Word: pacts
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...cites ongoing worries about piracy, especially in Asia . "We'd rather grow the market gradually." Which may be the wisest way to avoid flying without wings - and crashing. - Reported by Yuki Oda/Tokyo and Bryan Walsh/Hong Kong Made To Be Broken The E.U. proposed relaxing its stability and growth pact by loosening the rule requiring states to keep budget deficits below 3% of GDP. The changes will benefit chronic overspenders such as France and Germany, though other nations oppose any relaxation...
...proposed changes to the structure of E.U. funding. "I suspect the U.K. will be able to retain the rebate," says Robert Prior-Wandesforde, a European economist at HSBC. Last week the European Commission also celebrated a court ruling confirming that members must abide by the stability and growth pact, which mandates that euro-zone countries keep deficits under 3% of GDP. Germany and France - the euro zone's biggest economies - have already violated the pact (and look set to do so again this year). Last November, E.U. finance ministers effectively torpedoed proposed action against France and Germany; last week...
...push ahead on his European policies. Determined not to be labeled a sellout by British Euro-skeptics, he packaged his work in Brussels as a series of valiant sorties to preserve British sovereignty. Pro-E.U. pundits in France, Belgium, Spain and Italy assailed Blair for watering down the pact. "The greatest paradox of the European Union," said Le Figaro, "is that its most skeptical member calls the shots." French President Jacques Chirac helped Blair's reputation back home by denouncing his intransigence. "The ambitions for the constitution are reduced - especially on tax and social security - by the clear position...
...assassination was the outcome of the Bush-Sharon meeting," said Abdullah Shami, a leader of Islamic Jihad. A Palestinian official in Gaza said protesters were calling for retaliation against "American interests." U.S. officials take a different view. They insist Arab leaders had prior warning of the pact. "The rest of the [peace] process is going nowhere fast," notes a senior State Department official. "This is something real--moving people, tanks and troops." Perhaps, but just days after the deal was made came the bloody reminder that removing violence from Gaza is entirely another matter...
...foreign-investment rules until powers like the U.S. and the European Union promised to cut the lavish agriculture subsidies that effectively keep developing-world farmers out of lucrative markets. Lula's stance may also derail or seriously dilute the Free Trade Area of the Americas, the hemisphere-wide pact that was meant to be a jewel of President George W. Bush's trade agenda...