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EU Official Pushes for Eurozone Finance Minister
February 27, 2017
Reuters reports that, in a recent speech in Vienna, European Commissioner for economic and financial affairs Pierre Moscovici called for the creation of new eurozone institutions, including a finance minister who would administer a common eurozone budget, in the wake of the UK's departure from the EU.
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MEPs Reject Call for Universal Income
February 27, 2017
EurActiv reports that Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted to reject provisions of a report from the body's Legal Affairs Committee calling for the taxation of robots and the establishment of a universal basic income for Europeans to make up for displaced jobs caused by advanced robotics technology.
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EU Parliament Ratifies Long-Awaited CETA
February 24, 2017
The New York Times reports that, "after seven years of tortuous negotiations," the European Parliament has ratified the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), leaving the final step of ratifying the deal to national and some regional parliaments across the EU.
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EU Aims to Retain Fishing Access After Brexit
February 24, 2017
The Guardian reports that, in a warning signal to British voters who chose to leave the EU in part to permit the UK to take back control of its fishing policies, a leaked negotiating document from the European Parliament shows that EU officials are seeking to retain the current UK-EU balance on fishing quotas in exchange for British access to the "single market."
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EU Members Fear Impacts of "Two-Speed" Bloc
February 24, 2017
The Guardian reports that officials in the Central and Eastern European Visegrad Group - Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary - are increasingly opposing proposals from Western Europe to form a "two-speed" EU permitting a core area of member states to rapidly transfer their sovereignty to the EU without the interference of governments on the periphery of the bloc.