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• Round-up of news stories from across the EU 22.1.16

Round-up of news stories from across the EU 22.1.16

01 January 2016

EU: Davos elites fear weakened European Union (Reuters, link): "Fear of a severe weakening of the European Union is the hot topic in the corridors and executive suites of Davos this year with business leaders and politicians at the World Economic Forum alarmed at closing borders and the risk of a British exit."

EU: Safe European Home – by Sarah Kay (Euro Rights Blog, link): "Two specific areas of EU coordination could prove crucial in the future, and need no part in the race to enact further legislation and respond to the terrorism threat: the already existing role of Europol, and the Schengen Information System (SIS), currently shaken by immediate decisions to curb travel within the EU. Both offer strong solutions that teeter on the edge of human rights violations, specifically in the right to privacy and freedom of movement. They however offer opportunities that need no derogation and can be subjected to judicial review by EU courts."

FINLAND: 'Soldiers of Odin' street patrol harass expats in Helsinki (Helsinki Times, link): "A group of three expat engineers were harassed by a Finnish man identifying himself as a member of the self proclaimed vigilante group, Soldiers of Odin near Helsinki last weekend. The immigrants, who do not want their names to be published in fear of reprisal, explain their ordeal:"

How trade deals threaten democracy and climate (EUobserver, link): "If there was any doubt that international trade agreements threatened both democracy and the climate, then thank the TransCanada Corporation for making it abundantly clear.

Less than a week into the new year, and less than a month after the international climate talks in Paris, the Keystone XL pipeline developers are demonstrating exactly who the real beneficiaries of international trade deals are – corporations."

Italian man faces charges for fabricating foiled Isis attack (The Local, link): " An Italian man is facing charges for claiming that the hactivist group, Anonymous, had foiled a New Year’s Eve terrorist attack in Italy.

The 29-year-old from Aosta took to Twitter on December 28th to announce that the group, a loosely connected international network of hactivists, had foiled the attack by Isis extremists."

UK to permanently station 1,000 military personnel in Poland from 2017 (The Guardian, link): "Britain will permanently station 1,000 military personnel in Poland from next year, Poland’s defence minister has said late, in an apparent contradiction of an announcement by Britain about plans for temporary exercises on Polish soil."

UK: Abuse survivors ‘re-victimised’ through family court process (Law Gazette, link): "Victims of domestic abuse should not endure the trauma of being cross-examined by their abusers in court, a national charity has recommended in a study on child deaths."

UK: David Cameron calls for action on 'spurious claims' against Iraq veterans (The Guardian, link): "David Cameron has ordered ministers to take action to clamp down on lawyers pursuing claims against veterans of the Iraq war.

Ministers on the national security council have been given the task of drawing up options to end “spurious claims”, including measures to curb the use of “no win, no fee” arrangements and the requirement that legal aid claimants must have lived in the UK for 12 months."

UK: Society demands clarity on legal aid contracting (Law Gazette, link): "The Law Society has issued a plea for clarity on criminal legal aid contracting amid speculation that the government is on the brink of abandoning the troubled tender process."

UK-RUSSIA: Key findings: who killed Alexander Litvinenko, how and why (The Guardian, link): "Sir Robert Owen’s report into Alexander Litvinenko’s death runs to 338 pages. Written in clear prose, with the odd moment of dry wit, it is a damning indictment of the Russian president and his state, and of the two, sometimes hapless, poisoners - Dmitry Kovtun and Andrei Lugovoi - who followed its secret orders."