EU Okays Extra Funds to Dismantle Aging Nuke Plants
The EU has offered Bulgaria, Slovakia and Lithuania additional funding to dismantle their nuclear power facilities, the Sofia News Agency reported on Friday.
Bulgaria received an additional EU commitment of 260 million euros for the closure of four units at the country’s Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant as a draft 2014-2020 EU budget was presented by Herman van Rompuy.
The EU had initially proposed 185 million euros for the four units but Sofia said it needed a total of 450 million.
The Kozloduy plant, in operation since 1974, has raised safety concerns, and the country agreed to shut four of its units as a condition of joining the European Union in 2007.
Lithuania is to get EUR 400 million euros for its Ignalina nuclear plant, up from 210 million in an earlier proposal, while Slovakia will get 200 million for Bohunice, up from 105 million.
EU assistance aims to make the decommissioning irreversible and eliminate a major source of radiological hazard.
Controversy in U.S. Immigration Reform Continues
Immigration reform remains in the arena of negotiations between Democrats and Republicans in the United States, but any agreement in Congress about it will be seriously structured from January 2013.
So far, the basic priority of the Legislature and the administration of President Barack Obama is to reach agreement on the so-called ‘tax precipice’.
The GOP reconsider their positions on immigration, to prevent further deterioration of its image among minorities, after the defeat at the polls on November 6.
More than 70 percent of Hispanics voted for Obama, and only 27 percent did so for the Republican candidate Mitt Romney, which was a blow to the red party.
Republican leaders warn that this group may have even greater political losses if they do not set a more immigrant-friendly policies, specifically on the issue of immigration reform, says CBS News.
The Republican congressman from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, recently acknowledged that the extremist rhetoric and tone of his fellows became a wall between them and Latinos.
Alluding to the support that minorities granted Obama in the presidential, Graham said: “If we continue to lose the votes of Latinos, 93 percent of black people’s and 60 percent of voters under 30, we will become a dinosaur party “.
However, at the same time that the red party claim for changing such positions, some are still in favor of stricter immigration policies.
Crisis in Eurozone Affects German Economy in Third Quarter
The economy of Germany, the so-called European locomotive, was affected in the third quarter of 2012 due to the crisis in the Eurozone, the Federal Statistical Office reported on Friday.
The Gross Domestic Product decreased 0.2 percent after a previous expansion of 0.3 percent since exports and consumption contributed less to growth.
According to ZEW reasearch group, the constant difficulties brought about by the bloc´s crisis undermined in November the trust of German analysts and entrepreneurs.
The problems of the group impact the nation through th weakness of the external demand and the lack of trust, underlined experts of the institution.
On the other hand, Germany´s Ministry of Economy recently cut its advance plan for 2013 from 1.6 to one percent.
The ministry explained the country is suffering the impact of the European debt and the weakening of some emrging countries of Asia and Latin America.