The arrival of sub-$40-a-barrel oil has caused more than a few members of the OPEC cartel to splutter about the need to cut production to force prices higher. So far, Saudi Arabia isn’t listening.The strategy is to keep pumping, apparently in the hope of forcing the US shale industry – whose impact Opec underestimated as late as 2011 – to curb production. Non-Saudi members may therefore be alarmed that even the organisation’s own economists don’t exactly envisage US shale producers being forced to their knees....Indeed, the projections show North American tight oil volumes increasing from 4.4m barrels a day at present to 5.2m barrels in 2020. From a Saudi perspective, that forecast could be taken as yet another reason to keep pumping to protect Opec’s share of the market.  One of these years, lower levels of investment, which always follow lower prices, could produce a spike in prices and the report, rightly, warns of the danger. It suggests $10tn (£6.7tn) of investment will be needed between now and 2040 and that the “right signals” – meaning higher prices – will be required.  But a spike in 2016? That is hard to imagine while Opec’s members squabble before the Saudis get their way...The oil price has bugger all to do with stopping fracking. How could that be the reason when low prices hurt both US fracking investments and Saudi wealth... Saudi Arabia being almost entirely dependent on oil to finance government expnediture. Look further at Iran and Russia. The US used low oil prices to help to bring about the economic collapse of the USSR and are merely trying to do the same thing again. The Saudis are just doing what they are told.

Spain should be taken over by an newly independent Scotland and Russia should take over Germany. Australia should take control of the United States of America, with Norway taking control of Australia. Brazil should govern China, with England taking over Brazil. And England should be governed by Poland. There should be a one-world currency called 'Kossuth', named after the old Hungarian Soviet-era beer that took its name from Hungary's patriotic leader of the 19th century...All the mainstream parties in Spain are hopelessly corrupt. If Iglesias brings podemos into a coalition govt with the PSOE, his future will be counted in months, not years. BTW too much provincial left right bickering here. The real problem is Austrian School economics to which both the left and right adhere, especially in the France of president Flamby!!

Controversial plans for an EU Border and Coast Guard force have been set out as part of an EU drive to curb the record influx of migrants.  The European Commission is proposing a force with a stronger mandate than the EU's current Frontex border teams.  But some governments see the powers as violating national sovereignty.   The commission is also proposing to resettle Syrian refugees directly from camps in Turkey to try to stop people taking the dangerous voyage by sea.

The new proposals follow the reintroduction of border controls by some countries within the EU's internal borderless Schengen area - including Germany, Austria and Hungary - to control the flow of migrants.  They also follow revelations that two of the Paris attackers entered the EU on the migrant route through Greece.  "If we want to preserve Schengen we have to improve our common external border management. The current security risks make action urgent," said European Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans.

Foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday (14 December) gave a lukewarm reception to EU Commission plans for a new EU border and coast guard force.    The bloc’s executive is to propose, on Tuesday, that the border force be deployed on EU external borders if frontline member states fail to protect the EU boundary.    EU leaders will, at a summit on Thursday, agree to “rapidly” examine the plan, according to the latest draft conclusions, seen by EUobserver. The most controversial part of the proposal is that the force can be deployed even if the target member state doesn’t want it. The commission says deployment can only be blocked if they gather enough support - two thirds of EUCouncil votes - to form a “reversed qualified majority.” Luxembourg foreign affairs minister Jean Asselborn, whose country holds the EU presidency, echoed EU Council chief, Donald Tusk, in saying that uncontrolled migration has the potential to undermine EU free movement in the so called Schengen zone.  “Tusk is right, if we don’t protect our external borders, Schengen will fail,” Asselborn said on Monday.  “The question is how to deal with the sensitivity of member states, such as Italy or Greece. Does it [deployment] happen upon request or can it be triggered if Frontex [the EU border control agency] sees danger on the external border?”, he added. “Every country, which is on the external border and does not want to build a fence, needs to accept a European mechanism,” he said, alluding to Greece, which has waved through more than 700,000 asylum seekers en route to Germany and which put up resistance to EU intervention.

Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has been charged with "negligence" by a French court over her role in a €403m (£293m) sum handed over to a French businessman. Ms Lagarde, the fund’s managing director, has been ordered to stand before the court over her involvement in the Bernard Tapie scandal. The saga extends back over more than two decades, and is rooted to decisions made during her tenure as France's finance minister. Her part in the settlement paid to the tycoon has been played out through the courts for years. Mr Tapie claimed he was shortchanged by Credit Lyonnais bank after its sale of the Adidas sportswear empire in 1993, of which he was head. Despite a French court recommending that Ms Lagarde be acquitted in September, France’s Court of Justice of the Republic has decided that she should face charges. The court exists to deal with the crimes of French ministers while in office. The IMF chief’s lawyer, Yves Repiquet said on Thursday that the court’s decision was “incomprehensible”. Speaking on French television, he said that he would “recommend Ms Lagarde appeal this decision”. In a statement, Ms Lagarde said that she shared “the prosecutors’ view that there is no basis for any charge” against her. She reaffirmed “that she acted in the best interest of the French state, and in full compliance with the law”.  Gerry Rice, the IMF’s communications director, said: “The executive board continues to express its confidence in the managing director’s ability to effectively carry out her duties.” France’s current finance minister, Michel Sapin, said that the court’s decision should not interfere with the IMF’s operations, which see it provide financial assistance to economies in dire straits. “She's innocent until proven guilty, so I don't see how this should prevent her from carrying out her current duties,” he said. Mr Tapie is a controversial figure in French public life. The former president of the Marseille football club has spent a spell in prison for match fixing, and has been convicted for tax fraud.

"Transnational criminal networks can be effectively combatted through strategic cooperation at international level. The European Union cannot even imagine tackling terrorist threats without cooperating with international partners", said Alessandra Mussolini MEP, European Parliament Rapporteur on the Council implementing decision approving the conclusion of the Agreement on Strategic Cooperation in the fight against serious crime and terrorism between the United Arab Emirates and Europol, after today's vote in plenary.  According to the Agreement, the cooperation will include exchange of information on results of strategic analyses, criminal investigation procedures, specialist knowledge, general situation reports, training activities, information on crime prevention methods and the provision of advice and support in individual criminal investigations.

The Rapporteur continued: "This Agreement is more necessary than ever today due to the fact that the United Arab Emirates is becoming a growing hub for economic and financial crime. Structured cooperation with this country will benefit the safety of European citizens who deserve our absolute support at this really critical time." "After the tragic events in Paris, the political Groups which were initially against this Agreement have understood that ideological prerequisites and matters of principle cannot compromise the European responsibility to guarantee the highest standards of security for our citizens. The European Parliament has not missed this chance to support an Agreement whose implementation will improve the safety of our citizens", she concluded.

"We have a clear aim with the Energy Union. It is to strengthen the security of energy supply and increase energy efficiency at an affordable cost", said András Gyürk MEP, the EPP Group Shadow Rapporteur, after the adoption of the European Parliament initiative Report on the Energy Union. "It is up to economic actors to decide which projects make economic sense and what could be the potential of extraction projects in the area of energy. The European Parliament must do its best to provide a sound regulatory environment that includes strict standards with regards to climate, health and environment", Gyürk said. An important brick in the construction of the Energy Union is the plan to achieve a goal of 10 percent cross-border interconnectivity in the internal EU electricity grid.  "Increased interconnectivity is a crucial step towards achieving a true internal electricity market in EU. It must be achieved by more infrastructure as well as better access to the existing infrastructure", said Bendt Bendtsen MEP, the EPP Group Shadow Rapporteur, after the adoption of the initiative Report 'Making Europe's electricity grid fit for 2020'. "It will enable the EU to make better use of the electricity produced in Europe and thus lower dependence on imports, resulting in better energy security and lower electricity prices, to the benefit of European businesses and citizens", Bendtsen concluded.