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Lost love between Europe and
LOST LOVE BETWEEN EUROPE AND AMERICA?
CAN US REGAIN ITS GLOBAL LEADERSHIP POSITION?
For years, the United States and EU have been maintaining a great relationship. They cooperate on many things, including military defense, trade, and other shared values. However, this fantastic diplomatic relationship that has been maintained for years seems to suffer a crash in the hand of the current US President— Donald Trump.
WHAT STRAINED THE US - EU RELATIONSHIP
Several occurrences emerged under the Trump administration, tearing apart the long term EU – US relationship. In January 2017, President Trump accused the EU of being “a vehicle for Germany.” He condemned the Chancellor of Germany — Angela Merkel’s decision to bring in a million refugees into their country. Trump refers to these refugees as “illegals” During the tussle between Brexit and the European Union, the United States president supported Brexit’s decision to break away from the EU. Following this occurrence, the relationship further strained when the then President of the European Commission — Jean-Claude Juncker, jokingly made a statement indicating his support for the independence of the city of Austin and the US state of Ohio.
To further establish the strained relationship, Angela Merkel made a statement following a NATO Summit saying Europe has lost
confidence in the United
States. She made this statement after President
Trump called Germans bad people. President Trump also threatened to stop America’s long time car dealing business with Germany.
President Trump accused the EU by calling them one of America’s greatest foes in the world. This statement was prompted by the
EU’s decision to fine Google $5.1 billion based on trust violation. Trump said the European Union is only taking advantage of his country.
With what seems to be a lost love between the European Union and the United States, it appears that the
US is losing its global leadership. As a global leader, the US is expected to lead by example and adopt diplomatic rather than aggressive approaches to international issues. The EU is a giant to be reckoned with in the world. Thus,
America cannot continue to effectively maintain its global leadership position if it can’t live in peace with its neighbors and can’t earn their support. Besides having issues with the EU, America under
Trump also have issues with several
Asian countries. The stand up between the US and North Korea nearly resulted in a nuclear war. Though the US doesn’t have a good relationship with many Asian countries; it gets worse under the Trump administration. It is not the attribute of a world leader to make more enemies than friends. This is why and how the US is hastily losing its global leadership position.
The deeds have been done and can’t be erased. Going forward, the question is, can the US Regain its Global leadership Position? The answer is yes! A significant reason why America is losing its leadership position is its lost love with the EU. However, the two had an excellent relationship in the past, and they had a history of doing great things together. Therefore, for the US to regain its global leadership position, it must first find common ground with its European neighbors. Unfortunately, this seems to be an unachievable development under the Trump administration. Even if the Trump administration decides to start a rebuilding process with the EU, it will take more effort to win their trust and respect than if a new US president takes a similar step.
Considering the outcome of the recent US election, there seems to be hope for a renewed relationship between the US and EU if Biden becomes president. With a strong relationship between these superpowers, there’s hope for the US to regain its global leadership position.
References
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_ States%E2%80%93European_Union_relations https://carnegieeurope.eu/strategiceurope/82962
MORE PEOPLE IN N.J. COULD BE ELIGIBLE FOR EXTENDED UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS UNDER BILL PASSED BY LEGISLATURE
U $nemployment benefits have functioned to serve as shock absorbers in mitigating the disruption of the Coronavirus pandemic on the economic welfare of households and individuals who have suddenly found themselves out of jobs through no fault of their own. However, people are becoming restless in the face of the imminent expiration of these unemployment benefits. Unemployment insurance benefits are for 12 and 28 weeks, with the majority of states offering 26 weeks of benefits. Once these weeks are used up, the benefits are cut off. Since the economy is yet to make a strong comeback to its former status, individuals would be left out to dry. Congress is creating automatic stabilizers to maintain how these benefits are triggered and dispersed for its citizens. This program extends UI for 6-20 additional weeks after 26 weeks of benefits and 13 weeks of the CARES Act. The Act, known as The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES)
$Act, provides monetary bonuses for stakeholders and expanded unemployment benefits. This way, first responders, national public service providers, freelancers, and contractors are eligible for these benefits. The Federal government and state legislature provided these unemployment benefits to cater for the large number of unemployed citizens who have been displaced during the pandemic. Access to Unemployment Insurance Extended Benefits nonetheless is based on criteria; prior earnings, eligibility rules, and benefits. These criteria vary from state to state. In the state of New Jersey, the record of your past earnings during a ‘one-year base period’ must exceed a certain level. The base period is the earliest four of the five complete calendar quarters before you filed your benefits claim (The calendar quarters are January through March, April through June, July through September, and October through December). During this base period, you must have worked at least 20 weeks in the base period and earned at least $200 per week, or you must have made at least $10,000 total during the base period to qualify.
Another factor that determines eligibility is the reason for unemployment. Anyone who has been out of the labor market for some time will not necessarily qualify. The unemployment status must be a result of the company’s downsizing or retrenchment of workers for economic reasons. Being laid off because of incompetence or wrongful behaviors may prevent you from enjoying the benefits. New Jersey has its categories where each misconduct fits.
One more criterion is the amount and duration of Unemployment Benefits in New Jersey. If you are eligible to receive unemployment, your weekly benefit rate (WBR) will be 60% of your average weekly earnings during the base period, multiplied by the number of times you worked in 26 weeks.
The Federal and State government finances these UI Extended Benefits. The inclusion of the CARES act loosened the boundaries for eligibility as a larger percentage of the populace can claim payments of these Unemployment benefits.
Conclusively, these benefits have been structured in a way to ensure that only those who need it can access it and also makes allowances for the special case scenarios. More people are included in this package, and so far, it has helped curtail the financial pressure of low and middle-income earners.
