European Parliament elections
The elections for the European parliament took place this weekend. According to the results, the European People’s Party won 179 seats, and the EP’s second largest faction, the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, won 150.
The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe came in third with 107 mandates, followed by the “Greens” with 70 and then the “European Conservatives and Reformists” with 58.
Matteo Salvini’s a “Europe of Nations and Freedoms” also took 58 places, while a “Europe of freedom and direct democracy” took 56. These two factions will have 36 deputy mandates, far more than the groups in the alliances had in the 2014-2019 EP.
The position of the United European Left and the northern Green Left remained the same with 38 places.
Theresa May’s resignation
British Prime Minister Theresa May announced her decision to resign as the Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party. She made her statement on Friday at the threshold of the prime minister’s residence on Downing Street.
She will officially leave the post on June 7.
Theresa May took over as prime minister in July 2016 after David Cameron’s resignation amid a referendum on Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union. She became the second woman in history (after Margaret Thatcher) to head the government of the United Kingdom.
According to the plan outlined after the Brexit referendum, the UK was supposed to leave the EU by March 29, 2019… however, the parliament rejected several proposals by May regarding the terms of country’s exit. During May’s premiership, 36 ministers resigned, 21 of them due to disagreements over Brexit.
Iran VS USA
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that the US decision to send an additional 1.5 thousand troops to the Middle East poses a threat to the stable situation in the region and to “world peace.”
Donald Trump announced the troop increase under the auspice of ”protecting” the American military members already in the region.
Zarif, however, suggested that the Americans really made the decision in order to justify their hostile actions and create tension on the Arabian Peninsula.
The US authorities have imposed tough sanctions on key areas of the Iranian economy and continue to increase economic pressure. Washington’s stated goal is to “change the behavior” of the Islamic Republic. The United States also recently declared the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization. In response, Iran recognized the Central Command of the US Armed Forces (CENTCOM) as a terrorist organization, and the United States itself as a “state sponsor of terrorism.”