EU-DIGEST

SAIS Next Europe: PostGlobal on washingtonpost.com:

"Who Will Lead the 'Next Europe', and To Where?

By Brian Stout

Last month I received a phone call from my eleven-year-old cousin, who wanted my thoughts for a class paper on 'what it means to be American.' The last two years have borne witness to an often rancorous debate over that very subject, a debate that played out on a global stage. Discussions of 'American exceptionalism' prompted proud proclamations from this side of the Atlantic and engendered skepticism abroad. After all, what does make America so special?"

Labels: EU, Integration, Political

Ahmed Aboutaleb, the new Mayor of Rotterdam

EU-Digest focus on Ahmed Aboutaleb, the new Mayor of Rotterdam

A European Obama? - Ahmed Aboutaleb chosen as Rotterdam's new Mayor

A Moroccan-born Dutch politician who told immigrants to either integrate or take the next plane home, will become the first immigrant to lead Rotterdam, one of the Netherlands' major cities and Europe's number one container Port. On Jan. 1, Ahmed Aboutaleb will take the reins of Rotterdam, a city and subburbian region of some 1 million people, when incumbent Ivo Opstelten retires. Mr.Aboutaleb was born August 29, 1961 in Beni Sidel, Morocco, and is the son of an Imam. After growing up in his small Moroccan village, he moved to the Netherlands in 1976. He studied electrical engineering and telecommunications, and worked as a reporter for Veronica, NOS-radio and RTL Nieuws. Later, he also worked at the public relations department of the Dutch Health Ministry. In 1988, Ahmed Aboutaleb became the director of the Forum organization, which was directly related to multiculturalism in Dutch society. Ahmed Aboutaleb, who is a Muslim strongly advocates the separation of church and state (secularism).

In 1988, Aboutaleb became the director of the Forum organization, which was directly related to multiculturalism in Dutch society. The government approved Aboutaleb's appointment Friday after the municipality voted overwhelmingly for him. Ahmed Aboutaleb, 47, is presently deputy minister for social affairs in Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende's government along with another foreign born deputy minister, Nebahat Albayrak, of Turkish descent. Before taking the ministerial job in 2007, he made his reputation as an alderman in Amsterdam, where he pushed migrants to integrate or leave.

Aboutaleb was propelled to prominence when he went to a mosque in Amsterdam the day after Van Gogh's murder and told the worshipers to either integrate or take the next plane home.

Rotterdam was the power base of populist anti-immigration politician Pim Fortuyn, who was murdered by an animal rights activist in 2002. Ruud Lubbers, a former prime minister, said Mr. Aboutaleb is an excellent choice who should be able to keep anti-immigrant sentiment under control in the city. Nearly 36 percent of Rotterdam's population is classed as "non-western immigrant" by the Dutch national statistics office. The immigrants are mainly families and descendants of Turkish and Moroccan guest workers.

Labels: Ahmed Aboutaleb, EU, Integration, Muslims, The Netherlands

For the complete report from the Deutsche Welle click on this link

Dutch Muslims React with Restraint to MP's Controversial Film

Muslims in the Netherlands have reacted calmly to the Internet release of a controversial film critical of Islam by Dutch far-right MP Geert Wilders, but elsewhere passions run high.Initial reactions from the Muslim community in the Netherlands were restrained. The evening after the film's release passed without incident, in contrast to the unrest that swept the country following the murder by an Islamic militant in 2004 of film director Theo van Gogh, another Dutch artist who was accused of offending Islam.

Prime Minister Balkenende praised the efforts of his government to defuse Muslim anger in the months preceding the release of the film and welcomed the initial Muslim response. "The government is heartened by the initial restrained reactions of Dutch Muslim organizations," he said. "The Dutch government stands for a society in which freedom and respect go hand in hand... Let us solve problems by working together." Dutch politicians distanced themselves from Wilders and his film. "The Netherlands does not need Wilders as a filmmaker," said Mark Rutte, leader of the Dutch Liberal VVD party -- of which Wilders himself was a member until being thrown out in September 2004. "We need Wilders as a legislator, to debate about the Netherlands and to find solutions for serious problems, including the problems of integration and immigration."

Note EU-Digest: In Holland Muslims appeared much less motivated to take action against Wilders. The possible reason for this passive reaction? Dutch Muslims, Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists seem to have found a common denominator: EU Citizenship, Democracy, and Free Enterprise. It might not be perfect, but its certainly better than cutting each others throat or having some fanatic blow up your family.

Labels: EU, Geert Wilders, Integration, Muslims, The Netherlands

For the complete report from The First Post click on this link

EU-USA - Start of a beautiful friendship?- by Phillip Blond

For the first time in several hundred years the West is on the losing side of history. This is the thesis of Edouard Balladur, the former French Prime Minister who in a recent essay argues that "history is starting to be made without the West and perhaps one day it will be made against it". The 78-year-old statesman believes that Western values are so threatened that the only way to defend global democracy and the rule of law is for the US and the EU to consider a real political, economic and cultural union. Like many he fears that the West is in cultural decline and unable to face the challenges that confront it. For Balladur, the West must undergo a revolution in thinking and come together and defend its common values in the face of unprecedented global threats.

Labels: EU, Integration, US

For the complete report from the Scotsman.com click on this link

How Scot has changed shape of local politics across Europe - by Hugh Ash

WHEN Spain elects 15,000 mayors and councillors next week, many will owe their seats to a Scot who is helping to redraw the map of European politics by galvanising foreign voters.

Kate Mentink-Duncan was the first person to identify the huge untapped power of migrants to Spain, especially the legion of British expats, who, under European Union law, are entitled to vote in local and European elections wherever they live in the 27-nation bloc.

Labels: EU, Integration

For the complete report from Expatica click on this link

Europe: A dead horse worth beating

There's no denying that united Europe's present is looking grim, at least from a French point of view. Turkey is still fuming over France's slap in the form of a law forbidding anyone to deny that the Turks practiced genocide of the Armenians during WWI.

Presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy has outright rejected the possibility of Turkey's entry into the Union. I'd bet much of France would have liked to shut out Bulgaria and Romania too, but it was too late. President Jacques Chirac was forced to welcome them on January 1 as "fellow European citizens", returned to the bosom of their historical "family". But if they are part of the family, they are the cousins that no one really wants to invite to Christmas dinner.

Labels: EU, French Elections, Integration

For the complete report from SPIEGEL ONLINE click on this link

German Justice Failures: Paving the Way for a Muslim Parallel Society (in Europe)

A recent ruling in Germany by a judge who cited the Koran underscores the dilemma the country faces in reconciling Western values with a growing immigrant population. A disturbing number of rulings are helping to create a parallel Muslim world in Germany that is welcoming to Islamic fundamentalists.

Die Tageszeitung ran a story on the case titled: "In the Name of the People: Beating Allowed," while the right-wing tabloid Bild called it "An Outrageous Case!" The same unanimity across party lines prevailed in the political realm. "Unbearable," was conservative Bavarian Interior Minister Günther Beckstein's ruling, while Lale Akgün, a member of parliament of Turkish origin and the Social Democratic Party's representative on Islamic issues, commented that the Frankfurt judge's ruling was "worse than some backyard decision by an Islamist imam." Even the deputy head of the Green Party's parliamentary group, Hans-Christian Ströbele, noted that a German judge is obligated to uphold German law.

The following is the relevant part from Sura 4 on Women, taken from the Holy Koran as translated by Tashad Kadifa: “The men are made responsible for the women, and God has endowed them with certain qualities, and made them the bread earners. The righteous women will cheerfully accept this arrangement, since it is God’s commandment, and honour their husbands during their absence. If you experience rebellion from the women, you shall first talk to them, then (you may use negative incentives like) deserting them in bed, then you may (as a last alternative) beat them. If they obey you, you are not permitted to transgress against them. God is Most High, Supreme.” (http://www.submission.ws/quran/frames/index.html)

Note EU-Digest: "The real dilemma is that some European judges do not seem to be aware that the EU is a democratic and secular society. Muslim women who have become European Citizens have a free choice to accept Muslim religious laws or not, but it is against the law in Europe to beat any living being."

Labels: EU, Integration, Islam, justice

For the complete report from the EUobserver.com click on this link

Europe is increasingly fading away - by Honor Mahony

Joschka Fischer, ex-German foreign minister-turned-Princeton-professor has a very sober view of the European Union's position in the world as it dusts itself off from recent 50th birthday celebrations. "This is a development which is definitely accelerating, so when you talk with the [US] political elite, the weaker Europe is, the less interest you will find.

"Relating a recent incident where a former Indian foreign minister came to lecture at Princeton and said that the 21st century will see three superpowers – India, China and the US – Mr Fischer said "I was sitting there and I thought, 'why the hell is nobody in Europe realising what is going on!'" Note EU-Digest: "The reason Mr. Fischer is that most of the European politicians are looking inward, consider unity a dirty word and are overcome with a feeling of self importance."

Labels: EU, Integration, Politics, Unity, World Trade

For the complete report from the ekathimerini.com click on this link

Europe at crossroads - "Eastern Europe's inflexibility towards EU unity"

On its 50th anniversary, the EU can claim quite a positive record. But anyone can see that the integration process has come to a halt. The two expansion waves have taken a hefty toll on political unification. It’s not just the practical difficulty of finding a single voice for 27 governments. Most importantly, EU attempts to wean itself from American hegemony have been seriously undermined. London is not alone in this effort anymore. Rather, it is spearheading a group of states that lend it greater political weight.Eastern European states such as Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary do not just fall behind British diplomacy; often, they are the ones to take the first step. They often make claims and objections without any will to negotiate in a constructive fashion. It’s not just that they are strangers to the EU’s consensus-building habits. Their inflexibility comes mostly from a feeling of superiority drawn from their US alliance.

The EU has two options. One is to fall back on familiar tactics and small, often rhetorical steps that lead nowhere. The second is to cut ties altogether and implement a policy of so-called “reinforced cooperation” with ad hoc partnerships in projects that could inject the Union with a fresh momentum. The eurozone is a precedent and could be the model for a core of states.

Labels: Britain, Eastern Europe, EU, inflexibility, Integration, Poland, Political, US

For the complete report from VDARE.com click on this link

The Dutch Immigration Disaster: Is It happening also in the US? - by Bruce Allen Roberts

An Islamic imam calls homosexuals "pigs." One homosexual responds that Islam is "a backward religion," and that the country should close its borders to Muslim immigrants. This exchange took place in the Netherlands in mid-2001.

This event, though a microcosm of immigration-influenced tensions, was but a blip on the radar screen. Since then, the Netherlands has continued a policy of internationalism, importing massive numbers of Muslim immigrants. The Dutch government now "subsidizes mosques," supports separate social and welfare arrangements for immigrant minorities; and has established a separate consultation system with community ‘leaders.’ Some of these "leaders" have even advocated that sharia law apply to civil disputes between Muslims. Inevitably, this coupling of immigration and multicultural politics has triggered resentment among native Dutch, an unfolding drama to which When Ways of Life Collide devotes a considerable portion of its pages.

US readers might wonder at face value, if America’s immigration dilemma differs from that of the Netherlands’?

Labels: Immigration, Integration, Muslims, Netherlands

For the complete report from the Hürriyet click on this link

Turkey's Erdogan warns the EU: Make your decision, don't wear yourselves out

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has made some sharp comments in reference to the EU's stance on Turkey's quest for full membership, saying yesterday before his ruling AKP group in Ankara, "Don't wear yourselves or us out. If you have some thoughts, make some decisions on them, and let us all continue down our roads."

Erdogan also noted "The EU is on a serious search for solutions to problems such as security, energy, expansion, and an ageing population. In fact, Turkey is in a key role in terms of being able to help the EU with these problems. We know that there have been many difficulties down this road, and that there will continue to be these difficulties. But just as we have managed to obtain our rights up until today, we will continue in the same way from now on. We are not expecting favors from anyone. We simply want whatever we have a right to. If the EU thinks negatively about Turkey, it needs to make its decision, and we will continue on our way."

Labels: Energy, EU, Integration, Political, security, Turkey

For the complete report from the Prague Daily Monitor click onj this link

Fight for influence in Europe's heart underlies base row

Struggle for influence in Central Europe is in the core of the disputes over U.S. anti-missile bases in the Czech Republic and Poland, Pavel Paral writes in Mlada fronta Dnes today.

Paral writes that the post-communist central European countries want to play a greater role in the discussion on the future, while Germany, the United States' major ally in Europe is for various reasons looking for ways to get to Russia which Russian President Vladimir Putin is quite adroitly making use of.

He says that relations with Russia are in the centre of the EU leading countries' attention. He mentions public opinion polls that International Herald Tribune daily released recently. It ensues from them that a large part of Europeans think that not only Turkey, but also Russia will be EU members in 50 years.

Labels: EU, Integration, Missile Crises, Russia, US

For the comkplete report from Angus Reid Global Monitor click on this link

Dutch Give Low Support to Double Nationality

Opinions on permitting dual citizenship are divided in the Netherlands, according to a poll by Maurice de Hond. 45 per cent of respondents think the country should allow people to hold double nationality, while 32 per cent believe it should be forbidden for everybody to have more than one.

Labels: Dual Nationality, EU, Integration, The Netherlands

For the complete report in Asia News click on this link

Muslims in Europe, no to ghettos, yes to integration - by Samir Khalil Samir sj

The question of national identity is very important both for newly-arrived Muslims and for those who have lived in Europe for some time. They should be made to feel proud of being European. If they live in Italy and if they integrate in Italy, they should be able to say "I am Italian" and not just because they are able to have a passport or they are standing on Italian soil.

Let’s take for example the shocking situation that developed in Milan some time ago, when a group of Arab parents (Egyptians) pulled their children out of public school and opened an Arab school: intellectuals and Italian political figures emphasized this choice as an effort to "maintain their roots," to be educated in the Arabic language.... This, for them, is not the priority, nor is it for the state. It is rather a task for the family and perhaps some cultural groups. The task for politicians should be to help integration, help immigrants find work, guarantee dignified housing and affordable rent, and all this on the condition that immigrants are willing to adopt the European way of life.

Karen Jesperson and Ralf Pittelkow former eminent members of the Social-democratic party in Denmark wrote: "fundamentalists are gaining ground among the young Muslim people of Europe: They are seeking to interfere in the lives of people, even those who are integrated, to indicate to them various kinds of behaviour: how to dress, what to eat, how to handle certain problems, etc, so as to distinguish themselves from others. They are warning people that if they do not do this, they risk disappearing like salt in water." Karen Jesperson and Ralf Pittelkow blame this increase in radical Islam on the West for having praised the "cultural ghetto" position, with the excuse or the idea of multiculturalism."

For Europe the reasoning should be as follows: "we cannot accept people who come to Europe only because they have guarantees of making a living, unemployment insurance, health assistance, etc. Note EU-Digest: "Europe must set conditions that promote integration. If immigrants participate in the European society and the development and enrichment of its culture and economy, they must be treated as citizens with the same rights enjoyed by other Europeans. Local European governments should do everything they can to promote this. On the other hand, Europe is a democratic and secular society and it must never permit that the democratic pillars on which this society stands are being threatened by radical, fundamentalist, or ultra-conservative forces from within or outside Europe."

Labels: Conservative, Europe, Fundamentalist, Integration, Islam, Radical

Mail & Guardian Online

"European Union 'has become a fat midget'
Simon Tisdall
26 March 2007 12:01
Turkey was not invited to Europe's big birthday bash on Sunday despite being an official candidate for European Union membership. Ankara expressed disappointment at a 'missed opportunity'. Media reaction to the perceived snub was sharper."

Labels: EU, Integration, Turkey

For the complete report from the New York Times click on this link

After Lifetime in Germany, Turks Still Alone and Torn - by Mark Landler

The last cups of Turkish black tea had been drained, the platters of olives and goat cheese cleared, but the snowy-haired Turks lingered at the table.Four decades after the first Turks arrived as guest workers, they are reaching retirement in a land that still feels foreign. For Mr. Mermer and many others, it is a bleak time with the recognition that they will live out their days in a place where they had planned to stay only a few years.

Germany never planned on them staying, either, and now faces a looming social and financial burden. Of its 2.7 million people of Turkish origin, 320,000 are of retirement age. That is expected to double by 2020.

Labels: Germany, Immigration, Integration, Turkey

For the complete report from NZZ Online click on this link

50 years of Swiss mistrust of Europe

Max Petitpierre was Swiss foreign minister when the Treaty of Rome was signed on March 25, 1957. His son, Gilles, talks to swissinfo about Swiss:EU relations.

Gilles Petitpierre, himself a former parliamentarian, says Switzerland's view of Europe always has and most probably always will be one of distrust.

Labels: EU, Integration, Political, Switzerland

For the complete report from BBC NEWS click on this link

How divided Europe came together - by Allen Little

Marie-Helene Von Mach remembers the day her father came back from the dead. It was 1954 and he had been gone nine years.

Marie-Helene was 20 years old in 1957. She talks about the foundation of the European Union with an extraordinary passion. And she is proud of the role she played in its creation. In the summer of 1956, she was recruited as a typist to work on a project she knew nothing about. She was told to report to a country house, in a little wooded park, on the outskirts of Brussels - the Chateau de Val Duchesse. Val Duchesse is not much to look at architecturally. But its place in the history of our continent is secure, for this is where modern Europe was born; the house in which the leaders of the six founding members agreed to turn the page on the old European nation state and fuse their destinies.

This is where they wrote the Treaty of Rome.

Labels: EU 50, Europe, Integration

For the complete report from the BBC click on this link

Have Your Say - The EU at 50: Your reflections

The European Union is celebrating its 50th anniversary on 25 March - the date when the Treaty of Rome was signed in 1957. Four BBC News website readers - aged 25 to 50 - share their experiences and feelings after half a century of the Union.

Editorial Note EU-Digest: It is scandalous that local governments and the population in the EU, who have gained so much from being part of the EU have not turned this 50 year anniversary into a Europe-wide national ceremony and festivity, promoting the positive results and benefits of being part of the EU. Schools should be involved with a variety of events. Politicians, Captains of Industry, Mayors all over Europe should be holding speeches. Instead apathy by inward looking politicians and unmotivated citizens. The question which arises - do Europeans really have what it takes to be unified? The time for action is now.

Labels: EU, Integration

New Humanist Editor's Blog:

"Keep Europe Secular

No doubt you are all planning your own parties to celebrate the 50th birthday of the EU. But let's not be complacent - there are some out there - like Angela Merkel and the Pope, who are determined to argue that Europe is, and should remain, Christian. Well Donald Sassoon, professor of comparative European history begs to differ (This is the cover story of the current issue of New Humanist, out now)
"

Labels: Europe, Integration, Religion

csmonitor.com

"The next European generation
As the EU celebrates its 50th birthday, it should realize that young people have other priorities.
The Monitor's View

The European Union turns 50 Sunday, celebrating the treaty that first joined six former enemy states in a 'common market' that has since blossomed to 27 members. Historians describe the EU as an amazing security success, keeping peace through open trade. But can this formula inspire a new generation?"

Labels: Europe, Integration

INTERVIEW: German philosopher Habermas calls for EU referendum - Europe

INTERVIEW: German philosopher Habermas calls for EU referendum - by Matthias Hoenig and Eva- Maria McCormack Mar

Hamburg - German philosopher Juergen Habermas Tuesday called for a EU-wide referendum in which citizens across the bloc should decide whether the EU should have a directly elected president, as well as a foreign minister and an independent financial basis. In an interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa ahead of the 50th anniversary of the Rome treaties which marked the foundation of the EU, he said Europe's governments should 'dare democracy' and hold a referendum on the future of the bloc, to be scheduled together with the 2008 European parliamentary elections. Previous attempts to consolidate the European institutions had not failed due to the opposition of the people in Europe, said the philosopher and sociologist, who has received worldwide acclaim for his critical theory of rationality 'In most countries of the continent there are sleeping majorities in favour of further consolidation of the EU,' said Habermas.

'The deeper reason for the paralysis in the dynamics of integration is that different governments are governed by different targets in regards to the EU,' he said. Rather than putting the real question of what the bloc ultimately should be to the test, the national governments were avoiding the conflict that is to be expected in this crucial issue, he said. Note EU-Digest: Twentieth-century German philosopher Jürgen Habermas attacked the belief that modern scientific knowledge and research are objective and value-free. Habermas argued that reason and science have become tools of domination, rather than emancipating humans from myth, suspicion, and tyranny.

Labels: EU, History, Integration, Philosophy, Political

prnewswire.com

Negative F.Times Spin on EU: "Except for Spain, Majorities or Pluralities in Five European Countries Believe Life Has Become Worse Since Joining the EU says poll.

LONDON and ROCHESTER, N.Y., March 19 /PRNewswire/ -- A
Financial Times/Harris Poll shows that except in Spain, majorities or
pluralities of adults in the five largest European countries believe that
life in their country has become worse since it became part of the European
Union (EU), not a vote of confidence for the EU. Spanish adults are the
most positive about the effect that joining the EU has had on their
country, with more than half (53%) stating that life has gotten better. In
the other countries substantial proportions in (Britain 52%, France 50%,
Italy 47%, and Germany 44%) feel that life in their country has gotten
worse since their countries joined the EU." Note EU-Digest: Some polls seem to be designed to put a negative spin on the EU. Unfortunately the problem is that the result of some dubiously formulated polls, like this Financial Times/Harris Poll, can suddenly become 'the gospel truth" in the eyes of the ignorant public, because there are very few journalists or politicians around these days who have the courage to counter-act this nonsense. It is because of these "spin type polls" that most people also bought into the "fable" of the Iraq weapons of mass destruction story or that corporations have the interest of the public at heart. Shouldn't we also ask the question: "If we Europeans were not part of the EU, could we really be independent from outside economic and political forces?" Is there anyone who could list 3 issues to the contrary of that statement?

Labels: EU, Integration, Political, Polls: Perceptions

For the complete report from the EUobserver.com click on this link

MEPs consider Turkish Cypriot observers in EU parliament-by Mark Beunderman

Political group leaders in the European Parliament will on Thursday (14 March) discuss a contentious report which raises the idea of Turkish Cypriot representatives in the parliament, while also proposing that Turkish should get an official EU language status.

The confidential report - seen by EUobserver - was prepared by the parliament's "High-Level Contact Group for relations with the Turkish Cypriot community in the northern part of the island," a cross-political group of MEPs established by the EU assembly in September 2005.

Labels: Integration

For the complete report from the SPIEGEL ONLINE click on this link

Saving the World: Merkel, the Queen of Europe - by Dirk Kurbjuweit

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is often inscrutible. But her diplomatic deftness managed to get 27 European leaders to agree to a far-reaching climate policy. She has made the European stage her own.

Angela Merkel is relentlessly Angela Merkel, even when she is experiencing what others might celebrate as a triumph. A small glimmer of joy on her otherwise exhausted-looking face was all she could muster at a press conference after the European Union summit in Brussels last Friday. Her reserve was especially conspicuous next to the visible glow on the face of José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission -- he was seated next to Merkel and was soaking in the satisfaction of emerging from this meeting as a winner.

Angela Merkel's strength is her dependability, and from dependability grows the confidence that this chancellor can be a leader, even in sacrifice.

Labels: Environment, Integration, Political

Vietnam latest news - Thanh Nien Daily

"EU at 50 admired more from afar than from within
The European Union is an object of admiration and emulation in much of the world, yet it marks its 50th birthday this month little loved at home.

In the half-century since six nations signed the Treaty of Rome establishing the European Economic Community, the bloc's members, now numbering 27, have enjoyed near total peace, rising prosperity and spreading stability unmatched in their history.

After two world wars born in Europe scarred the first half of the 20th century, France and Germany were reconciled in an 'ever closer union' that replaced trench warfare with late-night haggling over farm prices and fish quotas."

Labels: Integration

Khaleej Times Online:

"EU is struck by “enlargement blues” on 50th birthday
(DPA)

13 March 2007

BRUSSELS/BERLIN - Founded in 1957 by six pioneering nations seeking an end to war and conflict in Europe, today’s 27-member European Union has grown into the world’s most sophisticated experiment in regional cooperation and collective sovereignty.

EUThe original EU members - Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany - still play a powerful role in determining EU policy and future direction."

Labels: Integration

For the complete report from the Ukrayinska Pravda click on this link

Why Doesn’t Europe Understand Us? - by Vitali Klitschko

If foreigners ask me questions about Ukraine, they normally ask it in a ‘when-will-this-chaos-end?’ context. At the forum in Davos people kept asking me the same questions in the same manner.

Describing the political situation I replied: In 15 years Ukraine has gone through reforms and processes Europeans used to spend decades for. We are not from the other planet for Europeans. We are from another Galaxy. In fact, Ukraine has something to offer Europe. EU needs to expand in the eastern direction since such an expansion will approach Europe to the foundation of a modern economy – oil and gas. At best politicians are trying to get away with declarations. As a result both Russia and Europe are giving up on us. They intend to build a pipeline through Baltic Sea.

Labels: Integration

For the complete report from the Cleveland.com click on this link

Divided Cyprus capital seeing progress - by George Psyllides

Greek Cypriots demolished a wall Friday along the boundary that for decades has split Europe's last divided capital, a dramatic and unannounced gesture that officials hope will promote reconciliation on the Mediterranean island. The wall cuts across Ledra Street, which runs through the heart of the city's tourist area and is seen as the strongest sym bol of the island's 32-year partition into a Greek Cypriot south and a Turkish Cypriot north.

Five crossings have operated on the island since 2003, but none is in the city center. Rasit Pertev, undersecretary of the Turkish Cypriot president's office, said the wall's demolition came as a surprise to Turkish Cypriot officials, according to Turkey's Anatolia news agency. "I believe [the Greek Cypriots] took this decision following pressure exerted on them. It is a positive step," Pertev said, adding that he hoped the crossing would be opened soon. The Greek Cypriot foreign minister called on Turkey to reciprocate by removing troops from the north of the island.

Labels: Integration

For the complete report from the Turquie Européenne click on this link

Turkey between Europe and the Islamic World - by Muhammad Noureddine

The rapprochement of Turkey with the EU could have positive repercussions on European relations with the Arab-Islamic world, says Lebanese expert on Turkish Studies Muhammad Noureddine.

Turkey is offering Europe and the world an opportunity to establish stability and peace. If Turkey fulfills the conditions for EU membership, then Europe, on its part, should be aware of the strategic significance that accepting an Islamic country into its ranks would have with regard to its relations with the Islamic world at large. Turkey is breaking a historical taboo with its request for admission into a Christian community. Europe should respond with the guarantee of full membership if Turkey fulfills all the conditions that go with it.

This is the only way Europe can prove that it has freed itself from its history. Moreover, this step would help promote greater social stability between European societies and its Muslim immigrants.

Labels: Integration

For the complete report from the AMERICAN.COM click on this link

Economic Agreement Is a Buy Sign in Iraq — by Edward Morrissey

With most of American politics focused on the troop surge and partisan maneuverings over its implementation, another story has gotten lost: The Iraqis themselves have made important progress in a basic economic issue that has fueled the sectarian divide.

The only real industry in Iraq comes from its only real natural resource: oil. Unfortunately, the reserves of oil are not shared equally among the population groups. Most of the oil is located outside the “Sunni triangle” and the Sunnis have fought the Shi’ites (and the Kurds to a lesser extent) in order to keep them from federalizing Iraq and hoarding all of the oil revenue from their respective areas of the nation. Many Sunnis have been unwilling to accept a democratically-elected government that naturally favors Shi’ites, or the federalism that favors the Kurds.

The solution requires the other two other groups to share their revenue in such a way that the Sunnis can feel secure about their ability to survive and to thrive in the new Iraq. Over the past three years, the politicians were unable to settle on an equitable and secure revenue-sharing plan that still allowed the Kurds and the Shi’ites to manage their own resources. But now things have changed. The Kurds, who had held out the longest, agreed to share their oil revenues on a basis that had already won support from the Shi’ites and the Sunnis. Two days later, the Iraqi cabinet approved the deal, and the Iraqi Parliament will likely vote it into law.

Labels: Integration

For the complete report from BIRN click on this link

Two Cheers for Europe’s Forgotten Plebiscites - by Marcus Tanner

When the inhabitants of Crna in Slovenia want to indulge their passion for skiing - and don’t fancy using the small slope in their own village - they drive across the border into Austria. While one half of Mount Peca, which overlooks Crna, lies in Slovenia, the other half, including the ski centre, is in Austria. It takes all of a minute to cross the sleepy checkpoint. No one has given it a thought for years. Even back in the 1960s, when Yugoslavia was a communist state, villagers routinely took the bus to Austria to shop.

But over 80 years ago, it was a very different story. Then the border in Carinthia between Austrians and Slovenes was a burning issue and armed partisans on both sides fought local skirmishes.

the Austrian-Slovene border was solved by a plebiscite, and this once fashionable device for resolving territorial issues has long since vanished from polite diplomatic discussion. The Carinthian plebiscite of October was not a unique event. After the end of the First World War, the powers frequently used local votes to adjust borders and tidy up the status of some of the bigger “enclaves”. The Polish-German borders in Silesia and in East Prussia were settled in just this way, as were the borders between Austria and Hungary and in Schleswig between Germany and Denmark.

Only two border plebiscites took place in Europe after 1945, in the Saarland in 1955, when, to the disappointment of France, the local population voted heavily for reunion with Germany and in Northern Ireland in 1973. Even to mention the word plebiscite today in connection with Kosovo - and with the fate of the northern enclave of Serbs in the territory - is to court the immediate disapproval of international policy-makers. For one thing, the very principle behind the votes of the 1920s, namely the desirability of creating ethnically homogeneous states, contradicts the different contemporary goal of encouraging multiculturalism.

Labels: Integration

For the complete report from SmarterTravel.com click on this link

What's new with Europe's top low-fare carriers?

It's no secret that flying Europe's no-frills, low-fare airlines is a popular—and cheap—way to get around the Continent (and not just for the student crowd, either). The demand is such that more than 45 carriers have sprouted up to serve Europe. With the peak summer travel season just around the corner, now's a good time for a refresher on Europe's most popular low-fare carriers, and a look at what's new with each.

Labels: Integration, Tourism

Jurnalul National

"How to make EU integration popular

by Daniel Gros and Stefano Micossi
Across the European Union, fears about globalization and antipathy to integration and immigration have produced massive political fallout, including the failed French and Dutch referenda on the Union's draft constitutional treaty and a de facto moratorium on accession talks with Turkey. The European Council and the Commission have watched helplessly, as if the matter was not in their hands."

Labels: Integration

For the complete report from the New Zealand Herald click on this link

Budget air fares make a reality of one Europe - by Vernon Silver

Andrzej Majewski, a Pole who works as a thoracic surgeon in England, catches a ride to the airport in Wroclaw on Sundays and hops a Ryanair flight to his hospital in Nottingham. Most Fridays he commutes home to southwest Poland. The flights cost him about $70 each way. "It takes about three hours and I'm eating lunch at my house," he says. Dublin-based Ryanair, Europe's biggest budget airline, and its main rivals, EasyJet and Air Berlin, are drawing a new map of how people and money travel in Europe. Fares as low as €1 ($1.85) plus tax encourage workers to jump borders for jobs, pump up real estate prices in France and - to the horror of residents of towns newly served by the carriers - spur British bachelors to shop for cheap beer and strippers in Prague and Riga, in Latvia.

No-frills airlines also let Europeans seek cut-rate health care in Malta, Poland and Spain. An implant and crown that cost $4600 in Britain go for $2600 in Poland.

Labels: Airlines, Integration

For the complete report in Jurnalul National click on this link

Hundreds of Gypsies Left Romania for Turin, Italy

Hundreds of Gypsies Left Romania for Turin, Italy - by Gabriella Mladin

About 350 people from the village of Rau de Mori, in Romania, Hunedoara County, live now in make-shift shelters and mobile homes on the outskirts of Turin, Italy, some 800 meters from the city’s Orbassano district. Seven years ago they were about ten people in the colony of Gypsies; last year some 100 people had left their village in Romania, and the rest joined the group after the country’s accession to the European Union on January 1st.

Labels: Immigration, Integration

Turkish Daily News Feb 26, 2007

"Stateless people of Europe in the 21st century
Monday, February 26, 2007

SYLVIA TİRYAKİ

According to Article 15 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, every person has the right to a nationality � or in other words, the right to be an official element of at least one of the world's almost 200 countries. However, at the same time each state � apart of having an obligation to protect its nationals � also has a right to determine who its nationals are. "

Labels: Immigration, Integration

TODAY'S ZAMAN

"Germany to propose common EU history book
European Union term president Germany is to propose an EU-wide common history book that is expected to be a model for history textbooks for the 27 members of the union.
In the wake of another history-related proposal to punish the deniers of 'genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity,' Germany is expected to unveil its proposal at an upcoming informal meeting of EU education ministers in Heidelberg on March 1-2."

Labels: History, Integration