Monuments to waste overshadow EU budget battle
22 November 2012 | Reuters
EU leaders go into a budget battle on Thursday under pressure to avoid some glaring mistakes of the past: half-empty motorways, airports that barely see a flight and high-speed rail lines with few passengers to repay vast construction costs.
EU leaders gather for almighty budget battle that could tear Brussels apart
22 November 2012 | Guardian
As David Cameron flies in to do battle over the EU’s seven-year €1tn budget deal, we attempt to separate myth from fact.
Green transition at stake, caution NGOs
20 November 2012 | Europolitics
On the eve of the European Council of 22-23 November, focused on the multiannual financial framework (MFF) 2014-2020, environmental organisations warned that the existing budget proposals will not allow the transition to a green economy foreseen under the ‘Europe 2020’ strategy. This opportunity cannot be passed up, note the organisations, which point out that there are “many possibilities to spend available funds better and steer them to green sectors that create growth and jobs”. As it stands, the “proposed budget reflects the special interests of each member state, not the interests of the EU as a whole,” regret the NGOs.
EU budget: ‘phantom arguments’ should not take away from sustainable future
20 November 2012 | New Europe
Wrangling between EU member states over the budget is weakening Europe at a time when it needs strength to compete in a globalised world, campaigners are warning.
Greening the EU Budget: A Ray of Sunshine in an Otherwise Stormy Sky
16 November 2012 | Huffington Post
Europe may not be dealing with freak weather events at the moment, but in economic and social terms the storm clouds over the continent have become a permanent feature on the landscape — for at least the past three years now — and the hard rain is now falling, in bucket loads. In the process, much needed action on climate change could be swept away in the deluge.
If we’re not having one, then neither are you: time to grow up?
15 November 2012 | Policy & Politics blog - Friends of the Earth UK
What a week in the fight for clean British energy: scandal erupted when Conservative Party members were exposed colluding with James Delinpole, in his obsessive efforts to wipe wind-farms off the map, and Ed Davey’s statement in the Commons yesterday about energy companies fixing gas prices demonstrated once again the urgent need to overhaul our energy system. Not only are elements of this government trying to undermine a green future here in the UK, they are also threatening green hopes in Ukraine. Among all the energy market mayhem, you’d be forgiven for missing it, but in addition to messing up our own clean energy karma, the UK may actually back a huge European loan for the Ukrainian nuclear power sector. http://www.foe.co.uk/blog/nuclear_energy_uk_ukraine_38000.html
