What happened in the EU in December 2019?
BrexitThe British PM won the election. His promise of a quick Brexit took many voters away from more extreme political parties. Plus, the main opposition (Labour) wasn't very clear. Only one party (LibDem) was in favour of staying in the EU.
But what does it change? The PM did not have a majority in Parliament. Now he has one, so his Brexit deal will very likely be accepted. However, this doesn't mean the end of Brexit. The deal was only about how the EU and the UK would negotiate, and just a bit about the content. For instance, they have only one year left to find a trade agreement. To be continued...
The EU and the EU countries
The EU and its countries sometimes clash. Two examples, one from Malta and one from Luxembourg. In Malta, a journalist was murdered and the Prime Minister did not react well, according to members of the European Parliament. They asked him to resign.
In an effort to improve tax transparency, the Commission wants to force big multinationals to publish where and how much taxes they pay. Some countries, including Luxembourg, have many of those multinationals in their countries and opposed the proposition and argued it's not the EU's task to do this.
Migrants in Croatia
Christmas may have been nice for refugees in Israel 2000 years ago, but not if you're a migrant in Croatia nowadays. Croatian police is reported to have tortured many migrants. It is sadly the same story as in Hungary. Other EU countries don't really care, because it means less migrants in their own country.
Recommended readings:
- Politico: tax transparency
- The Journal.ie: Brexit
- The Guardian: Malta PM asked to quit
- BBC: Poland out of the EU?
- Foreign Policy: migrant abuse in Croatia
