With less than four weeks to go until the elections to the European Parliament, voters will have their first chance to hear the lead candidates of the main political parties in a policy debate in the Dutch city of Maastricht on Monday (28 April). The debate will feature the two front-runners to replace José Manuel Barroso as president of the European Commission, centre-right Jean-Claude Juncker and centre-left Martin Schulz, as well as liberal Guy Verhofstadt and Ska Keller of the Greens. The event will be broadcast live by Euronews, a pan- European channel subsidised by the European Union.

Juncker and Schulz met for a live debate on 9 April, but Monday’s debate is the first in which Verhofstadt and Keller – a German who shares the Greens’ top slot with José Bové of France – will also participate. Polls suggest that the centre-right European People’s Party and the socialists are running neck and neck, far ahead of any of the other groups (see right).

Alexis Tsipras, the candidate from the European United Left, has declined an invitation to participate, according to Maastricht University, one of the co-hosts of the debate. Tsipras is, however, expected to participate in a debate organised by the European Broadcasting Union in Brussels on 15 May, one week before the start of the elections.

The far-left, known by its French acronym, GUE, is projected to win some 20 seats in the next European Parliament, in addition to the 35 it held in 2009-14, putting it ahead of the Greens, currently the fourth-largest group in the Parliament.

Tsipras has been a strong campaigner whose success, if it does materialise, could undermine the Greek government of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, which is a grand coalition of centre-right and centre-left. The latest national polls in Greece suggest that Tsipras’s anti-capitalist, anti-austerity Syriza could win six seats in the European Parliament, one more than predicted for Samaras’s New Democracy party. A GUE spokesperson said that Tsipras was focusing his campaign on Greece.

Focus on youth

The debate at Maastricht’s Theater aan het Vrijthof will focus on education, employment and youth engagement – issues supposed to be relevant to young voters, who are expected to make up the bulk of the 700-strong audience. (Another co-host of the debate is the European Youth Forum.)

Most of the seats are reserved for students at the university, and a university spokesperson said that places had been filled within hours after registration opened.

The broadcast of the 90-minute debate, to be held in English, will have interpretation into a dozen languages, and will be moderated by two Euronews journalists. The live audience will be able to ask pre-selected questions, and questions can also be submitted via Twitter during the debate.

Pre-selection was carried out by Maastricht University, which encouraged students across Europe to send in their questions.

European Union member states need to follow Portugal’s lead in undertaking deep structural reforms, according to a leading Portuguese cabinet minister.

“Portugal has done its structural reforms and now others need to follow,” Carlos Moedas, the Portuguese secretary of state to the prime minister, said today (14 March). “There must be awareness in Europe that if you are not doing the reforms then it is bad for Portugal.”

Moedas, speaking in Brussels, declined to name the member states that he thought were failing to implement reforms, but said that more needed to be done to liberalise product and labour markets and to implement the single market for services.

The European Commission last week (5 March) published a broad macroeconomic assessment of the EU’s economies. It expressed doubt that reforms in Italy or France would be sufficient for those countries to meet their EU commitments.

At the end of February, Portugal’s trio of international creditors – the Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund – said that the Portuguese economy was outperforming expectations and called on the government to continue with its reforms.

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Portugal continues to suffer from one of the EU’s highest unemployment rates, with 16.5% of the economically active population unemployed in 2013, according to the Commission. It predicts that the Portuguese economy will grow by 0.8% in 2013, its first growth since 2010.

Portugal’s €78 billion bail-out is expected to end in mid-May. The 2011 rescue was conditional on Portugal undertaking wide-ranging structural reforms and significantly reducing public spending.

As a result, the Portuguese government, led by Pedro Passos Coelho, of the centre-right Partido Social Democrata, has made privatisations worth €8bn, by selling off the state electricity and postal companies as well as Portugal’s electricity and airport infrastructures.

Public spending on the healthcare sector has been cut by €850-€900 million.

To make Portugal’s economy more competitive, the government has taken steps to liberalise Portugal’s services sector and make its employment laws less stringent on employers.

The government, where the PSD is in coalition with the centre-right Centro Democrático e Social – Partido Popular, has also reformed Portugal’s judicial system, making it easier for companies to settle disputes through arbitration and streamlining the country’s civil code to speed up court cases.

The reforms have helped to rein in Portugal’s budget deficit, which was 10% of the nation gross domestic product in 2010 and was last year 5% of GDP, beating by 0.5 percentage points targets set by its international creditors.

Moedas also argued that the reforms had succeeded in re-orientating the Portuguese economy more towards exports. Exports in 2009 represented only 28% of Portugal’s GDP compared with 40% in 2013.

The European Commission, in turn, set itself a target of recruiting around 3,500 officials from the new member states, representing close to 16% of the pre-enlargement staff. It reached that target two years ahead of schedule, in the autumn of 2008, and by the end of the transition period had filled just over 4,000 posts with candidates from the new member states. It should be noted, however, that a frequent complaint from officials from the 2004 countries is that they face worse employment conditions than staff hired before 2004.

The target for the deputy director-general/director-general level – ten recruitments – was likewise exceeded, with 13 posts filled by 2010.

The post-2004 recruitment also had a major impact on gender balance in the Commission. According to Commission figures, a full 67% of all recruits from the ten new member states during the 2004-10 transition period were women, pushing the share of female Commission staff for the first time above the parity threshold, from 46.6% on 1 April 2004 to 52.1% on 31 December 2010.

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However, disparities persist. Despite the targets being met, today – ten years after the ‘big bang’ enlargement – just three of the Commission’s 37 officials at AD16 level – the Commission’s highest, reserved for directors-general and similar functions – hail from one of the ten countries that joined in 2004. One Czech, one Hungarian and one Pole stand against four Spaniards and five Italians at this level. Even Portugal has two officials in the AD16 grade; tiny Luxembourg has one.

The picture is complicated, however, suggests the EU ambassador of one of the 2004 joiners. Given the demographic make-up of the EU’s post-enlargement civil service, there might be an overrepresentation of new member states in 15-20 years’ time as young entrants from ten years ago work their way up the career ladder. At the same time, in about a decade, when many of the most senior EU10 officials retire, the new member states will face the prospect of having to fill those posts, and not having the qualified personnel to do so.

The former Three Lions star believes Gareth Southgate should be looking to add a promising creative midfielder to his next senior squad

Phil Foden is “as good as, if not better” than Jack Grealish and James Maddison, and should be figuring prominently in the thoughts of England manager Gareth Southgate, says Chris Waddle.

The Manchester City midfielder has been knocking on a senior international door for some time, but is yet to take a step up out of the Under-21 set-up.

Aston Villa playmaker Grealish is another waiting on a first call-up, with the 24-year-old yet to get the nod despite plenty of speculation regarding big-money transfers at club level.

The European Union today suspended usual business with Russia, in a move that it says was co-ordinated with the United States in a bid to persuade Russia to “de-escalate” the situation in Ukraine.

Russian troops currently control Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.

In a sign of support for Ukraine’s new government, leaders of the EU’s 28 member states promised at the end of a crisis summit in Brussels that they would sign a political agreement with Ukraine within weeks.

Although Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, and US President Barack Obama said that the EU and US actions were co-ordinated, the EU’s step falls short of the measures taken by the US, which today announced a visa ban on Russian officials “responsible for or complicit in threatening the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine”.

Before the summit, Russia’s ambassador to the EU had already dismissed the suspension of ‘business as usual’ as a recognition of the de facto state of affairs. The major talks affected are on easing visas for Russians entering the EU and on a long-term agreement to frame the EU’s relations with Russia. Both sets of talks have languished for many years. The last framework agreement expired in 2007, but has been rolled over annually ever since.

However, Merkel made clear that the EU is prepared to move swiftly to match – and possibly go beyond – the US’s response. She said that leaders could within the coming days – possibly at another extraordinary summit or at the next scheduled summit on 20-21 March – decide to freeze the assets of Russian officials and bar them from entering the EU.

The US has yet to announce any freeze on the assets of Russian officials.

A move to freeze assets could also be spurred, Merkel said, by a failure by Russia to respond to a diplomatic initiative on which the EU’s leaders placed great stress, the formation of an international ‘contact group’ that is being created in an effort to spearhead efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

In a third phase, further destabilisation of the situation in Ukraine would lead to “additional and far-reaching consequences” for Russia across “a broad range of economic areas”, the EU’s leaders said.

Crimea’s referendum

It is not clear whether a pending referendum ordered for 16 March by the separatist local parliament in Ukraine would trigger EU action. Crimea’s new pro-Russian authorities today brought forward the referendum from 30 March and changed the question, to ask Crimeans whether they wanted Crimea to become part of Russia. Previously, the vote was to have been on greater autonomy in Ukraine. 

However, the EU’s leaders stated bluntly that the referendum was “illegal”, a point that Merkel elaborated upon. She said that the referendum had been called suddenly by a local government, without consultation with the national government “on a basis that is non-existent”.

She continued: “This has nothing to do with reasonable or acceptable referendums…If you then hear that any Ukrainian soldier [in Crimea] is considered to be an occupationist [a description applied by the new Crimean authorities], that appears to pre-empt the results of this so-called referendum. This has nothing to do with what we understand as democracy.”

Support for Ukraine

In two moves to support Ukraine’s government as it struggles to cope with military, financial and political crises, the EU’s leaders promised to sign a political agreement within weeks and lent their support to an €11 billion package of financial support pulled together yesterday by the European Commission.

The political agreement had been readied for signature in November, but the now ousted president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, baulked at signing just seven days beforehand, under pressure from Russia.

The EU’s leaders decided, however, to de-couple the political deal with Ukraine from its trade element, which had until now been twinned. The trade element was the ostensible cause of Yanukovych’s decision not to put pen to paper, and the benefits of the trade pact for Ukraine – substantial, in the EU’s view – have been the subject of much debate in Ukraine, with Russia insisting that the pact would hurt Ukraine’s economic interests and Russia’s.

The EU says that, without waiting for the trade deal to be signed, it will immediately take unilateral measures to ease Ukrainian businesses’ access to EU markets.

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The course of debate

Today’s agreement on measures against Russia was substantially stronger than seemed likely at the start of the day, as the draft from which the leaders were working was in some respects weaker than the text agreed on Monday by EU foreign ministers.

Officials attribute the discrepancy partly to a desire for a free-flowing debate, and partly to a wish to avoid leaks to the press.

However, they also say that Crimea’s decision to press ahead with a bid to become part of Russia and the US decision to impose visa bans changed the dynamic of the debate.

The draft text gradually became stronger to the point where the discussion became “fiery”, in one diplomat’s words. Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, also referred to the debate as “stormy”.

The initial division – broadly between the EU’s eastern and western halves – gradually shifted, with western European leaders divided among themselves.

Critically, the big old states – France, Germany and the UK – advocated a relatively strong line, a diplomat said. Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Austria were among the states that were more reluctant.

The leaders had entered the room with Germany seemingly the leading voice opposed to an immediate suspension of ordinary business with Russia. Germany’s foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, had been relatively isolated on Monday in opposing a suspension of the EU’s institutional contacts with Russia.

The prime ministers of Finland and the Netherlands also indicated before the summit began that they were reluctant to take immediate strong measures against Russia. Finland’s Jyrki Kaitanen rejected the idea of economic sanctions, noting that the financial markets have been punishing Russian assets, while the Netherland’s Mark Rutte said that the EU should do everything to give de-escalation a chance, before turning to sanctions.

When forced to clarify his change of position during the summit, Rutte said: “It is a logical development concerning the evolving situation during the day,” an apparent reference to Crimea’s referendum to join Russia. In addition, observers from the Organisation for Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) were today denied entry to Crimea by Russian troops.

Foreign ministers on Monday discussed the possibility of a ban on the sale of arms to Russia, but the debate floundered on the objections of one small country. The results of today’s summit give little hint of an arms embargo.

However, France’s President François Hollande was pressed today to clarify whether his country would follow through on an agreement to supply Russia with warships. He said that France would honour its commitments.

The UK’s prime minister, David Cameron, said that he had “instituted an immediate review of any arms licences from the UK to Russia”, continuing: “I would urge other European countries to do the same.”

Il était derrière les barreaux depuis un mois car il avait eu la mauvaise idée de trimballer son «gun» à un concert. Ja Rule, star du Gangsta rap, hérite de deux ans de taule supplémentaires pour avoir «oublié de payer ses impôts».

C’est un des meilleurs potes de Jay-Z. Il a chanté avec

, Robert Kelly et Ashanti, joué dans Fast and Furious aux cotés de

et Paul Walker. Il a surtout régné en maître sur le rap East Coast. Ja Rule, déjà en taule à New York depuis le 8 juin pour «port illégal d’arme à feu», a été condamné lundi à passer 28 mois dans un pénitencier fédéral.

Il est accusé de n’avoir pas déclaré ses revenus et ses droits d’auteur pendant cinq ans. «Les contribuables ne jouissent pas du luxe de décider s’ils doivent respecter la loi ou non», a sermonné la juge Patty Schwartz.

Jeffrey Atkins, de son vrai nom, devra rembourser plus d’un million de dollars au fisc, a expliqué le procureur du New Jersey.

?Le roi du hip-hop et ennemi juré de

était vêtu d’une combinaison jaune et menotté. Ce solide gaillard, 35 ans au compteur, a invoqué son manque d’expérience pour justifier ses actions.?Quelques minutes avant la sentence, notre voyou repenti a souligné qu’il n’avait «en aucun cas voulu décevoir le gouvernement». Il a déclaré qu’il avait été mal conseillé sur le plan financier et que ses difficultés à composer avec la gloire et la fortune l’avaient empêché de gérer correctement ses actifs. «J’avais énormément d’argent, personne pour me guider à Saddle River, alors j’ai fait des erreurs», a-t-il plaidé avant de se tourner vers son épouse. Cette dernière a refusé de commenter le verdict, indiquant simplement qu’elle traversait «une période stressante».??

Le bad boy n’en est pas à ses premiers démêlés avec la justice. Il avait été arrêté le 22 juillet 2007 en possession d’un pistolet semi-automatique à la sortie d’une performance scénique avec Lil Wayne. Jugé en décembre 2010, il avait plaidé coupable et écopé d’une peine de 2 ans de prison.

L’avocat de Ja Rule, Stacy Richman, a déclaré que son client était déçu et qu’il espérait seulement retrouver sa famille et recommencer à travailler afin d’être en mesure de régler ses taxes.

L’interprète de Holla Holla, Always on Time et Put It on Me, prévoit de produire son prochain album en cellule, selon les dires de son attaché de presse. Un «Pain is Love 2»?

J.B

Mardi 19 juillet 2011

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Fraîchement séparée de son mari Tao Ruspoli, avec qui elle était depuis 7 ans, Olivia Wilde, la petite dernière de l’équipe du Dr House, découvre le badinage amoureux.

Est-elle avec Bradley Cooper ou Ryan Gosling? Ou alors avec Justin Timberlake? Depuis son divorce, on a du mal à suivre les pérégrinations amoureuses d’Olivia Wilde. C’est que la belle n’a pas toujours été libre. Mariée au Prince Italien Tao Ruspoli pendant 7 ans jusqu’à leur divorce en mars 2011, elle semble aujourd’hui bien décidée à ne pas se fixer sur un seul homme.

Difficile à croire, mais la bombe de Tron l’héritage est «nouvelle dans tout ce qui touche aux rendez-vous et à la séduction». Pour Olivia Wilde, tout ce marivaudage est particulièrement malaisé à l’âge du 2.0. «J’ai l’impression de me réveiller après un long coma. Et je me dis: attends, les gens se textotent? Ils textotent à propos d’amour? Comment ça marche?» demande-t-elle. «Vous marquez trois x et un petit smiley? Euh Emoticon!».

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L’actrice de 27 ans avoue s’être mariée très jeune, peut-être trop. Interrogée par Marie-Claire, elle raconte qu’elle ne se connaît pas vraiment. «Je ressors plus humble de cette séparation, que j’ai vécue comme un véritable traumatisme. Pour la première fois, je me sens instable. C’est comme si j’avais été stoppée en plein élan, en plein développement, dans un sens. Parce que j’étais avec quelqu’un depuis mes 20 ans, qui prenait tellement soin de moi, comme le faisait mon mari».

La star de Cowboys & Aliens regrette de ne pas s’être construite toute seule. «Je pense que c’est très sain de passer du temps tout seul. Il faut savoir être soi-même, et ne pas se définir par rapport à une autre personne», philosophe l’actrice. Quoi qu’il en soit, malgré les nombreuses rumeurs, Olivia voyage aujourd’hui en solo, même si elle semble avoir rapidement rattrapé son retard en matière de flirt-attitude… Vous avez dit indépendante?

Maud Carlus

Jeudi 28 juillet 2011

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Après le classement des personnalités les plus influentes, voici la sélection Forbes des couples les plus riches. Et la palme revient à notre jolie sirène brésilienne et son mari le joueur de football américain Tom Brady. Bien gagner sa vie, à deux, c’est encore mieux. Et cela donne surtout deux fois plus de chances de tutoyer les sommets parsemés de dollars.

Dès qu’il s’agit des personnalités les mieux payées de l’année, la bombe anatomique Gisele Bündchen n’est jamais très loin. Et avec ses 31 millions d’euros récoltés l’année dernière, le top continue de flirter avec les plus hauts cachets de la fashion sphère. Un bonheur n’arrivant jamais seul, la belle partage aujourd’hui la première place du podium Forbes avec son mari, le joueur de football américain Tom Brady qui a gagné de son côté, la modique somme de 21 millions d’euros –tout de même dix millions de moins que sa femme! Une combinaison gagnante pour les tourtereaux qui forment ainsi le couple le plus riche de la planète people.

La sculpturale Gisele –égérie H&M censurée à Dubaï, ou mannequin lingerie ultra-sexy- a ainsi volé la première place avec son Tom à d’autres couples tels

et son mari Jay-Z, qui arrivent en deuxième place et font «pâle figure» avec leur cachet de 49 millions d’euros. Suivi de près par l’inséparable duo Brad et Angelina qui arrive à cumuler vie professionnelle, avec 34 millions d’euros, et vie de tribu globe-trotteuse. En quatrième position, le couple Beckham s’impose avec ses 27 millions d’euros de revenu, dont 5 apportés par le travail de styliste de Victoria qui a su allier sa grossesse et son activité professionnelle.

Sur la cinquième place du podium, un jeune couple d’outsiders: Robert Pattinson et Kristen Stewart, les vampire lovers les plus «croquants» d’Hollywood, ont récolté en duo presque 14 millions d’euros.

Le constat est sans appel: à deux, même les classements Forbes sont mieux!

Pauline Gallard

Lundi 22 août 2011

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Vous connaissiez Martine à la plage, découvrez Paris à Paris. L’héritière Hilton a posé ses malles monogrammées dans la ville lumière juste pour quelques jours. Au programme de ce séjour en solo: shopping, musique, shopping, dégustations et shopping. Quand Paris Hilton vient en France, impossible pour elle de passer inaperçue. Alors après avoir affolé les photographes lors de son voyage dans la région de Saint-Tropez, ce sont les quartiers chics de notre capitale que la belle a fait crépiter les flashes. De l’Avenue Montaigne aux caisses de chez Colette, Paris Hilton a assuré son marathon au pas de course.

Les balades ne durent qu’un temps et bien que cela puisse surprendre, la jeune femme est également en France pour travailler. Ça n’est pas dans les fourneaux du pâtissier Eric Kayser, où elle s’est accordé une pause lunch, qu’elle s’est enfermée mais dans un studio d’enregistrement. Via Twitter, l’Américaine a transmis toute son excitation à l’idée de préparer un nouvel album. Après un premier opus tout simplement intitulé Paris, et oublié par les critiques, l’héritière se prépare donc à revenir dans les bacs. Autonome, c’est sous son propre label Paris Hilton Records que le deuxième album de la star sortira. Elle annonce, les nouvelles sonorité de sa production musicale sera signée house. Ecouter du Paris Hilton en boîte de nuit pourrait même devenir d’utilité publique. Ou pas…

Découvrez en images la folle journée de l’héritière dans les quartiers chics de Paris.

Laure Costey

Mercredi 31 août 2011

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