Foreign Digest: European Union, Russia, Sweden

European Union: end annual time changes

The European Union recommended last week that its member states end the annual switch to Summer Time (daylight savings time) because of popular opinion against it and studies that prove the inconvenient and costly change to and from daylight savings times interferes with sleep and health and causes more traffic accidents.  E.U. members must decide whether to remain on standard or daylight savings times permanently.

Russia: update on pension protests

            Protests are continuing against the Russian Federation’s planned changes to pensions, namely to increase the retirement age.  As the freedom of peaceful assembly is not tolerated by the authoritarian and kleptocratic regime, hundreds of protestors have been arrested.  The arrest of the democratic opposition leader, Alexei Navalny a week ago was in advance of an opposition meeting to plan protests against the pension changes.

Sweden: parliamentary elections 

           In the Swedish parliamentary elections today, the far-right nationalist anti-immigrant party won seats at the expense of the ruling liberal bloc of parties, but not enough for a majority to form a government.  In both the liberal and center-right blocs, the largest party of the bloc lost seats, but smaller parties gained.  In the liberal bloc, the center-left party lost seats, but the Communists and Greens gained, although not enough to offset the losses suffered by the center-left party.  The center-right bloc gained a handful of seats, despite its largest party, who were the main opposition party, losing several seats, as two of the bloc’s three smaller parties gained seats.  Some grand center-left-right coalition would have to be formed to keep the far right from power.