have to reapply for their jobs as temps, since they don't want full time employees anymore. This is in spite of the fact that they'd end up working more hours for less pay, with competition from temp agencies with awful job security. Not only is this illegal in the EU Really?
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Jun 10, 2014 17:06
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Postorder Trollet89 posted:In other EU news: Goddamnit Scandinavia you're supposed to be a bunch of functional progressive welfare states 
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Jun 10, 2014 17:49
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LemonDrizzle posted:IIRC, that study didn't consider debt secured against assets and the finding was an artifact arising from the high home ownership rates in the periphery compared to Germany. And it didnt consider state pensions which make up a considerable part of the wealth of your average middle-class German.
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Jun 10, 2014 19:05
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Cat Mattress posted:Why would the Fed help? It's not like the US is particularly interested in protecting European banks, much to the contrary. The US has a vested interest in slowing a full sovereign debt meltdown though.
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Jun 10, 2014 22:02
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Cat Mattress posted:Really? It's not allowed no, and Sweden has been embarassed several times by being reprimended by the EU comission for this since it was introduced in 2007. Temp employment stacking is everywhere but is by far the worst in the restauraunt/retail industry. The way the law works now you can hire someone as a temp for 4-12 weeks, fire them and rehire them indefinitely. It's a major Issue for this election and reinfelds Coalition is under by almost 15-20% in every opinion poll thus far and the Social Democrats have promised to "Butcher" that law. VICE did a good report about temp labour abuse in warehouses in the US: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbqD6ARCGNE Our situation is similar but we still have collective bargining ensuring decent hourly wages atleast. Postorder Trollet89 fucked around with this message at 22:17 on Jun 10, 2014 |
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Jun 10, 2014 22:14
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Postorder Trollet89 posted:Our situation is similar but we still have collective bargining ensuring decent hourly wages atleast. Kinda but kinda not. For example I worked in logistics last year (on an hourly contract) and earned about 132kr an hour with no work experience and no truck assigment in accordance with the collective bargaining contracts set between the union Transport and my workplace. However if you're hired trough a temp agency (as one of my friends has been for the past year) a significant chunk of that hourly wage is pocketed by the temp agency. You could be doing the same work, under the same conditions, in the same numbers of hours and still earn significantly less just because you were hired trough a temp agency. EDIT: That's not even mentioning how our unions are steadily getting weaker as hourly contract and temp agencies are eating away at union memberships. Currently without a full-time or part-time contract union membership simply isn't beneficial to the individual which in turn makes strikes less scary and the unions bargaining position weaker. It's been on a downward slope for a while now and it will keep that direction until legislation makes it more expensive for companies to utilize these forms of employment. MiddleOne fucked around with this message at 23:06 on Jun 10, 2014 |
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Jun 10, 2014 22:33
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Xoidanor posted:Kinda but kinda not. For example I worked in logistics last year (on an hourly contract) and earned about 132kr an hour with no work experience and no truck assigment in accordance with the collective bargaining contracts set between the union Transport and my workplace. However if you're hired trough a temp agency (as one of my friends has been for the past year) a significant chunk of that hourly wage is pocketed by the temp agency. You could be doing the same work, under the same conditions, in the same numbers of hours and still earn significantly less just because you were hired trough a temp agency. What are the unions doing about this, if anything?
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Jun 11, 2014 00:24
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LemonDrizzle posted:What are the unions doing about this, if anything? Well the current train strike for one is a giant gently caress you to the current way companies and organizations have been handling employment for the last few years. Beyond SEKO who is leading the strike IF-metall (the biggest union in Sweden) and Elektrikerförbundet seem to be planning to also go into strike if negotiations keep stalling. Letting workers go and telling them to reapply for hourly positions is something that started just last year here and it's become somewhat of a trend among companies who apply for government contracts. LO (a union lobbying organisation basically) have also been pressuring the Social Democrats to tighten up legislation if they win the election in fall in regards to temp agencies and hourly contracts. They've also demanded that the framwork for the worker insurance (a-kassa) which is currently keeping a lot of people outside unions gets improved upon.
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Jun 11, 2014 07:02
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Geert Wilders is going to sue the EU since it is no fair he can't be both in Dutch Parliament and the EU parliament. Reminder that he was also elected councilman for the city of the Hague but stopped after a few weeks due to scheduling difficulties. No matter, i'm sure being a MEP is much less difficult than councilman for a medium sized town.
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Jun 11, 2014 16:06
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NihilismNow posted:Geert Wilders is going to sue the EU since it is no fair he can't be both in Dutch Parliament and the EU parliament. That's hosed up. Politicians should be prohibited from having several offices at the same time anyway, at all levels.
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Jun 11, 2014 18:46
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Cat Mattress posted:That's hosed up. No, I don't think so. Most of the German executive are members of the German parliament as well, including chancellor Angela Merkel. It's roughly the same in the United Kingdom as well. It's pretty normal in a fusion of powers system. But of course this only works if there are truly no scheduling conflicts, which those parliamentary systems usually avoid. Belonging to two parliaments is obviously not viable.
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Jun 11, 2014 18:52
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Torrannor posted:No, I don't think so. Most of the German executive are members of the German parliament as well, including chancellor Angela Merkel. It's roughly the same in the United Kingdom as well. It's pretty normal in a fusion of powers system. This is a completely different thing. What you are talking about is holding a seat in what amounts to an extension of Parliamentary power. Geert Wilders is effectively holding a spot in two completely different parliaments at very different levels, at the same time.
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Jun 11, 2014 19:13
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Electronico6 posted:This is a completely different thing. What you are talking about is holding a seat in what amounts to an extension of Parliamentary power. Geert Wilders is effectively holding a spot in two completely different parliaments at very different levels, at the same time. Well, if we assume that being a member of parliament is not a fulltime job, which seems to be true as a lot of politicians have other jobs on the side I dont see the problem, as long as its on different levels for the same constituency as to avoid any conflict of interest.
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Jun 11, 2014 19:57
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GaussianCopula posted:Well, if we assume that being a member of parliament is not a fulltime job, which seems to be true as a lot of politicians have other jobs on the side I dont see the problem, as long as its on different levels for the same constituency as to avoid any conflict of interest. It's not only a conflict of interest, but a hoarding of power and offices. It simply should be illegal. (And come on, let's be honest. Politician(President, Prime Minister, Minister, MP, MEP, etc) comes with a pretty high and decent wage. Unless you're an idiot and joined a communist party)
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Jun 11, 2014 20:27
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Electronico6 posted:It's not only a conflict of interest, but a hoarding of power and offices. It simply should be illegal. I'm not saying he has to do it because he can't live on just one gig but there is no conflict of interest if the constituency is the same (e.g. the Netherlands) because he will fight for what he believes is best for his voters in both parliaments. With respect to the "hoarding of power" aspect I dont see a big problem. A lot of people have more power not through official channels but because they are the leaders of their party.
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Jun 11, 2014 22:05
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He is a big crybaby and will probably just skip out on a lot of European matters and say "they waste time, we should leave" and try to look brave for preferring national politics.
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Jun 11, 2014 22:37
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Electronico6 posted:It's not only a conflict of interest, but a hoarding of power and offices. It simply should be illegal. Sinn Fein occasionally do it as well in the UK - Gerry Adams was an MLA and an MP at the same time for a while (though they avoid the time conflict because of abstentionism).
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Jun 11, 2014 22:49
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Talking about conflicts of interest, it really amazes me how lax Sweden is with this, despite it's reputation. As you might have heard, Sweden is in a midst of a large privatization of the school and healthcare sectors. Free choice, private enterprise streamlining the process and supplying the public with what it demands and all that jazz. School voucher system, and medical centers and elderly homes being sold for a penny and running on government contracts, with no constrictions on running a profit. Predictably, most private schools and elderly care homes are owned by venture capital firms, where working conditions are generally worse than in public ones (in the case of elderly care). So with the biggest derugalation of public services Sweden has ever seen, you have MP's simultaneously sitting on advisory boards of the largest private school companies, and the owner of the largest elderly care home provider simultaneously acting officially as the governments health advisor. A Banana republic, is what this country is turning into. Falukorv fucked around with this message at 11:42 on Jun 12, 2014 |
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Jun 12, 2014 00:01
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Falukorv posted:A Banana republic, is what this country is turning into. The European dream in a nutshell. It's like the rise of the oligarchs in post-Soviet Russia, but played in slow motion.
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Jun 12, 2014 00:24
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Cat Mattress posted:The European dream in a nutshell. What the hell is happening with us? It's like we've lost control of our elites...
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