European Union-who, what, and the issues

[CielOnTap]

While Germany is contemplating how to get the EU on the same plan:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/merkel-s-back-up-refugee-crisis-solution-could-end-schengen-a-1066895.html

...it's gotten cold outside for the migrants that cannot prove they are from one of three countries to proceed through EU lands.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-migrants-greece-idUSKBN0TS0MX20151209

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2015/12/08/at-the-macedonian-border-migrants-face-razor-wire-tear-gas-and-an-endless-wait.html

[CielOnTap]

German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks on what the refugees accepted by and protected in Germany have to do: integrate with German society, values and language.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/news-video/video-multiculturalism-remains-a-lie-merkel/article27755135/

[burnt fare]

In Switzerland, the city of Zurich had to postpone plans to use IKEA flat-pack shelters for new refugees. The shelters are considered to be a fire risk.

http://www.thelocal.se/20151219/ikea-shelters-rejected-by-swiss-due-to-fire-risk

[CielOnTap]

In Europe, refugees are having some troubles living in their new countries:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/refugee-hostels-in-germany-beset-by-sexual-assault-a-1091681.html

French current affairs magazine with art showing takes on the issues of being a refugee-
http://www.courrierinternational.com/diaporama/dessin-la-crise-des-refugies-commentee-par-des-collegiens?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#link_time=1462978299

One person's past catches up in the new land:
http://www.thelocal.se/20160511/syrian-jailed-in-sweden-over-facebook-beating-video

[CielOnTap]

The ideal way to test one's knowledge about an entity rather unknown except for its currency and short-form EU:

Many non-Europeans may struggle to see what the fuss is about. In fact, many might scratch their heads and wonder what exactly the E.U. does and how it relates to European country-level governments.

This isn't just a problem for those outside of the E.U.'s boundaries, however. In "Brexit: The Movie," people on the street in both London and Brussels were shown photographs of extremely important leaders and asked who they are. It appears everyone is stumped. The film may have a clear political angle, but it does make a key point: To many European citizens, the institution that controls many aspects of their lives is a mysterious and opaque mess.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/06/07/quiz-what-do-you-actually-know-about-the-e-u/

[CielOnTap]

Some of the people who paid their way to reach Europe by smuggling routes are now paying to go to Turkey. The dream to live and work in Europe has faded away for them.

For a long time, the stream of refugees flowed in a single direction -- from Turkey, through Greece and the Balkans and on to central and northern Europe. But now that one European Union member state after another has closed its borders, many migrants are stuck. In Greece, nearly 60,000 asylum seekers are waiting to travel north. Some of them have already begun heading back to Turkey of their own free will -- out of frustration and despair.

The refugees' retreat is illustrative of the failure of European asylum policy. The EU has not offered those stranded in Greece adequate protection. Those who decide to return to Turkey make their way back across the border with the help of smugglers because no legal pathway has been established. Greek police officers estimate that in recent weeks, between 30 and 40 refugees have crossed the Evros back into Turkey every day. Many of them are fathers from Syria who lived in Germany but whose wives and children weren't allowed to join them. The German government made it more difficult for refugees to send for their families earlier this year.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/why-refugees-in-greece-are-trying-to-go-back-to-turkey-a-1100452.html

The complex refugee crisis is not helped by refugees' desire to quickly come and go and settle as they like in Europe. There are rules and basic needs to meet for which time does not move swiftly enough nor provide all that is sought. There are also psychological tolls of what lives had been, the losses of people and things, and the losses of dreams.

[alohasand]

Refugees who are not living in housing must be having a hard time in tent cities or open areas just figuring whether to stay or go.
Food, shelter, basic needs-is there a library or Internet cafe provided during the week to help with the waiting? Soccer?

[CielOnTap]

Hungary will consider taking some migrants who are "culturally integrable" to solve a labour shortage. Why is there a labour shortage? Younger Hungarians have emigrated when possible to find jobs with higher wages in other countries.

Experts who know the country believe that the government is trying to avoid a public backlash over trying to attract foreigners by excluding those it considers not “culturally integrable.”

“[T]hey know it will be a hard sell to the Hungarians, given the way the government has staked its legitimacy on being nativist and xenophobic, suggesting that every foreign person who enters the country takes a job away from a native-born Hungarian,” said Holly Case, a Brown University professor focusing on eastern Europe, who added that she did not believe the country’s “guest worker” plans would succeed.

“Based on what’s happened thus far, I think if skilled younger workers have a choice between Hungary and other countries where the xenophobic rhetoric has not been so shrill, they will go elsewhere.”

https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2016/07/11/hungary-does-180-on-migrants-amid-severe-labour-shortage.html

[CielOnTap]

Kids that are living in a country that is not their own and their parents are not around or alive to help them out-a sad reality for young Syrian refugees
getting by in the shadow economy in Turkey:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/refugees-syrian-orphans-toil-away-in-factories-in-turkey-a-1102610.html

Since Turkey is not yet a member of the European Union but has been an aspiring candidate for years, how does the country view
child labour?

[CielOnTap]

CETA or the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement, has been a political hot potato in Belgium during October.
The Flemish side of the Belgian government approved the CETA but the French side in Wallonia did not
see CETA the same way. Thus a Belgian constitutional mechanism allowed Wallonia to say "non" for
several days while indicating what the sore points of CETA were.

A search on the Toronto Star's website results in several articles and opinion pieces on CETA.
https://www.thestar.com/search.html?q=CETA
In the end, this weekend, there was Wallonia's approval. However for the European Parliment,
the process of approving CETA could be years-long.

The European Parliament must approve CETA. Before leaving Brussels, Trudeau met with its leader, Martin Schulz, the German social democrat.

Trudeau thanked Schulz for his leadership on CETA and said he wanted to “thank him in advance” for the work he will do to get it “ratified quickly.”

The European Parliament’s approval is expected by many to come in early 2017.

But the deal must be ratified by the EU’s 28 countries and several more smaller regional governments such as Wallonia. That process could take years, and could be derailed.

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/201 ... -deal.html