Chancellor Angela Merkel said her conservatives reached a breakthrough deal Friday with Germany’s second biggest party, the Social Democrats, to build a new coalition government to give Europe a “fresh start”. After more than 24 hours of talks and months of political paralysis, red-eyed party chiefs and their negotiating teams reached an in-principle agreement that could lead to a new government for the biggest EU economy in coming months. In the all-night negotiations in Berlin, the three sides — Merkel’s Christian Democrats, Horst Seehofer of her Bavarian allies the CSU, and the Social Democrats (SPD) of Martin Schulz — hammered out a 28-page paper as the basis for the formal coalition talks ahead. The hope was to form a new government “before Easter”, which falls on April 1, said the CSU’s Seehofer. In their joint blueprint, the parties agreed on key policy outlines — to join EU partner France in a push to “strengthen and reform” the eurozone, to limit the influx of asylum seekers to Germany to around 200,000 a year, and to refrain from tax hikes given the healthy state of public coffers. Merkel voiced relief that the trio of parties had passed a milestone, telling a press conference that “the world is not waiting for us — we need a fresh start in Europe. A fresh start for Europe is also a fresh start for Germany.” European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said the deal was “significant” and “positive” for the EU’s future, while French President Emmanuel Macron… [Read full story]
Updated at Thursday, 28 Dec 2017, 21:07 The Hanoitimes - The Prime Minister has signed the Decision No.2080/QD-TTG to approve the modified plan on studying and teaching foreign language nationwide in period 2017 – 2025. The orientation of the modified plan is to make breakthrough in the quality of teaching and studying foreign language in all academic levels, encouraging the inclusion of foreign language in schools from kindergartens upward, as well as in social activities. On the other hand, the plan also promotes teaching other subjects in English, such as mathematics or sciences. Teaching english in elementary school. At…... [read more]
Is it easy to take the opportunity? According to Russia’s Federal Agency for Fishery, around 4.1-4.3 million tonnes of seafood, including 3.4 million tonnes of fish of various kinds, were sold in Russia every year. The per capita seafood consumption was 20.2-23.7 kilograms per year while the world’s average was 17kg. Although seafood catches and aquaculture output were high in Russia, every year this country still had to import a large amount of seafood, mainly fish in whole form, fish fillets, shrimp and mollusks. The balance between supply and demand on the Russian seafood market was affected since Russia banned…... [read more]
Germany rejected a Greek proposal for a six-month extension to its euro zone loan agreement on February 19, saying it was "not a substantial solution" because it did not commit Athens to stick to the conditions of its international bailout. Berlin's stance, describing the carefully worded Greek letter as a "Trojan horse" for shirking commitments, set the scene for tough talks at a crucial meeting of euro zone finance ministers on February 20. Greece's leftist-led government is scrabbling to avoid running out of money within weeks and will face pressure to make further concessions in Brussels.As the biggest creditor and…... [read more]
German Chancellor Angela Merkel waves during an election rally for the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party in Stralsund, BERLIN: The day after her stunning election triumph, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was Monday set to start the process of haggling with potential partners over how to rule Europe's biggest economy. After a campaign that banked on Merkel's image as a calm, sensible and reassuring eurozone crisis manager, she led her conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) close to its first absolute majority in half a century. "The Merkel Republic," ran the headline for a commentary on news site Spiegel Online, which declared…... [read more]
Greek's socialist leader said Thursday he was making progress towards assembling a coalition government , but was still well shy of the parliamentary majority that has eluded two other parties. Evangelos Venizelos , leader of the Pasok party, won the support of the small Democratic Left (Dimar) party in negotiations to form a cabinet after Sunday's inconclusive election witnessed an anti-austerity backlash by voters in the debt-laden nation. "We have made a first step," Venizelos said, adding there had been a "good omen" in his meeting with Dimar leader Fotis Kouvelis . Venizelos, whose party came a distant third at…... [read more]
