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[Reelya]

Yeah I was going to comment on that. Traditional homeland of the Lets. It's where the Lets Play.

[martinuzz]

Oh, Letland = Latvia. I meant to say Lithuania and Latvia. I alwyas thought Latvia = Litouwen.
Back when I learned geography in highschool the Baltics were so much easier. It was all just CCCP

[Reelya]

Oh, Lithuania then, makes sense given the rest of the list.

[smjjames]

Litouwen is phonetically and spelling-wise closer to Lithuania. Though I did have a thought that maybe you meant Lithuania before you clarified.

[martinuzz]

A Bulgarian cow named Penka seems to have signed it's own death warrant.
The cow strolled a short distance from it's pasture, over the Serbian border, where the grassland wass a bit greener.
It returned to it's own pasture by itself not much later.
Because of the latter, EU regulations say it has to be killed. An animal that has crossed the borders out of the EU, is forbidden to re-enter the EU.
A lot of Bulgarians are protesting the decision. The Bulgarian minister of agriculture has now promised to look if it is possible to make an exception to the EU law.

[smjjames]

Saw that on another forum, and yeah, it's really dumb because animals have no concept of borders (well, there's territory, but we don't exactly mark national boundaries with our collective urine, if you get my drift) and the cow transported herself.

[Dorsidwarf]

Why was the animal able to transport itself across the borders. Do they wild-graze cattle in bulgaria or something?

also solution: give the cow to the serbian neighbour who presumably noticed, in exchange for the value of cow

[ChairmanPoo]

It all sounds a bit dodgy to me. Who would report such a thing?

[Reelya]

The one article I found (Daily Mail though) said that she wandered away from the village, into Serbia and two weeks later "was returned" to the owner. So she did not in fact find he own way back but was found inside Serbia.

However, Bulgarian officials said the animal must be put down because of strict EU rules.

Penka will now be executed because she didn't have the proper paperwork - despite being given a clean bill of health by Serbian vets.

So it was wrong only because the summary as we were given was missing some details.

[smjjames]

Which STILL sounds dodgy because nobody transported the animal, she walked over the border on her own feet, and of course the animal didn't have proper papers, it's a frikking animal.

Would it be reasonable to ask the birds who fly across that border daily for their papers? No, of course not, same for the cow.

Plus euthanizing it simply for crossing the border and someone trying to bring it back seems dumb, if theyre afraid of disease, simply quarrantine it for a period of time.

I also can't help but wonder if theres some Balkan thing going on between the two countries.

[Reelya]

The problem wasn't when she left Bulgaria on her own, the problem was that the Serbs brought her back, but they didn't go through correct the paperwork according to the rules.

[martinuzz]

Volkskrant reported it walked back itself, nothing about Serbs returning her 2 weeks later.
https://www.volkskrant.nl/nieuws-achtergrond/uitstapje-naar-servie-wordt-koe-mogelijk-fataal~b440189e/

[ChairmanPoo]

www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jun/05/nhs-faces-brexit-staffing-crisis-unless-visa-caps-lifted-report

What I find weird about these articles (re: NHS staffing crisis) is how vastly they overestimate foreign interest in working for the NHS and dramatically underestimate how unappealing the overall situation is for someone wanting to move in.  I've gotten messages from four different recruiters concerning positions in the UK, but the way things are going  there is little incentive to bother going through the hoops when the rewars at the end is neither certain nor as appealing as people think.

[Sheb]

The EU Court has ruled that EU member states are not allowed to refuse recognizing a gay marriage, and all the rights for married couples that that comes with, even if they themselves have not legalized gay marriage.
A Romanian man had filed charges against his home country, after his American husband, with whom he got married in Belgium, was disallowed a visum and work permit, because Romania did not recognize the marriage.
The EU court now ruled that even though they cannot force a country to permit gay marriage nationally, they can force a country to accept a gay marriage that took place in another country for all legal purposes.
In the EU, Letland, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Slovakia have not legalized gay marriage, and are outspoken against it.

Really? My reading was that the ruling was much narrower, only requesting that they recognize the right of gay partners for residency purpose.

[Ametsala]

I dug up the ruling, and it indeed only recognizes residency. Furthermore, if I'm reading it correctly, it's only applicable to similar cases, i.e. when a person has taken up genuine residency in a member state where same sex marriage is allowed and got married while residing there. So e.g. a Romanian gay can't just take a holiday in Belgium, get married there to a non-EU-citizen, and return to Romania with new spouse. (At least without another ruling from the ECJ)

Here's the ruling:

1.      In a situation in which a Union citizen has made use of his freedom of movement by moving to and taking up genuine residence, in accordance with the conditions laid down in Article 7(1) of Directive 2004/38/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the right of citizens of the Union and their family members to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States amending Regulation (EEC) No 1612/68 and repealing Directives 64/221/EEC, 68/360/EEC, 72/194/EEC, 73/148/EEC, 75/34/EEC, 75/35/EEC, 90/364/EEC, 90/365/EEC and 93/96/EEC, in a Member State other than that of which he is a national, and, whilst there, has created and strengthened a family life with a third-country national of the same sex to whom he is joined by a marriage lawfully concluded in the host Member State, Article 21(1) TFEU must be interpreted as precluding the competent authorities of the Member State of which the Union citizen is a national from refusing to grant that third-country national a right of residence in the territory of that Member State on the ground that the law of that Member State does not recognise marriage between persons of the same sex.

2.      Article 21(1) TFEU is to be interpreted as meaning that, in circumstances such as those of the main proceedings, a third-country national of the same sex as a Union citizen whose marriage to that citizen was concluded in a Member State in accordance with the law of that state has the right to reside in the territory of the Member State of which the Union citizen is a national for more than three months. That derived right of residence cannot be made subject to stricter conditions than those laid down in Article 7 of Directive 2004/38.