EU ministers have dismissed the idea of building a robust shield to protect the union's energy market from foreign buyers such as Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom. According to an agreement reached on Friday (10 October), each EU member state will remain free to decide whether to allow foreign bidders entering their market. However, in doing so, they should take into account the union's energy security, while also consulting the European Commission. The result is a victory for Germany, which imports 40 percent of its gas from Russia The result is a victory for Germany, which imports 40 percent of its gas from Russia. Berlin secured enough support among ministers to alter a European Commission-sponsored safeguard, known as the "Gazprom clause." The EU's executive body suggested last year that foreign bidders would be prevented from expanding in the 27-nation energy market without limit.
EU ministers have dismissed the idea of building a robust shield to protect the union's energy market from foreign buyers such as Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom.
According to an agreement reached on Friday (10 October), each EU member state will remain free to decide whether to allow foreign bidders entering their market. However, in doing so, they should take into account the union's energy security, while also consulting the European Commission.
The result is a victory for Germany, which imports 40 percent of its gas from Russia
The result is a victory for Germany, which imports 40 percent of its gas from Russia. Berlin secured enough support among ministers to alter a European Commission-sponsored safeguard, known as the "Gazprom clause."
The EU's executive body suggested last year that foreign bidders would be prevented from expanding in the 27-nation energy market without limit.
Saying that Gazprom needs special treatment is effectively saying that they don't want to regulate it using normal rules - because that would also imply applying the same rules to the other companies... and THAT is not tolerable! In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
The Czech Republic will likely adopt the euro later that expected as a result of the ongoing financial turbulence, the chief of the country's central bank has warned. Czech National Bank governor Zdenek Tuma, speaking during a debate on domestic television station CT24 on Sunday (12 October), said: "I think we will need a time out to wait for financial markets to calm down." The financial turmoil has kicked Czech adoption of the euro into the long grass "I believe the current problems on financial markets should pass in a few months," he added, according to Agence France Presse, "and we may reopen the issue next year." Prague's initial 2010 target date for adoption of the European single currency replacing the Czech koruna has been dropped, with the governing centre-right administration declining to set a new date since it was elected at the start of 2007.
The Czech Republic will likely adopt the euro later that expected as a result of the ongoing financial turbulence, the chief of the country's central bank has warned.
Czech National Bank governor Zdenek Tuma, speaking during a debate on domestic television station CT24 on Sunday (12 October), said: "I think we will need a time out to wait for financial markets to calm down."
The financial turmoil has kicked Czech adoption of the euro into the long grass
"I believe the current problems on financial markets should pass in a few months," he added, according to Agence France Presse, "and we may reopen the issue next year."
Prague's initial 2010 target date for adoption of the European single currency replacing the Czech koruna has been dropped, with the governing centre-right administration declining to set a new date since it was elected at the start of 2007.
An opposition conservative party is ahead after Sunday's (12 October) parliamentary election in Lithuania, exit polls have shown, but high results for two populist groups pave the way for tricky coalition talks ahead. The opposition center-right Homeland Union Party was leading with almost 18 percent of the votes, while two populist parties - Order and Justice of Lithuania's impeached former president Rolandas Paksas (13 percent), and the Labour party (10 percent) led by Russian-born millionaire Viktor Uspaskich - got a combined 23 percent in the elections, the Associated Press reports quoting exit polls. The Ignalina nuclear plant is set to close by the end of next year "We are ready to take responsibility and expect the president's offer to start forming a new cabinet," Homeland Union Party's leader Andrius Kubilius said after the announcement of the first results. The Social Democrats of Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas - in power since 2001 - received some 12 percent, but the surprise came from the National Revival Party of reality TV presenter Arunas Valinskas, which got some 15 percent of the votes.
An opposition conservative party is ahead after Sunday's (12 October) parliamentary election in Lithuania, exit polls have shown, but high results for two populist groups pave the way for tricky coalition talks ahead.
The opposition center-right Homeland Union Party was leading with almost 18 percent of the votes, while two populist parties - Order and Justice of Lithuania's impeached former president Rolandas Paksas (13 percent), and the Labour party (10 percent) led by Russian-born millionaire Viktor Uspaskich - got a combined 23 percent in the elections, the Associated Press reports quoting exit polls.
The Ignalina nuclear plant is set to close by the end of next year
"We are ready to take responsibility and expect the president's offer to start forming a new cabinet," Homeland Union Party's leader Andrius Kubilius said after the announcement of the first results.
The Social Democrats of Prime Minister Gediminas Kirkilas - in power since 2001 - received some 12 percent, but the surprise came from the National Revival Party of reality TV presenter Arunas Valinskas, which got some 15 percent of the votes.
European Tribune - Coming Lithuanian elections
Update [2008-10-13 12:40:0 (LT) by das monde]: Here are preliminary results of nationwide party voting (for 70 seats). 2007 out of 2034 districts reporting. Voter participation - 1278989 (48.42%). Non-valid votes - 71747 (5.61%). The 5% barrier (derived from the number of all participating voters) is 63950. The last column gives (preliminary) numbers of candidates in run-off elections two weeks later in individual constituencies. Three individual mandates are already won.
Brave businessmen who refuse to pay protection money to the Mafia have been made an offer they can't refuse - no taxes. The mayor of a Sicilian town has offered victims of extortion rackets exemption from council levies if they help the police.The Mob is estimated to make more than £20bn a year in rackets by forcing businesses and individuals to hand over cash in exchange for protection. The system is known in Italy as "pizzo."Those who refuse to pay face threats, physical attacks and even murder.Police trying to combat the system have traditionally had their inquiries blocked by a wall of silence as victims refuse to cooperate for fear of reprisals.But now Giuseppe Nicosia, mayor of Ragusa, has announced that victims of pizzo who talk to the police will be immune from local council taxes.He said: "It is something that was debated in the council chamber and when it was put to the vote was passed unanimously by all the members.
The mayor of a Sicilian town has offered victims of extortion rackets exemption from council levies if they help the police.
The Mob is estimated to make more than £20bn a year in rackets by forcing businesses and individuals to hand over cash in exchange for protection. The system is known in Italy as "pizzo."
Those who refuse to pay face threats, physical attacks and even murder.
Police trying to combat the system have traditionally had their inquiries blocked by a wall of silence as victims refuse to cooperate for fear of reprisals.
But now Giuseppe Nicosia, mayor of Ragusa, has announced that victims of pizzo who talk to the police will be immune from local council taxes.
He said: "It is something that was debated in the council chamber and when it was put to the vote was passed unanimously by all the members.
It isn't too simple. The racketeers must be denounced and brought to trial- which takes years in Italy. So it doesn't appear all that effective. I can't see a businessman blowing the whistle just over exemption from local levies on water and such.
The Telegraph article does not mention another clause in the local law: anyone caught paying protection for commercial activities will have his license revoked.
Taken together that makes a good incentive to go street legal.
A day before Iceland begins negotiations for an emergency multibillion loan from Russia, a senior minister and longstanding Europhobe has said the country must consider joining the European Union to save its economy. Up to now, there has been a sizeable lobby in Iceland against joining the EU because of worries about the effects on its fishing industry. Fisheries Minister Einar Gudfinnsson told Icelandic radio on Monday: "It's no secret, I've been against membership. However, the current turmoil means we have to look at every option." A European Commission spokeswoman told Reuters news agency that she was not aware of Gudfinnsson's comments but said the EU's standard position remained that Iceland is a European country and thus entitled to apply for EU membership. "Negotiation with Iceland, theoretically speaking, could go fast because as a member of the European Economic Area, it has already adopted many EU laws," a commission official said.
Up to now, there has been a sizeable lobby in Iceland against joining the EU because of worries about the effects on its fishing industry.
Fisheries Minister Einar Gudfinnsson told Icelandic radio on Monday: "It's no secret, I've been against membership. However, the current turmoil means we have to look at every option."
A European Commission spokeswoman told Reuters news agency that she was not aware of Gudfinnsson's comments but said the EU's standard position remained that Iceland is a European country and thus entitled to apply for EU membership.
"Negotiation with Iceland, theoretically speaking, could go fast because as a member of the European Economic Area, it has already adopted many EU laws," a commission official said.
EU = safe
A travel ban on Belarussian government officials, including on President Alexander Lukashenko, has been lifted for six months, EU foreign ministers have said. "We have suspended the travel bans for six months except for those involved in the disappearance of political prisoners," one diplomat said after the meeting on Monday, Oct. 13 in Luxembourg. The easing of visa restrictions on Belarussian officials followed the release of the last three political prisoners by the government there, and its non-recognition of the independence of Georgia's two breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which many in the West saw as an effort by Minsk to appear more open to the EU. A block on the assets of Belarussian officials in Europe would, however, remain in place, diplomats said. The EU also said it would lift standing sanctions, including visa bans, on central Asian state Uzbekistan after observing progress on human rights there.
"We have suspended the travel bans for six months except for those involved in the disappearance of political prisoners," one diplomat said after the meeting on Monday, Oct. 13 in Luxembourg.
The easing of visa restrictions on Belarussian officials followed the release of the last three political prisoners by the government there, and its non-recognition of the independence of Georgia's two breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which many in the West saw as an effort by Minsk to appear more open to the EU.
A block on the assets of Belarussian officials in Europe would, however, remain in place, diplomats said.
The EU also said it would lift standing sanctions, including visa bans, on central Asian state Uzbekistan after observing progress on human rights there.
European Union foreign ministers were due to discuss re-starting cooperation talks with Russia amid disagreement over whether Moscow had fully complied with a peace deal in Georgia. Ministers arriving at their meeting in Luxembourg Monday, Oct. 13, indicated that reaching consensus on the strategic Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) talks would be difficult. "We have to take it fairly slowly," said Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb. "I do not expect a decision (on the PCA) to be taken today." Stubb chairs the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which has a military monitoring operation in Georgia. Last Thursday, OSCE monitors said Moscow had pulled its forces out of the buffer zones adjacent to the separatist enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, one day ahead of the expiry of an Oct. 10 deadline brokered by the EU and agreed by Russia and Georgia.
Ministers arriving at their meeting in Luxembourg Monday, Oct. 13, indicated that reaching consensus on the strategic Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) talks would be difficult.
"We have to take it fairly slowly," said Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb. "I do not expect a decision (on the PCA) to be taken today."
Stubb chairs the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which has a military monitoring operation in Georgia.
Last Thursday, OSCE monitors said Moscow had pulled its forces out of the buffer zones adjacent to the separatist enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, one day ahead of the expiry of an Oct. 10 deadline brokered by the EU and agreed by Russia and Georgia.
LUXEMBOURG: European Union countries were divided Monday over whether to resume talks on a political and economic pact with Russia that was frozen in protest of its war with Georgia. Germany and Italy led the campaign to resume discussions on trade, energy and political ties after Moscow withdrew its forces from parts of Georgia according to the terms of a cease-fire brokered by the EU. But some EU foreign ministers, headed by David Miliband of Britain, said they wanted to see progress in talks on the future of the disputed Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia before pressing ahead with closer ties. The debate will continue at a two-day EU summit meeting starting Wednesday in Brussels, officials said.
LUXEMBOURG: European Union countries were divided Monday over whether to resume talks on a political and economic pact with Russia that was frozen in protest of its war with Georgia.
Germany and Italy led the campaign to resume discussions on trade, energy and political ties after Moscow withdrew its forces from parts of Georgia according to the terms of a cease-fire brokered by the EU.
But some EU foreign ministers, headed by David Miliband of Britain, said they wanted to see progress in talks on the future of the disputed Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia before pressing ahead with closer ties.
The debate will continue at a two-day EU summit meeting starting Wednesday in Brussels, officials said.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Uzbekistan has jailed a prominent journalist on the eve of an EU decision on sanctions, with Human Rights Watch (HRW) saying that EU states will undermine foreign policy credibility if they let Tashkent off the hook. Solizhon Abdurakhmanov - a reporter who wrote for the New York Times and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty - received a 10-year sentence on marijuana and opium-dealing charges on Friday (10 October), two days before EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday debate scrapping a visa-ban list for the Central Asian country. Samarkand in Uzbekistan - how should the EU deal with an intransigent dictatorship? "This [the Abdurakhmanov sentence] is just another example of the Uzbek government mocking the EU's rights demands," HRW campaigner Veronika Szente Goldston told EUobserver. Ms Szente Goldston believes that Uzbekistan should act as a test-case for EU sanctions policy because of the country's "clear-cut" failure to meet the criteria for dropping restrictions as spelled out in the EU's own legal acts.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Uzbekistan has jailed a prominent journalist on the eve of an EU decision on sanctions, with Human Rights Watch (HRW) saying that EU states will undermine foreign policy credibility if they let Tashkent off the hook.
Solizhon Abdurakhmanov - a reporter who wrote for the New York Times and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty - received a 10-year sentence on marijuana and opium-dealing charges on Friday (10 October), two days before EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday debate scrapping a visa-ban list for the Central Asian country.
Samarkand in Uzbekistan - how should the EU deal with an intransigent dictatorship?
"This [the Abdurakhmanov sentence] is just another example of the Uzbek government mocking the EU's rights demands," HRW campaigner Veronika Szente Goldston told EUobserver.
Ms Szente Goldston believes that Uzbekistan should act as a test-case for EU sanctions policy because of the country's "clear-cut" failure to meet the criteria for dropping restrictions as spelled out in the EU's own legal acts.
The German Bundeswehr has been deployed in Afghanistan since December 2001. The government in Berlin now reports the military mission has cost taxpayers close to €3 billion, far eclipsing the €830 million in development aid provided to Kabul. German Bundeswehr soldiers take position at a shooting range in Kunduz, Afghanistan. Germany's army, the Bundeswehr, has been participating in the ISAF stabilization force in Afghanistan since December 2001 at a total cost to the country's taxpayers of near €3 billion. The Finance Ministry in Berlin released those figures last week at the request of Gesine Lötzsch, a Left Party member of the federal parliament. According to the ministry, the government had spent €2.4 billion ($3.27 billion) through the end of 2007 for "deployment related additional expenditures" to the federal budget. The budget calls for a further €388 million in spending for the ISAF mission in 2008. Actual expenditures for this year, however, will be considerably higher because the budget only includes expenditures through the end of the current deployment mandate, which ends on Oct. 13.
The German Bundeswehr has been deployed in Afghanistan since December 2001. The government in Berlin now reports the military mission has cost taxpayers close to €3 billion, far eclipsing the €830 million in development aid provided to Kabul.
German Bundeswehr soldiers take position at a shooting range in Kunduz, Afghanistan. Germany's army, the Bundeswehr, has been participating in the ISAF stabilization force in Afghanistan since December 2001 at a total cost to the country's taxpayers of near €3 billion. The Finance Ministry in Berlin released those figures last week at the request of Gesine Lötzsch, a Left Party member of the federal parliament.
According to the ministry, the government had spent €2.4 billion ($3.27 billion) through the end of 2007 for "deployment related additional expenditures" to the federal budget. The budget calls for a further €388 million in spending for the ISAF mission in 2008. Actual expenditures for this year, however, will be considerably higher because the budget only includes expenditures through the end of the current deployment mandate, which ends on Oct. 13.
Gordon Brown called an end to the days of overblown City salaries today as he pumped £37 billion of taxpayers' money into the partial nationalisation of three of the country's biggest banks. Under the emergency refinancing, the three banks participating in the scheme - Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), HBOS and Lloyds TSB - have agreed to scrap boardroom bonuses for the current year and tie future rewards to performance. Nor will they pay out any dividends until the Government's interest in preference shares has been fully repaid. "Our action is driven by our values," the Prime Minister said today. "For this Government, and I believe the whole country, the guiding idea is fair reward for hard work, effort and enterprise, not incentives for irresponsibility or excessive risk-taking for which the rest of us have paid."
Gordon Brown called an end to the days of overblown City salaries today as he pumped £37 billion of taxpayers' money into the partial nationalisation of three of the country's biggest banks.
Under the emergency refinancing, the three banks participating in the scheme - Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), HBOS and Lloyds TSB - have agreed to scrap boardroom bonuses for the current year and tie future rewards to performance. Nor will they pay out any dividends until the Government's interest in preference shares has been fully repaid.
"Our action is driven by our values," the Prime Minister said today. "For this Government, and I believe the whole country, the guiding idea is fair reward for hard work, effort and enterprise, not incentives for irresponsibility or excessive risk-taking for which the rest of us have paid."
Gordon Brown tonight abandoned his parliamentary battle to allow police to detain terror suspects without charge for up to 42 days, after the Lords overwhelmingly rejected the proposal by 191 votes. In an emergency statement to MPs tonight, Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, said that the counter-terrorism bill would continue its journey through parliament without the 42 day measure.But in a face saving gesture, the government will publish a bill containing the 42 day plan; this bill will be held in reserve to be introduced should there be a terrorist emergency. Ministers said they had decided to follow this course because the introduction of the counter-terrorism bill would have been delayed by a year if the government had embarked on a lengthy battle with the Lords.
Gordon Brown tonight abandoned his parliamentary battle to allow police to detain terror suspects without charge for up to 42 days, after the Lords overwhelmingly rejected the proposal by 191 votes. In an emergency statement to MPs tonight, Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, said that the counter-terrorism bill would continue its journey through parliament without the 42 day measure.
But in a face saving gesture, the government will publish a bill containing the 42 day plan; this bill will be held in reserve to be introduced should there be a terrorist emergency. Ministers said they had decided to follow this course because the introduction of the counter-terrorism bill would have been delayed by a year if the government had embarked on a lengthy battle with the Lords.
Just over 1,000 people between the ages of 15 and 79 were interviewed by Taloustutkimus. Those least tolerant of gays were over the age of 50 while greatest acceptance was in the age group from 25 to 34. Acceptance was also depended on the respondent's level of education.
Jim Mather will travel to Norway and Russia this week to forge new links in energy and tourism and boost the Scottish economy.Mr Mather will visit Stavanger and Oslo to enhance collaboration in energy research and development. He will visit a range of energy companies and meet the Norwegian Secretary of State for Energy to gather support for new grid connections, offshore renewable energy and carbon capture and storage.Mr Mather will then travel to Moscow to encourage more Russians to holiday in Scotland.
Jim Mather will travel to Norway and Russia this week to forge new links in energy and tourism and boost the Scottish economy.
Mr Mather will visit Stavanger and Oslo to enhance collaboration in energy research and development. He will visit a range of energy companies and meet the Norwegian Secretary of State for Energy to gather support for new grid connections, offshore renewable energy and carbon capture and storage.
Mr Mather will then travel to Moscow to encourage more Russians to holiday in Scotland.
(...)
I guess there is more to his Russian visit than tourism...
