European Union and China end their largest trade row over Solar Panel

The European Union has approved a plan that will improve the position of European solar panel producers and simultaneously leave Chinese manufactures spared sky-high duties after about two years of price disputes.

The agreement signed by the European Commission (EC), the European Union’s (EU) executive arm in Brussels, sets a minimum price for the panels, as well as the volume limit on EU imports until the end of 2015.

Under the agreement, a minimum price would stand at 56 euro cents a watt for annual imports from China up to as much as 7 gigawatts, according to a European trade official speaking last weekend, when the commission announced that a deal had been reached. And the provisional levies would range between 37.3 percent to 67.9 percent, depending on the company.

The agreement’s main target is to limit competition with European solar – panels producers, who’ve been complaining the Chinese sold at below – cost price, a practice known as dumping.

The agreement will be officially published on Saturday and takes effect on August 6. Those Chinese manufactures who agree to the terms will avoid duties the 28-nation EU had planned to impose.

Karel De Gucht, EU Trade Commissioner announced the settlement with China on July 27 after weeks of what he called “intensive” talks.

Earlier in  June, the EC decided to apply a 11.8 percent levy on Chinese  solar panels for two months before rising the charge to 67.9 percent.

RT

EU demands Clarification on US Espionage Acts on its Diplomats; Warns of Consequences

A new word ought to surface just as the United States got 'Romnesia' (a disease that makes you forget anything that makes you bad) during the Presidential debates and campaigns. Presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, always did not usually remember anything he had said that contradicted him. There would probably be another cyber, internet and espionage coinage superior to Wikileaks; maybe termed 'Snowdenvirus' due to the recent leaks by Edward Snowden.

Snowden's new leak showed that the United States had been spying on European diplomats. Reacting to this, the president of the European parliament has demanded an explanation from US authorities over the latest revelation that EU diplomatic missions in Washington, New York and Brussels were under electronic surveillance from the NSA.

“I am deeply worried and shocked about the allegations of US authorities spying on EU offices,” said the President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz. “If the allegations prove to be true, it would be an extremely serious matter which will have a severe impact on EU-US relations.”

“On behalf of the European Parliament, I demand full clarification and require further information speedily from the US authorities with regard to these allegations," he added. Meanwhile, Germany's justice minister also called for an immediate explanation from the United States saying the news that Washington bugged European Union offices was "reminiscent of the Cold War."

"It must ultimately be immediately and extensively explained by the American side whether media reports about completely disproportionate tapping measures by the US in the EU are accurate or not," Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger said in a statement.

Other EU diplomats also expressed shock concerning the latest batch of revelations in the NSA leak, reported by Der Spiegel magazine on Saturday. "If these reports are true, it's disgusting,” Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn told Der Spiegel. "The United States would be better off monitoring its secret services rather than its allies,” Asselborn continued. “We must get a guarantee from the very highest level now that this stops immediately."

A spokesman for the Office of the US Director of National Intelligence had no comment on the Der Spiegel story, Reuters reported. Der Spiegel, quoting from a September 2010 "top secret" US National Security Agency (NSA) document leaked by former CIA employee Edward Snowden, reported on Saturday the NSA was eavesdropping on the EU’s internal computer networks in Washington, as well as at the 28-member bloc UN office in New York.

The German magazine also reported that five years ago, the NSA also targeted telecommunications at the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels, home to the European Council, where all EU member states have their offices. Snowden, 30, fled the US for Hong Kong in May, just weeks before The Guardian and Washington Post published details he provided about a top-secret US government surveillance programme that accumulated internet and telephone traffic both at home and abroad.

The whistleblower is presently in the transit zone of Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport, where it is believed he is attempting to gain political asylum in Ecuador. Lode Vanoost, former deputy speaker of the Belgian parliament, believes that the main purpose of the US surveillance programme was “economic spying” on the EU.

“At the moment, the EU is negotiating a new free trade agreement with the United States,” the former deputy speaker noted. “On the economic level, [the US] is losing ground everywhere,” he said. “Look at what the BRIC countries are doing. The EU is having stronger ties with Russia, with Africa, with Latin America. And the US doesn’t seem to get its economic priorities imposed as it used to. So what I see is a big risk for economic spying.”

He added that there is “too much at stake” for there to be a total breakdown in US-EU bilateral relations, however, “behind closed doors there will be some very tough words” exchanged between EU and American officials.

Ecuador has revealed that the choosing and the safe landing of Snowden in any destination is in the hand of Russia. Russia seems to be the love, the land currently romanced by anybody dissatisfied with the condition and system of the obtainable in any Western nation as noticed in the case of the French actor, Gerard Depardieu, who recently received Russian citizenship in protest against high taxes in France. This has also been the case with anybody not comfortable with/in Russia.

EU allocates €400M in further aid to Syria

After suspending the arms embargo placed on Syria due to the tireless efforts of Britain through its foreign secretary, William Hague in order to pressure Assad to 'negotiate seriously', the EU is now sending additional finance to Syria and its neighbours.

The EU will send €400 million ($523 million) in additional aid to Syria and its neighbours, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Thursday. The non-humanitarian aid comprises budgetary support for states neighboring Syria, which have struggled to cope with a huge influx of refugees, Reuters said.

The EU is already the biggest humanitarian donor in the Syrian crisis, committing more than €840 million to alleviate what Barroso called “the most dramatic humanitarian situation in the last decade.” He said unrestricted and unconditional humanitarian access is needed in Syria, as well as an inclusive transitional government.

The EU has so far restrained itself from interfering in the Syrian crisis, preferring rather to lend its voice on the need to avoid escalation that would lead to catastrophe.