Parliamentary elections took place in Slovakia on 5 March 2016. Robert Fico and his ''social-democrat'' party was expected to lose its majority, the losses turned out be be higher however then was previously prognosed. While it had won 44,4% of the votes during last Parliamentary Elections in 2012, it managed to win only 28,3% this time. Other centre-right and Eurosceptic parties made gains such as Freedom and Solidarity (Sas) and Ordinary People (OL'aNO-NOVA) rose from 5,9% and 8,5% to 12,1% and 11% respectively. More thrilling however was the rise of nationalist and neo-nazi parties of the Slovak National Party (SNS) and People's Party - Our Slovakia (L'SNS) that both for the first time passed the threshold in the Slovak Parliament by winning 8,6% and 8% respectively. The elections will make it difficult for a coalition to be formed. The elections were characterised by anti-immigration rhetoric from all parties, including Smer-SD, which seemed to have backfired as the right wing parties made huge gains. Social issues also played a huge role such as education. As Slovakia has the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU meetings in the second half year, the election outcome is considered awkward for the country.
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On 29 February 2016 the existence of a letter by Greek-Cypriot President Nikos Anastasiades has been confirmed in which he asked the Dutch EU Presidency to make Turkish an official language of the EU. The symbolic move comes as relations between the Turkish and Greek parts of Cyprus have been getting closer recently. During a historic meeting earlier on 21 January 2016, they stated their commitment to finally unify the country in 2016. If realised, Turkish could become the 25th official EU language and would increase the amount of language combinations from 552 to 600, and increase estimated translation costs from €450 million to €487 million.
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The first referendum regarding the expulsion of foreign criminals took place in 2010. In this referendum, 52.9% of the Swiss voters agreed that foreigners convicted of serious crimes, such as homicide, sexual crimes, armed robbery or drug trafficking, should be deported. In 2015, the Swiss People’s party initiated a new referendum on the law, which would consider even minor crimes, such as speeding or insulting police, a reason to be deported from the country. The initiative was declined by 58.9% of the voters.
Hashim Thaci managed to secure 81 out of 91 votes of the MPs present in the 120-member Parliament to elect the new President. Opposition MPs boycotted the vote, which took place amidst violence as tear gas was released in the Parliament before. Outside the Parliament Molotov cocktails were being thrown. Hashim Thaci led the independent fighters against Serbia in 1998-1999 and has served as Prime Minister before between 2008 and 2014. Recently, the country has been faced by more and more political instability and economic troubles.
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The general elections took place on 26 February and resulted in 8 parties obtaining seats in the Parliament. The Fine Gael party won 50 and Fianna Fáil 44 seats. The elections show that both Fine Gael and Labour Party, which previously formed a coalition, have lost a significant amount of support and the same coalition will no longer be possible. Forming a new coalition might prove a challenge for the participants as their beliefs vary and the middle ground could be difficult to achieve. The establishment of a new administration is expected to take at least two months. The new Dáil will meet on 10 March in order to nominate a new Prime Minister (Toaiseach).
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The Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs (Interior Ministers), from all EU member states, gathered for an informal Council of the EU meeting in Amsterdam. During the meeting they discussed the monitoring of implementing measures that were earlier agreed on by the European Council and the Council of the EU. Attention was given to the current refugee developments in the Western Balkans as well, and measures were prepared in case of possible humanitarian consequences if unilaterally border measures would be adopted. Apart from that the Council established its negotiation position towards the European Parliament with regards to the proposed regulation for reinforcing checks at external borders, for which the Schengen Border Code has to be amended.
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After having introduced influx caps of 80 refugees per day on the 17th of February, Austria has held a conference on refugee blockades (Managing Migration Together). The Interior and Foreign Ministers of Austria and the countries of the Western Balkans (Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, FYROM Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia) issued a declaration, which sets certain requirements. Among those are the establishment of a "joint operational center in the fight against smuggling", formulating the conditions on allowing refugees and migrants to enter and the agreement on the mutual support. The measures are to be further discussed at the summit of Interior Ministers on 25 February. The criticism comes from Greece for not being invited to the conference.
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Following the European Council meeting on EU-UK relations on 19 February, Prime Minister Cameron announced the EU referendum to take place on June 23. Few Conservative MPs, together with the Labour Party, Scottish National Party, Plaid Cymru, and the Lib Dems, said they will stand by Cameron’s preference to stay member of the EU, while others, including members of the Conservative Party, expressed their intentions to support campaigns favoring leaving of the Union. The UKIP representatives said it is a "golden opportunity" for the UK to be independent of Brussels.
Read More The Heads of State or Government of the EU Member States gathered for the European Council meeting, chaired by Donald Tusk, on 18 February. The debate was dominated by the deal with the UK and the ongoing migration crisis. The result of the summit is a legally binding and irreversible decision, which confirms the UK`s ’special status’ in the EU. The deal revolves around topics of competitiveness, economic governance, sovereignty and social benefits and free movement. It allows the UK, among other measures, to impose limits on in-work benefits for EU workers and to place restrictions on non-EU family members of EU citizens who apply to come to the UK. At the same time, the next Treaty amendment will exempt Britain from the notion of an "ever-closer union".
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On 18 February 2016, Dutch media organisation RTL4 leaked an official strategy of the Dutch government with regards to how they should campaign for a ''yes'' in order to convince the electorate to vote in favour of the Association Agreement of the EU with Ukraine, during the referendum on the agreement which will be held on 6 April 2016. Government officials were advised to focus on the importance of the democratic aspect of the vote. Furthermore they had to highlight economic benefits while refraining from mentioning Russia and speaking of security. They were also suggested to make clear the referendum is not about EU membership of Ukraine, which the Dutch government opposes. The government expected a positive vote, and said it would discuss with the parliament in case of a negative vote.
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