Monday 2nd May 2016

Weekly Euro News updates with developments from over the weekend; this week AfD adopts anti-Islam manifesto at party congress, EU prepares for visa-free access for Turks, and May Day parades take place in Berlin, Paris, Hamburg and Barcelona. Summaries only with Dimokratía.

Union begins laying groundwork for Turkish visa-free travel: Officials wrangle to meet the June deadline for allowing Turkey visa-free access to the European Union. Ankara has threatened to kill the EU-Turkey migrant agreement if this has not been achieved by the deadline, however Turkey must complete several potentially difficult political reforms if it wants to receive travel rights by June. Read the article here at the FT.

TTIP trade documents leaked, casting doubt on EU-US deal: Greenpeace leaked TTIP documents on Sunday, which has cast doubt over whether the EU and US can reach a trade agreement considering the political backlash the deal is facing in America and Europe. Differences over certain areas have been described as “irreconcilable” in certain areas, including environmental protection and green energy, as well as the EU ban on animal testing. Get the detailed analysis here at The Guardian.

Clashes in Paris as protests take place over proposed labour reform: Tear gas was fired on protesters on Sunday at a May Day rally in Paris, after demonstrations against proposed labour reforms became more heated. Protesters threw bottles and other projectiles at police in clashes after the rally saw up to 17,000 demonstrators (according to police reports) march in protest against reforms planned to ‘liberalise’ the French labour market. A small group in balaclavas started the violence according to France 24; get the full details and live updates here.

Far-right AfD adopts anti-Islam manifesto: at the Alternative für Deutschland party conference on Sunday, the party adopted an anti-Islam clause in their manifesto, with the words being accepted “Islam does not belong in Germany”. With this the party has made its clearest signal that it is anti-Muslim, anti-religious freedom and thoroughly intolerant. According to reports, all mention of tolerance and friendly Muslims was shouted down and rejected. Get all the information here (in German) at the FAZ. 

Clashes in Hamburg and Berlin at May Day parade: Clashes between the police and demonstrators took place in Germany on Sunday at the May Day rallies taking place there. Stones, bottles and fireworks were launched at the police, who returned fire with water-cannon. Several were injured according to reports. According to the police, 13,000 took part in the rally in Berlin, which was followed by a small group clad in black attacking the police; the situation had calmed by evening. The demonstration in Hamburg saw only 1,900 participants, and was quickly broken up after violence occurred – see the FAZ for further details (German).

Major Spanish Unions threaten strike actions in response to labour reforms: The May Day parades in Spain saw major Spanish Unions the CCOO and UGT threaten major strike action if the government coming in on 26th June does not repeal the labour reforms enacted by the previous government under Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Mention of a General Strike was also made. Barcelona saw 9,000 people march in the May Day parade according to police, which was organised by the large unions. Several Catalan politicians were also present; see all the details here at La Vanguardia.

Sources: FT, FAZ, The Guardian, France 24, La Vanguardia