This Week In EU News
Lottsa interestin' news items in Europe this week...
Italy's Supreme Court rules public masturbation not a crime
(CNN) Italy's highest court has ruled that masturbation in public is not a crime, as long as it is not conducted in the presence of minors.
It’s difficult to argue that YouTube pays sufficiently for music and video content. But according to the BBC , a new European draft directive to reform copyrights laws will have video sites like YouTube pay more to both musicians and record companies, whether YouTube likes it or not.
The initiative is currently in the works, but it will also require publishers and producers to tell artists and performers and authors what their works have actually generated.
This doesn’t apply only to video sites. The directive will also force news portals like Google News to pay newspapers publishers an undisclosed fee when using extracts of news stories on the publishers’ sites.
Speaking with the BBC, Carlo Perrone, who currently heads up the European Newspapers’ Publishers’ Association, said that the creation of a copyright for news publishers in Europe is a “significant and historic step.” President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Jucker, said,
“ I want journalists, publishers and authors to be paid fairly for their work , whether it is made in studios or living rooms, whether it is disseminated offline or online, whether it is published via a copying machine or hyperlinked on the web.”
How exactly will the Commission force YouTube to pay more to artists on their site? No specific details are currently available yet. This move comes after over 1,000 artists signed a letter asking European leaders to address what they call the “value gap” that exists between music consumption online and return revenues by sites like YouTube. This isn’t limited only to Europe, however. Hundreds of artists signed a petition for legislative reforms to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. The petition was sent to the U.S. Copyright Office.
YouTube was quick to strike back against claims that it hosted free, stolen content, stating,
“We have paid out over $3 billion to the music industry — and that number is growing year on year.”
Juncker proposes EU military headquarters
Jean-Claude Juncker said the lack of a "permanent structure" resulted in money being wasted on missions.
Part of his annual state of the union address was devoted to the UK's unexpected vote to leave the EU.
He insisted that the bloc was not at risk but called for Brexit negotiations to take place as quickly as possible.
Modelled on the state of the union address by the US president, the Commission president's annual speech was introduced in 2010 to detail the state of the EU and future legislative plans.
Won't a common military force interfere with Nato?
The Brexit vote has given added impetus to plans for greater defence co-operation, because the UK has always objected to the potential conflict of interest with Nato.
But Mr Juncker said a common military force "should be in complement to Nato". "More defence in Europe doesn't mean less transatlantic solidarity."
A European Defence Fund would stimulate military research and development, he said.
Why a military HQ? By BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Marcus
All EU members have military forces; most are also members of Nato; and several have extensive experience of operations abroad, from peace-keeping to war-fighting.
The real question is how to organise these component parts to get greater security. Mr Juncker insists that the EU must have a role here.
```and finally```
EU leaders search for way out of 'existential crisis'
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From the last link...
Shaken by Britain's decision to leave the European Union, the leaders of its other 27 countries meet on Friday to try to inject new momentum into their ailing communal project amid deep-seated divisions over migration and economic policy.
The Brexit vote in June ended more than half a century of EU enlargement and closer integration. Long seen as a guarantor of peace and prosperity, the bloc is now struggling to convince its citizens that it remains a force for good.
Years of economic and financial crisis have pushed up unemployment in many member states, while a spate of attacks by Islamist militants and a record influx of refugees from the Middle East and Africa have unsettled voters, who are turning increasingly to populist, anti-EU parties.
"After the vote in the UK the only thing that makes sense is to have a sober and brutally honest assessment of the situation," European Council President Donald Tusk told reporters in Bratislava on the eve of the meeting.
"We must not let this crisis go to waste."
"We must not let this crisis go to waste."
They will. Merkel will make sure before she is dumped at the next election that the caliphate will destroy Europe. France will do what is expected of it and surrender to it, while Belgium is already conquered. Don't give Europe its own army because it will probably eventually battle NATO.
I don't think you can have a meaningful European Union without Britain. They will have to work something out.
I don't think
We've noticed !
Comment about the article, not other members.
It's possible the EU is going to lose more than Great Britain, which will make the EU even less effective.
This could get really interesting ...