THE ARROGANCE OF THE KRAUTS & FROGGERS IS ASTOUNDING..WHO SAYS IT'S UP TO THEM TO SPEAK FOR EUROPE AS A WHOLE, WHEN IN FACT MOST OF US ARE AGAINST SADDAM!? FRANCE & GERMANY ARE PRO-FEDERALIST, THEY WANT TO CREATE A EUROPEAN SUPERPOWER BY DIMINISHING THE SOVEREIGNETY AND DECISION MAKING OF THE MEMBER COUNTRIES, CHIRAC WAS THE FIRST BUFFON TO SPEAK ABOUT AN "EU PRESIDENT"
Summit bar on EU candidate countries.
Financial Times
By George Parker in Brussels and Tobias Buck in Strasbourg
France and Germany on Wednesday joined forces to stop 13 European Union candidate countries - many with pro-US sympathies - from attending Monday's EU summit on Iraq.
The incident brought into relief tensions between what Donald Rumsfeld, US defence secretary, dubbed "old" Europe and the "new" Europe of former communist bloc countries.
The invitation to the candidate countries to attend parallel talks at the "war" summit in Brussels was extended on Wednesday morning by the Greek EU presidency.
But by the afternoon the invitation had been withdrawn, with France, Germany and Belgium among those arguing it would be inappropriate for them to attend.
The same three countries have been blocking the extension of Nato protection to Turkey against possible attack by Iraq.
Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic - three of eight countries which signed a controversial letter last month expressing solidarity with Washington - were among those hoping to attend. The candidate countries will now be debriefed next Tuesday on the outcome of the summit of 15 EU leaders, which aims to find a common European position over Iraq.
Britain and Spain argued on Wednesday at a meeting of EU ambassadors that the candidates should be there on Monday. France thinks the initiative was driven by Tony Blair, UK prime minister, who wanted to gather support for his stance at the EU summit.
Greece admits the summit on Monday is a high risk gamble, but thinks the 15 leaders will be forced to agree a common strategy.
But there is a growing sense of foreboding in European capitals that the summit could turn into a showcase of EU division and disharmony.
Romano Prodi, European Commission president, warned that the "total lack of a European common foreign policy" was a disaster in the making.
"If Europe fails to pull together, all our nation states will disappear from the world scene," he told the European parliament in Strasbourg. "Unless Europe speaks with a single voice, it will be impossible to continue working closely with the US on a longstanding basis while retaining our dignity."
France's President Jaque Chirac is a worm, announced from its front page British tabloid Sun. He allowed the circulation of a special edition in Turkish in the news-agencies of Paris. "Sun" asks the French people if they are ashamed of their molluscan president Jaque Chirac - The Worm.
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Chirac blasts eastern Europeans over pro-American stance, says it's 'not well brought-up behavior'
Yves Logghe / AP
France's President Jacques Chirac addresses the media at the end of an EU emergency summit at the EU Council headquarters in Brussels.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BRUSSELS, Belgium, Feb. 17 — French President Jacques Chirac launched a withering attack Monday on eastern European nations who signed letters backing the U.S. position on Iraq, warning it could jeopardize their chances of joining the European Union.
''It is not really responsible behavior,'' he told a news conference. ''It is not well brought-up behavior. They missed a good opportunity to keep quiet.''
Chirac was angered when EU candidates Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic joined pro-U.S. EU members such as Britain, Spain and Italy last month in a letter supporting Washington's line on Iraq against the more dovish stance of France and Germany.
Paris was further upset when 10 other eastern European nations signed a similar letter a few days later.
France argued that the moves aggravated splits in the 15-nation EU and backed the ideas put forward by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who had earlier spoken of France and Germany as ''old Europe'' in contrast to the easterners seeking to join the EU and NATO.
''Concerning the candidate countries, honestly I felt they acted frivolously because entry into the European Union implies a minimum of understanding for the others,'' Chirac told reporters after an emergency EU summit on Iraq.
He warned the candidates the position could be ''dangerous'' because the parliaments of the 15 EU nations still have to ratify last December's decision for 10 new members to join the bloc on May 1, 2004.
Chirac particularly warned Romania and Bulgaria, who are still negotiating to enter the bloc in 2007.
''Romania and Bulgaria were particularly irresponsible to (sign the letter) when their position is really delicate,'' Chirac said. ''If they wanted to diminish their chances of joining Europe they could not have found a better way.''
Britain, Spain and other EU nations had suggested the candidate nations attend Monday's emergency summit on Iraq, but France and Germany opposed the idea.
Although Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar and British Prime Minister Tony Blair were the driving forces behind the letter backing America — and EU members Italy, Denmark and Portugal also signed up — Chirac saved his wrath for the candidate nations.
''When you're in the family you have more rights than when you're knocking on the door,'' he said.
Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Cyprus and Malta are set to join in May 2004. Lagging behind economically, Romania and Bulgaria were told to wait three more years.
Instead of attending the EU summit, the candidates are due to travel to Brussels on Tuesday for a briefing on its outcome by Greece, which currently holds the EU presidency.
Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis denied they had been excluded from the summit because of their backing for Washington, insisting rules require the treaties be signed first.
''We will not discuss pro-American or anti-American positions,'' Simitis told a news conference. ''The candidate countries will be members'' soon, and ''we have to proceed together.''
The French President lost his temper, MPs demand apology, Europe and USA - are shocked.
French President Jaques Chirac lost temper and harassed Bulgaria and Romania, because the supported the USA on the Iraqi crisis. These state are ill-bred, irresponsible, they acted frivolously and dangerously. They've missed their chance to be silent, Chirac said at the news conference in Brussels. He even warned that we might be cut off of EU membership. The words of Chirac flared a scandal in Europe. The Easteuropean countries have the right to express opinion, like all the other states in Europe, British PM Tony Blair retorted. EU is not the Warsaw Treaty, but rather a political club, Chris Patten - European Foreign Relations Commissioner, said. The French position is desperate, while the manners of Chirac are rough and frivolous, US ambassador to Bulgaria James Pardew said. The MPS insist that the French President should apologize.
The statements of the French president flare a scandal in Sofia and all over Europe. President calls the ambassador of France to Bulgaria att an urgent meeting.
France undertook a desperate and unprecedented attack against Bulgaria and the rest applicant for the EU counties. Late on Monday Jaques Chirac called the eastern European countries infantile and irresponsible and threatened Bulgaria and Romania that they have cut their way to the EU. Yesterday French Defence Minister warned the EU applicant countries that supported the USA policy to Iraq that it was possible that their applications weren't ratified. The French president should immediately apologize, MPs said. Yesterday the MPs demanded that Parliament should make an official statement in answer of Chirac's scandalous accusations and threats to Bulgaria. There are opinions that we are to demand that Paris apologized us, but now we have much more important strategic aims, head of the Parliamentary Committee on Foreign Policy Stanimir Ilchev said. MP Kamen Vlahov is ready to submit a demand the parliament to vote a declaration against Chirac. We should react with dignity to this waging of finger at us, BAPU-PU leader Anastasia Mozer said. President Georgy Parvanov demanded an urgent meeting with French ambassador to Bulgaria, 'Standart' learnt. Bulgaria supported the declaration of the Greek chairmanship of the EU and joined the common stand worked out in Brussels the day before yesterday, spokesman of Foreign Ministry Lyubomir Todorov said. We support the EU policy and not just the policy of separate membering countries, he added. To deputy Foreign Minister Lyubomir Ivanov Chirac's reaction shows his nervousness.
Premier Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha after his arrival from Brussels.
- Mr Premier, did you receive a letter from British Premier Tony Blair?
- Yes, I received such a letter. It extends the regret of Blair on the position of the French President Jaques Chirac. It will be published tomorrow (today - ed.n.). We shall not emphasize only on that. There are other positive notions in the letter.
- Why did you speak in French in Brussels? Was that a sign to President Chirac?
- We are a francophonic country. When the English speaking is not explicitly required at these forums, I'm speaking French.
- To what an extend the other countries share the position of Chirac?
- During the session in Brussels and at the working lunch the issue hasn't been debated. Discord between the USA and EU should not be searched in such a severe and serious crisis In the declaration adopted it had been stressed, that the partnership between Europe and the United States is not only valuable, but is firm one.
- What did you bear in mind with the point that our policy is pro-American?
- I've never said such thing. You misunderstood me.
- What did you say then?
- The position of our state is clear to everyone. We know the stand of Bulgaria on the issue. It's being carried out with whatever new initiatives and is in the interest of our country.
- Will there be any protest on our behalf against the word of Jaques Chirac?
- Let us not react so rapidly and 'energetically'. We should first thing over again. We should decide if such point will be important in anyway after ten years.
The Appraisal of Lord Robertson Is Much More of Value
Plamen Panayotov, head of the PG of NMS.
Standartnews
Yesterday you heard the high appraisal of the Bulgarian stand given from NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson from the parliamentary rostrum. You heard when Bulgaria is to join NATO - something like that said in the language of diplomacy means a lot. In perspective the Bulgarian stand on the Iraqi crisis is something that will bear fruit, including Bulgaria's EU integration.
I Don't Accept This Wagging of Finger at Us
Anastassia Mozer, leader of the BAPU -PU.
Standartnews
I'm really taken aback by this uncivilized intervention in the Bulgarian policy. The words Jaques Chirac said speaking of Bulgaria are unworthy of him. We respect France and we do not intervene in her policy. That's why we wouldn't expect France to intervene in Bulgarian political decisions. The words of Chirac are like wagging a finger at our country - something that I can't accept. I hope that Mr. Chirac will calm down and that the Bulgarian leaders will react in proper way.
French President was left alone in the EU and vent his anger on Bulgaria and Romania.
The French President acted out a theater. But the comedy was so cheap that he could find the correct role in it. Jaques Chirac made an attempt to be at the same time a niggard as Tartuffe of Moliere, mordant babbler as a character of Maupassant and be impartial in his own way as Hugo's miserable. Admittedly, the attempt has failed. Well, what happened then? The president of aristocratic, gentlemanly and diplomatic France scolded a couple of poor states. Bulgaria and Romania. He called them irresponsible, rude and infantile. Allegedly, they've missed 'the chance to keep silence'. But that's not all. Chirac wagged a finger at us. And threaten that we would forget forever the European Union, because we supported the USA for the war in Iraq. Why so? Because we have own opinion. Moreover, because our stand equals the EU position, which had been finally clarified on the day before yesterday, but without France. Paris fell in isolation, after having opposed to America in NATO for a long time. Finally, the Alliance took a decision regardless of Paris. Chirac felt hurt at the USA. But of course, he didn't even dare to keep tabs on George W. Bush, George Robertson, or his EU partners. This will bring losses to France, including financial ones.
Thus he scolded Bulgaria and Romania. At that, like no other world statesman has railed at criminals and terrorist so far. Even the Lord of the World -- George Bush, didn't dare to label infantile Saddam Hussein, or Ussama bin Laden. Chirac actually did it. For the first time in the global diplomacy. What's the truth? Two states have excessively close positions on the Iraq standoff - France and Russia. Both of them, however, don't think about the world security, threaten by the terrorism. But are being led only by their personal and absolutely commercial interests.
France is the state, which has biggest energy interests in Iraq - dating back in the 70s of the 2oth century. Chirac lost the control. And said openly that the regime in Baghdad didn't bother him. Quite the contrary. Why? Because Chirac was the man who put his signature in 1975 in Baghdad under a deal for nuclear cooperation. In accordance with it, France supplies 2 reactors to Iraq. That's the same France which today wants to close down 'Kozloduy' NPP, since it has nuclear interests in Romania either. Do you understand now, why in this game we are worse than the Palestinian terrorists to Jaques Chirac, who killed thousands of children and women in Israel. Have you ever heard even a bad word from Chirac for the assaults in Israel? Can whoever recall just one retort of the Christian Chirac at the occupation of 'Christmas' church. No. We won't hear at all.
Chirac said something else: Bulgaria and Romania should think like France. It seems that France represents the entire EU. But if Europe is the France of Chirac, which threatens and twist the hands of the weak ones, then a decent man will contemplate if he wants to live in this kind of Europe. Thanks God, France is old. But France is not Europe. And our membership in the EU doesn't depend on Chirac.
Bush: I Stand Proudly behind the Allies in Eastern Europe.
Standartnews
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.
Q Ari, the President of France yesterday suggested that the European countries that support President Bush's position are infantile and should have shut up, and basically threatened to blackball Bulgaria, a U.N. member, and Romania from the EU for supporting Bush. Do we feel this language is appropriate?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, the President understands that for some these are trying times. And the President as he approaches diplomacy will continue to remember that we are all one alliance and that at the end of the day we still share values and work together. And the President is very grateful and appreciative to the leadership and the strength of the nations of Eastern Europe. They understand what it's like to live under tyranny and oppression. And the President is very grateful to have them as new partners and new allies, not only in the war on terror but in advancing the cause of democracy.
Q And is there a concern that, for example, these kind of threats from the President of France, for example, might make Bulgaria less likely to vote for a new resolution, as you are hoping?
MR. FLEISCHER: I think the President understands and knows full well that the nations of Eastern Europe are sovereign, are proud, and are able to make their own judgments and to do the right thing on the behalf of the cause of freedom. And the United States of America stands proudly behind the allies in Eastern Europe.
Q As far as the statement in general from the EU, what does the administration make of that?
MR. FLEISCHER: Well, the statement by the EU represents an amalgam of positions. Of course, it talked about this is a final chance for Saddam Hussein and it stressed the importance of disarmament. And I think that, by and large, the statement represented much of what the United States views. Not all the positions that the United States adheres to were put into the statement. A willingness or a desire to appeal to a few. But the President, again, when you look at Europe, it's not very complicated. With a few exceptions -- Germany and France most notably -- Europe stands united, Europe stands together, Europe stands shoulder to shoulder with the United States of America.
Jaque Chirac is acting as a governess, Der Standart commented yesterday in line with the insults hurled by the President of France at Eastern Europe. Even the USSR did not treat Eastern Europe in such a way, Daily Telegraph observes.
As if Chirac Wants Bulgaria To Be a Vassal of Paris.
Standartnews
Elena Yaneva
Anastasia Moser is the leader of the BAPU-PU (Bulgarian Agrarian Popular Union - Popular Union) and an UtdDF MP. She is the daughter of great agrarian leader Georgi M. Dimitrov, who opposed Stalin after the end of the WWII. He was forced to emigrate. He lived in France and the USA. Mrs Moser returned to Bulgaria after the fall of Communism in 1989. She graduated in Roman languages and literatures. She is a member of the Foreign Policy, Defence and Security Committee and is the standing representative of Bulgaria in PACE.
As a Francophile, I declare: the tone of the French President is unacceptable. Nobody has the right to speak like that to Bulgaria, says Anastassiya Mozer.
- Mrs Mozer, how would you comment the speech of the French President Jacques Chirac?
- I am really surprised by this uncivilized intervention of one very dignified country partner in the EU - France. The words which the French President used towards Bulgaria are not worthy of him.
- What should the Bulgaria answer be?
- The sane answer that Poland had already given. The Poles said: we respect this country but as we don't intervene in their deeds, we ourselves decide what our policy will be. But the words Chirac used about Bulgaria do not surprise me.
- Why?
- As if he cites the definitions of the Left-orientated newspaper "Guardian", where it is alleged that Bulgaria has become a vassal of the USA. But from what Chirac said we conceive that he wants Bulgaria to be a vassal of France, for he is trying to dictate Bulgaria's policy. He wants we shut out mouths and tell us what we do. Chirac is wagging the finger at us - something, I personally cannot accept.
- Do you reckon that Chirac's warnings may afflict our EU membership?
- On the contrary. His warnings may by no means diminish our chances to the EU. Especially if we show dignity. I am confident that our position to the Iraqi crisis is praiseworthy. We have our arguments to accept it. We must continue to withstand it.
- As a person who has a degree in Roman philology, you know France and her history closely. When does the French diplomacy use such a language?
- Yes, I do know the French history and temperament closely. And I know that the French diplomacy talks that way when it is defending its interests. I think that in a union as the EU every member should retreat a little bit of its interests for the sake of the community.
- And who of our State's leaders and in what form should answer back to Jacques Chirac?
- These are the PM and the President. Chirac's statement should not be left unanswered.
- And don't you think that Chirac should apologize?
- I do not think that he is going to apologize. But he should at least correct his tone and the phrases he uses, for they are too sharp and rude. And as a philologist I am very sensitive. In French his words may sound even sharper, for this language is very precise. The French are quite good at their verbal exercises. I would like to see Chirac's statement in original, so that I read the direct meaning.
Bulgarian president critical of Chirac comments chiding East Europeans.
SOFIA, Bulgaria - President Georgi Parvanov summoned France's ambassador on Wednesday in a show of displeasure over comments from French President Jacques Chirac chiding East European nations for their support of Washington on the issue of Iraq.
At a meeting with French Ambassador Jean-Loup Kuhn-Delforge, Parvanov "expressed concern about ... the emotional statement by French President Jacques Chirac regarding Bulgaria's position on Iraq," the presidential press office announced.
Chirac on Monday blasted Eastern European nations for signing letters expressing solidarity with the U.S. position on Iraq. He warned their stance could jeopardize their chances of joining the European Union.
"Bulgaria insists on mutual respect between EU members and applicant countries, between big and small states," Parvanov said. "In this regard, pressure by one state on another should not be allowed."
"Bulgaria views its European and Atlantic integration as inseparable and would not like to be put in the position to choose between its future allies and partners," Parvanov said.
NATO invited Bulgaria to join it next year along with six other East European countries. Bulgaria is also in accession talks with the EU, which it hopes to join in 2007.
Polish president seeks phone call with Chirac after row over Iraq.
AP
WARSAW, Poland - Poland's President Aleksander Kwasniewski said Friday he wants a phone call with his French counterpart Jacques Chirac to calm tempers frayed over Europe's disarray on Iraq.
Chirac sparked indignation across ex-communist eastern Europe by saying Monday that European Union hopefuls should "keep quiet" instead of lining up publicly behind Washington's hardline position on disarming Iraq.
The French leader hinted that the spat could damage the hopes of Poland and nine other countries of joining the EU next year.
Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller said Thursday his country was "too big and too proud" to heed the rebuke. But Kwasniewski told Poland's Radio Zet he had asked the French ambassador to arrange a call with Chirac to repair relations.
"We simply must talk (despite) words which were unjustified, unjust and bad for the European concept," Kwasniewski said. "Someone has to be more reasonable and calm and lead to dialogue again," Kwasniewski said.
Future European Union members endorse joint position on Iraq.
By CONSTANT BRAND, Associated Press Writer
BRUSSELS, Belgium - Future European Union members endorsed a hard-won EU declaration Tuesday warning Saddam Hussein he has one last chance to disarm, grasping for unity despite signs of a new continental rift.
The endorsement ignored the damaging impact of French President Jacques Chirac's biting attack on eastern European nations that have backed Washington's hard-line drive to disarm Iraq.
"Let's forget the past, and look to the future," Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis said, downplaying the impact of Chirac's remarks as he announced the endorsement.
"The agreement shows a feeling of unity that is much greater than the differences," Simitis said.
The 13 future members endorsed the hard-fought statement by European leaders warning Saddam Hussein he faces a "last chance" to disarm. The declaration gave no deadline and said U.N. weapons inspectors must have more time to finish their work.
The document was meant to end a bitter dispute within the European Union on Iraq.
However, Chirac's withering attack Monday night on eastern European nations who signed letters last month backing the U.S. position on Iraq created a new European faultline between a pro-American and staunchly European camps.
"It is not really responsible behavior," Chirac told reporters Monday just after the EU issued its declaration on Iraq. "It is not well brought up behavior. They missed a good opportunity to keep quiet."
He warned the candidates their position could be "dangerous" because the parliaments of the 15 EU nations still have to ratify last December's decision for 10 new members to join the bloc on May 1, 2004. He singled out Romania and Bulgaria, which are still negotiating to enter the bloc in 2007.
Britain, the United States' staunchest ally, and Germany, which with France has tried to slow the drive toward war in Iraq, criticized the attempt to silence eastern European nations.
"They have as much right to speak up as Great Britain or France or any other member of the European Union today," Blair told reporters in London. "They know the value of Europe and America sticking together."
In an unusual move, Blair also sent a letter to the candidate countries reporting his views on the summit declaration — a role usually reserved for the EU presidency. Blair's office in London confirmed the letter but said it had no plans to release it publicly.
Eastern European leaders reacted defiantly to the tirade, reminiscent to some of the former Soviet Union's overbearing manner toward its satellites.
"Jacques Chirac should regret such expressions, which are not in the spirit of friendship and democratic relationships," Romanian President Ion Iliescu said.
"The French position shows certain anxiety," Bulgarian Deputy Foreign Minister Lyubomir Ivanov told state radio.
"It is not the first time that pressure is being exerted upon us in one or another form but in my opinion this is not the productive way to reach unity and consensus in the Security Council."
At the same time, a joint document issued by the future members and the EU, however, stated a determination to "avoid new dividing lines" by focusing on the common ground achieved during the emergency summit.
The Bulgarian prime minister welcomed the endorsement as a "positive show of unity for the union."
"The document the 13 agreed upon is proof that this meeting here ... has had a positive effect," said Bulgarian Prime Minister Simeon Saxcoburggotski, the country's former king.
The French prime minister was angered when leaders of EU candidates Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic joined Britain, Spain and Italy in signing a letter last month supporting Washington's hard stance on Iraq.
Later, 10 former communist countries, seven of them EU candidates, reiterated their support for the Bush administration's position.
The two statements revealed a deep divide within Europe over Iraq, one of the factors prompting Greece, to call Monday's emergency summit to mend the rift.
Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy defended the letter — underlining the importance of respecting independent views.
"I think the letter was the right thing to do, and was not done in error," he said. "To be frank, we consider that current European foreign policy is lacking."
Despite Chirac's veiled threat, the candidates said they did not believe their entry into the EU was at risk.
"I believe Chirac said what he did in a moment of irritation," Romanian Foreign Ministry State Secretary Cristian Coltianu said. "We consider the process of enlargement to be irreversible."
The EU declaration was endorsed by representatives of the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and Malta.
Across the former Iron Curtain, indignation over Chirac's rebuke on Iraq.
By VESELIN ZHELEV, Associated Press Writer
SOFIA, Bulgaria - Bulgaria's president angrily summoned the French ambassador Wednesday as critics across the former Soviet bloc lashed out at Jacques Chirac for telling Europe's eastern newcomers to "keep quiet" on their pro-Washington stance on Iraq.
Their indignation, coupled with a refusal to withdraw support for the U.S. threat of force against Saddam Hussein, underscored how the ex-communist countries of the "new Europe" are finding strength, solidarity and unprecedented influence by sticking together.
"This is no longer Napoleon's Europe, but the Europe of dissidents like (former Czech President) Vaclav Havel," an editorial in Latvia's Diena newspaper read.
"Chirac is doing exactly what he criticizes the United States of doing: telling other countries what to do," said Guntars Krasts, head of the European affairs committee in Latvia's parliament.
The French president, who earlier this week savaged the new democracies emerging from behind the former Iron Curtain for not keeping their backing of the United States to themselves, drew the ire of nations such as Bulgaria, which has offered a 150-member non-combat unit in case of war.
Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov summoned France's ambassador Wednesday in a show of displeasure over Chirac's comments.
At a meeting with the envoy, Jean-Loup Kuhn-Delforge, Parvanov "expressed concern about ... the emotional statement" by Chirac, his office said.
"Bulgaria insists on mutual respect between EU members and applicant countries, between big and small states," Parvanov said. "Pressure by one state on another should not be allowed."
Chirac in particular took offense at declarations of support for the United States' tough position against Saddam — statements signed by many of the 10 ex-communist countries invited to join the European Union in May 2004.
Those nations, Chirac warned, were on "dangerous" ground because the parliaments of the 15 Western European countries that now make up the EU still must formally vote to admit the eastern newcomers.
French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, in Sofia for discussions on countering illegal immigration, sought to smooth over the controversy.
Chirac only wanted to tell prospective EU members that joining "gives a lot of rights but also creates a lot of obligations, including solidarity," he told reporters.
But as Chirac's remarks sank in Wednesday, fury began to erupt.
"Chirac's outburst must be understood as the recognition that a dream is beginning to unravel. The New Europe imagined and created from rubble after the last war will not gravitate necessarily around the Paris-Berlin axis," the Romanian newspaper Ziua said in an editorial headlined "Le Petit Big Brother."
Not all of Chirac's targets took him to task.
A Hungarian official sought to play down the fuss, and Polish Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz said his government respected France's right to express its opinion, and he warned against "too much emotional rhetoric."
But the reaction was far more ferocious in the Baltics, where the Lithuanian newspaper Lietuvos Rytas said in an editorial: "It looks like Chirac has forgotten that eastern European countries broke free from communism and ... will not be the silent servants of Paris."
Like many countries accustomed to decades of Western preaching about democratic values, tiny Slovakia recoiled in anger at Chirac's suggestion that the "new Europe" should have held its tongue.
Although Chirac chided Eastern Europe and the Baltics for failing to "keep quiet," his remark was translated in many countries as "shut up," contributing to the collective sense of outrage.
"Neither Slovakia nor any other candidate country will enter the EU to keep silent, but in order to make their voice be heard more," the Slovak daily Pravda wrote Wednesday in a commentary.
Romanians, who have been fascinated by French language, culture and architecture for more than 150 years, snapped at Chirac as a "hypocrite" and accused the French leader of misreading its support for a quick and decisive end to the Iraq crisis.
"What Chirac ... doesn't understand is that Romania is not pro-American, nor anti-French, nor anti-German, and least of all bloodthirsty for Iraq," said Cristian Tudor Popescu, editor-in-chief of the daily Adevarul.
"Did the Europeans and especially the French ever understand what Romania endured under communism? Romania is desperate ... Romania sees in the United States at this time the strongest guarantee that it won't have to return to the quagmire."
Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov has summoned the French ambassador to object to President Chirac's criticism of EU candidate countries for siding with the US over Iraq.
At a meeting in Sofia on Wednesday he expressed concern about "the emotional statement" in which the French president accused future EU members of childish and dangerous behaviour.
Mr Chirac was particularly irked by statements of solidarity for the US position on Iraq, signed by a number of the countries due to join the EU in 2004, and by five existing members.
He said that Bulgaria and Romania - currently expected to join the EU in 2007 - had been "particularly thoughtless" and could not have chosen a better way to spoil their chances of gaining entry to the club.
Newspapers in Eastern Europe on Wednesday responded angrily to Mr Chirac's comments, which came too late for Tuesday's editions.
"Bulgaria insists on mutual respect between EU members and applicant countries, between big and small states," Mr Parvanov told ambassador Jean-Loup Kuhm-Delforge, according to the presidential press office.
"In this regard, pressure by one state on another should not be allowed."
Atlanticism.
French officials have been reported as saying that Mr Chirac was angry that the candidate countries had been giving higher priority to transatlantic defence ties than political and cultural ties within Europe.
Mr Parvanov told the ambassador: "Bulgaria views its European and Atlantic integration as inseparable and would not like to be put in the position to choose between its future allies and partners."
Bulgaria is one of seven East European countries scheduled to join Nato next year.
The day after Mr Chirac's outburst, all the 13 EU candidate countries endorsed the common EU position on Iraq hammered out in Brussels on Monday.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair took the unusual step of writing to the candidate countries hours afterwards, praising their solidarity with the US and seeking to present himself as their closest ally in Europe.
"I much admire the leadership you have shown on these issues," he said.
French leader hints support for US may jeopardise EU entry
Ian Traynor in Zagreb and Ian Black in Brussels
Wednesday February 19, 2003
The Guardian
Eastern European countries reacted with fury and dismay yesterday after being summarily ordered by France to hold their tongues on Iraq and toe the Franco-German line of resistance to the US.
The former communist countries due to join the EU next year, or hoping to do so soon, endorsed an emergency summit declaration from Brussels on Monday giving Saddam Hussein a "final opportunity" to comply with UN demands.
But outrage at remarks by President Jacques Chirac late on Monday, attacking as "infantile" and "reckless" EU candidates' support for the US, echoed across the continent.
Poland's prime minister, Leszek Miller, stayed away from yesterday's meeting of the 13 candidate countries in Brussels, angry that he had not been asked to attend the summit proper.
But his deputy foreign minister, Adam Rotfeld, said the countries of the region would decide what was good for them in spite of Mr Chirac's rebuke that in supporting Washington the east Europeans had "lost a good opportunity to keep quiet".
The European Commission and current member states were appalled.
"They have as much right to speak up as Great Britain or France or any other member of the European Union today," said Tony Blair, a champion of eastwards expansion. "They know the value of Europe and America sticking together."
Chris Patten, the EU's external relations commissioner, said union members were entitled to their own views.
Romano Prodi, president of the European Commission, was mortified by the hint that French voters might block the new members' accession in a future referendum. "The enlargement of the EU is an historic duty and a promise made by all the member states," a spokesman said. "We trust the treaty will be ratified and enter into force as planned."
A senior Czech official complained that the eight eastern countries joining the EU next year had been under intolerable pressure from Brussels and Berlin and were being bullied into toeing the Franco-German line on Iraq.
"We've spent the past 10 years trying to get into both the EU and Nato. It's vital for us to keep in both the EU and Nato. But the Americans are pressing us to make a choice one way and the Germans the other.
"Not so long ago we were being told Berlin wanted a European Germany. Now it seems [the EU] is to be a German Europe."
The Poles, Czechs, and Hungarians joined Mr Blair and four others in signing the "gang of eight" letter in support of President Bush, while another 10 countries in eastern Europe and the Balkans issued a declaration backing the Americans.
The east Europeans respond that Germany's anti-war line, initially an electoral tactic by Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, was not squared with EU allies.
"All of central Europe is in an impossible position, between a rock and a hard place," said Jiri Pehe, a Czech analyst and foreign policy aide to former president Vaclav Havel. "No matter what we do, we will be seen as disloyal to France and Germany, or to the US."
Mr Chirac singled out Bulgaria and Romania for criticism, warning that support for the US was jeopardising their chances of being admitted to the EU. Ion Iliescu, president of Romania, hoping to join in 2007, called Mr Chirac's comments "totally unjustified, unwise and undemocratic".
Mr Chirac's fury was widely seen as betraying France's deep anxiety at the way the club it helped to found will change beyond recognition when it takes in 10 new members next May - as well as mounting anger at the distinction made by Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, who dismissed France and Germany as "old Europe" compared to the friendlier "new" easterners.
Starting in Slovenia next month, the incoming EU states are to hold referendums on EU membership.
Gary Titley, leader of Britain's Labour MEPs, condemned Mr Chirac's "bully-boy tactics".
Move seen as possible punishment of nations supporting U.S. policy.
By Kevin Livingston
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
(February 19, 2003)
The European Union snubbed its candidate members, including the Czech Republic, locking them out of a Feb. 17 emergency summit in Brussels that sought to craft a unified European response to the possibility of a U.S.-led war against Iraq.
The decision irked some candidate nations, who said they viewed the action as punishment for their countries' support for the United States. EU leaders France and Germany oppose the use of military force to oust Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
"The EU doesn't seem to take into consideration that it's about to have 10 new members," said a senior Hungarian diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity. "It's high time for a change in this outmoded way of thinking."
The decision was also a blow to the Czech Republic, which had hoped to participate in the meeting. The country has taken several steps in support of the United States.
Borivoj Hnizdo, a political analyst from Charles University, said the country has an interest in following the policy of most NATO countries. "It's obvious for the Czech Republic that the national interest is not in isolation," he said.
The summit lockout was the latest in a series of events that have highlighted a growing divide between Western Europe and the former Eastern bloc nations, most of which have approved U.S. requests for aid.
In his final days in office, former President Vaclav Havel joined seven other European leaders in signing a letter calling for a unified European stance on the possibility of war. The letter was widely seen as an expression of support for the United States.
Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla's government also supported NATO allowing Turkey to beef up its defensive capabilities, something the United States has strongly urged. The Czech Republic was one of 18 NATO countries to endorse the action at a Feb. 16 meeting. France, Germany and Belgium had earlier threatened to block military aid to their NATO ally, which borders Iraq.
"We are among those who plead very openly in favor of [Turkey's] requests," Karel Kovanda, Czech ambassador to NATO, told the newspaper Hospodarske Noviny.
Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda also indirectly criticized Germany's position on Iraq at a Czech-German forum Feb. 15. Svoboda stated that he was not sure Germany had staked out a good path by insisting on more weapons inspectors.
-- With wire reports.
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After Jacques Chirac's insults, France's Military Attache to Bulgaria Marc Rivayrand drove a Bulgarian family crazy.
What's your impression of common Frenchmen? They are can be charming company, gallant lovers and aristocratic intellectuals. But when it comes to business or politics the situation looks somewhat different. Two weeks ago the President of aristocratic, educated and diplomatic France talked rude to two poor countries - Bulgaria and Romania. Jacques Chirac called them irresponsible, unsophisticated and infantile. For we side with the USA for the war in Iraq. And told us to shut up. Otherwise we were to say 'Good Bye' to the EU. But this is hardly everything. Not only Chirac offended us but the military attache of France to Sofia Col. Marc Rivayrand also was insulting. He enjoys immunity. For he works for the French Embassy to Bulgaria. And he thinks he can do whatever he wants. A heartbreaking story of the invasion of the Frenchman in the house of a Bulgarian family was revealed yesterday by "Trud" daily yesterday. Since June, 29, 2000 till now Rivayrand has literally driving crazy the family of Svetla Dineva and Ivan Minkov. He rented their house in the prestigious "Vitosha" district for the rent of $1500 p/m. And very soon after he started to irregularly pay his rent and not in full amount. All attempts of the family to try to break off the contract with the attache ran upon the rocks. He cannot be sued in Bulgaria, on the Bulgarian laws. The French Embassy to Bulgaria pretends not to see. Rivayrand owes 6000 EUROs to Dineva and Minkov. As if France has a strange attitude towards Bulgaria. How otherwise we can explain to ourselves the fact that whoever is in power in France, and whoever the French diplomats in Bulgaria are we always face scandal. An affair tied with the French Embassy erupted between 1999 and 2002. It ended with a verdict to the main acting person. The head of the French Visa department to the French Consulate Rudi Demange changed his home for the prison for 4 years. Demange was sentenced by the court in Strasbourg for issuing false visas against bribes. He was recalled in 2001. To insult us from Paris. He branded the Bulgarians 'fauna' for they were forced to queue for hours outside the consular section. Ambassador Dominique Chassard was also investigate. Paris was forced to recall him and put him into retirement. In 1997 French Ambassador Marcel Tremeau refused to issue a visa to a Bulgarian kid, who was in urgent need of a operation in Paris. A year later Tremeau said rude words for the Bulgarians. He reprimanded us for our indifference to the win of France at the World Cup Finals in football. As if France was happy to register Kostadinov's goal that threw France out of the World Championship in the USA?
Director of National History Museum Prof. Bojidar Dimitrov sent his last book to the President of France Jacques Chirac. It is a special edition in French entitled " Bulgarians - the first settlers in Europe". The book recalls the history of Bulgarian country and its position in Europe. "Chirac should first read a little and see if Bulgarians are infantile, and what is the opinion of French scientists about Bulgarian people", recommended Prof. Dimitrov.
Bulgarians make wonderful wine, we don't need French wines, former USA ambassador to Bulgaria said for New York Times. At the same time Hollywood publisher Michael Levin appealed to USA to boycott the import and consumption of French wines. USA are to back financially Bulgaria, that's what became clear after the return of PM Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha from Washington. We may be the first to settle the Iraqi debt, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha said.
warsawvoice.pl
By Witold ¯ygulski
27 February 2003
Professor Adam Daniel Rotfeld, deputy minister for foreign affairs, talks to Witold ¯ygulski.
How would you describe the statements by the French president and the French minister of defense, criticizing candidate countries, including Poland, for becoming too close to the United States, a position manifested, for example, in the "letter of the eight"?
A lot has been said about recent unfortunate statements and public comments on divergence of interests and specific positions taken by different states within the transatlantic community. These comments have additionally aggravated the situation. Thus the rhetoric, frequently shaped by emotion, has made the situation so tense that in fact procedures rather than content were seen as the main problem. In effect, something self-explanatory as the letter of the eight European heads of government and one president have resulted in a political "uncommon disarray", as characterized later by The Economist. This letter was not meant to be directed against anybody specific; the intention of the authors was to express their solidarity, as Europeans, with the United States and to recall basic values underlying our transatlantic partnership. The content of the letter corresponded exactly with the resolution accepted earlier by the European Union on Jan. 27.
The whole uproar was not connected to the content of the letter, but to the fact that it was signed only by a group of Western and Central European leaders. Some people have seen and commented on the situation in the context of Donald Rumsfeld's words, who referred to what he perceives as a new division between "old and new Europe". While criticizing Germany and France he did not leave any doubts that the United States would establish a closer relationship with "the new Europe."
There is no need to say that the reason why Poland, the Czech Republic or Hungary joined NATO was definitely not to create a new line of division in Europe. In our view there are no significant differences between Poland and France or Germany on central issues of European security.
I can say frankly: Poland's opinion on the subject of use of military force in international relations does not differ from the position of France and the European Union as a whole. Both for Poland and France, as well as for all EU member states, war is a last resort. As long as there is the slightest chance of solving the problem without resorting to force, I assure you that Poland will do everything to avoid war.
The European Union declaration on Iraq, as defined in Brussels Feb. 17, is entirely supported by Poland. It is exactly what we expressed in the "letter of the eight" signed by Prime Minister Leszek Miller. That letter could have been signed by all European leaders.
So how will Poland react to statements such as those uttered by the president of France?
To make a long story short, I would suggest to follow the Hippocratic Oath addressed to doctors of medicine, Primum non nocere-First of all: Do no harm. Therefore, we should do our best not to harm the transatlantic relationship and solidarity between Europe and the United States. We're interested in deepening cooperation and integration both among Europeans and in their relations with the United States and not in responding to offend anybody. I think that mutual accusations and abusive language-apparently serving the purpose of clearly defining one's own views for public consumption-would illustrate a lack of sensibility in dealing with delicate issues. Diplomacy differs from propaganda in that you have to take responsibility for your words and listen to what your partners are saying and look for agreement. I have the impression that not everybody is demonstrating such an approach, which hopefully will prevail when a common position will have to be crafted.
Some European countries still have to abandon finally the stereotype and paternalistic treatment of the former Warsaw Pact states. However, we the Poles do belong to the European family of states from the very moment of establishing of the Polish state more than 1,000 years ago. Today, when Europe faces the historic challenge of finding a common path, taking into consideration both strategic interests and national ambitions, it's not possible to accept the stereotype of "poor relatives" who should behave themselves.
Some observers think that the current crisis in transatlantic relations is generated by different views on leadership...
True. One of the serious problems in transatlantic relations is the question of leadership. In his address to the National Defense University in Washington (Jan. 13, 2003), President Aleksander Kwaœniewski made an important comment how, in our understanding, the leadership should be exercised. He stated: "it should be clearly said that in order to be effective it has to be cooperative and based upon rules acceptable to all parties. If these rules are not applied, then leadership can be perceived as hegemony or domination. To avoid this," said President Kwaœniewski, "one should talk with others, listen to them and learn their arguments..." His message was addressed to the American leaders but it is applicable to the Europeans as well...
The rhetoric exemplified by Jacques Chirac's words incorporates some not-too-euphemistic warnings addressed to EU candidate countries that their stand may have a negative influence on the process of signing the Accession Treaty. Is such a course of events actually possible?
I hope that these are not the words which will define and determine France's stand towards Poland. Our choice to become part of the European Union is already now, and will be in the near future, even more beneficial not only to Poland but to the European Union as well. If members of the Union did not realize their own profits and advantages in the process of enlargement, they would not have decided to enlarge. It's thereby both in Poland's and France's interest for this process to proceed in an undisturbed manner.
As you know, in politics-it is not the words but deeds that define a state's position. This applies also to French policy towards Poland and other candidates to the European Union. In recent years, also thanks to a very clear and positive position of Germany and France towards the European Project, we have come to believe that the enlargement is perceived as a historic opportunity, beneficial both to newcomers as much as to existing member states-including France. Copenhagen only confirmed the determination to proceed with this once in a lifetime opportunity of uniting Europe under one roof.
France, rightly so, aspires to become the leader of Europe. These ambitions and aspirations are justified for different reasons: for the unique French contribution to European culture and civilization, for France's political and economic position in Europe and-last but not least-for the original French idea of Europe's unity and integrity. Therefore French aspirations should be referred to with attention and understanding. In my view, it is natural that great powers, like France or Germany, have a somewhat different role to play in Europe. They are therefore seen and perceived as performing the role of a locomotive or an engine of the train that is to take Europe into the future. The point is for the engineer to be friendly and cooperative towards the conductors of all cars attached to it and to see that the direction in which the train is heading to be agreed upon.
This message has been edited by TsarSamuil from IP address 212.181.9.227 on Mar 4, 2003 3:19 PM
By railing on the pro-U.S. stance of eight European nations, including several EU candidates, the French president has only opened wider the fault line trailing through the continent. Instead of showing leadership, Chirac displayed typical Gaulist rancor that is bound to create even bigger problems at this complex, fragile junction in European affairs.
To Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and the Baltic states, Chirac said, "They are on the one hand not very well brought up and a bit unaware of the dangers that a too rapid alignment with the American position could bring with it... They should have kept quiet." He said these nations were being "childish" and "dangerous."
In other words, Chirac, no doubt perturbed by images of his beloved Francophone Vaira Vike-Freiberga sitting in the White House and chumming it up with George Bush, has warned East European EU candidates, "Either shape up, or ship out."
It is an uncompromising attitude exemplary of the French, confirmed by Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, who said, "I think the initiative taken by these countries was a clumsy one. When you become part of the family, you not only have to understand the rules, you also have to understand the principles."
By this logic, the EU is indeed a family - an extended patriarchal unit with dictatorial big brothers and an obsequious brood. No equality whatsoever; one gives orders, the rest obey. Something we would expect in a primitive hunting-and-gathering society.
This is a perfect example why everyone - Western and Eastern Europe, politicians and voters - needs to shake the enlargement euphoria out of their heads and think good and hard about what is going on. Specifically, the Baltic states have spent the better part of 300 years being told what to do and what to think, and have suffered far too much to forfeit their right to express an opinion on something as fundamental as war.
If someone on the other side of the continent doesn't like the point of view resounding from this side, then they ought not take it personally. This is the kind of "childish" behavior that is a far more dangerous threat to EU integration than a lack of consensus on what to do with an Iraqi despot who kills his own people.
Chirac's outburst is also strikingly similar to the kind of unilateral bullying he and his countrymen associate with the United States. After all, France does not even have a united stance within the EU with which to upbraid these "juvenile" Easterners.
Though London, Madrid, Rome and others have also openly clashed with Paris, Chirac still thinks he has the right to rebuke candidate countries for not doing his bidding.
And if the French are to assume the attitude of "he who pays the piper calls the tune," then EU candidate states - including Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - need to seriously reconsider their position come referendum time later this year.
Nothing could be worse than losing one's freedom of expression.
Croatia, only country in Eastern Europe intimidated by Chirac.
No score for this post
March 31 2003, 12:15 PM
Croatia hopes to join the EU in 2007 together with Bulgaria & Romania. What affects Croatia's entry is how stable their country is, and how they cooperate with the Hague. Apparently Chirac can pull some strings to punish Croatia, unless they bow down to him...Croatia's stance on iraq is the opposite now than the one they had earlier..I can understand the Croats wanting to join the EU (far from guaranteed unlike for bg & ro) and they don't really care about muslims (they did after all fight the bosnian muslims), but selling their soul to france makes Croatia look like an anomaly in Eastern Europe, and that's not a pretty picture..
CHIRAC TELLS MESIC IN NOTE FRANCE-CROATIA DIALOGUE IS IMPORTANT.
HNA
HR-LETTERS-Politika
ZAGREB, March 27 (Hina) - Croatian President Stjepan Mesic received a personal note from his French counterpart in which Jacques Chirac expressed satisfaction with their recent encounter in Paris and stressed the importance dialogue established between the two countries had on their future, Mesic's office said in a statement on Thursday.
"I am confident that France and Croatia, in mutual trust and friendship, can and must cooperate even more closely," read the note.
Chirac reminds Mesic of the closeness of the two countries in their approach to the international situation and Europe's future. He commended what he said was Mesic's clear and brave stand regarding the Iraqi crisis.
Speaking of principles one must tirelessly defend, Chirac mentioned commitment to the United Nations as a framework of collective security, the mobilisation of all means to secure peace before opting for war, which he said must always be the last choice, and the consistent respect for international laws, dialogue, and others.
In the note, the French president reiterated France was a friendly supporter of Croatia on its road to European Union entry.
Small EU nations reject French-German integration ideas.
No score for this post
April 2 2003, 11:15 AM
Tue Apr 1, 5:27 PM ET
Small EU nations reject French-German integration ideas.
By CONSTANT BRAND, Associated Press Writer
LUXEMBOURG - Seven small EU nations said Tuesday they oppose key proposals of France and Germany aimed at making the European Union (news - web sites) a more efficient, more flexible outfit after its membership balloons from 25 from 15 next year.
The common front announced by Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Finland, Ireland, Portugal and Belgium against Franco-German EU reform ideas set the stage for a contentious mid-April summit meeting at which all 15 EU leaders will assess progress in the drafting of an EU constitution.
France and Germany want the charter to contain internal reforms bound to alter the balance of power within the 15-nation bloc after it has taken in 10 mostly East European newcomers in 2004.
Derisively termed "the Seven Dwarfs" in German media, the small EU members reject the appointment of an EU president for five years as eroding the role of the European Commission.
The EU executive runs the union's day-to-day affairs and acts as a guardian of sorts over the rights of small EU members.
France and German want the EU president to be a well-known figure representing the union on the world stage and end the practice of rotating the EU presidency among all member governments every six months.
The seven small EU nations said an EU president will sideline them and argue that the rotating presidency guarantees they will continue to have a say in EU policy making.
"We think the proposed EU president carries an eminent risk of duplicating the work of the European Commission," said Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker.
He told a news conference an EU president working alongside the European Commission president will only confuse outsiders and "weaken the European Union."
France and Germany have put their reform ideas to the 105-member European Convention that is drafting an EU constitution under the chairmanship of former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing.
Giscard d'Estaing is to brief the EU leaders at an April 16-17 summit in Athens on the work of his charter-drafting convention that is starting to run behind schedule. At that summit, 10 candidate nations will sign their EU accession treaties.
Small EU states say Giscard d'Estaing is biased to the Franco-German reform ideas.
"The views of Giscard d'Estaing are not the same as those of the seven small EU states," said Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende.
While the seven agree on key reform ideas, they disagree on a new effort by France, Germany and Belgium to craft a European defense policy.
The fear in other capitals is that such a policy — that would also be outlined in an EU constitution — will undermine the U.S.-led NATO alliance.
Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso said any European defense undertaking "should not be a rival to the Euro-Atlantic alliance."
Dutch Foreign Minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer put it more bluntly.
"Belgium and France will not guarantee our security," he told reporters.
"Germany will not guarantee the security of the Netherlands. I cannot imagine a world order built against the United States."
The debate on revamping the EU powers and institutions began in February, 2002, amid great hopes of settling long-standing arguments over how to give the union more teeth and make it more effective all around.
EU nations have been at odds for two decades over to forge a common foreign and security policies.
The U.S.-led war in Iraq has complicated that debate, sowing European divisions at a moment when convention members are trying to write constitutional articles on an EU foreign policy.
Giscard d'Estaing has hinted he would like more time to complete the constitution, which is supposed to be adopted by the governments of all 15 members by the end of the year.
In the Iraq crisis, France and Germany have led the anti-war camp, while Britain, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Denmark and the Netherlands have generally sided with the United States.
The National Congress on the European Future of Slovakia has presented its vision of the country's position in the European Union after expected entry in May 2004.
The proposals include that all countries should have a least one European commissioner, that the head of the European Commission should be elected by the European Parliament, that the current rotating presidency should continue, and that there should be a European constitution.
Politicians from different political parties, the church, and the third sector discussed the suggestions as members of the congress, although the final document was prepared by the Foreign Ministry.
timesonline.co.uk
By Charles Bremner in Paris and Philip Webster
EUROPE’S smaller states were closing ranks yesterday against a plan by Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, chief architect of the new EU constitution, which would create a Union president and hand power back to the bigger nations.
Officials from Britain and the big continental states voiced quiet satisfaction, but the EU Commission, Parliament and a majority of the 25 members of the enlarged Union were surprised and angered by the uncompromising nature of M Giscard’s scheme.
By creating a full-time chairman and permanent bureau to run the Council of Member States, the plan would fulfil the wishes of Britain, France and Spain, and to a lesser extent Germany and Italy, for a presidency that would help to keep the EU reins in the hands of the national Governments. The battlelines are drawn for a feud over the sensitive “who does what” question that risks ending, late in the year, with the haggling that characterises EU business.
Belgium said that the proposal by the former French President, which would trim the authority of the Commission, had “hit us out of the blue”. It flew in the face of the proposals from the three Benelux states, it said. Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg support the majority, which want to retain the six-month rotating EU presidencies that the big states deem inefficient.
Jean-Claude Juncker, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg and a leading voice among the EU’s smaller states, accused M Giscard of ignoring 16 of the 25 EU leaders. “I would like to think that this is just a provocation aimed at stirring debate,” he said, adding that the plan stood no chance of being adopted.
M Giscard’s team emphasised that his scheme for a full-time Council chief, to be drawn from present or past government leaders, did not mean the creation of a parallel executive or a big-nation directoire.
The chief would play a strategic role in the manner of a company chairman rather than a chief executive. There would also be a vice-president, drawn from one of the smaller states. The plan also answered a desire by the majority of states for an EU “foreign minister”, by creating such a post. The holder would report to the Council.
Less pleasing to Britain and other sovereignty-minded states was M Giscard’s plan for decisions to be taken through a simplified majority system.
The smaller states, which see the Commission as the guarantor of their rights, are especially upset by M Giscard’s call to trim to 13 the number of commissioners, with 12 additional “councillors” from states without seats. The smaller states want to continue with one commissioner per state. He also rejected a plan, reluctantly endorsed by Britain recently, for the Commission president to be elected by the European Parliament. Under his scheme, the choice would remain in the hands of EU leaders.
Britain reacted with relief to the proposal to stay with the present method. Tony Blair has been under pressure from Europe to accept an elected Commission president in return for agreement over the plan originally put forward by France for a president of the EU.
The Parliament reacted with fury to the Giscard plan. Elmar Brok, a senior German Christian Democrat, said: “This is purely about reducing the powers of smaller EU countries, the Commission and the European Parliament.”
The Commission said: “Increasing the number of presidents and vice-presidents, setting up a bureau, can only bring confusion. Duplication of bureaucracies goes against common sense . . .”
The spokesman for Romano Prodi, President of the Commission, said that he had “never seen such an inter- governmental scheme”.
Airing his plan on Tuesday, M Giscard, 77, deliberately sought to shake up the Brussels Convention. Its 105 representatives must complete a draft Convention for the EU summit in Salonika in June. The final shape will be decided by EU Governments, with the aim of proclaiming the constitution next autumn in Rome under Italian presidency. The venue is important, because the EU’s founding treaty was signed in Rome in 1957.
The convention’s 13-member praesidium was working last night on a version, to be made public today, which is expected to water down its chairman’s ideas. Some diplomats were depicting M Giscard’s plan as merely “a personal contribution to the debate”.
EU leaders depicted the constitution at a meeting in Athens last week as vital for the entry of ten new states from the east and south in May next year. They failed, however, to agree on the new power structure, with 18 of the 25 opposed to the scheme for a full-time EU president. This majority may argue that in the absence of any consensus at the convention, the decision on the institutions should be left for the inter-governmental conference, which is to finalise the Constitution from July.
M Giscard is arguing, with support from Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and Poland, that the time has come to redress a democratic balance that had been upset as power flowed to the smaller states with EU expansion.
If the present system were left unchanged, the seven smallest countries of the Union, with 2.4 per cent of the population, would have more seats and votes on the Commission than the six biggest states, which represent 75 per cent of the population.
In Athens, M Giscard said: “Taking the number of states into account is one thing. We also have to take into account their populations, because we operate in a democratic way here.”
Valéry Giscard d’Estaing’s proposals
Council: A President (“Chairman”) for the EU Council of Member Governments, to be appointed by leaders of member states to 30-month term, renewable once
Must have served at least twoyears as national leader. Replaces rotating six-month presidency
A vice-chairman, probably to be appointed from one of the smaller EU states, will head the General Affairs Council, supervising all intra-union business
An EU “Foreign Minister” who would be a Vice-President of the Commission but mandated by EU Council
An executive Bureau (Cabinet) to run the Council. Seven members, including Vice-President and two members of Council
Council will decide strategy and general policies of Union (as at present)
Summits to be held every quarter in Brussels (instead of travelling to the state holding rotating presidency). Voting to be mainly based on simplified majority rules requiring a majority of states respresenting at least two thirds of EU population. This would effectively enable Germany and any two of the other larger member states to block any decision
Commission: To be cut to 13 members, from maximum 25, to be assisted by 12 “councillors” from states without commissioners
Commission President to be appointed by Council and endorsed by vote from EU Parliament (no change). No new powers despite demands from majority of EU 25 states European Parliament: No significant new powers A new European Congress: Made up of 700 members, drawn from European Parliament and national Parliaments, to meet once a year to debate the state of the Union. Could eventually appoint the EU Chairman.
The EU should drop the untenable notion of forming a common foreign policy.
By Jonathan Kallmer
The Prague Post
(April 24, 2003)
It is a pivotal moment in international affairs. The world has witnessed the swift war in Iraq, the specter of a nuclear North Korea is coming into sharper relief, and incidents of terrorism continue around the globe. Amid this turbulence, it is easy to miss the historical political changes taking place in Europe. For as the international community moves loudly from crisis to crisis, the European Union is grinding away quietly at some of the most significant institutional changes in its half-century of existence. At the center of the agenda is the negotiation of an EU constitution. Such a document would reflect nothing less than the most basic social, economic and political rights of EU citizens and (if it is drafted well) would provide the clearest picture yet of the purposes and structures of the club.
Europe's leading luminaries consider the creation of a common EU foreign policy to be a central component of this constitutional undertaking. While the precise contours of the idea have not yet been drawn, the proposal contemplates the transfer of a vast amount of control over diplomacy and defense from individual member states to the EU bureaucracy in Brussels. It is a monumental and unprecedented idea. It is also an idea that, sadly, is destined to fail.
The predecessor of the modern EU was created almost 50 years ago by a small group of countries that believed they could achieve greater things acting together than they could acting alone. Toward that end, they agreed to relinquish a certain amount of their sovereignty to a supranational organization, charging that organization with policymaking responsibility in a wide range of areas. Over the years the body's powers have expanded in scope and the group has grown from six to 15 countries. Yet despite its ever-deepening integration, it has never been suggested that the EU's members would be anything other than independent, sovereign states. Therein lies the paradox of a common EU foreign policy.
A common foreign policy, in any real sense of the term, cannot succeed because it is contrary to the EU's inherent identity as an organization of sovereign states. There is no more fundamental component of state sovereignty than the authority to decide how to deal with those outside the borders. When a country yields its power to make foreign policy, it therefore surrenders its most elemental sovereignty. Thus if the vision of a common EU foreign policy is to be realized, if the responsibility for conducting diplomatic and military affairs is to be moved to the supranational level, the EU's member states must, by definition, be deprived of the sovereignty that they would never agree to relinquish.
The development of a common EU foreign policy is not only problematic in theory, but also impossible in practice. If the debate over how to deal with Iraq has taught us anything, it is that the countries of Europe will go to great lengths to differentiate themselves in urgent foreign-policy matters. While the trans-Atlantic rift gets the most press, it should not go unnoticed that Britain, France, Germany and Spain (to name just a few) have all spent considerable political capital asserting their individual national views. This is not at all surprising. In moments of crisis such as this one, the countries of Western Europe should be expected to do nothing less than act in the formative traditions of William Pitt, Cardinal Richelieu and Otto von Bismarck.
Moreover, these national differences will only grow in coming years as up to 12 countries in Central and Eastern Europe join the EU. No one should expect these states to unflinchingly adopt any real or imagined EU vision of foreign policy. Countries such as Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and the Baltic states -- who will be among the first entrants -- have vastly different diplomatic and military heritages than the states of Western Europe. They did not survive the will of the Soviet Union for so many decades only to submit entirely to the (albeit kinder) will of the EU, so the likelihood that they will express independence in foreign policy should not be underestimated.
The EU can be forgiven its more quixotic qualities; as an international organization it has much to be proud of. In less than half a century it has helped secure peace in Western Europe, enhanced the wealth of its members and widened the sphere of rights that its citizens enjoy. But half the virtue in doing great things is recognizing what cannot be done. Foreign policy is one such thing. The EU will not become stronger by attempting the impossible task of assuming responsibility for its member states' foreign relations. To even try would threaten to dilute and possibly unravel many of the organization's impressive achievements. It is not possible, intellectually, for the EU to represent a uniform view of foreign policy for all its sovereign member states.
More important, as recent months should now have put beyond doubt, those member states simply will not let it happen.
-- The writer practices international litigation and arbitration at the Washington, D.C., law firm of Hogan & Hartson.
Smaller nations say draft constitution favors larger countries.
By Mark Andress
For The Prague Post
(September 4, 2003)
The Czech Republic will join the side of smaller European Union nations at an upcoming conference on the Continent's proposed constitution.
On an Aug. 26 visit to Prague, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer warned smaller European nations against meddling with the EU's latest draft treaty.
Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla and Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda, however, insisted more talks were necessary.
Smaller EU nations say the draft constitution, hatched by a convention representing current and future member states, favors the larger countries.
Sensitive issues include the size and voting rights of the union's executive body, the European Commission, and the future of the rotating presidency.
The new constitution is designed to cope with an enlarged union of 25 states next May and ultimately 30 members or more.
Governments from the 15 current EU members and 10 new member states will discuss the document at an intergovernmental conference (IGC) in October. Blocking the treaty could threaten an enlarged Europe.
"The basic principle must be: He who opens the consensus is responsible for finding a new consensus," Fischer said.
Fischer also told reporters: "Our aim is for the 25 states either to improve the gained compromise or to confirm the compromise gained by the convention.
"If we achieved a worse compromise [at the IGC] that would be bad, and if we ended up with none at all that would just not be an acceptable result. This is a task for all: for old and new members, for poor and rich, for big and small."
Afterward, Spidla agreed that the European constitution must not fail.
But Spidla insisted on the principle of "one country, one commissioner," although big countries favor a streamlined commission.
"That [demand] is apparently where our position will hold [things] up the most. I think the way the situation is panning out that it's possible to negotiate [on this] with some hope for success. We want there to be room for negotiation so that the intergovernmental conference is not just a formality. ... Compromises will have to be made," he said.
In an effort to hammer out a common position on the constitution, Foreign Ministry officials from 15 smaller nations, including the Baltics, met in Prague Sept. 1. They issued a call for more talks on the constitution but did not offer specifics.
Slovak Parties Want to Actively Press National Interest within EU.
Bratislava, October 11 (TASR-SLOVAKIA) - Slovak parliamentary parties declared the need to actively press national interests within the enlarged EU at the conference 'Slovakia for Europe and Europe for Slovakia' which ended in Bratislava on Saturday.
Representatives of the coalition SDKU, KDH, SMK, ANO as well as the opposition Smer and HZDS parties see further possibilities to improve the draft EU Constitutional Treaty that will be decided by the intergovernmental conference IGC held in Rome.
However, the views of these parties on Slovakia's priorities in EU Constitutional Treaty are differing.
SDKU, KDH, SMK and ANO fully support the principle one country - one commissioner, while this post should not be only formal. Christian Democrat KDH would like to see a mention of the God in the preamble and leave out the Charter of Fundamental Rights from the Constitutional Treaty.
These parties also want to keep rotating EU presidency unlike HZDS which agrees with the post of European president.
The last day of the two-day undertaking concluded with speeches by SDKU candidate for EU Commissioner Ivan Stefanec, Anton Neuwirth from KDH, HZDS MP Irena Belohorska, ANO MP Katarina Gloncakova-Golev and Juraj Horvath from Smer.
The event was a two-day scientific gathering aimed at raising discussion on cultural and national issues vis-a-vis Slovakia's incorporation into the EU. In attendance were Deputy Premier Pal Csaky, British Ambassador to Slovakia Roderic Todd, MPs, officials of the government and president of the Slovak Republic's office, Culture and Foreign Affairs Ministries and leading figures from university and science.
The conference, held under the auspices of the President Rudolf Schuster and Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda, was organised by the NGO Euroatlantic Centre.
BRUSSELS — The European Union is the world's rising superpower, poised to overtake both the United States and Japan as the biggest trade and investment force in China, according to a strategic policy paper published by Beijing last week.
The Chinese government said the European Union is transforming the global landscape with its successful new currency and strides toward a joint foreign policy and a defense and judicial union.
Describing EU integration as "irreversible" in the paper released Monday, Beijing marveled at Europe's 25 percent to 35 percent share of the global economy and its projected 450 million population once it expands into the former communist bloc next year.
The "white paper" follows a flurry of Sino-European ventures, including the Galileo global satellite system, described as a direct challenge to the American Global Positioning System monopoly in space.
The two sides are also working together on nuclear research.
France and Germany have been pushing hardest for closer ties with China, hoping to cash in on a lucrative market but also to develop a strategic alliance as a counterweight to American power after the diplomatic trauma of the Iraq war.
In June, French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie proposed sharing sensitive military technology with Beijing. She called for a softening of the arms embargo imposed on the country after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.
The Chinese already have the world's second-largest defense budget, more than $17 billion annually, but they have to rely on outdated weaponry bought from Russia and Ukraine.
The white paper said the ever-closer military ties rendered the EU embargo a relic from the last century.
China's efforts to court Brussels reflect a new mood of respect for the union across Asia.
India is also rushing to upgrade its ties with Europe, recruiting extra staff to lobby EU officials and members of the European Parliament.
Financial Times
Tue Nov 18, 3:21 PM ET
By George Parker in Brussels
Poland on Tuesday raised the stakes in the fight over the new European Union constitution, claiming that proposed new voting rules risked turning the EU into a "unipolar" club dominated by France and Germany.
Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, the foreign minister, said it was essential for Europe's balance of power that countries like Poland and Spain did not lose their influence.
His use of the term "unipolar" is likely to infuriate France, which uses the word to express its fears of a world order dominated by the US.
However Mr Cimoszewicz's comments reflect fears among some EU members and applicant countries about the power of an increasingly close Franco-German relationship.
Jacques Chirac, the French president, represented Germany at an EU summit last month, while Dominique de Villepin, his oreign minister, has spoken of creating a "Franco-German union".
The question over voting power has become the biggest obstacle to securing a deal on a new constitution at next month's Brussels summit. Poland - which joins the EU next May - and Spain are doggedly defending their right to 27 votes in the EU's Council of Ministers, secured in the Nice treaty of 2000.
The Nice system gives Germany just 29 votes, even though its population of 80m is twice that of Poland and Spain. Britain, France and Italy will also have 29 votes.
Mr Cimoszewicz said in an interview with the Financial Times that proposals to scrap the Nice voting system in the new constitution would "risk a unipolar EU".
"With the proposed new system two or three major countries could take a controlling package of shares and that means there would be a risk of an imbalance."
Asked which countries he had in mind, he said: "In any case it would be France and Germany, and somebody else."
Poland's stubborn defence of the Nice voting system has infuriated Berlin and Paris, both of which want a system in which power is distributed according to population.
France and Germany would together account for about 30 per cent of the population of an enlarged EU of 450m people.
The draft constitution, drawn up by former French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, would abolish the complex and controversial system in favour of a simplified "double majority".
Poland and Spain say they cannot accept the Giscard alternative, under which decisions could be taken by half of all member states, comprising at least 60 per cent of the EU population. Mr Cimoszewicz said that could make it easier for a coalition led by France and Germany to push controversial decisions through.
He wants the Nice system to be left in place until at least 2009.
Britain is anxious to present itself as an ally of Poland, while trying not alienate France or Germany. Jack Straw, the British foreign secretary, said yesterday he would support the Nice voting system as a fall-back position if Polish concerns were not met.
Italy, holder of the rotating EU presidency, has less than four weeks to find a resolution to the dispute.
Czech Republic, acceding countries, likely to gain one commissioner - one vote, in expanded EU.
Radio Prague
[01-12-2003] By Jan Velinger
Negotiations in Naples, Italy, over the weekend involving foreign ministers from 25 EU countries - 15 current members and 10 acceding states, have seen a breakthrough: apparent agreement on the future make-up of the Union's executive body, the European Commission that would allow each new member, including the Czech Republic, its own commissioner with the right to vote. Something the Czech Republic had made clear was of the highest priority ever since inter-governmental negotiations got underway in October.
The news was surprising but is still being greeted tentatively in the Czech Republic - the apparent agreement that all 10 countries joining in May 2004 will each have their own commissioner - with the right to vote - within the European Commission. From the very start that has been a priority for countries like the Czech Republic, which had expressed worry they would be left without voting rights in the EU's executive body. The European draft constitution had originally recommended a system of rotating voting rights where only 15 out of 25 commissioners would have had the right to vote at any given time. Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda, however, told Czech Radio such a solution would be unacceptable:
"It's essential that the European Commission be effective, that there not be commissioners present who were good for nothing - commissioners without voting rights. Such commissioners could only make recommendations at most, that would only get in the way of discussion. A commissioner without the right to vote would hardly be able to hold a portfolio - he would just be there to occasionally say something and to listen. We can't afford a commissioner like that."
Not surprisingly, Czech media has already begun weighing potential candidates for the post of Commissioner, among them the Czech Republic's ambassador to the EU Pavel Telicka. Other potential candidates include Jiri Dienstbier, a former United Nations ambassador for human rights in the former Yugoslavia, Alexandr Vondra, the former ambassador to Washington, Jan Kohout, the current First Deputy Foreign Minister, and the Foreign Minister himself, Cyril Svoboda. Obviously all have experience in high politics, it will now be up to the coalition government to decide. They will have four months to choose three candidates, one of whom shall then be picked by EU Commission President Romano Prodi. However the first commissioner will only serve for half a year, before a whole new commission comes into office.
Pedro Solbes said it was apolitical decision without legal basis.
The European Commission has expressed anger that Germany and France have escaped punishment for their over-sized budget deficits. Following an all-night meeting, eurozone finance ministers decided to let the two countries off the hook. Germany and France argued that the cutbacks needed to bring their deficits in line with EU budget rules would harm Europe's fragile recovery. The European Central Bank said the deal carried "serious dangers".
The compromise - which amounts to a watered down version of the original budget rules - was signed off at a full meeting of all 15 European Union member states on Tuesday morning. But EU economic and monetary affairs commissioner Pedro Solbes said the deal undermined the Growth and Stability Pact that demands that members of the eurozone should not run up budget deficits of more than 3% of gross domestic product (GDP).
Confidence undermined.
The finance ministers' leniency with France and Germany over breaking these rules also sparked concern at the European Central Bank (ECB). The ECB's policy council held an emergency conference call, and issued a statement saying it deeply regretted the move. "The conclusions adopted by the Ecofin Council carry serious dangers," the ECB statement said.
The failure to adhere to the Stability Pact's rules "risks undermining the credibility of the institutional framework and the confidence in sound public finances of member states across the euro area", the ECB added. It urged France and Germany to take swift action to get their budget deficit's under control. "It is now absolutely imperative that effective action be taken to limit negative effects on confidence," the Bank said.
Split decision.
The compromise - agreed despite protests from four of the 12 eurozone nations - will see Germany cutting its budget by about 0.6% of GDP next year and 0.5% the year after. France is looking at 0.77% and 0.6% cuts over the same time period. That, in theory, should get the deficits of both countries back below the mandated 3% of GDP.
But there is a get-out clause, under which the reductions will not be required if growth in the French and German economies is unexpectedly low. "We're suspending the recommendations of the Commission," said French Finance Minister Francis Mer. "This is the best mix, with necessary discipline on the deficit without suffocating growth."
Disappointment.
That was not good enough for the Commission, which voiced unusually vociferous disapproval. "The Commission deeply regrets that these proposals are not following the spirit and the rules of the (EU) treaty and the stability and growth pact (on deficits)," said Mr Solbes. "The problem is that we have a political decision (by the finance ministers) which had no legal basis... I am completely disappointed."
The Commission, he hinted, could take legal action to enforce the pact, which was originally designed to bolster the euro's credibility but which is now seen by Germany and France as too tight a straitjacket.
New treaty, old treaty.
And the countries that opposed the deal - which have fought hard to keep within the letter of the pact and now see their more powerful neighbours getting away with breaching it - are also up in arms.
Hrusovsky Calls for Greater Role of National Parliaments in EU.
Paris, December 3 (TASR-SLOVAKIA) - The success of European integration depends to a large extent on strengthening the role of national parliaments, Speaker of the Slovak Parliament Pavol Hrusovsky said in Paris on Wednesday.
Addressing a meeting of the parliamentary speakers of the ten European Union future members, Hrusovsky criticised the EU draft constitution for offering national parliaments too little power within the EU's decision-making process.
If legislatures could agree on joint stances, then they should be at least partly involved in the decision-making of European institutions, he said.
"I still believe it is necessary to do as much as possible to strengthen the position of national parliaments in the new Europe," he added.
Slovakia and nine other countries are scheduled to join the EU on May 1, 2004.
Washington Times ^ | 11/25/03 | Arnaud de Borchgrave
Czech President Vaclav Klaus said Europeans are living in a "dream world" of welfare and long vacations and have yet to realize "they are not moving toward some sort of nirvana."
The Czech Republic is a candidate for European Union membership, but Mr. Klaus, who was elected president in February, made clear in an interview his distaste for the organization.
However, he conceded during a visit to Washington last week that "the political unification of Europe" is now in "an accelerated process ... in all aspects and in all respects."
Mr. Klaus said the movement toward a single political entity of 25 European nations "will not change until people start thinking and realizing they are not moving toward some sort of nirvana."
The Czech president remains convinced that "you cannot have democratic accountability in anything bigger than a nation state."
Asked whether he could see the nation-state disappearing, Mr. Klaus replied, "That could well be the case, [but] it remains to be seen whether it will be the nominal disappearance or the real disappearance.
"We could see the scaffolding of a nation-state that would retain a president and similar institutions, but with virtually zero influence," he said "That's my forecast. And it's not a reassuring vision of the future."
Last week, the European Court of Auditors in Luxembourg released a 400-page report that found "systematic problems, over-estimations, faulty transactions, significant errors and other shortcomings" in the EU budget.
EU auditors could vouch for only 10 percent of the $120 billion the bloc spent in 2002. It was the ninth successive year the auditors were unable to certify the budget as a whole.
Europeans have not yet faced up to such "serious underlying issues," Mr. Klaus said, because "they are still in the dream world of welfare, long vacations, guaranteed high pensions and cradle-to-grave social security."
The biggest challenge for the Czech Republic, Mr. Klaus said, is to avoid falling into the trap of "a new form of collectivism." Asked whether he meant a new form of neo-Marxism, he said, "Absolutely not, but I see other sectors endangering free societies.
"The enemies of free societies today are those who want to burden us down again with layer upon layer of regulations," Mr. Klaus said.
"We had that in communist times. But now if you look at all the new rules and regulations of EU membership, layered bureaucracy is staging a comeback."
The European Union's 30,000 bureaucrats have produced some 80,000 pages of regulations that the Czech Republic and the other applicants for EU membership will have to adopt.
Mr. Klaus dismissed anti-Americanism in Europe, which he sees as "more a reflection of American anti-Europeanism than European anti-Americanism."
He said those who organize demonstrations in Europe are a tiny minority of the population. "The majority doesn't care to demonstrate."
Asked about the U.S.-led war on terrorism, Mr. Klaus said, "It is quite normal that the principal targets of al Qaeda are the U.S. and the UK, as they have taken the lead to do something about those who launch the terrorist attacks.
"We understand the fragility and vulnerability of today's world and we know these attacks are coming close to us, but as someone from a small country, I have a tendency to take domestic issues first and then look at the external ones."
The Czech Republic is one of 33 nations with troops in Iraq, but Mr. Klaus has been critical of the postwar transition to an Iraqi civilian government.
"My concern was always what to do after the end of the war because I know something about the transition from a totalitarian regime to a free society," he said. "This cannot be done by soldiers, or by foreigners.
"After we won back our freedom at the end of the Cold War, there was a proposal to bring back Czechs who had escaped to Western countries and make up a new government of those people who had been living in free countries.
"Those who had lived the tragic communist experience said no to the idea of foreigners organizing our transition back to freedom. We said we had to do this ourselves without outside influence dictating what we should do."
Britain has joined France and Germany in demanding cuts in the European Union's budget that will punish Poland and Spain for blocking agreement on the draft constitution at the recent Brussels summit.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair made no mention of punishing Warsaw and Madrid for insisting on keeping near-parity of EU voting rights with the leading member states. But the move to cap EU spending at 1 per cent of the union's gross income will make it harder to fund aid to poorer regions such as Poland, Spain, Greece and Portugal.
Mr Blair, in a statement to the House of Commons on Monday, expressed sympathy for both sides in the weekend's voting row.
Mr Blair fought off claims from Conservative Eurosceptic MPs that only Polish courage had saved Britain from being shackled by the EU constitution.
He revealed that he had signed a round-robin letter with French President Jacques Chirac and Germany's Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, plus Austria, Sweden and Holland, the main contributors to the EU's budget.
They warned the European Commission's president, Romano Prodi, of the need for budgetary discipline.
The letter accompanying Mr Blair's mild revelation cited demographic pressures - Europe's ageing population - and the impact they are having on national budgets.
The six member states say that they see no room for spending up to the agreed EU limit, 1.27 per cent of states' gross national product. Current spending is about 1 per cent.
The difference is about 25 billion euros ($A41.4 billion) a year less than the European Commission thinks is needed to support regional aid programs that are crucial to Spain and Poland.
The initiative drew a stinging response from Mr Prodi, who said: "Miracles are not my speciality and they don't seem to come easily to member states, either.
"With only 1 per cent it will simply not be possible to do what these member states and all others expect from us," he said.
The letter from the biggest contributors to the EU budget was prepared in advance. But its publication two days after the collapse of the Brussels summit is bound to be linked to ill-feeling about the constitution and to raise tensions between old and new members.
"It may well suit the Germans very well to create exactly this impression," said one senior diplomat.
France and Germany are furious at Polish-led intransigence.
The letter reflects insistence in Berlin, which pays 25 per cent of the EU budget, that the ceiling must be cut.
Under domestic budget pressure, Mr Schroeder has argued that current spending levels are unsustainable when 10 new countries, including Poland, will join the club in May.
Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt predicted the stalemate would encourage a group of countries to club together on defence, crime-fighting and immigration policy if Poland and Spain did not relent.
He revealed that he had signed a round-robin letter with French President Jacques Chirac and Germany's Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, plus Austria, Sweden and Holland, the main contributors to the EU's budget.
They warned the European Commission's president, Romano Prodi, of the need for budgetary discipline.
Of course France and GERMany know all about "budgetary discipline" don't they?!
----------------------------------
Pedro Solbes said it was apolitical decision without legal basis.
The European Commission has expressed anger that Germany and France have escaped punishment for their over-sized budget deficits. Following an all-night meeting, eurozone finance ministers decided to let the two countries off the hook. Germany and France argued that the cutbacks needed to bring their deficits in line with EU budget rules would harm Europe's fragile recovery. The European Central Bank said the deal carried "serious dangers".
Good, limit westerns as a retaliation for western EU countries doing the same to Czechs.
No score for this post
January 8 2004, 11:31 AM
Government reserves right to limit EU citizens working in Czech Republic.
Radio Prague
The government has said it may limit the right of citizens of some EU countries to work freely in the Czech Republic after May 1st, when the country becomes a member of the European Union. Labour and Social Affairs Minister Zdenek Skromach said no particular country had been singled out by the government, but added the measure could be used if the situation on the Czech labour market demanded it. All EU citizens have the right to work freely in any EU country, but Germany and Austria have already said they will prevent people from the 10 accession countries from working there for several years after accession.
Prime minister has tough time choosing Czech EU commissioner.
Radio Prague
By Rob Cameron
There are just over two weeks to go before Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla has to send a letter to European Commission President Romano Prodi saying who should become the Czech Republic's first EU Commissioner. However the prime minister has his work cut out for him, due to the complex set of criteria involved.
Rob Cameron joins me now in the studio - first of all Rob, exactly what do you need to earn yourself a seat on the European Commission?
First of all you need to be fluent in either English, French or German, and it's that linguistic criterion which is making Mr Spidla's job rather difficult. The prime minister has complained that there are plenty of suitable candidates, the problem is not all of them are very good at languages. A second problem is that the Czechs want their candidate to have ministerial experience. And third, for political reasons, the he or she really has to be someone nominated by Mr Spidla's own Social Democrats, the biggest party in the ruling coalition. So the list is a rather short one.
Right, so who's on it?
Unfortunately the list is known only to members of the cabinet, all we can do is speculate. For a start I can tell you a few of the better known names which seem to have been crossed off it. They include Mr Spidla's predecessor Milos Zeman, former Finance Minister Pavel Mertlik, and Jiri Dienstbier, who was a UN envoy for human rights in the former Yugoslavia.
So who's left?
A handful of people few listeners will be very familiar with I'm afraid. According to the online version of Pravo newspaper, which is closest to the Social Democrats, Mr Spidla has narrowed the choice down to two: Pavel Telicka, the man who led the negotiations for the country's EU membership, now Czech Ambassador to the EU, and a former minister called Kvetoslava Korinkova.
And what are their chances?
Well both have serious drawbacks. Pavel Telicka is a skilled diplomat and an excellent linguist, but he's still just a civil servant: he has no experience as a minister and doesn't belong to a political party. Mrs Korinkova, on the other hand, has the ministerial experience and is also a member of the Social Democrats, but it seems she would be unacceptable to at least one of the smaller parties in the ruling coalition.
So if neither of those two make it, does Mr Spidla have anyone else up his sleeve?
A third candidate is Petr Lachnit - he's a Social Democrat, he's a former minister, and his English is said to be quite good. The problem is he's also one of the prime minister's strongest opponents within the party. On the other hand, some observers have suggested it might be a good way of getting rid of him - by sending him to Brussels.
Finland Restricts Labour Market for New EU Members.
Novinite.com
Politics: 16 January 2004, Friday
Workers from eight Eastern European countries due to join the EU in May will not have a free access to the Finnish labour market for the first two years after joining the Union. This is envisaged by a bill Finland's government tabled on Thursday with the expectation to be adopted later in the winter.
Under the bill workers from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia would have to apply for a work permit and would only get a job in Finland if the position couldn't be filled by a Finn.
The rule will not apply to the citizens of Cyprus and Malta.
The Netherlands on the other hand is set to open its labour market to workers from the 10 new EU member states. The decision came after a new research by the Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis revealed that the number of labourers from the acceding countries will be limited.
Work stoppage - EU entry to bring free movement of labor, but restrictions in some countries could hinder Czechs.
By Zuzana Kawaciukova
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
(January 22, 2004)
Labor Minister Zdenek Skromach said measures to protect the Czech labor market are not based on revenge.
"Are you a citizen of an EU country?" Get used to this elementary question if you are planning to search for a job here later than May. When this country becomes a member of the European Union, Czech employers in theory will no longer distinguish between local and foreign employees but among Czechs, citizens from EU countries and others. The free movement of labor is a cornerstone of the bloc's labor policy. But what works in theory might not happen in practice.
Several longtime EU members are considering a ban of several years on the free movement of workers from new Eastern members such as the Czech Republic. Likewise, this country is considering retaliatory measures if those bans are enacted.
Two current EU members, Germany and Austria, have said they will limit Czechs and laborers from other accession countries from their domestic labor markets. Such limits could be in force for up to seven years before those markets are opened fully. The aim of the bans is to protect the two countries from an influx of cheap labor from new EU members.
The Czech government decided Jan. 7 to keep open the possibility of limiting access for workers from EU countries that put limits on Czech labor. Temporary bans could be put in force against several nations, according to the government's decision.
The policy is based on a proposal submitted by the Labor Ministry.
"The decision should result in protecting the internal labor market," said Labor Minister Zdenek Skromach. He added that potential protective measures, if enacted, would be neither sanctions nor revenge. "Restrictions on an EU member would be set out if their citizens threaten Czech labor," Skromach said.
Independent political analyst David Hanak said that by its decision the government was only preparing for the worst. "The decision is the only possibility, because nobody knows exactly what the effects of enlargement will be on the labor market," he said. Although many would like to see the market opened as soon as possible, it is better to be more gradual because every newly employed foreigner carries over his or her business culture, Hanak added.
Welcome in some countries.
Apart from Austria and Germany, other members of the current EU such as Belgium, Finland, France, Greece, Luxembourg and Spain intend to implement some limits on Czech workers, according to Katerina Prejdova, Labor Ministry spokeswoman.
However, other EU countries are taking a more relaxed approach. Full liberalization of local employment markets will be the policy in Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands. Czechs intending to work in Ireland and Britain will also be free to enter those markets. Laborers from this country will be able to work in those two nations after accession if awarded work permits.
Czechs who manage to find jobs despite bans in EU countries will have rights equal to those of local hires. Minimum-wage rules, unemployment benefits and the right to receive a pension will apply to them as well, said Prejdova.
Although economists predict foreign investment will continue to flow in after accession, they do not expect to see crowds of EU workers crossing this country's borders. "The presence [of workers] from the current 15 EU members is closely linked to foreign investments in the country," said David Marek, Patria Finance's chief economist.
According to him, one effect of accession will be a net outflow of labor. The Czech Republic employs many workers from accession countries such as Slovakia and Poland. Those laborers could leave for higher pay. "These nations will be more strongly motivated by the new possibility to seek a job more west," added Marek.
No flood of Westerners.
According to Hanak, the Czech labor market is not so popular among international employees; thus, there will not be any significant change following accession.
Martin Jahn, CEO of inward investment agency CzechInvest, also does not expect any massive labor movements into the country. "In line with the planned investments in the technology- and business-support service areas, management staff is moving over for temporary work," he said. There might be no more than several dozen foreign managers coming to this country in 2004. In 2003 global companies DHL, Exxon Mobile, Honeywell and Olympus announced intentions to create customer-service centers or IT facilities in this country.
Jahn said that it is in the national interest to keep the labor market open. "It would be very unfortunate to set temporary restrictions or take retaliatory measures," he said.
There were around 162,000 foreigners working in the Czech Republic, according to the 2002 figures from the Czech Statistical Office. Of that total, only 6,700 were from the EU. Most of them were managers and entrepreneurs. Germans accounted for more than one-third, with 2,300, followed by the British, with 1,400 workers.
The largest group of foreign laborers consisted of Slovaks. There were about 64,000 people from this country's eastern neighbor working here. Due to the absence of a language barrier and a more thriving economy in recent years, this nation has been a popular place for Slovaks to find work.
Potentially long wait.
If and when bans on Eastern labor are enacted, the transition periods will be regulated in the first two years following accession by the internal law of the individual countries.
By the end of April 2006, however, countries implementing bans will have to inform the European Commission if they plan to continue restrictions.
Internal law can then be in force for another three years. In exceptional cases of countries suffering from unusually weak domestic labor markets, the transition period can last until the end of April 2011. From May 1, 2011, the right of full and free movement of labor will apply to all 25 members of the enlarged EU, said Prejdova.
-----------
WORK PLACES. Labor movement in current European Union countries:
EU workers to the Czech Republic:
• The government decided to consider temporary restrictions on the free movement of labor depending on whether certain EU nations temporarily ban Czech workers and as a precautionary measure. No concrete steps have yet been taken.
Czech workers to the EU:
• Will enact restrictions: Austria and Germany
• Will make some limitations: Belgium, Finland, France, Greece, Luxembourg and Spain
• Free to enter the market: Britain, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden and Ireland
• Still deciding: Italy and Portugal
EU aid to Poland could be higher than national budget deficit.
WBJ
From the Poland A.M.
EU aid amounting to EUR 76 billion, which Poland could receive according to preliminary estimates from the EU budget from 2007-2013, would be worth about z³.360 billion.
This means that over this period, Poland could be a net beneficiary of z³.60 billion annually in aid, which is higher than the Polish budget deficit at present. According to the estimates of Market Economy Research Institute (IBnGR), Poland will have a surplus in settlements with the EU of EUR 1.4 billion in 2004, EUR 2.6 billion in 2005 and almost EUR 3 billion in the following year. "From an economical point of view, Poland would have no problem with absorbing larger amounts of money," said President's advisor Witold Or³owski. However, whether Poland could use the money depends on the capabilities of the self-governments, which already have problems with preparing their own input into the EU funded projects. (Rzeczpospolita, pp. A1, B2) M.M.
Every beginning is the end of something else. The new era of European enlargement will be no exception.
By Michael Meyer
Newsweek International
May 3 issue - Europe has never existed. It must be created." So said Jean Monnet, father of the original Common Market, at the outset of the grand experiment that over the past five decades grew to become the modern European Union. Were he alive today, would Monnet survey his creation with pride—or reservation?
On May 1, Europe braces for another of its periodic Big Bangs. Not war but its antithesis—a regime of stability and (one hopes) growing prosperity spanning a region of 370 million citizens from the Aran Islands to Carpathia. Ten new nations will join the existing 15 members of the European club: eight formerly communist countries of Eastern Europe and the Baltics, plus the divided island of Cyprus and tiny Malta. It is by far the most ambitious enlargement ever undertaken by the European community. Yet curiously, this epochal step inspires more angst than euphoria.
Ask a German diplomat about the EU of tomorrow, and he pauses. "The new Europe," he says thoughtfully, "is looking more and more like the old Europe." For half a century, he explains, Europe has dedicated itself to overcoming division and creating an "ever-closer" political and economic union. The Europe of the future, he predicts, will retreat from this ideal. Instead of coming together, Europe's trajectory will be more toward the past—more toward discord and division than toward unity. Years from now, as The Economist magazine recently put it, Europeans may well look back at today's era as a lost "golden age" of harmony and good feeling. With only slight exaggeration, May 1 can be viewed as marking the beginning of the end of "Europe."
Too pessimistic? Consider recent headlines, challenging traditional assumptions that Europeans inhabit a common house. British Prime Minister Tony Blair last week changed direction and called for a national referendum on Europe's new draft Constitution, painstakingly cobbled together over the past two years and needing unanimous ratification by the Union's member governments. Blair could have simply approved the document; by turning it over to voters, likely to reject it, he in effect cast a veto over the rest of Europe. Meanwhile, as the Union dismantles geographical barriers to the free movement of people and goods, others are going up. Fearing floods of immigrants from the East, taking jobs from locals and overwhelming social services, governments across the Continent have hastily erected restrictions against the incoming members of their European family. Germany and France, among others, have barred such workers from seeking jobs for periods ranging from three to seven years. Similar controversies have erupted over everything from the EU's budget to economic development. After years of touting their commitment to helping their neighbors rebuild from years of communism—much as they helped Greece, Spain and Portugal resurrect themselves from decades of autocracy—the rich members of the Union are balking at the cost.
Spats over budgets and internal migration may pass with time, but some of the endings occasioned by May 1 will be more enduring. Consider three:
THE END OF EUROPE AS THE WEST: "If you want to read the future of Europe, look east," says Jean-Marie Colombani, director of Le Monde in Paris. Until now, the European Union has been a purely West European institution, whose interests lay traditionally within the geography of the NATO alliance. With enlargement, he argues, "the center of gravity of the old Continent will move east." Europe's new backyard is a morass of failing states—Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova—whose problems will become Europe's. "What are the priorities of Poland, Hungary and the Baltic nations?" asks Romanian Foreign Minister Mircea Geoanna, whose own country seeks to join the EU. The first is to reap the economic rewards of EU membership. But the second, he says, is to ensure their own security—and that means shifting Europe's diplomatic and financial attention to the problems on their periphery to the east, in lands Western Europe has long ignored.
THE END OF AMERICA IN EUROPE: Ever since World War II, the United States has been a European power. It created NATO and planted the original seed of European integration by making Marshall Plan aid contingent upon it. It was the guarantor of cold-war security. Transatlantic tensions over the Iraq war are only one sign that Europe and the United States are today on divergent paths. U.S. strategic interests long ago shifted to the Middle East and Asia, says Ronald Steel, author of "Temptations of a Superpower." If America was present at the creation of Europe's postwar order, it is now bidding adieu at its passing.
THE END OF EVER-CLOSER UNION: Even in its earliest days, when the modern EU was but a glimmer in the eyes of the creators of the original European Coal and Steel Community, Europe held close to a dream. It went by various names: "more Europe," "deeper Europe" and, of course, "ever-closer union." It began with the relatively simple task of eliminating tariffs and was to culminate in a "federal Europe," with governments devolving economic and political sovereignty upon the institutions of the European Union. Visionaries predicted the end of the nation-state.
As the EU embarks on its boldest move yet, that dream is all but dead. Yes, never before has such a broad swathe of Europe been subject to the harmonizing rule of Brussels. Yet Germany and France, once the locomotives of union, have lately gutted the EU stability pact limiting the fiscal independence of member governments. Joined by Britain, they have reaffirmed the primacy of national governments in foreign and social policy. The beleaguered new Constitution—an attempt to define what it is to be European, and how "Europe" should govern itself—resides in emblematic limbo. Ever-closer union? "Not in our lifetimes," predicts the German diplomat.
"If this is the end of old Europe, what is now beginning," asks Tony Judt, director of the Remarque Institute at New York University. As he and many others see it, Europe's future will be managing its growing diversity. Mounting immigration, especially Muslim, will increasingly alter Europe's ethnic and cultural landscape. Changing demographics will undermine Europe's traditional social-welfare states. If old Europe faced the challenge of integrating like with like, the new Europe must reconcile unlike with unlike, grappling with prickly issues of minorities, wealth versus poverty and national identity. "It will be an era of discord and civilizational clashes within states and communities," says Judt, "no longer mainly among them." Europe's disparate citizenry will argue for their very different interests and priorities with increasing vehemence, all the more so if Europe's economy does not keep pace with the region's expectations. The cozy days of a close and like-minded European club are gone. Back to the future? It looks very much that way.
Germany warns EU newcomers on tax regimes(raise taxes or else)
Financial Times ^ | 04/26/04 | Hugh Williamson and George Parker
Germany on Monday threw cold water on the festive mood ahead of this week's European Union enlargement by telling its eastern neighbours that low corporate tax rates used to attract foreign investment were unacceptable.
Speaking only days before 10 new member states join the EU on May 1, most of them from eastern Europe, Chancellor Gerhard Schr?der said tax rates, often less than half those in Germany, were "not the way forward" in a united Europe.
His comments reflect unease in Germany over EU enlargement, especially over expectations that Berlin - the EU's biggest financier - will have to provide an even greater share of funds for new members. The comments also appeared targeted at influencing the approach taken by the new member states as they enter the bloc.
Mr Schr?der told Focus news magazine: "In the central and eastern European countries [due for EU entry on May 1] there's a certain expectation from enlargement - 'we have low tax rates and wages, but infrastructure projects which we cannot finance ourselves, will be funded by the EU'. That is not the way to go forward. We need a sensible balance."
The chancellor's comments were echoed by Hans Eichel, the finance minister, who told Der Spiegel magazine "it was completely obvious that there is an urgent need for discussion [in the EU] on whether we should support low tax rates in the new members through EU subsidies". The EU plans to spend ˆ336bn ($397bn, ?224bn) between 2007-2013 in regional aid, with much flowing to eastern Europe.
Mr Eichel criticised tax "dumping" by eastern European countries, for instance labelling Estonia's policy of waiving corporate taxes entirely for certain companies "a problem".
Both men acknowledged that tax harmony across the EU was unlikely in the near future because of national vetoes on the issue but stressed that it was an important political goal. "[Tax harmony] is not just a legal problem but a political one," Mr Eichel said. "When people start asking why we are sponsoring the transfer of [German] jobs to outside the country, then this is a problem for everyone."
The transfer of jobs by German companies to eastern Europe has drawn criticism in Berlin in recent weeks.
Mr Eichel said corporate taxes should be prioritied as "companies have problems when tax regimes vary, especially when they have operations in many countries". Germany's basic 39 per cent corporate tax rate compares with 15 per cent in Latvia and Lithuania, and 19 per cent in Poland and the Slovak republic. Germany and France together have long argued that "unfair tax competition" should be eliminated across Europe, and wanted to achieve tax harmonisation through the new EU constitution, by introducing qualified majority voting on corporate tax issues.
But Britain, Poland and Ireland were among the countries that rejected the move and will insist that the final constitutional text of the constitution retains the national veto.
As a fallback plan, Paris and Berlin are working with the European Commission on the idea that a group of countries could act as pioneers for tax harmonisation.
Poland ponders over following Slovakia and Hungary by limiting access to their labour markets for current EU countries.
According to Polish daily Rzeczpospolita, only Irish and British nationals will be granted full access to Poland's job market from May 1, when the country enters the EU.
So far only Ireland and the United Kingdom have not imposed barriers on the movement of workers from the new EU member states - although access to social welfare has been restricted.
Besides the EU countries, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein are also on Poland's black list. The immigration countermeasures are still to be approved by the Cabinet, but it is likely to happen at the last moment, the daily points out.
The Czech Republic's entry to the European Union on May 1st is a historic occasion and, as in the other nine "newcomer" countries, preparations for the big day are in full swing. Many border villages are draped in festive garb for the occasion in preparation of a day of food, drink and merrymaking with friends from across the border. Shops are sold out of EU flags and many schools have dropped regular lessons in favour of an "EU day" of knowledge quizzes, food bakes and competitions. Friday will bring open air parties across the country and on the eve of the country's accession to the EU leading Czech politicians will gather in the National Theatre in Prague for a gala concert celebrating the country's EU entry. In the face of this merrymaking, President Vaclav Klaus, widely seen as a Euro-sceptic, is keeping a low profile.
While the majority of Czech politicians have entered into the spirit of the EU celebrations with great gusto and on occasion remind Czechs of their own contribution to this achievement, President Klaus is keeping cool.
While the country's leading politicians and the former president Vaclav Havel are donning their best suits for Friday night's gala concert at the National Theatre, president Klaus will be attending the launch of his latest book "Europe through the eyes of a politician and economist". The book is a collection of unpublished essays reflecting the President's anti-federalist position and it is no coincidence that it will see the light of day on the eve of the country's accession to the EU.
This is not to say that President Klaus is ignoring the occasion entirely. He has made use of his privilege to mark it on home ground -in a stately and reserved manner, having invited the Prime Minister and other top officials to a small gathering at Prague Castle on Friday evening. It is from there that the President and Prime Minister are to make a short speech for the country's public television network. There will be a toast and then their paths divide - while the country's politicians head for the National Theatre which will host the cream of Czech society, President Klaus will head for the Old Town Square to shake hands with ordinary people. And, then - in what is being interpreted by many as a warning - he will undertake a nocturnal climb of Blanik Hill. This climb is a popular annual event on Walpurgis Night, but never before has it been attended by the head of state. Moreover, Blanik Hill is linked to one of the best known Czech legends according to which there is an army of brave warriors sleeping in the mountain who will rise to defend the Czech nation when it is in dire need. The symbolism of the president's climb has left many Czechs chuckling - could it be that he plans to wake them up?
Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov sent congratulating telegrams to the presidents of the ten countries that joined the European Union on May 1.
Today's event marks a big step towards the unification of the continent and is high evaluation of your efforts for that process, read the telegrams sent by the Bulgarian head of state.
Bulgaria sees your entry into the union, as it own success, as our country is a part of the fifth EU expansion success as our country is a part of the fifth EU expansion, Parvanov wrote.
EU welcomed in Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Malta at midnight. The additions bring the EU's population to 450 million, making it the world's largest trading bloc.
Bulgarians Opened Umbrellas to Hail EU Enlargement.
Bulgaria in Brief: 1 May 2004, Saturday
Bulgarians gathered in a central Sofia park to hail the historic European Union enlargement process. At 12:00 at noon all Bulgarians gathered in the park opened their umbrellas and joined the major European initiative. Bulgaria joined Poland, Ireland, Germany, Macedonia, the Czech Republic as well as other countries in the colorful event.
Bulgarians gathered in a central Sofia park to hail the historic EU enlargement. They opened their umbrellas and joined the European initiative. Photo by Yuliana Nikolova (novinite.com)
This message has been edited by TsarSamuil from IP address 212.181.9.227 on May 3, 2004 2:14 PM
Saturday May 1 will mark one of the most important days in recent European history. The accession of ten new member states to the European Union signifies the re-unification of Europe and the ending of the artificial divisions of the last century.
Celebrations are taking place all over the continent to commemorate the biggest expansion in the history of the European Union, and to welcome Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia as new members of the European Union.
As current holders of the EU Presidency, Ireland has the honour of hosting the Enlargement of the Union to 25 member states. Heads of State and Government from all the EU countries will attend a special flag-raising ceremony in Dublin as part of this historic occasion.
To celebrate the day the Irish Government has undertaken a number of exciting cultural events to extend a 'Day of Welcomes' to our new neighbours. These public events will take place in conjunction with formal ceremonial events.
Formal
1. Conference of the Three Presidents
A Press conference of the three Presidents will take place in Dublin Castle on the morning of May 1. The conference, which promises to be one of the key political events of the day, will be addressed by the Taoiseach and President of the European Council, Bertie Ahern, the President of the European Parliament, Pat Cox and the President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi. Various dignitaries and high level representatives will also be in attendance during the conference.
2. Flag Raising Ceremony
Leaders from all the EU member states will arrive in Dublin throughout the day and be greeted by the Taoiseach ahead of the flag-raising ceremony at Áras an Uachtaráin residence of the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, later in the afternoon. The ceremony will be followed by a reception hosted by the President of Ireland, before the Heads of State and Government and other dignitaries transfer to Farmleigh, a nearby Government residence, for dinner.
Public Events
The 'Day of Welcomes' on Saturday May 1 is the final and most important strand of the Irish Presidency Cultural Programme - the other strands include, events in Brussels, in Ireland, and in the ten accession states, over the 6 months of the Irish Presidency. Ten towns and cities around Ireland have been matched with the accession states to celebrate and welcome our new neighbours, while a number of special events are also taking place ahead of May 1. Below are some of the main highlights of the Accession Day celebrations.
1. Sky Illumination
"Vectorial Elevation", described as the largest installation of interactive art in the world, is currently illuminating the Dublin skyline every night leading up to May 1. The display requires the public to go online and put together their own designs by manipulating 22 robotic searchlights placed on the rooftops of buildings on O'Connell Street, Dublin's famous main street. Every six seconds a new design is depicted on the sky for all to see. With 154,000 watts of power the designs can be seen from 15 kilometres away, while a large screen will display the signature and comments of the authors. This display is live for the two weeks running up to the May 1, presenting designs from dusk to dawn.
Dublin Elevation
www.dublinelevation.net
2. 'Stars of the Sea' Fireworks
Dublin's Sandymount Strand will also host a fireworks extravaganza from leading European pyrotechnics company, Groupe F, whose previous works include the Eiffel Tower during the Millennium celebrations, and the 1998 World Cup final. Commencing celebrations on Friday 30th April, this display will light up the sky and draw our eyes east across the water and towards our new neighbours. The Groupe F production will be one of the largest, and most spectacular, fireworks spectacles in Europe this year.
3. European Fair
Also on May 1, Merrion Square Dublin will be transformed into a colourful bazaar with marquees, stands and stages making up 'the European Fair'. It is expected that over 100,000 visitors will enjoy the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of the European Fair over the course of the weekend, with food, craft, tourism, technology and culture from all the EU countries vibrantly represented. Marquees from 28 countries (the 15 member States, 10 Accession countries and the three pre-accession states -Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey) will line the outside of the park. Inside, people can sit down, relax or bring a packed lunch to enjoy in the park's picnic areas. Two outdoor stages outside the park will host a vibrant roll-call of talent from across Europe.
Other Events Include:
One of the world's most prestigious choirs, the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir & Tallinn Chamber Orchestra will give the "last concert of the Old Europe" in Galway on Friday 30 April. The Orchestra will also perform a free concert in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin on May 1
The Bray Jazz Festival, Co. Wicklow will welcome leading international performers from five of the new EU states as part of its fifth festival programme.
'The Fáilte Session', a concert of traditional musicians from across the new Europe and Ireland will also take place at 10.30pm in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham. This concert, which will feature music from Altan, the Afro Celt Sound System, uileann piper Liam O'Flynn and the Balor Dance Group, is for an invited audience of 250 and will be broadcast live on the Irish Public Service Broadcasting Organisation (RTÉ) for all to enjoy.
NOTE: The National Flag and the European Flag will be flown on all public buildings in Ireland to mark the occasion. Owners of other premises equipped with flag poles are also requested to fly or give precedence to the Irish and European Flags on the day.
'Welcome' of the 10 Towns
A further initiative of the Irish Presidency has been to twin all the accession countries with various towns and cities around Ireland. These towns will host artists and performers from the new member states, who will enhance the cultural activity in each locality with singing, dancing, and literature recital, as well as with culinary delights. The following is a list of the towns hosting the accession country performers, and their respective themes. For the full programmes of the events being organised, please consult the website of the Day of Welcomes.
Bray - Cyprus: 'From Our Shore to your Shore'
The themes of sea, beach and coast, link Cyprus to the seaside town of Bray, and provide the inspiration for a wide range of events due to take place. Locals and visitors to the town will find the streets bustling with performances, sculpture and music from both Ireland and Cyprus.
Cork - Slovakia: 'Cooking up Culture'
The vibrant cultural scenes in Cork and throughout Slovakia will allow a broad programme of exciting events to take shape. The day will include street parties, music from Slovakian folk groups and food-themed shows in Cork City's renowned "English Market".
Drogheda - Latvia: 'Fair Days on Fair Street'
The rich history of sacred and secular vocal music in both Drogheda and Latvia will see choirs from both places stepping into the spotlight in this lively north-east town, while further family events will be happening around the European Market on Fair Street.
Galway - Estonia: 'A Time to Sing'
The theme of music and young people will play an important part in the Galway programme as local school children learn to sing Estonian folk songs and choirs from Estonia and Ireland join together to thrill the people of Galway.
Kilkenny - Lithuania: 'Crafting the Future'
The medieval town of Kilkenny with its vibrant arts and craft heritage meets the ancient history of Lithuania to create a day of celebration through street theatre and art.
Killarney - Czech Republic: 'Europe in Colour'
A town well versed in welcoming its visitors, Killarney's programme of exciting activities includes a grand pageant that will celebrate the delights and imagination of the Czech Republic.
Letterkenny - Poland: 'European Melodies'
Cultural friendships are being forged between Letterkenny and Poland as the town's diverse programme of events sees Donegal fiddlers playing alongside Polish musicians and theatre companies and visual artists from both places working closely together.
Limerick - Slovenia: 'Visualising Europe'
An immense programme of celebration is being planned in the Shannon-side city with local artists such as street-theatre company the Umbrella Project and the Boherbuoy Brass and Reed Band just some of the many who will have a role in welcoming Slovenia. Ireland's premier international art exhibition, EV+ A, curated by Zdenka Badovinac from Slovenia, will also include a number of Slovenian artists.
Sligo - Hungary: 'Living Literature'
The strong literary cultures of both Sligo and Hungary offer wonderful starting points for this city's 'Day of Welcomes' activities. As the birthplace and final resting place of one of Ireland's most revered poets and national figures, W.B. Yeats, Sligo will be celebrating Hungary's poets, writers and cultural leaders, while day-long street entertainment will see the whole town welcoming Hungary in style.
Waterford - Malta: 'Waterford goes Malta'
Waterford Spraoi is one of Ireland's leading street theatre companies who, along with other events throughout the year, hosts the country's largest street theatre festival. For this historic occasion, Spraoi has been working with other local groups Hullabaloo, the John Robert's Festival and Waterford Youth Drama to present a citywide celebration of Maltese culture.
A huge number and variety of events are also taking place elsewhere throughout Europe as May 1 approaches, from a Eurovision Gala in Berlin and 'witch dancing' in Austria, to an all-country tree-planting action in Estonia and Classical music concerts in Malta.
I am greatly pleased by this greater Europe. Now I'm looking forward to uniting Europe with Russia and America. Though I think America will need to be cleansed of it's islamaniac cancerous Turkik leadership before it can be trusted.
Slovakia Will Not Restrict Employment of EU Citizens.
Bratislava, April 28 (TASR-SLOVAKIA) - Slovakia will not apply tit-for-tat restrictions on the employment of citizens of EU member states following its accession to the EU on May 1, the Cabinet decided on Wednesday.
All EU countries bar the United Kingdom and Ireland are to apply some form of transition period for allowing full employment rights to citizens of the ten acceding countries.
Among Slovakia's neighbours, Hungary and Poland have announced that they will reciprocate the measures while the Czech Republic is considering doing the same as Bratislava.
The decision of Slovakia's Cabinet that the labour market will be fully opened to the EU as of May 1 was not supported by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.
"The ministry believes that the government should do its utmost so that that the barriers put up by the current EU members are taken down as soon as possible," Labour Ministry spokesman Martin Danko told SLOVAKIA afterwards.
He confirmed that Slovakia may reconsider the policy if there appears to be a serious threat to the domestic labour market.
Among the current EU states, Austria and Germany plan to apply the longest transition periods of seven years.
Slovak Government Looks forward to Historic EU Accession.
Bratislava, April 28 (TASR-SLOVAKIA) - "Slovakia's accession to the European Union is an historic event and new opportunity," says a declaration adopted by the Cabinet on Wednesday ahead of Slovakia's entry into the EU on May 1.
Premier Mikulas Dzurinda emphasised the point to journalists after the Cabinet session:
"Our membership in the European Union is an opportunity to have a more secure and prosperous Slovakia and a challenge to hold our own against competition."
He also stressed the importance of the government continuing its programme of reforms: "Without a reformed Slovakia there would be no integrated Slovakia."
Deputy Premier Pal Csaky said the laws and structures required for EU entry were in place. "Slovakia is now EU-compliant," he said, adding that this was not an end but the beginning of a new path.
The declaration added: "Our entry into EU is confirmation of our successful transformation, the irreversibility of democratic development, and Slovakia's departure from backwardness caused by decades of communism.
"Membership of the European Union represents a moral commitment to help develop those values upon which it stands: democracy, human rights, freedom, prosperity and safety.
"Slovakia is ready to meet the responsibilities and also reap the benefits stemming from EU membership.
Council of Europe Parliament Rejects Slovak Candidates for ECHR.
Bratislava, April 28 (TASR-SLOVAKIA - The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on Monday rejected lists of candidates put forward by Slovakia, Malta and Portugal for judicial positions at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
Slovakia's Justice Ministry told journalists on Wednesday that the Assembly had asked the Slovak government to resubmit a new list of candidates.
Each member of the Council of Europe has one judge on the ECHR in Strasbourg.
Slovakia's incumbent judge Viera Straznicka is due to complete her term on October 31, but if her successor is not appointed by then, she will remain on the bench for those cases which have already begun.
The lists were rejected for not including female candidates and because the process for selecting the candidates did not comply with the Council of Europe's principles of transparency.
Slovakia's list of candidates was approved by the government at the proposal of the Judicial Council, and comprised Jan Drgonec, Imrich Fekete and Jan Sikuta.
Tomorrow, 10 more members join the European Union. Friendly new faces? Hardly. Many of the newcomers are already embroiled in fierce disputes with the state next door. Stephen Castle performs the introductions
the Independent
30 April 2004
When the leaders of the new 25-nation European Union pose for their next "family photo" at this weekend's summit in Dublin's Phoenix Park surrounded by 500 schoolchildren and a choir, even experienced diplomats will struggle to put names to some of the faces.
The unfamiliar figures in front of the EU flag will be a motley collection of the good, the bad and, in some cases, the ugly. On the one hand the EU will be welcoming the distinguished-looking Vaira Vike-Freiberga, the Latvian President, who spent her child- hood in a refugee camp in Germany. On the other it will be dealing with a Cypriot premier, Tassos Papadopoulos, who recently wrecked a deal to unit his island and allegedly had business links with Slobodan Milosevic.
One man who won't be there is Rolandas Paksas, Lithuania's flamboyant former president who once competed for the USSR aerobatics team, who was impeached earlier this month on corruption charges. The Polish Prime Minister, Leszek Miller, will be appearing in public on his last day in office, having tendered his resignation as of 2 May.
The arrival of 10 new member states will make the EU one of the world's biggest trading blocs, stretching from Galway to Gdansk, including a host of new energetic countries which are growing fast economically.
But this biggest and most dramatic of EU enlargements has been the most controversial. To the French, the former Warsaw Pact nations have shown an alarming tendency to see things through transatlantic eyes in terms of economic and foreign policy.
At an ill-tempered summit last year on the eve of the Iraq war, the French President, Jacques Chirac, berated the new nations for their backing of the United States and the UK. They had, he said, lost a golden opportunity to keep their mouths shut.
Poland's reputation as the most truculent new member of the club was confirmed in December when Warsaw dug in over the EU constitution, helping to cause the collapse of the talks.
These are predominantly poor member states and, with the exception of Poland (which is about the same size as Spain), are small nations. Most are new democracies, and of the 10 countries whose flags will be raised on Saturday alongside that of the EU, five did not appear on the map 15 years ago.
Inevitably these youthful political systems have proved unstable. Forced to take tough measures to qualify for EU membership, many of the governments have quickly become unpopular. As one EU official put it: "They have had to go through very painful measures and often the politicians have paid a high political price. There have been countries where the government was ousted by the opposition because they were pushing through unpopular economic reform, only to lose themselves in the subsequent election." Latvia has been through more than a dozen governments in a decade, and keeping pace with the revolving door of Eastern Bloc politics is a full-time job.
Of the seven men and three women nominated as European commissioners, six have served either as finance, foreign or European affairs ministers. The man nominated to take over from Mr Miller in Poland (though not yet approved by parliament) is a former finance minister.
The whiff of corruption hangs over the politics of many of the new nations. It was a financial scandal that helped to push Mr Miller to quit, although a court subsequently vindicated him.
Meanwhile, the EU will inherit a series of territorial and ethnic disputes. In a referendum earlier this month, Slovenians voted overwhelmingly to deny residence rights to thousands of people from other parts of the former Yugoslavia. These are known as the "erased" because they were removed from population records after Slovenia declared its independence in 1991.
The Czechs have had a long-running row with Germany over the Benes Decrees, the post-war declarations which deprived the Sudetenland Germans of citizenship and property rights. Relations with Austria have been only a little easier because of Vienna's safety fears about the Temelin nuclear power plant.
Meanwhile Budapest at one point tried to extend special rights and facilities to ethnic Hungarians living in neighbouring nations, including Slovakia.
The accession of the three Baltic nations has brought a large Russian-speaking population into the EU for the first time, with accompanying tensions with Moscow. And then there are the continuing problems of discrimination against an impoverished Roma minority.
But most of these problems have been helped by EU accession and there is little to suggest that they outweigh the benefits of enlargement.
The new member states may have their share of maverick politicians, but probably none of them stands out as much as Italy's premier, Silvio Berlusconi. Most are new democracies, but so were Spain, Portugal and Greece when they joined.
The pressure exerted by the struggle to be admitted to the EU has brought moderation to the flashpoints of Eastern Europe. Just as 30 years of co-operation in the EU has helped to smooth Anglo-Irish relations, so the Czech Republic now keeps Austria informed about developments at Temelin through a committee.
All countries have to match up to EU non-discrimination standards or risk being taken to court. Though the legacy of the Sudetenland problem remains, the political temperature has lowered. And Hungary's plans to promote the rights of its minorities abroad have been shelved.
This gets to the heart of European integration, which has entrenched democracy and tempered conflicts for 50 years. It is, says a diplomat from one new nation, "the goal of the whole exercise: to guarantee political and social stability".
Cyprus
Population: 0.76m
President Papadopoulos is Europe's Mr Nasty after Greek Cypriots rejected EU-backed peace plan. Another black mark is his close financial ties to Slobodan Milosevic when he ruled Yugoslavia.
Tassos Papadopoulos
President. Centre-right nationalist, archetypal tough guy
Czech Republic
Population: 10.2m
Tensions with Germany over Czech refusal to apologise for kicking out Sudeten Germans at end of the Second World War. Austria pressing for closure of creaky Czech nuclear power station.
Vladimir Spidla
Prime Minister. Socialist, may be ejected at next election
Estonia
Population: 1.4m
Virtually recolonised by Sweden, which has helped with investment and EU entry. Like other members of the "New Europe" it resents French bullying and criticism of support for war on Iraq.
Juhan Parts
Prime Minister. Leads Res Publica party
Hungary
Population: 10m
Hungarians discriminate against the Roma minority. However, they are not actually persecuted, as in some of the other new member states. Sees Germany as most important strategic partner.
P?ter Medgyessy
Prime Minister. Liberal, former Communist-era spy
Latvia
Population: 2.3m
In dispute with Lithuania over sea border. Grateful to UK and Ireland for not restricting entry to citizens looking for jobs. Major tensions with Russian minority, which comprises 30% of the population.
Indulis Emsis
Prime Minister. Europe's first Green prime minister
Lithuania
Population: 3.6m
Tensions over mistreatment of Polish and Russian minorities. Currently fuming at Latvia over pollution from a Latvian oil terminal helpfully positioned near the border.
Algirdas Brazauskas
Prime Minister. Soviet-era survivor
Malta
Population: 0.4m
EU minnow (will be a good neighbour, with largest Man Utd fan club outside UK). But Maltese are sceptical about EU membership: it took a referendum and a general election to shoe-horn them in.
Lawrence Gonzi
Prime Minister. Centre-right nationalist
Poland
Population: 38.6m
Had a bitter dispute with France and Germany over Iraq war, then another when it helped to block the EU constitution along with Spain. Atlanticist outlook and strong ties with the UK.
Leszek Miller
Prime Minister. Social Democrat
Slovakia
Population: 5.43m
Tensions with Austria and Germany over work restrictions for Slovak citizens - mostly Roma. But it treats these same Roma as second-class citizens, which is why many want to leave.
Mikulas Dzurinda
Prime Minister. Centre-right, fanatical marathon runner
Slovenia
Population: 1.9m
Furious with ex-colonial master Austria for refusing to erect Slovenian language signposts in Carinthia province. Blotted its otherwise pristine copybook by "erasing" the rights of ethnic Serbs.
Anton Rop
Prime Minister. Economist, leader of Liberal Democrats
Former ambassador to the EU talks about Czech fears, his past.
By Dinah A. Spritzer
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
(April 29, 2004)
On May 1 Pavel Telicka begins his term as the country's first European Union commissioner. Formerly the Czech ambassador to the EU and the negotiator for the accession treaty, Telicka received the longest and most arduous grilling during his hearing in the European Parliament before he was appointed, particularly with regard to his communist past, but he was also one of only four new commissioners to have no negative comments in his appraisal report. He spoke with The Prague Post about Czech attitudes toward the EU, EU attitudes toward new members, and the public's perception of his role.
The Prague Post: You were named the most popular politician in a recent STEM public poll, despite the fact that you are not a politician. Perhaps this says something about the quality of the country's leaders.
Pavel Telicka: Some politicians might say that I have the advantage of not being in the domestic political scene, encountering issues on a daily basis, defending them, and entering into all sorts of disputes.
TPP: Many people think that as a commissioner, you are in Brussels to serve the interests of the Czech Republic, but you are really there to serve EU interests, right?
PT: There is some confusion and a lack of information. Or people know how it works but maybe they think that somehow the Czech commissioner could act in the Czech national interest.
I think you are correct that this won't be possible and my role will be to define general interests.
TPP: Fear of the EU has grown, according to polls. Is this justified?
PT: It is understandable. People see intensive debate in our country and it is not easy at all to see who is right on this or that issue. But let's take prices as an example. There was a good study prepared by the Czech National Bank, quite independent, and it showed as a result of accession there will not be any significant rise in prices or inflation.
TPP: Should anything worry Czechs with regard to EU entry?
PT: Fears are legitimate for businesses who have not taken seriously the conditions they have to operate under within the new internal market. There are those who have not met safety norms, hygienic norms or technical norms.
TPP: Do you find it a bit embarrassing that the likely winners of the European parliamentary elections will be the euroskeptics, that is, the Civic Democrats and the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia?
PT: There are different views inside these parties, and sometimes what these politicians say publicly is different from what they tell me in private.
TPP: Can you be specific?
PT: I can only say that we are now in a pre-election campaign and some of the campaigners adjust their statements accordingly. So let's wait and see what the policies will be of the MEPs [Members of European Parliament] once they get to the parliament. I think we will see a relatively pro-European policy.
TPP: Czech politicians are pretty ticked off that nearly every EU country has closed its doors to Czech workers for the time being. Are you similarly disappointed?
PT: In reality no administrative measure can be successful in limiting free movement. For example, if a hospital somewhere in Hamburg is interested in a Czech surgeon, do you think that someone will stop this hospital? If you really have something to offer, you will find a job.
TPP: What will be the Czech Republic's key issue within the EU over the next three years?
PT: To behave like a member state.
TPP: Won't the Czechs do battle over some subsidy for agriculture or, say, regional development?
PT: You Americans want to battle all the time. OK, seriously, I think we should have the self-confidence to say on day one, we will be a normal member state. Don't complain and be equal.
TPP: Let's get back to you for a moment, since your background seems to elicit strong public reaction. President Vaclav Klaus has called you a technocrat. Other critics say you are unbearably arrogant. Are you an unbearable, arrogant technocrat?
PT: There are situations when you negotiate and you want to achieve something and at a certain moment there might be a place for arrogance so I don't exclude that from time to time, yes. I have encountered a lot of arrogance in the past and I see no reason why I shouldn't give it back. A technocrat, yes, well, I am an official. But President Klaus and others know very well that apart from being a technocrat I also have quite strong and clear policy views.
TPP: In several interviews, you have called your joining the Communist Party in the mid-1980s a mistake. So why did you join?
PT: This is a very long story. It would have something also to do with the environment under which I was brought up, things happening around the family, the environment in the country, what kind of information I did have and did not have available. I do not want to go into any greater detail, not that I would have significant difficulty with it. In the early 1990s I did take responsibility for the fact that at age 22 until age 24 I was a party member. In reality, whatever I will now say will sound like an excuse. I can't wipe it out from my CV, but it's also important what came afterwards. It would maybe be worthwhile one day to answer the questions, 'How did you see that time? What were your views?' And I really think that I was, even at that time, ready to tell my views even though they were not really appreciated. Even in the former times I had my doubts but there were other people who had more courage than I did.
Members Only - After the fanfare over European Union entry fades, what challenges will remain in key areas that the EU has helped to revitalize?
By Dinah A. Spritzer
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
(April 29, 2004)
When Czechs awaken May 1, they are likely to find their country exactly as it was the day before. During the decade-long buildup to the dawn of European Union accession, most of the changes required to become a member of the club were enacted without too much tribulation. Hundreds of new laws have been passed, the slaughterhouses have been sanitized and the gulas has been refrigerated. Every imaginable program has been designed to help the disenfranchised, corrupt officials have been chastised and inefficient legal practices have been singled out.
On paper, the Czech Republic is one of the most prepared of the 10 new members to enter the EU, based on points for overall compliance to EU directives.
Therein lies the trap. After working like mad to meet the relentless entry requirements, will the country take a collective sigh and go lax? Will there be energy left to bring productivity, living standards and institutions up to the Austrian or German levels?
Now the training wheels are off. The new EU member should bask in its status, but that does not mean paying mere lip service to the advancements that many expect of a more mature democracy.
Below we look at 10 areas in which, observers tell us, the Czech Republic could benefit from some EU magic over the next five years.
• POLICE It seems that not a week goes by in which Prague's municipal police are not accused of scandalous behavior. This newspaper reported accusations earlier this month that the police beat up two foreigners, and Czech Television recently revealed that the state police had charged two Prague municipal officers with sexually harassing two teenage girls. The municipal police could take a page from the better-qualified state police by enacting a massive reform program based on proven methods used in the Netherlands. In the meantime, Jiri Kopal, director of the League of Human Rights, a police watchdog group, does not view EU entry as a panacea. "In many EU countries, the police are not very good. I would not be happy to have our police trained according to the standards in Italy, Spain or Greece," he said.
• CUSTOMER SERVICE The notion of customer service was nonexistent 15 years ago, but today service with a snarl is no longer the norm. Because it will be easier for small European entrepreneurs to open businesses here, Karel Pavlik of the Consumer Defense Association said Czechs will feel the pinch. "The competition among the shops will be higher, and management will have to offer something -- better goods and better service -- to compete," he said.
Karel Riegel, an economic psychologist, was hopeful. "Our consumers are not sufficiently demanding, but the more EU customers and sellers we get, the more they will see that it is OK to make a fuss when you are treated badly."
• LAW "It is already known that Czech courts do not function properly, so I hope some EU funds go to the training of judges," said attorney Mike Dlouhy of White & Case. Justice Minister Karel Cermak said billions of crowns have been set aside for just that. "But as for the long duration of the trials, that doesn't relate to EU entry. This is just our pain that we will have to deal with ourselves," Cermak said. The average length of a trial in the Czech Republic is three years. Dlouhy worries that already-burdened courts will have trouble interpreting European law, but Cermak argues that 90 percent of cases will be untouched by the European legal system. Somebody, perhaps, should be worrying about those 10 percent of remaining cases. They are mostly complex international business disputes that might end up costing the government a fortune in the European Court of Justice if judges do not apply the law, as has happened in the past.
• NEW STUFF Dreaming of the time when you don't have to go to an expensive specialty shop for a decent selection of lettuce? Do you wish you didn't have to sell your car to afford that regular supply of maple syrup? Eva Williams, corporate affairs director for Tesco Czech Republic, said the selection of items in the store, or lack thereof, is based on a complex combination of customer tastes and budgets, as well as guaranteed freshness. "It is likely that there will be new goods from abroad because waiting times for transport at the borders will no longer exist, duties will end and we will make new agreements with foreign suppliers," she said. Meanwhile, she said Czechs can look forward to new trends, such as home shopping, pet insurance and more organic products. But what about the romaine?
• STATUS OF WOMEN It is a tribute to the industriousness of Czech women that their presence in the labor pool, more than 50 percent, is even higher than the average for the EU. The same goes for their level of education, with a greater number of Czech women earning higher degrees than in many Western countries. Their political representation is similarly high. So why is it that the education minister's breast-reduction surgery is the butt of male politicians' jokes or that several leading psychologists say sexual harassment is considered an American invention? "Femininity was and is done very differently here than it was in the West," said Marcela Linkova, a gender studies researcher at the Academy of Science. She said that closer contact with other EU womens' groups may improve the lot of women in the Czech Republic but added, "Once you penetrate the EU structures, you find that women's issues are not such a hot topic. EU bureaucrats know how to say the right things, but that doesn't stop top British stock traders from taking their clients to strip shows."
• ROMA The largest minority in the country, the Roma, or Gypsies, have received special attention from the EU, which has pressed the Czech government to address the chronic unemployment of Roma, as well as their lack of integration into society. But all the talk has netted few tangible results. Ninety percent of Roma still attend special schools for the mentally handicapped because their Czech skills are not sufficient on entering primary school. Roma leader and advocate Ondrej Gina is not enthusiastic about what EU entry will bring. "Already, low-paying work that went to the Roma is going to the Ukrainians, and after we join the EU I expect this to happen even more," he said. On the other hand, Gina expects that EU entry will motivate the Roma. "They will be forced to learn English and get better qualifications."
• LANGUAGES The language most in demand by businesses within the EU is English, according to CzechInvest, and Czechs are well ahead of other former Eastern bloc countries, with 24 percent of the population speaking English well, Eurobarometer reported last year. Also last year, a CzechInvest study found that 36 percent of Czechs speak German fluently or fairly well. English is mandatory in schools from age 10, although students in border areas can opt for German. None of this impresses John O'Keefe, director of the Prague Language Centre. "The secondary school system here is rotten. The kids learn from teachers who used to teach Russian, took a crash course in English and then call themselves English teachers." He said that with EU entry he expects an enormous upsurge of students at private language schools. "A year ago the government offices and banks demanded that their employees pass English exams to be eligible for a promotion," O'Keefe said.
• HEALTH CARE David Rath, head of the Medical Chamber, estimates that 30 percent of all graduates from Czech medical schools will go to work abroad. The average salary of doctors in the Czech Republic is 34,000 Kc ($1,259) per month, and doctors can easily earn five times that farther west. "The EU accession will no doubt play a very significant role in increasing the salaries of doctors in the Czech Republic," he said. At the same time, because of a fairly good technical reputation and cheaper prices, it is expected that thousands of EU patients will seek treatment in the Czech Republic. The question remains whether the publicly funded health-care system, which is flat broke, can continue to keep costs down and still become a European health Mecca.
• NGOS Simon Panek runs the country's largest nongovernmental organization (NGO), People in Need, and he does not worry that his funding will dry up. But he is sure that EU entry threatens smaller NGOs. "The private donors such as Ford and Soros are leaving or have left -- they went east," he said. There is an abundance of EU money available to help NGOs, but getting it is a challenge. "Most NGOs do not know how to submit a proposal to Brussels. Second, EU money is given out to an NGO only after it has carried out its designated project, which causes a cash crunch," he said. He predicted that small and medium-size NGOs would form consortiums. He also speculated that the government, as it did in Hungary, might pressure banks to provide loans for NGOs.
• SALARIES The average salary in the Czech Republic is close to17,000 Kc a month, about one-fourth the average salary of Germany. Wages may grow by 8 percent annually, while in the EU the growth rate will be 2 percent, explained Raiffeisen chief economist Pavel Sobisek. "We will be catching up but we'll not reach the EU average within 20 years, even if the economy is booming," he said. If salaries slump and the economy slows, you might see a brain drain as a pool of highly qualified workers seeks out better compensation.
L'Europe ?largie c?l?bre ses retrouvailles ? Dublin
LEMONDE.FR | 01.05.04 | 11h37 • MIS A JOUR LE 01.05.04 | 19h43
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B?n?dictions, lev?e des drapeaux et manifestations altermondialistes ont salu?, samedi 1er mai, L'Union europ?enne des Vingt-Cinq. L'entr?e de dix nouveaux pays, ? 0 heures, diversement c?l?br?e, fait de l'UE l'un des principaux ensembles mondiaux. L'objectif est d?sormais de surmonter les d?saccords sur la Constitution, sous peine d'"?normes difficult?s", a indiqu? le premier ministre irlandais Bertie Ahern, dont le pays assure la pr?sidence de l'Union.
Les vingt-cinq pays de la nouvelle Europe ?largie ont c?l?br? samedi 1er mai ? Dublin leurs retrouvailles, au premier jour d'une Union europ?enne forte de dix nouveaux Etats membres, et qui constitue d?sormais l'un des plus importants ensembles humains et ?conomiques du monde. C'est samedi ? 0 heure que l'Union europ?enne a effectu? cet ?largissement historique ? 10 nouveaux membres (Pologne, Slov?nie, Slovaquie, Hongrie, R?publique tch?que, Estonie, Lituanie, Lettonie, Malte, Chypre).
"Bienvenue dans la nouvelle Europe", a d?clar? le pr?sident de la Commission europ?enne, Romano Prodi, dans un message diffus? vendredi soir ? Bruxelles.
M. Prodi a retrouv? samedi le premier ministre irlandais, Bertie Ahern, dont le pays pr?side actuellement l'Union, et le pr?sident du Parlement europ?en, Pat Cox, pour la premi?re conf?rence de presse ? Dublin des "trois pr?sidents" de l'UE.
"JOUR D'ESPOIR ET D'OPPORTUNIT?"
L'?largissement de l'UE ? dix nouveaux pays est un "jour d'espoir et d'opportunit?" qui ne menace en rien leur identit?, a affirm? le premier ministre irlandais, Bertie Ahern, dont le pays pr?side actuellement l'Union. "Aux peuples d'Europe qui nous rejoignent aujourd'hui dans l'Union europ?enne, je tends la main de l'amiti?", a ajout? M. Ahern dans des remarques pr?liminaires ? une conf?rence de presse. "Au cours des derni?res ann?es, vous avez frapp? ? la porte de la plus grande famille d'Europe. Aujourd'hui, nous l'ouvrons et dans la grande tradition irlandaise, vous disons "cead mile failte", cent, mille fois bienvenue", a encore affirm? le Taoiseach (premier ministre irlandais).
"Bienvenue ? la maison", a lanc? M. Cox. Le pr?sident du Parlement europ?en a toutefois averti ? cette occasion que "de nouveaux d?fis" attendaient les dirigeants de l'Europe ?largie, pour que la prosp?rit? ou encore l'euro b?n?ficient ? tous. "Pour y parvenir, les nouveaux membres doivent ?tre capables de compter sur la solidarit? des autres", a-t-il affirm?.
M. Prodi a soulign? de son c?t? que l'Union ?largie ne pouvait se permettre de se reposer sur ses lauriers. "Il y a d'autres candidats dont les aspirations m?ritent consid?ration", a-t-il affirm?, en citant la Croatie, la Bulgarie, la Roumanie, ainsi que la Turquie, qui attend une d?cision avant la fin de cette ann?e sur l'ouverture ou non de n?gociations d'adh?sion. Mais, "sans doute, la pr?occupation la plus s?rieuse dont nous devons en ce moment nous occuper est la n?cessit? de combattre le terrorisme", a-t-il encore ajout?.
"ENORMES DIFFICULTES"
M. Ahern a soulign? que la t?che principale qui attendait les dirigeants europ?ens ?tait de trouver un accord sur la future Constitution europ?enne, "le plus vite possible". L'absence d'accord provoquera d'"?normes difficult?s" car le bon fonctionnement du "processus de d?cision est essentiel", a-t-il affirm?. Les 25 se sont donn?s jusqu'au 17 juin pour trouver un accord sur cette Constitution. Mais celle-ci devra ?tre ratifi?e par chacun des pays pour entrer en vigueur et beaucoup s'inqui?tent de la possibilit? qu'un ou deux pays ne ratifient pas et bloquent ainsi tout le processus.
Romano Prodi a reconnu que rien n'avait ?t? pr?vu dans le projet de Constitution pour pallier cette ?ventualit?. Lui-m?me avait pourtant propos? que la possiblit? de sortir de l'UE soit pr?vue pour un pays qui n'aurait pas ratifi?, "ce qui n'a pas ?t? accept?', a-t-il rappel?.
Pat Cox a redit qu'une politique ?trang?re commune, que facilitera l'adoption de cette Constitution, est essentielle en Europe. "Plus de Srebrenica, voil? la logique" dans laquelle les Europ?ens doivent s'engager, a affirm? M. Cox, en m?moire du massacre, en 1995, de plus de 7 000 musulmans bosniaques.
SOUS LE SIGNE DES RELIGIONS
La pr?sidence irlandaise avait organis? une c?r?monie in?dite rassemblant les autorit?s des communaut?s chr?tienne, musulmane et juive du pays pour b?nir l'adh?sion des "Dix".
"Nous, dirigeants et repr?sentants des communaut?s chr?tienne, juive et musulmane d'Irlande, rassembl?s ici ? Dublin, voulons accorder nos salutations les plus chaleureuses ? tous nos fr?res et soeurs de l'Union europ?enne, particuli?rement aux 100 millions de citoyens des 10 nouveaux Etats membres," a d?clar? le cardinal catholique Desmond Connell, ajoutant ainsi 25 millions d'?mes aux 75 millions d'habitants des 10 pays.
"Nos fois ont beaucoup contribu? dans le pass? ? l'h?ritage et ? l'identit? du continent europ?en, a ensuite indiqu? le rabin Yaakov Pearlman. Aujourd'hui, a-t-il poursuivi, nous proposons de continuer cette contribution du mieux que nous pouvons."
"Au moment o? l'Europe commence ? mieux respirer avec les deux poumons de l'Est et de l'Ouest, nous affirmons notre d?sir de travailler pour le bien europ?en commun, convaincus que le bien-?tre mat?riel, politique, social, culturel et spirituel de l'Europe et indivisible", a pour sa part soulign? l'imam Hussein Halawa.
Les trois autorit?s religieuses ont alors lu des passages de la Bible, de l'Ancien Testament et du Coran avant de proc?der chacun ? la b?n?diction solennelle de la nouvelle Europe.
VIN ET DRAPEAUX
Une c?r?monie de lev?e des drapeaux de l'Europe des Vingt-Cinq - y compris la banni?re europ?enne frapp?e des 12 ?toiles jaunes - a r?unie les dirigeants de la nouvelle entit? ? Aras an Uachtarain, la r?sidence officielle de la pr?sidente Mary McAleese, situ?e dans le Phoenix Park de Dublin, dont l'acc?s a ?t? bloqu? par un tr?s important dispositif policier. Pas moins de 5 000 policiers et 2 500 soldats ont ?t? mobilis?s ? Dublin afin de parer ? tout d?bordement lors des manifestations attendues. Des assoications altermondialistes, comme Une autre Europe est possible, avaient appel? ? manifester en milieu de journ?e dans le centre-ville. Plusieurs centaines de personnes ont d?fil? dans le calme.
La journ?e devait se terminer par un d?ner arros? par un tr?s classique Lynch Bages, Grand Cru class? du Bordelais, mais aussi par un vin plus symbolique : le blanc Simcic-Teodor Belo, un vin de Gorizia/Nova Gorica, ville divis?e entre l'Italie et la Slov?nie par la Guerre Froide.
F?TE ? L'EST, INDIFF?RENCE ? L'OUEST
Avec force musiques, discours et gestes symboliques, les nouveaux membres de l'Union europ?enne n'avaient pas attendu samedi pour c?l?brer leur entr?e dans cet ensemble qui, en termes de population, sera le troisi?me au monde derri?re la Chine et l'Inde.
A l'Est de l'Europe, sous le beau temps, les foules sont descendues dans les rues des grandes villes pour ?couter leurs stars locales ou s'adonner au chant collectif, grande passion des pays baltes.
A Prague, des milliers de personnes ont ?cout? du rock tch?que sur la Place de la Vieille ville, d'ordinaire surtout fr?quent?e par les touristes du monde entier. A Varsovie, des milliers de Polonais ont converg? devant le Ch?teau Royal. A Budapest, plusieurs dizaines de milliers de Hongrois se sont rassembl?s sur la Place des h?ros pour entendre de la musique du monde entier. La Lituanie a d?cid? d'?tre le plus brillant de tous les nouveaux membres de l'UE. Ses habitants ont allum? toutes leurs lumi?res ? 22 h 40 locales (19 h 40 GMT) afin qu'un satellite puisse en donner la preuve avec une photo.
Dirigeants autrichiens, italiens et slov?nes se sont rencontr?s ? 1 509 m?tres d'altitude, sur un sommet dit des Trois fronti?res, partag? par leurs pays respectifs. "La vie m'a donn? la chance d'?tre pour la premi?re fois et la derni?re fois sur une fronti?re qui n'existera plus demain", s'est exclam? le premier ministre slov?ne, Anton Rop.
Plus sobre, Lech Walesa, l'ancien syndicaliste et ancien pr?sident polonais qui a grandement contribu? dans les ann?es 1980 ? l'?croulement du communisme en Europe de l'Est, a d?clar? : "Le r?ve de ma vie est accompli (...) maintenant, ma lutte est finie."
Le ministre allemand des affaires ?trang?res, Joschka Fischer, a rencontr? ? minuit son homologue polonais, Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, sur le pont qui s?pare Francfort sur l'Oder de la ville polonaise de Slubice. A minuit ?galement, le pr?sident de la Commission europ?enne, Romano Prodi, ?tait dans une autre ville divis?e, Gorizia/Nova Gorica, ? la fronti?re de l'Italie et de la Slov?nie.
Le pr?sident tch?que, Vaclav Klaus, connu pour son euroscepticisme, a jou? de son c?t? les trouble-f?te en avertissant ses concitoyens qu'ils risquaient d'"?tre d?sillusionn?s" avec l'UE.
Dans la "vieille Europe", l'enthousiasme n'?tait d'ailleurs pas toujours au rendez-vous. Le premier ministre belge, Guy Verhofstadt, a ainsi appel? les Europ?ens ? ne pas "c?der au discours populiste de la peur". A Berlin, une f?te populaire et un concert r?unissant 25 artistes de l'UE ?largie ont salu? l'?v?nement, mais l'assistance est rest?e maigre, et ? Bruxelles, capitale non officielle de l'UE, seul un programme tr?s minimal avait ?t? pr?vu.
L'arriv?e en bloc de ces dix nouveaux Etats membres repr?sente le plus important ?largissement depuis les d?buts de la construction europ?enne en 1957. La population de l'UE s'est accru de quelque 75 millions d'habitants, dont 39 millions pour la seule Pologne, le plus important des nouveaux membres, pour atteindre plus de 450 millions d'habitants, de Tallinn ? Nicosie.
Pour huit pays issus de l'ancien monde communiste, cette entr?e dans l'UE enterre d?finitivement la guerre froide en Europe, au terme d'un long processus n? sur les d?combres du mur de Berlin, tomb? en novembre 1989.
Europe (1): Ballon vole à Berlin.
vendredi 30 avril 2004 - 15:41
Ils sont jeunes et samedi, ils seront aussi citoyens de l'Union européenne. Pour fêter ça, ils se sont rassemblés autour d'un lâcher de ballons, vendredi à Berlin (Allemagne), porte de Brandebourg.
Nach zwei Weltkriegen und mehreren Jahrzehnten ideologischer Spaltung r?ckt Europa enger zusammen: Die Europ?ische Union nimmt zehn neue L?nder auf. Ein Kontinent feiert - ?ber Verfassung und Nebenwirkungen reden wir dann nach dem Kater.
Grenzenlos: Ein junger Mann entfernt den aus den Zeiten des kalten Krieges stammenden Grenzzaun in Bayerisch Eisenstein an der deutsch-tschechischen Grenze. Foto: ap
Mit Feuerwerken und Freudent?nzen haben alte und neue Mitglieder der Europ?ischen Union (EU) in der Nacht zum Samstag ihre wiedergewonnene Einheit gefeiert.
Von Finnland im Norden bis Zypern im S?den, von Portugal im Westen bis zu den baltischen Staaten im Osten: Die Europ?ische Union ist fortan so gro? und so vereint wie nie zuvor.
Entlang des fr?heren „Eisernen Vorhangs“ und in den Hauptst?dten der alten und neuen Mitglieder feierten Millionen Europ?er unter freiem Himmel. Seit Mitternacht sind nun Estland, Lettland, Litauen, Polen, Slowakei, Slowenien, Tschechische Republik, Ungarn, Zypern und Malta EU-Mitglieder.
Mit dem Beitritt der neuen Mitglieder festigt die EU ihre Position als zweitst?rkste Wirtschaftsmacht der Erde. Mit den etwa 74 Millionen neu hinzugekommenen B?rgern leben in der EU nun fast 455 Millionen Menschen. Die Zahl der offiziellen Amtssprachen hat sich von 11 auf 20 erh?ht.
Die nun 25 Staats- und Regierungschefs der EU kommen am Samstagnachmittag zu der zentralen, offiziellen Feier in Dublin zusammen. Irland h?lt zur Zeit die EU-Ratspr?sidentschaft inne.
Wegen der Zeitverschiebung bereits eine Stunde fr?her als im Rest der Union konnten die drei baltischen Staaten und Zypern ihren Beitritt feiern. Schon um 23.00 Uhr mitteleurop?ischer Sommerzeit wurde in Zyperns Hauptstadt Nikosia die Fahne der EU zu den Kl?ngen der Europa-Hymne gehisst.
T?rkische Zyprer nahmen jedoch nicht an den Feierlichkeiten teil, da sie wegen der Ablehnung des UN-Plans zur Wiedervereinigung der seit 1974 geteilten Insel durch die griechischen Zyprer nicht als EU-B?rger aufgenommen werden.
Prodi fordert Aufnahme weiterer L?nder in die EU
Auch in den drei baltischen Staaten feierten Zehntausende. In Litauen waren die Menschen aufgerufen, durch das Einschalten und Anz?nden m?glichst vieler Lichtquellen ihr Land zum „hellsten Punkt Europas“ zu machen. Estland will mit einer gro? angelegten Baumpflanzaktion den Neubeginn symbolisieren.
Beitrittsfeiern gab es auch in Ungarn, Tschechien und der Slowakei. Mit einem gigantischen Feuerwerk im Hafen der maltesischen Hauptstadt Valletta feierte das jetzt kleinste EU-Mitgliedsland den Beitritt zur Union. „Ich bin stolz darauf, ein Malteser und ein maltesischer Europ?er zu sein“, sagte Ministerpr?sident Laurence Gonzi.
In Polens Hauptstadt Warschau begr??ten Tausende mit polnischen und europ?ischen Fahnen, einem Feuerwerk und einem in 35 L?nder ?bertragenen Konzert die neue europ?ische ?ra. Staatspr?sident Aleksander Kwasniewski rief dazu auf, die T?ren zur EU offen zu lassen. Besonders nannte er die Ukraine und die Staaten des Balkan.
EU-Kommissionspr?sident Romano Prodi ?u?erte sich bei einer Erweiterungsfeier an der italienisch-slowenischen Grenze ?hnlich. Die f?nfte Erweiterung der Union werde nicht die letzte sein. „Andere europ?ische L?nder und V?lker werden unserem Unternehmen folgen, bis der ganze Kontinent in Frieden und Demokratie vereint ist“, sagte Prodi.
Mehr Sensibilit?t f?r die neuen Partner in der EU forderte Bundesau?enminister Joschka Fischer. Zusammen mit seinem polnischen
Kollegen Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz nahm er an einer Feier auf der Oderbr?cke zwischen Frankfurt (Oder) und Slubice (Polen) teil.
Kohl: Deutschland ist Hauptnutznie?er im geeinten Europa
Als die Minister gemeinsam ?ber die Oderbr?cke nach Slubice gingen, wurden sie von Tausenden jubelnder Menschen empfangen. „Willkommen im gemeinsamen Europa“, rief Fischer ihnen zu. Sein polnischer Kollege sagte unter dem Beifall der Menge: „Wir sind jetzt Europa.“
„Es ist eine Gl?cksstunde“, sagte Alt-Bundeskanzler Helmut Kohl (CDU) bei einem Festakt der s?chsischen Landesregierung im deutsch-polnisch-tschechischen Dreil?ndereck Zittau. „Das ist ein Traum. Aber man kann auch Tr?ume erleben, die einen gl?cklich machen.“ Deutschland sei der politische Hauptnutznie?er im geeinten Europa: „Unser Land ist umgeben von Freunden und Partnern.“
EU's 'big bang' would never be repeated, says Prodi.
Financial Times
By George Parker in Dublin
Published: May 2 2004 22:03 | Last Updated: May 2 2004 22:03
The European Union's "big bang" expansion from 15 to 25 members, celebrated over a weekend of emotion and ceremony, will never be repeated, Romano Prodi, European Commission president, said on Sunday.
Mr Prodi said the EU would soon be full and that there was no prospect of countries such as the former Soviet republics of Ukraine or Belarus becoming members.
Instead he predicted the creation of a "ring of friends" for Europe, a zone of co-operation stretching from the Baltic through the Middle East to North Africa.
"There would be strong links not only in the economic field, but in migration and food security," he told the BBC. "But they would not be part of the same parliament, and not be members of the same European Commission."
Mr Prodi, who steps down in October, said the EU would probably be complete once it had taken in the three outstanding applicants - Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey - and the countries of the western Balkans, including Croatia and Serbia.
That process is expected to take many years.
The accession of the 10 new members, which include eight former Soviet bloc countries, on May 1 was marked by events across Europe, culminating in an official flag-raising ceremony in Dublin attended by the 25 leaders of the enlarged Union.
Bertie Ahern, Irish prime minister and holder of the rotating EU presidency, said: "We must never forget that from war we have created peace; from hatred we have created respect."
Gerhard Schr?der, German chancellor, attended a ceremony on the border with Poland and the Czech Republic before heading for Dublin.
"Those who lived through the second world war and its aftermath would not have thought this possible," he said.
Many citizens of the new member states spent the weekend at street parties, in a rare spontaneous show of support for a European project often associated with remote bureaucracy.
The accession events were only slightly marred by a demonstration by about 2,000 anti-globalisation protesters in Dublin, who were doused by water cannons borrowed from the British authorities in Northern Ireland.
Once the hangovers have faded, the expanded Europe faces some formidable challenges in the coming weeks, including finalising a new EU constitution designed to streamline decision-making and choosing a new European Commission president.
Mr Ahern began preparing for the decisive June 17-18 EU summit on Sunday when he held talks with Anton Rop, Slovenia's prime minister, in the first of 24 private meetings with all the heads of government.
Mr Schr?der said he "assumed" the constitution would be signed at the summit, although there will then be a fraught ratification process in each member state, including a number of referendums.
Member states will also start discussing this summer the size of the next seven-year EU budget, which is likely to pit paymasters such as Germany, France and Britain, which want a tight budget, against net recipients including the new member states.
Leaders of "old" and "new" Europe embraced in ceremonies and parties along their shared and once barbed borders yesterday, ushering in a new era.
Celebrations began across the continent, with firework shows, concerts and less conventional festivities organised in cities and at border crossings.
In Estonia, 20,000 volunteers began planting a million trees. Lithuania decided to outshine its fellow newcomers by turning on lights and setting bonfires to light up the nation on satellite images as midnight approached. Lithuania, along with Latvia, Estonia and Cyprus, also enjoyed a head start, chiming in midnight one hour before the rest of the continent.
Traders in London's Carnaby Street said they would accept payment in euros today.
For many new EU members, enlargement signifies the definitive end of the cold war.
Perhaps the most symbolic event today will be on the bridge between Frankfurt an der Oder in eastern Germany and Slubice in Poland, with the German and Polish foreign ministers meeting midway to shake hands.
Roger Waters, the former Pink Floyd singer, has composed an enlargement song - called It Will Be Fine - intended for its first public performance at midnight in Malta as part of a new opera.
The work is in English and French and involves an 84-piece orchestra, three soloists and an adult and children's choir. In another celebration concert the most popular performers from the new member states were featuring in a two-hour show linking the Berliner Konzerthaus and an open air stage in Warsaw.
Lech Walesa, whose Solidarity movement toppled communism in Poland in 1989, said: "Poland's entry into the European Union fulfils my dreams and lifetime work."
In a speech to Poland's parliament the German president, Johannes Rau, said: "For Germany and Poland a completely new chapter in our relationship as neighbours is beginning, a new epoch with great possibilities and wide-reaching perspectives."
Germany's chancellor, Gerhard Schr?der, said: "The decisive step towards unifying the continent was done by the people of central and eastern Europe.
"They shook off oppression in peaceful revolutions. They have made big sacrifices and undergone deep reforms."
Slovak lawmakers convened a special session of parliament where the chairman, Pavol Hrusovsky, reminded the nation how far it had come since shaking off communism.
"In 1989, we cut up the barbed wire," he said. "Pieces of this wire have for us become a symbol of the end of the totalitarian regime. For the generation which lived in captivity of the barbed wire, the EU means a fulfilment of a dream."
"I get tears in my eyes," said the French prime minister, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, while meeting a group of students from the 10 new countries. "I am part of a generation that believes in Europe. Europe is the force that prevents hate from being eternal. We must open our hearts to this new Europe."
In the German town of Zittau festivities were held in a meadow on the Neisse river where Germany meets Poland and the Czech Republic. Makeshift pontoon bridges, festooned with the flags of the three countries and the EU, were set up to link the neighbours.
Hungarian officials rang ancient bells while other Hungarians chose to celebrate by dumping unwanted belongings in a square in Budapest. Austrian, Italian and Slovenian officials shook hands at Tromeja, their shared border 1,500 metres up in the Alps.
Il premier in Irlanda per i festeggiamenti dell'Europa a 25.
"Solo in amicizia con gli Usa l'unione porter? pace nel mondo"
Ue, Berlusconi a Dublino
"Oggi un giorno storico"
Prodi: "Oggi ? una giornata meravigliosa"
Ciampi: "La nuova Unione non ? solo un mercato"
Fuochi d'artificio a Dublino per la Ue a 25.
DUBLINO - Berlusconi festeggia l'Europa a 25. Lo fa a suo modo, ribadendo l'asse privilegiato con gli Usa, insistendo sull'ingresso in futuro di Turchia e Russia, ricordando il comunismo "che ? la pi? lunga e terribile dittatura che l'Europa contemporanea abbia conosciuto.
Da Dublino, dove oggi sono in programma le cerimonie ufficiali per l'allargamento dell'Ue, il premier italiano dice in una dichiarazione che il primo maggio del 2004 "entrer? nei libri di storia come una tappa fondamentale di quel processo che ha avuto inizio il 9 novembre 1989, quando con la caduta del Muro di Berlino, ? crollata la pi? lunga e la pi? terribile dittatura che l'Europa contemporanea abbia conosciuto: la dittatura comunista".
Ma, avverte il premier, la nuova Europa (di cui da stanotte fanno parte Polonia, Slovenia, Repubblica Ceca, Slovacchia, Ungheria, Estonia, Lituania, Lettonia, Malta e Cipro) "non pu? credere di aver completato il suo cammino verso un mondo pi? libero e giusto, e abbiamo di fronte a noi compiti importanti".
Ci? perch? si deve "portare a compimento il processo di riunificazione" con l'adesione di Bulgaria, Romania, gli altri paesi dei Balcani occidentali e, "in un futuro spero non lontano", con l'ingresso della Turchia e della Federazione Russa.
L'allargamento offre al presidente del Consiglio una nuova occasione di ribadire anche dall'Irlanda il suo legame preferenziale con gli Usa. "L'Unione - dice Berlusconi - deve essere consapevole che solo in amicizia con gli Stati Uniti essa potr? svolgere il suo ruolo di pace nel mondo". Quindi, con un riferimento implicito alla questione irachena, il capo del governo italiano sostiene che il "modo migliore" per festeggiare l'allargamento europeo ? "avvertire la responsabile consapevolezza che pace, libert? e democrazia non sono conquiste definitive, ma vanno ogni giorno difese dalle minacce che incombono".
In questo storico primo maggio parla anche il presidente della Repubblica Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, secondo il quale occorre lavorare "con forza e determinazione al dialogo ed alla comprensione tra tutti i popoli che si affacciano sul nostro comune mare, in primo luogo tra civilt? islamica ed europea". Ma il Capo dello Stato ricorda anche che "l'Unione ampliata ? molto pi? di un grande mercato", ? "un terreno comune di valori, un territorio che amplifica le possibilit? di investimento, un luogo multiculturale che moltiplica le potenzialit? dei nostri giovani, liberi di studiare e lavorare ovunque lo desiderino".
Le cerimonie ufficiali di oggi prevedono la conferenza stampa del presidente della Commissione Ue Romano Prodi, che ha gi? cominciato a parlare ("Questa ? una giornata veramente storica e gioiosa"), del presidente del Parlamento europeo Pat Cox e del presidente di turno del Consiglio europeo, l'irlandese Bertie Ahern. Poi, nel pomeriggio, le cerimonie ufficiali in un grande parco di Dublino con la cerimonia dell'alza bandiera.
Just before the celebrations started, the Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla, together with representatives of the EU delegation to Prague, including its head Ralf Dreyer, appeared before the public at a final press conference before they proceeded to take part in the celebrations in the centre of Prague. Radio Prague's Pavla Horakova has just come back from the press conference.
Pavla, just hours before accession, what can actually be said on the topic of accession that we haven't heard before?
Well, Dita, the press conference had a predominantly celebratory tone and all the participants emphasised the historic importance of the accession of the Czech Republic and the other nine countries to the European Union. As the head of the EU delegation to Prague, Ralf Dreyer, put it "after all the "nitty-gritty" discussions about structural funds, transitional periods, legislative compliance we should never lose sight of how far we have come." Mr Dreyer went on to congratulate the Czech Republic, as well as the old member states and the other newcomer states on this historic achievement.
"In fourteen hours, the Czech Republic will join the European Union. This is a truly historic occasion. An occasion for the Czech people to be extremely proud in their nation's history. I congratulate the Czech people on their vision and their courage in embracing the opportunities the European Union offers. This equally goes to all member states, old member states and the other new member states."
The Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla, too, emphasised the historic significance of the 1st of May, 2004 and said that by joining the EU the Czech Republic's sovereignty and its ability to defend its interests will be strengthened. He also said he was sure that the Czech Republic would fully participate in the development of the European Union and that it would contribute to reinforcing the European identity. Because, as Mr Spidla said, "there is such a thing as a European identity". He also found time to recap some of the things that will change for Czechs as of Saturday.
"There will be no customs checkpoints at the borders, Czechs won't need any special driver's licences to be able to drive abroad. Any child in the Czech Republic will be able to study at any European university under the same terms as the locals. And Czech will become one of the official languages of the European Union which means all documents will be translated into Czech."
Pavla, it has often been pointed out that Czechs are indifferent if not sceptical when it comes to joining the EU? Was that mentioned at the press conference held on the eve of the Czech Republic's EU accession?
Well, Ralf Dreyer, the head of the EU delegation to Prague - which by the way will cease to exist on Saturday as a diplomatic mission - commented on that fact but, rather surprisingly, not in words of criticism.
"Ladies and gentlemen, you certainly do not expect me to be a Euro-sceptic or a Euro-realist. But I share the words. The Czech Republic is a democracy and the European Union consists of democratic states. European democracy is living on this basis. And democracies need realistic and sceptical citizens and I wish that this be the case in the Czech Republic, too."
Spidla, Miller, Schroeder join celebrations in Trojzemi.
RadioPrague
On the EU enlargement day, the Czech Prime Minister, Vladimir Spidla, and his Polish and German counterparts, Leszek Miller and Gerhard Schroeder joined the celebrations in the border district of Trojzemi, a place where their three countries meet. From Trojzemi, Ian Willoughby reports.
"The Czech Prime Minister, Vladimir Spidla, and his Polish and German counterparts, Leszek Miller and Gerhard Schroeder have appeared together at a grand ceremony at the exact point where their three countries meet. On this historic day of the European Union enlargement, the three leaders along with the EU enlargement commissioner, Guenter Verheugen, delivered speeches at noon in front of many thousands of people from the border region and the assembled international media.
"The Czech Prime Minister was the last of the four to speak, describing EU enlargement as the definitive overcoming of the results of WWII. He rejected the division of the continent into "Old" and "New" Europe, saying the only "Old" Europe was a Europe which went to war against itself. As for the future, the Czech Prime Minister said a lot had been achieved and a lot remained to be done, though it could be done better in united Europe, working together."
Nova Gorica in Gorica skupaj pozdravili vstop Slovenije v EU.
(STA)
NOVA GORICA - Simboli?ni vrhunec praznovanja ob vstopu Slovenije v Evropsko unijo na meji med Novo Gorico in Gorico je bilo v no?i na soboto odprtje mozaika tr?a?kega umetnika slovenskega rodu Franca Vecchieta na prenovljenem trgu ob novogori?ki ?elezni?ki postaji. Sledili sta slovenska in italijanska himna, ki sta ju zapela slovenski in italijanski pevski zbor, opolno?i pa je zadonela himna EU in dvignili so zastavo EU.
Navzo?e sta nagovorila tudi predsednik dr?avnega zbora Borut Pahor in dr?avni podsekretar na italijanskem zunanjem ministrstvu Roberto Antonione. Pahor je nagovor namenil otrokom vse Evrope, ki jim je sporo?il, da imajo pravico do sre?nega in mirnega otro?tva in do "mavri?ne podobe evropskega doma". Pozval jih je ?e, naj zrastejo brez predsodkov do drugih in druga?nosti ter vzamejo prihodnost nase.Antonione pa je poudaril, da se z "vrnitvijo Slovenije v Evropo" za?enja novo poglavje, ki med drugim pomeni dodatno rast za podjetja in ustanove. Posebej je omenil tudi narodne manj?ine in jih ozna?il za bogastvo, ki nas zdru?uje. Ob pozdravu Sloveniji v evropski dru?ini pa je izrazil upanje, da bosta v njej mesto na?li tudi Hrva?ka in Makedonija.Antonione je zbrane pozdravil tudi v imenu italijanskega premiera Silvia Berlusconija, ki se sicer zaradi gripe ni udele?il petkovih slovesnosti ob vstopu Slovenije v EU - predvidena je bila njegova udele?ba na tromeji med Slovenijo, Italijo in Avstrijo. Ob omembi Berlusconijevega imena pa se je iz ob?instva na italijanski strani zasli?alo glasno ?vi?ganje.Pred tem sta imela nagovor predsednik Evropske komisije Romano Prodi in predsednik slovenske vlade Anton Rop. Medtem ko je Prodi pozdravil 75 milijonov novih dr?avljanov EU, je Rop izrekel dobrodo?lico Evropi. "Doslej je bila Evropa prihodnost Slovenije, zdaj je Slovenija prihodnost Evrope," je poudaril Rop, ki je obenem sosede pozval, da je pri?el trenutek za spravo.Prireditev, ki sta jo skupaj organizirali mesti Gorica in Nova Gorica, je potekala v duhu ideje "Dve Gorici - eno mesto: skupaj v Evropi". Gostitelja ve?era sta bila ?upana Mirko Brulc in Vittorio Brancati, ki sta skupaj s Pahorjem odprla prenovljen trg med obema mestoma. Slovesnosti v Novi Gorici so se udele?ili mnogi visoki gosti, med njimi ve? slovenskih ministrov in predstavnikov strank.Glasbo sta izvajali Slovenska filharmonija iz Ljubljane in orkester Teatro Verdi iz Trsta z zboroma in solistoma. Po polno?i pa je de?evno nebo nad Novo Gorico razsvetlil ognjemet.
Slovensk? republika sa stala ?lensk?m ?t?tom Eur?pskej ?nie. Spolu s ?eskou republikou, Ma?arskom, Po?skom, Slovinskom, Maltou, Cyprom, Est?nskom, Litvou a Loty?skom od polnoci roz??rila eur?pske spolo?enstvo na 25 kraj?n. Historick? roz??renie ?nie o stredo a v?chodoeur?pske ?t?ty znamen? definit?vne prekonanie obdobia rozdelenej Eur?py.
Leaders from the EU's 10 new member states have been marking their countries' entry into the European Union with speeches and televised addresses.
Here is a selection of what they and other European leaders have been saying.
European Commission President Romano Prodi:
Welcome to the new Europe. Five decades after our great project of European integration began, the divisions of the Cold War are gone once and for all and we live in a united Europe.
Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, President of the European Council:
To the people of Europe who are joining us today in the European Union I extend the hand of friendship. It was your democratic choice and your own efforts that made this day happen. Today marks the triumph of your determination and perseverance over the legacy of history. For Europe, today marks the closure of one chapter and the opening of another new and exciting chapter in its long history.
Former Polish president and Solidarity trade union leader Lech Walesa:
I fought for our country to recover everything it lost under communism and the Soviets... and now my struggle is over. My ship has come to port.
Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski:
We have passed the test of being Europeans.
Slovenian President Janez Drnovsek:
Dreams from 1991 are becoming reality. We will build good relations between nations and people. We will strive towards mutual respect and equality of every individual, sex, race and national or any other minority.
Lithuanian President Arturas Paulauskas:
History will rectify its greatest mistake tonight: Lithuania, the geographical centre of Europe, is returning to Europe. Today, we are saying to the old continent: Hello Europe, we are coming. We are coming to live together, to work together, to create together, yet to remain ourselves.
Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy:
We used to be the gate to Europe and will continue to be so, but there is a crucial difference; we are now inside the gate.
Slovak President Rudolf Schuster:
We should take care to see all our citizens boarding the (EU) train - not to turn it into a privilege for only the richest. This is one of the reasons why the responsible politicians in our country should choose for our train into the future a speed which will take into account that not all of us are equally strong and fast. Let us, therefore, wish each other a happy journey towards our better and more beautiful future.
Czech President Vaclav Klaus:
As from midnight today the Czech Republic will no longer exist as an independent state entity and it will become a part of the EU... Today we are gaining something, but also at the same time losing something.
Estonian Prime Minister Juhan Parts:
We are returning to where we belong, to a community that shares the same values and visions.
Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos:
We don't want to celebrate the joys and fortunes of EU accession on our own, we want to share it with the Turkish Cypriots. As legal citizens of the Cyprus Republic they have every right to this joy and prosperity. We wait for them. Their place is with us.
Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga:
We have passed all the tests, we have met all the requirements, we have achieved what many, including ourselves, did not believe we would be able to attain.
Malta's Archbishop Joseph Mercieca:
Malta in Europe should not consider only material benefits, it should also take into account its Christian roots of our country and Europe. Through its words and deeds it should assist so that the community of people in the EU understand and feel the need of God and religion.
French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin:
I have tears in my eyes about this subject. I am part of a generation that believes in Europe. Europe is the force that prevents hate from being eternal. We must open our hearts to this new Europe.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder:
Enlargement will not make us poorer, but richer in the future.
Former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl:
We never want to wage war again against each other. We want to honour the dead and tend to the graves but we never again want to have soldiers' tombs in Europe. That is the most important reason for a united Europe.
Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds:
There was a time when Europe's countries negotiated with each other by sending tanks. The enlargement we see today is fantastic. The Cold War's division of Europe into east and west is melting away once and for all.
The Europhiles are trying to skew the argument about Europe into either we sign up whole-heartedly for the Franco-German political union vision or we leave the EU. This "all or nothing" scare-tactic may suit their purpose, but it is dishonest. The third way is a union of sovereign states co-operating where it is in our national interest to do so (this is, after all, how France and Germany act when their interests conflict with European law). The reason those of us sceptical to the Franco-German vision of Europe should be delighting in the entry of the ten new members is because they are more likely to back our vision than the outdated, bureaucratic nightmare that France and Germany have foisted on us.
Adam Gray, London, England
I think the expansion of the EU is a good idea. However, I think most Europeans misconstrue the expansion of the EU. It's an economic union, that's it. The idea that it is some kind of counter-balance to the US - is quite simply incorrect. It will make trading with the EU easier in the long term. The EU is not a political union, no matter what France and Germany say - the citizens of Europe will see that the first time there is division amongst it's members.
Dalo, Coral Gables, FL
For those British citizens who are worried about their country's safety: I highly doubt that newcomers would want to move away from their family and friends to "invade" your country, divesting you of jobs and benefits. Now there will be no compulsion to "get away". Other than that, I am happy for the integration but time can only tell whether this fellowship is going to be beneficial or not for the entire Union.
Alex, Hungary
Today is a wonderful day for humanity and an affirmation that national boundaries are less powerful than the universal brotherhood shared by all. May the EU continue to be a shining beacon of democracy and justice for the whole world!
Paulo de Figuerido, Melbourne, Australia
We should not forget that Ireland in 30 years, thanks to the EU, has gone from the poorest nation in western Europe to become the second richest, only surpassed by Luxembourg
Kristian Abildskov, Brussels, Belgium (Dane)
This is not a sad day for England or the former EU members. In fact old and rich EU needs new members even more than these new countries need EU. Without the optimism and enthusiasm flowing from the new members EU would be soon on the periphery of the world trade. It is funny that it is more obvious for the U.S. and Canadian citizen as you read this forum.
Marcin H, Wroclaw, Poland
It is very sad to read that people in UK see the meaning of EU only in economy. The most important and symbolic thing about EU is that there are no borders anymore. British people don't have experiences with borders because the only border they have is a sea. But when you live on a place where artificial borders divided friends and relatives, where father was living in one state and daughter in another, only than can you realise what is the real meaning of united Europe. Unfortunately we live in a time when it is more important how big budget you have and not how big is your culture.
Sala, Ljubljana, Slovenija
The new expansion of EU is ambiguous for Ukraine. On the one hand it means that Ukraine gets more chances to join EU in future, but on the other hand the EU will impose lots of trade and other kinds of restrictions to Ukrainian companies that have close economic links with new members of EU. EU is afraid of powerful Ukrainian industrial potential that can compete to invade EU market.
Anton, Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine
This unification symbolises understanding for common good and sacrifice of one's richness and willingness to share. This can only encourage similar unifications. Its not a combination of few rich nations, it combines nations regardless of their monetary status, which is what makes it more valuable.
Kulkarni, Pune, India
I hope that once in the near future the Brits will understand that the EU is not a trading bloc, but a Union of peoples.
Sergio Bellabarba, Milan, Italy
This is so hypocritical. I hear all this whining about the employees from the new member states undercutting the wages. Why don't you offer them wages equal to yours? This way only the skills and knowledge will matter? Or maybe this is what you are afraid of? Maybe they are just a little more ambitious than yourselves?
Robert Pranagal, Lublin, Poland
A beautiful moment that demonstrates the impact of solidarity and trust in today's global politics, economy and culture. The best of wishes to the ever-growing European Union.
M. Verde, Caracas, Venezuela
Thank God for the comment from Phil, UK: one enlightened one among the bunch of petty GDP peddlers here! I left Czechoslovakia in 1980, and got a phone call just at midnight from my twin brother who stayed there: "I can't believe we're finally BACK where we ALWAYS belonged!" He was right: just like with Spain and Portugal, nobody will count pennies ten years from now (they may just be richer than us by then!), but we will take it for granted that these people are really a part of the family that finally made it home again today, after so many years of abuse. To the EU-bashers here, please answer two simple questions: Are you bold enough to go it alone in your small state? And if not, who is culturally your natural partner?
Emanuel, Brussels
Slovenia is not a poor country as one of the contributors has indicated by saying that all new countries were poor. Such and similar comments show the ignorance of some people not even trying to get more facts about the new accession countries in general; and about Slovenia that has got some even better economic indicators compared to some of the existing EU countries in particular.
Tina, Slovenia
Big warm welcome to any of the 74 million folks from the ten new member countries. A voluntary partnership of free trade, human rights, and friendship are what its about. I'll be visiting soon.
Dave L, Glasgow, Scotland
It is rather obvious that the EU was created as a copy of US, in order to be able to compete with the huge US influence in economics and politics. EU has to work out, not because the rich EU countries want to equalize Europe and make it a nice prosperous place for us all, but because they are desperate to gain (or is it regain?) a leading and more influential position in the world and hopefully someday get the place that the US is holding today. Since neither Germany, France nor UK can do this by themselves, they need the EU. Why is it all the debate about EU around what the poorer countries have to win from EU, and why do we always avoid talking about what the rich countries' advantages are? Why do we look at these rich countries as the victims of the EU enlargement? Who would be so naive to think that they are doing all this (give money to the newcomer EU members, invest in poorer EU countries etc) out of generosity for their poorer neighbours and not for their own interest? Too bad that the states within the EU will never be equal in terms of decision making, or, so to say some will be more equal than others. People talk about the economic and income differences between the EU countries, but why don't we talk about the 'below the surface' disparities within the EU? Is the EU really a democratic, capitalistic thing?
Irina Haivas, Iasi, Romania
pi, PAP 01-05-2004, ostatnia aktualizacja 01-05-2004 18:40
Polki! Polacy! Europejczycy! Witajcie we wspólnej Europie! - tymi s³owami zwróci³ siê w nocy z pi±tku na sobotê prezydent Aleksander Kwa¶niewski do kilku tysiêcy uczestników uroczysto¶ci podniesienia flagi Unii Europejskiej, zebranych na Placu Pi³sudskiego w Warszawie. Obchody trwa³y przez ca³± sobotê.
Krótko po pó³nocy na maszt przed Grobem Nieznanego ¯o³nierza wci±gniêto unijn± flagê. Po podniesieniu flagi i odegraniu hymnu UE "Oda do Rado¶ci" nad placem rozb³ys³y sztuczne ognie.
Na Placu Zamkowym mieszkañcy stolicy wys³uchali koncertu "Welcome Europe" (Witaj Europo), w którym wyst±pili arty¶ci reprezentuj±cy 10 nowych cz³onków UE.
W odrestaurowanych ogrodach Zamku Królewskiego w Warszawie rozpoczê³o siê w sobotê rano uroczyste powitanie Unii Europejskiej. Do udzia³u w "Pierwszym ¶niadaniu europejskim w Zjednoczonej Europie" zaproszono ponad dwa tysi±ce go¶ci.
W uroczysto¶ci, zainaugurowanej hymnami Polski i UE, uczestniczyli prezydent z ma³¿onk±, przedstawiciele rz±du, ambasad, znane postaci ¶wiata kultury i polityki, reprezentanci ko¶cio³ów, radni miasta.
Setki ludzi - g³ównie m³odych - ¶wiêtowa³y w sobotê wej¶cie Polski do Unii Europejskiej na dziedziñcu Zamku Ujazdowskiego w Warszawie.
W ¶niadaniu zorganizowanym przez Fundacjê Schumana, uczestniczyli m.in. minister ds. europejskich i pierwszy polski komisarz UE Danuta Huebner, a tak¿e pierwszy po wojnie niekomunistyczny premier Tadeusz Mazowiecki.
"Pewnie wszyscy mieli bardzo krótk± noc. Nic nie mogê powiedzieæ poza tym, ¿e siê bardzo cieszê" - powiedzia³a Huebner, witaj±c
zebranych.
Wst±pienie Polski do UE ¶wiêtowano tak¿e ca³ym kraju.
W ¯ytawie spotkali siê szefowie rz±dów Polski, Niemiec i Czech: Leszek Miller, kanclerz Gerhard Schroeder i premier Czech Vladimir Szpidla. W uroczysto¶ciach uczestniczy³ tak¿e komisarz UE ds. rozszerzenia Guenter Verheugen. Nasze wielkie, polskie marzenie sta³o siê rzeczywisto¶ci± - powiedzia³ w ¯ytawie premier Leszek Miller. Chwilê wcze¶niej uroczy¶cie wci±gniêto na maszt flagê Unii Europejskiej.
W centrum Gdañska na Targu Wêglowym, podczas festynu u³o¿ono Flagê Unii Europejskiej z sze¶ciu tysiêcy ¿ó³tych i niebieskich balonów. Balony trzymali w rêkach doro¶li i dzieci.
W Gdyni podczas pikniku "Europo Witaj Nam", serwowano m.in. specja³y kuchni pañstw unijnych oraz pokazano najnowsze modele samochodów europejskich koncernów.
We Wroc³awiu ponad 70 naukowców z ca³ej Europy, doktorów honoris causa wroc³awskich uczelni, dyskutowa³o w sobotê m.in. o szansach i zagro¿eniach dla ¶wiata w XXI wieku na spotkanie pod has³em "Zjednoczona Europa jako fundament nowego porz±dku globalnego".
W ramach bydgoskich obchodów samolot z przedstawicielami piêciu najwiêkszych miast województwa kujawsko-pomorskiego polecia³ z
Bydgoszczy do Brukseli. Reprezentanci w³adz i mieszkañców Bydgoszczy, Grudzi±dza, Inowroc³awia, Torunia i W³oc³awka zostali odprawieni w otwartym tego dnia terminalu Portu Lotniczego. Zabrali ze sob± "przesy³kê do Europy", w której znalaz³y siê wizytówki ich miast i regionu.
¯urek, bigos i pierogi jedli mieszkañcy Zgorzelca i Goerlitz podczas wspólnego ¶niadania na mo¶cie ³±cz±cym oba miasta. Na mo¶cie ustawiono sto³y dla ponad 300 osób. Przysz³o ich jednak znacznie wiêcej.
W Sompolnie w powiecie koniñskim rekord Guinnessa w uk³adaniu najwiêkszej flagi Unii Europejskiej z nakrêtek od butelek po napojach ustanowili uczniowie Zespo³u Szkolno-Przedszkolnego nr 1.
Obok imprez zwolenników integracji, w sobotê w Warszawie odby³a siê manifestacja ok. 2 tys osób pod has³em "Marsz niepodleg³o¶ci", zorganizowana przez Ligê Polskich Rodzin. Jak powiedzia³ PAP jeden z liderów LPR Zygmunt Wrzodak, marsz by³ wyrazem sprzeciwu wobec wej¶cia Polski do Unii Europejskiej. "Nie chcemy kolejnego rozbioru Polski ani jej kolonizacji" - doda³.
¦niadanie zorganizowane przez Fundacj? Schumanna na Zamku Ujazdowskim w Warszawie. Fot. KRZYSZTOF MILLER / AG
Granica w S?ubicach jest od soboty wewn?trzn± granic± Unii Europejskiej. SVEN KAESTNER AP
The Czech Republic's first EU Commissioner, Pavel Telicka, and his nine colleagues from the newcomer member states will take their seats around the EU executive's enlarged table for the first time on Friday, a week after the bloc's historic expansion. The head of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, has denied that the new commissioners, formally approved by the European Parliament on Wednesday, will be second class members even though they will not hold their own portfolios for the moment. The current Commission is due to stand down in October after a four-year term, and all commissioners in the next executive body will share equal responsibilities.
France tries to block EU farm reforms - UK and Germany back attempt to revive world trade talks but Brussels is accused of exceeding mandate.
Ian Black in Brussels Tuesday May 11, 2004 The Guardian
France last night protested at a groundbreaking EU offer to eliminate nearly ˆ3bn (?2bn) worth of farm export subsidies in an attempt to restart world trade talks. Herv? Gaymard, the French agriculture minister, said the European commission had "exceeded its negotiating mandate" in making the proposal - linked to reciprocal action by global trading partners.
But France, the biggest recipient of controversial farm payments from Brussels, could find itself isolated, with the new initiative enthusiastically backed by Germany and Britain, both keen reformers. Development charities also welcomed the move.
France's Pascal Lamy and Franz Fischler of Austria, respectively the EU commissioners for trade and agriculture, wrote to 147 members of the World Trade Organisation to make the offer. It would involve scrapping ˆ2.8bn worth of annual subsidies for European sugar, beef and dairy products.
Total EU farm spending, however, is ˆ48bn - almost half the entire budget. "Our international partners have to make clear that they are ready to match the EU on their forms of export support such as export credits, abuse of food aid or state trading enterprises," said Mr Fischler.
"This offer is clearly conditioned to the extent our American, Australian or Canadian friends will commit themselves to eliminate their forms of trade distorting export subsidisation." EU export subsidies, under fire for years, allow expensively produced farm products to compete with cheaper goods from countries such as Brazil and Australia.
Mr Lamy pledged to "go the extra mile" to get a WTO deal by July. "We are ready to show flexibility," he said. "Everything is on the list; everything is on the table." But he warned: "Other parties must agree in parallel and simultaneously," challenging trading partners to agree to "mutual disarmament". The US spends about $3.2bn (?1.7bn) a year on agricultural export subsidies.
The latest round of world trade negotiations collapsed at Canc?n last September, largely because of disputes over farm export subsidies.
Oxfam welcomed the EU move. "A genuine offer to eliminate export subsidies would be cause for great celebration," said Phil Bloomer, head of the charity's Make Trade Fair campaign.
"We want to see a definite date set for the elimination of export subsidies. This could give a real boost to stalled WTO negotiations and be a big step towards making trade work for the poor."
WTO delegates are hoping to reach a framework agreement by July for negotiating questions such as farm subsidies and the so-called Singa pore issues - trade facilitation, transparency in government procurement, cross-border investment and competition. On these latter issues, the EU has now backed down in the face of widespread opposition. The negotiations are part of the Doha round of trade liberalisation talks, scheduled to be completed by January 2005.
I won't be voting, don't know what happened to moi voting card...I never got one, or did I...anyways it's the 2nd day of EURO 2004! Who will go to vote when u could watch the games???
OOOH NOOO!!!! THE EU WILL BE FILLED WITH CRAZYNUTS!!!! F' CIRCUS!
No score for this post
June 16 2004, 1:04 PM
Eurosceptics storm the citadel.
By William Horsley
BBC European affairs correspondent
Anti-EU parties had their best results in the latest European Parliament elections.
They aim to be the Trojan Horse that brings down the fortress of a federal Europe from inside.
They are now within the gates, though heavily outnumbered.
They comprise a mixed band of political warriors - the Eurosceptics, the nation-state sovereignists and the anti-corruption fighters.
They are about to claim their seats in the European Parliament, an institution which they deride.
Will it end in a rout, like in A Bridge Too Far?
Or in a triumph against the odds, as in The Guns of Navarone? The next five years will tell.
Polish pressure
The Euro-critics have become famous in the past few days, thanks to media publicity and a strong message.
In London, there was dismay among the mainstream, Euro-critical Conservatives, as the UK Independence Party (UKIP) raided their political heartland.
UKIP demands Britain's outright withdrawal from the EU. It took 12 seats in the Strasbourg parliament, against 27 for the Conservatives.
In Poland, the Catholic, anti-EU League of Polish Families won second place among the parties and 10 seats.
Maciej Giertych, one of their leaders, says Poland must quit the EU to enjoy real independence.
His group is sworn to stop the birth of a "Federal Republic of Europe".
Another band of seven Poles from the Self-Defence of Poland party also oppose Poland's terms of EU accession and the "Brussels system".
Small victories
Even in France, the leader of the French "Souverainistes", Philippe de Villiers, held on to three seats for his Movement for France, which rejects both the euro and France's EU membership.
Eurosceptics of various colours won small victories elsewhere, too.
In the Netherlands, Paul van Buitenen, the "whistle-blower" against EU corruption, won two seats for Transparent Europe.
In Austria, ex-journalist Hans Peter Martin won a surprise two seats for his personal list, after he exposed the expense-fiddling of MEPs (Members of the European Parliament).
And in Sweden, another new-born Eurosceptic group, the June Movement, captured 3 seats.
Extremist backing
A Dane, Jens-Peter Bonde, leads the main Eurosceptic group in the parliament, called "Europe of Democracies and Diversities".
He expects his group to roughly double in size from just 18 to around 40.
That would include the Poles, Swedes, the de Villiers' group from France and UKIP.
They have more potential allies for their cause among other right-of-centre groups, including the British Conservatives and 9 Czech Civic Democrats, who are likely to sit, officially, with the integrationist Christian Democrats from Germany in the main centre-right grouping.
Loud anti-EU talk also comes from the political extremes, both the far-left communists and the far-right National Front of France, which has won eight seats.
More battles ahead
But overall, the Euro-critics still face a solid block of about two-thirds of MEPs in the 732-seat parliament, who believe in the motto of the integrationists - an "ever-closer union" for Europe.
The EU's political calendar now bristles with dates for the political battle to be engaged.
On 17 June, EU leaders will try once more to agree the text of a legally-binding EU constitution.
On 20 July, the new European Parliament meets for the first time.
Ahead lies the prospect of popular referendums in up to half the EU's 25 member-states, on the constitution and the future of Europe.
The outcome will decide the fate of nations, and of many of Europe's politicians on both sides of the great debate.
Politicians react to the results of four days of polling for the European parliament, which left Eurosceptics toasting success and governing parties licking their wounds.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder
We must continue this [German welfare reform] policy because it is objectively necessary... There's no denying the bitterness of the defeat.
Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla
The anti-integration parties won.
French opposition Socialist Jean-Marc Ayrault
This colourless government has no legitimacy any more and common sense should lead [Prime Minister] Raffarin and his team to resign.
Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel
Any elections are about national politics.
Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot
Perhaps for many voters Brussels or Strasbourg is too far from their capitals... People are disappointed with their governments, not with the EU.
Robert Kilroy-Silk, victorious candidate for Britain's Euro-sceptic UK Independence Party
It is extremely patronising to suggest that people who voted out of a very deep and clear conviction or commitment are wasting their vote or protesting....
We are the only party throughout the election that had a very clear, straightforward policy. We are the only party that talked about Europe and didn't actually tell any lies.
Livia Turco, member of Italy's opposition Olive Tree coalition
There has been a loss of consensus by the government... There has been an erosion.
European Parliament head Pat Cox
This is especially important as a wake-up call for those leaders in those states who propose to hold referenda on the constitutional treaty.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw
Part of the purpose of the draft constitutional treaty is to make the European Union more efficient and more responsive... Across Europe, we have seen sitting governments receive significant protest votes against them.
David Harley, spokesman for European Parliament head, Pat Cox
It remains a disappointing, indeed pathetically low turnout.
Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski
[Voter apathy] is a disease we will have to look at, and analyse the reasons why we are so far from civic values.
Graham Watson, head of the European Liberal Democrats grouping in the EU parliament
To a certain extent [voters in new EU member states are] tired of voting... But it reflects a certain disillusion with the way their countries are moving.
Papers across Europe take stock of the results of the EU parliament elections, which were marked by a low turnout and which saw many voters give their governments a battering.
'Schroeder's twilight'
In Germany, papers see the governing Social Democrats facing disaster after their heavy losses.
"This is not just the beginning of Chancellor Schroeder's political twilight," says the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , "the SPD as a whole faces disaster".
This was the party's worst post-war performance at the polls, which in the paper's opinion turns the SPD into "a third-rate party" at the national level.
According to Die Welt , "The SPD now has it in black and white. It lies at rock bottom, where opinion polls have been placing it for months."
The Frankfurter Rundschau says the SPD can no longer claim that most voters back its policies, but it also points out that there was little voter enthusiasm for the main opposition Christian Democratic Union.
'A disappointment for Europe'
In France, Le Nouvel Observateur says that the mere 16.4% scored by President Chirac's UMP party, represents "the second electoral slap in the face for the Raffarin government in three months".
In contrast, it notes, with a score of 29.9%, the opposition Socialists had their best result ever in an European election and "revalidated their success in last March's regional elections".
For Paris's Liberation , these elections "have proved yet another disappointment for Europe".
The paper points to what it calls "the paradox" that "the greater the powers of the Strasbourg parliament... the smaller is the voters' interest in it".
The parliament's "already fragile legitimacy", it argues, has been "further damaged by these record low turnouts".
Hearts and minds
The theme is picked up in Le Figaro , which concludes that the first parliamentary elections of the 25-strong European Union failed to raise much enthusiasm.
"This lack of enthusiasm was very marked among those who joined the Union last May", it points out, "with the notable exceptions of Malta and Cyprus."
A front-page commentary in Italy's La Repubblica says the very low turnout among voters in the new member states "is a sign that the reunification of the continent, achieved on paper, remains yet to be achieved in the hearts and minds of the people."
'Setback'
In Spain, the narrow victory of the ruling Socialists over the opposition Popular Party is seen by Madrid's El Pais as the "revalidation" of the 14 March general election.
But like many, the paper is troubled by the low turnout.
"Let us make no bones about it", it says: "what happened yesterday in nearly the whole of Europe was a setback for Europe and a setback for us all".
"Like the rest of Europe," according to La Razon , "the majority of Spaniards have turned their backs on a process which they do not regard as having an important enough bearing on their lives."
'Unimpressive'
Under the headline "Europe: disaster for the leaders, turnout low", the Polish Gazeta Wyborcza says that the elections "failed to arouse the passion of the voters".
"The first European parliamentary elections after the Union's enlargement," the paper says, "will go down in history on account of the lowest turn-out in half a century".
"Apart from that", it adds, "they have not brought any greater surprises".
The Czech Pravo calls the election campaign "unimpressive", and points out that "no-one explained to voters... what the European Parliament is actually good for".
As a result, it suggests, the elections ended up focusing on domestic issues, and the result is what the paper calls "a kind of school certificate in which the voters appraised the government's performance half-way through its term of office".
Romanian daily Cotidianul meanwhile notes the strong performance of the Eurosceptics on the Right.
"The anti-Europeans are in Strasbourg now," the paper says, "and they are going to give a bloody nose to the great and the powerful in Brussels".
The fact that so many people in Eastern Europe refused to cast their votes, it believes, "reflects their protest against the terms in which the EU enlargement negotiations have been conducted".
A commentary in Hungary's Magyar Hirlap casts a cynical eye over the whole process, telling its readers that: "You have elected deputies to something which is not a parliament."
It also warns them against "becoming disappointed with the EU at some later stage", because, it says, "we already know what it is like."
Tatyana Zhdanok, the first ethnic Russian ever to have won a seat in the European Parliament, is having a busy week. Her cellphone is constantly ringing, and reporters are hanging about asking for interviews.
Zhdanok, who was elected last weekend, has made it her task not only to represent her country, Latvia, in Brussels for the next five years, but also to make the voices of Russian speakers heard in the newly expanded European Union.
She and other Russian-speaking activists from several EU countries met earlier this month in Prague to found the Russian Party of the European Union. They hope to get more of their representatives elected to parliaments in their home countries and also to the European Parliament.
The party's main goal is to defend the interests of the millions of Russian speakers living in the EU, and particularly in the Baltics, where many are denied citizenship, unable to study in their native language and discriminated against in the job market.
Zhdanok, understandably, is most concerned about the situation in Latvia, where she says about 1 million of the 2.3 million people living in the country are native Russian speakers, half of whom, or 500,000 people, are noncitizens.
"The situation is odd," she said from Riga. "Half of the Russian speakers have a Latvian passport, but in the nationality entry it is written that they are aliens."
Noncitizens are given a passport, but they are not Latvian citizens and cannot vote or work as teachers or other civil servants.
Zhdanok is well aware that as the only representative of Russian speakers in the European Parliament her influence will be small.
The Parliament deals mainly with issues that are important for all of Europe, and according to Katinka Barysh of the Center for European Reform, deputies cannot lobby for issues of interest only to a single country or community.
Still, Zhdanok believes that now she has become an EU deputy, she will have a better chance of having her voice heard. "I'll find a way to let people know about the problems of my community and do something about it. I'm a human rights activist. I'm used to fighting," she said in slightly accented Russian.
After gaining independence 13 years ago, Latvia granted automatic citizenship only to those who had settled in the country before 1940 -- the year the country was annexed by the Soviet Union -- and their descendants.
This excluded thousands of ethnic Russians, who were required to undergo a restrictive naturalization process. Under pressure from the Council of Europe, the process was eased in 1998 after a referendum. Today, to acquire Latvian citizenship, residents must pass an exam testing basic knowledge of Latvia's language, history and constitution.
The Baltic countries of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia became EU members on May 1. Last weekend, they elected their representatives to the European Parliament.
Zhdanok, co-chair of the party For Human Rights in a United Latvia, campaigned under the slogan "Russkiye idut," or "the Russians are coming," and she focused on issues important to the Russian-speaking community, such as increasing the hours of Russian-language study in state schools and solving the problem of noncitizens. Her party finished third with 10.7 percent of the vote.
Her campaign was criticized by Antons Seiksts, a former deputy in the Latvian parliament and a leader of the centrist Latvia's Way party.
"The slogan she used was calling more for a separation between the Russian and Latvian cultures than for an integration," he said. "Even [ultranationalist State Duma Deputy Vladimir] Zhirinovsky has never pronounced words like that."
Zhdanok said she would try to find a faction in the European Parliament interested in representing regional minorities, perhaps with deputies elected from Catalonia, the Basque region or Wales.
A former member of the Soviet Communist Party, Zhdanok together with colleagues from Estonia and Lithuania helped found the Russian Party of the European Union at a meeting in Prague on June 4.
Her co-founders were Georgy Bystrov, mayor of Maardu, a small town near Tallinn, the Estonian capital, and Sergei Dmitriyev, a member of Lithuania's parliament. Both ran unsuccessfully for the European Parliament.
In addition to defending the rights of Russian-speakers throughout Europe, the party also will work to promote Russian culture and language in Europe and to improve relations between Russia and Europe, Zhdanok said. There are about 6 million Russian speakers living in Europe, about half of them in the Baltics, according to Zhdanok. Germany also is home to more to 1 million, she said.
Izvestia, however, in a report on the new party in Thursday's paper, printed a map showing about 5 million Russian speakers in Europe and 2.3 million of them in Germany. Only about 1.5 million live in the Baltics, Izvestia said.
Libor Kukal, the editor of Czech Radio's Russian service and also among the founders of the party, said in an interview with Izvestia that the party was created in the hope that the problems of Russian speakers in the Baltics could be solved with help from Brussels.
"Everyone understands that pressure on the Latvian and Estonian governments from Moscow is useless and can bring the opposite result," he said.
Konstantin Kosachyov, chairman of the Duma's Foreign Affairs Committee, criticized the initiative in an interview with Izvestia printed June 6, saying the new party could complicate relations between Russia and the EU.
But Vladimir Socor, a senior fellow of the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation, believes that Russian authorities are behind the party. Socor said his suspicions were raised when he read positive reports about the party by the state news agency RIA-Novosti.
"I think the Russian authorities will be very careful to keep a distance from this party in order not to be identified with it. They might support it behind the scenes," he said.
Zhdanok, however, denied any Kremlin involvement in the party. She said Moscow has often used the problems of the Russian-speaking minority in the Baltics for its own ends, which has done little to improve the situation. That is why they decided to create the party and try to get Brussels' attention.
Two Moscow political analysts, Vladimir Pribylovsky from Panorama and independent analyst Andrei Piontkovsky, said the Russian speakers in the Baltics have come to understand that they cannot count on Russia.
"In order to defend their rights, the only chance they have is that the European Union pays attention to them," Pribylovsky said.
But to create a European-wide party is not an easy task. The Russian Party of the European Union would need to have affiliated parties in at least one-fourth of the 25 EU members and be represented in their parliaments. This is realistic only in the Baltic countries.
There are precedents for such a pan-European party. The European Federation of Green Parties has 32 member parties around Europe and 15 of them are represented in national parliaments.
EU Leaders Frame First Constitution - Agreement Reached Despite Divisions; No Accord on New Commission Head.
By Keith B. Richburg
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, June 19, 2004; Page A12
PARIS, June 18 -- European Union leaders meeting in Brussels tonight agreed on a historic constitution -- the first ever forged for the 25-nation, 450 million-person bloc -- ending two contentious days of negotiations that exposed deep divisions and clouded prospects for future cooperation.
The mood of success was tempered by the reality that the constitution still faces formidable hurdles. Many EU nations have announced they will hold referendums on its adoption, and rejection by one country would sink it. Chances for passage look particularly problematic in Britain, where a small anti-Europe party recently made election gains, and in Denmark, which has a history of rejecting European treaties.
The EU operates under a complex web of treaties, and proponents of the constitution say it would streamline decision-making and, by creating a permanent president and foreign minister, give the union greater standing in world affairs.
Joy was also muted because the leaders failed to agree on a replacement for Romano Prodi of Italy as president of the European Commission, the EU's executive arm. Faced with a deadlock and no candidate acceptable to all the countries, the leaders agreed to postpone the choice until a future meeting.
Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, who holds the EU's six-month rotating presidency and chaired the meeting, worked feverishly to secure language that allowed agreement on the constitution and received a standing ovation for his efforts. The most vexing question was how to apportion voting power among countries of vastly different sizes -- the same question that torpedoed hopes for a constitution when the leaders met in December.
A deal was secured when small countries dropped their insistence on more voting power, Britain won agreement to preserve its veto over such sensitive areas as taxation and foreign policy and Roman Catholic countries led by Poland dropped their demand that the constitution include a reference to God and Europe's Christian heritage.
Despite the last-minute agreement, this meeting, coming after a six-month cooling-off period, seemed more acrimonious than last December's session. Relations seemed particularly strained between British Prime Minister Tony Blair on one side and French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on the other.
Having each suffered a severe rebuke from voters in European parliamentary elections Sunday, all three leaders appeared in no mood to compromise, analysts and diplomats said.
Blair's official spokesman told reporters, "We are operating in a Europe of 25, not six, or two, or one" -- a clear broadside directed against France and Germany, which often fashion themselves as the engine behind EU integration.
Chirac was equally combative, telling the gathering, "From now on, there are limits that cannot be overstepped," according to his spokeswoman, Catherine Colona. Signaling that France was tired of making concessions to Blair, Chirac said, according to Colona, "We will not accept any further retreat from what has been proposed by the Irish presidency."
"The problem now is the personality clash between Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac, because both have to look as tough as they can before their own voters," said Heather Grabbe, a researcher at the London-based Center for European Reform. Blair and Chirac, she said, "seem to be going toe-to-toe."
The battle over finding a new president of the European Commission proved even more contentious than the fight over the constitution, exposing anew many divisions that first came to light during the Iraq war.
Britain, the United States' main ally in Iraq, blocked appointment of Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, the preferred candidate of France and Germany, because he was seen as too vocal in opposing the war. In return, France vetoed the nomination of a Briton, Chris Patten, the current EU external affairs minister, saying the next commission president should come from a country that uses the common currency, the euro, and is inside Europe's open-borders zone. A Briton would be disqualified on both counts.
Originally, the new EU president was supposed to be chosen Thursday, after a working dinner of the 25 heads of state. But that dinner was described as acrimonious, with no country giving ground and no compromise candidate emerging.
"Both sides have toughened their stances," said Marco Incerti, a researcher with the Brussels-based Center for European Policy Studies. "The British have said never Verhofstadt, and the French said, okay, never Patten. . . . . It doesn't help to have this kind of confrontational language."
Ruling coalition politicians say the Polish referendum concerning acceptance of the Constitutional Treaty of the European Union should take place in the autumn of next year in tandem with presidential elections.
President Aleksander Kwa¶niewski, Sejm Speaker Józef Oleksy and Foreign Minister W³odzimierz Cimoszewicz argue that combining the referendum with the elections would be mutually beneficial. First, the chances of a turnout greater than 50 percent would be much improved-in the elections to the European Parliament turnout was slightly over 20 percent-and second, the presidential candidates themselves would be to a large extent judged on their position in relation to the European constitution. Therefore citizens would have a much clearer picture concerning the consequences of their choice.
Opposition politicians, however, are not enthusiastic about this idea. The Civic Platform's (PO) Jan Rokita says that setting the referendum date today is not a good decision. "We will see what other countries, for example Great Britain, decide and then make our decision. As far as this matter is concerned, we should be patient," Rokita said.
In Rokita's opinion, Prime Minister Marek Belka was not successful at the EU summit in Brussels. Rokita says that, according to the will of the Sejm, the Polish delegation was charged with handling three issues during the negotiations: to push through a clause referring to Europe's Christian heritage, secure Poland an adequate pool of votes in the Council of the EU, and ensure that eastern German states are not privileged at the cost of other former communist countries. The delegation failed to achieve these goals.
Other rightist politicians are less critical. Solidarity founder Lech Wa³êsa, who could hardly be suspected of sympathizing with the current governing team, says that everything that was realistically possible in Brussels was actually achieved. Moreover, Wa³êsa declared that, if need be, he would run again in the presidential elections in order to "take votes away from opponents of the European Union."
Lublin Metropolitan Archbishop Józef ¯yciñski warns against excessive criticism of the Polish negotiators' accomplishments. Despite disappointment concerning the failure to include a reference to Christian traditions in the Treaty preamble, ¯yciñski says that not all demands are granted and a reasonable compromise is better than unnecessary conflict.
Finally, a majority of the public does not agree with the criticism leveled at Belka. In a poll by the PBS center, 42 percent of respondents assessed the Polish delegation's work positively, while 34 percent expressed a negative opinion and 24 percent were undecided.
Meanwhile, Polish Euroskeptics continue to step up their ideological offensive. Eurodeputy Witold Tomczak of the League of Polish Families (LPR), who early in May presented European Parliament President Pat Cox with a "Gift from the Polish Nation"-two crosses to hang in EP rooms, has now written a second letter to Cox concerning this subject. "I would like to inform you, Mr. President, of positive responses to my statement on the part of many members of the European Parliament and of unambiguous and wide support for the initiative from my compatriots, who are pinning their hopes on European integration," writes Tomczak. "The recent decisions made at the summit in Brussels to reject a reference in the EU constitution to Christian heritage should worry all of us. In connection with this, I expect with hope that you, Mr. President, will implement the appeal directed to us by Holy Father John Paul II: 'Only with Christ can you build a lasting, common European home.
EU will be replaced by Slavic union - Zhirinovsky.
MOSCOW. July 5 (Interfax) - Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia Vladimir Zhirinovsky has suggested that a union of Slavic nations would be set up to replace the European Union.
"It could be named Slovoniya," Zhirinovsky, who is also State Duma deputy speaker, told a Duma session on Monday.
"The future Slavic empire will be established not for conquests or defense. Its objective will be to demonstrate our Slavic wealth," he said.
"The union, however, will tackle certain defense tasks as it will be created on the principles of historical justice, language and cultural ties. Common dangers [coming from Muslim countries and the West] will play a key role as well," Zhirinovsky said.
"The Slavic population's striving for its unity will grow. The European Union will continue to exist for another 10-15 years as national egoism will prevail - France and Germany will not want to be part of a collective farm," he said, adding that the EU faces the fate of the Soviet Union.
Today's parliamentary session involved public figures, as well as representatives of the Russian Foreign Ministry, the embassies of Ukraine, the state of Serbia and Montenegro and some other countries.
The European Court of Justice has annulled a decision by EU finance ministers to suspend action against Germany and France over budget deficits. Giving its verdict on a case brought by the European Commission, the court said the ministers' decision was not compatible with EU law. Before the ministers got involved, the commission had been planning to penalise or even fine the two nations. This is because France and Germany keep breaking the Stability and Growth Pact.
'Brave decision'
The pact is meant to keep the deficits of eurozone states below 3% of GDP, but several - most notably France and Germany - have breached it. The pair are on track to breach the deficit ceiling for the third year running. In its ruling the European Court of Justice said the council of finance ministers "cannot depart from the rules laid down by the treaty or those which it set for itself in regulation no 1467/97 (which specifies the terms of the pact)". According to William Robinson, a partner at London law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, "this is a brave decision". "The council tried to sidestep the process and came up with a political compromise but the court said they must follow the rules of the game," Mr Robinson said. France's Finance Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, however, was upbeat about the court's ruling, saying that it will boost his "commitment to reduce the deficits". His German counterpart, Hans Eichel, preferred to focus on what the decision means for the future behaviour of eurozone finance ministers. "The court has confirmed that the council has room for manoeuvre when it applies the Stability and Growth Pact," he said.
Power tussle
In November 2003 the EU finance ministers, led by the German and French representatives, voted to suspend action against Germany and France, arguing that the 3% rule was too severe. In an effective fight for power between the European Commission and the finance ministers - who come from the member states - the commission quickly followed with its lawsuit. And while the commission has since agreed that the 3% rule does in fact need to be relaxed, it has continued to object to the intervention of the finance ministers and the law suit remained. The 3% rule and the subsequent penalties were formulated to prevent bad budgetary policies in one member state having an effect across the eurozone. The pact has been controversial, with critics saying its focus on fighting inflation means it is ill-equipped to deal with slow growth. But smaller countries, including the Netherlands, have insisted that all 12 eurozone members should stay in line. And Portugal has worked strenuously to remove its own deficit.
Possible relaxation
Yet at the same time other eurozone nations, such as Italy and Greece, have been struggling with their deficits. And six of the 10 new EU countries that are committed to joining the eurozone at some point also have excessive deficits - Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Poland and Slovakia. All these factors could only have influenced June's comments by economic affairs commissioner Joaquin Almunia, who admitted that the Commission had been "too stringent" with the Stability and Growth Pact. Calling for more flexibility, he said it was "probably necessary" to clarify the definitions of the pact's rulebook. Nick Eisinger, an analyst at Fitch Ratings, is less charitable. "The credibility of the Stability Pact is pretty much shot to pieces as there have been abuses left, right and centre," he said. "Moreover, it is clear that there will always be a way out of fines."
France and Spain have rejected a plan by Germany and Italy to create large holding centres in North Africa to process would-be migrants to Europe.
After a meeting of interior ministers in the Italian city of Florence, France's Dominique de Villepin said the idea was "out of the question".
Spanish Interior Minister Jose Antonio Alonso said the camps would not give humanitarian guarantees.
Illegal immigration is one of the most sensitive issues on the EU's agenda.
"In this case we must confess we haven't found consensus yet," German minister Otto Schily told the press conference after the mini-summit ended on Monday.
The Florence meeting - bringing together ministers from France, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Britain - focused on handling immigration, terrorism and organised crime.
The German-Italian proposal would see the setting up of large processing centres where migrants would be given basic accommodation and protection while their claims were assessed.
But Mr de Villepin said: "We do not want to accept camps or centres of any kind."
He added that immigration policy should be agreed by international organisations and transit states, not just by EU countries.
Mr Alonso, for his part, reaffirmed Spain's opposition to the plan.
Protests
UK Home Secretary David Blunkett flew home after the talks.
But a British Home Office spokesman told AFP news agency that London had "not opposed" the idea of transit camps.
The five ministers agreed on a number of points:
A common "watch list" of terror suspects is to be set up
Europe's police force, Europol, will be given a "central operational role" in the fight against terrorism
Biometric information - including fingerprints and iris-scanning data - will help make European travel documents more secure
The proposal for holding centres has been condemned by human rights activists, who say African countries do not have the resources to care for large numbers of asylum-seekers.
The Florence meeting was marked by demonstrations from immigrant support groups.
Protesters carried banners against "racist laws" and set off flares as the meeting started.
Illegal immigration is one of Italy's key problems because many boat people set off from the Libyan coast bound for Lampedusa - a tiny island between Africa and Sicily.
Damn Greasemonkies, should never have made them join Europe.
No score for this post
January 12 2005, 12:18 PM
EU threat over funds
Greece could miss out on 4 billion euros over public works failings
The European Commission is threatening to temporarily cut off funding worth some 4 billion euros to Greece due to its slow response to calls for the implementation of a more effective scheme to monitor public works funded by the EU, according to an internal document made public yesterday.
EU Regional Policy Commissioner Danuta Hubner sent a memorandum to the College of Commissioners within the last few weeks informing them that Greece had failed to live up to promises made by the PASOK government in 2001 to develop an improved mechanism to conduct and oversee building projects financed by EU funds allocated through the Community Support Framework (CSF).
She added that checks by the Regional Policy Directorate in October 2003 had found that the government of then-Prime Minister Costas Simitis had made very little progress on the matter.
Since New Democracy came to power in March last year, eight of the 22 measures that Simitis had pledged to adopt have been put in place. Hubner said Greek authorities had shown their “decisiveness” during this period and noted that the Public Works Ministry had pushed through three new laws relating to the system governing publicly funded projects over recent months.
However, Hubner identified two key areas that needed improvement. One is bringing Greek law in line with EU regulations on public contracts; the other involves the handling of so-called “bridge projects,” those works left uncompleted within the funding and time frame provided by the second CSF and which were then — wrongly, in the opinion of the commissioner — transferred over to the third CSF.
Hubner claimed that, in many cases, works which had absorbed the full amount of funding set aside for them in CSFII, were then included in the program of projects to be funded by CSFIII as well.
Hubner made her complaints known to the Greek government at the end of last year and the disciplinary process, which will involve the suspension of funds, is set to begin by the end of February this year.
However, Public Works Ministry sources told Kathimerini that they thought a compromise between the government and the Commission could be reached, since virtually all the legal steps needed to satisfy the EU had been taken.
Greece broke EU law by failing to take adequate measures for the return of almost 200 million euros in unauthorized subsidies from ailing national carrier Olympic Airways, a top European Court adviser argued yesterday.
The main thrust of Advocate General Leendert Geelhoed’s argument was that Greece did not move quickly enough to recover some 194 million euros it had allowed Olympic to accrue in subsidies.
He also blasted the Greek government for making it even more unlikely that the money would ever be returned by complicating the situation on December 12, 2003, when it formed Olympic Airlines after merging Olympic Airways, Olympic Aviation and Macedonia Airlines into a single company.
Geelhoed proposed that the European Court of Justice “declare that Greece has failed to live up to its obligations under (EU) community law.” The advocate general’s opinions are not binding but are adopted by the court in the vast majority of cases. The court’s decision is expected within the next few months.
In 1998, the European Commission approved aid for Olympic under certain conditions, including the stipulation that the government would push through the airline’s restructuring program.
However, four years later, the Commission ordered Greece to recover 41 million euros in restructuring aid and 153 million in new operating aid from Olympic Airways. The move came as part of the Commission’s drive to enforce EU directives, which required the reduction in state subsidies to loss-making national enterprises in a bid to ensure fairer market competition.
Despite receiving hefty government subsidies over a number of years, by 2001, Olympic had run up debts totaling some 120 million euros. The subsidies were mostly indirect, with the goverment covering both social security contributions and VAT on fuel and spare parts as well as unpaid airport duties.
Geelhoed also pointed out that regardless of the switch from Airways to Airlines, Olympic still continued to have a competitive advantage because of the subsidies it had received in the past. Last week, Olympic Airlines posted losses of 23 million euros for 2003.
