BERLIN, Nov 21 (IPS) - Outgoing U.S. President George W. Bush has been unpopular in Europe, but his policies in fighting the 'war on terror' have found many takers.Daniel Finke and Thomas Koenig, professors of politics at the University of Mannheim, 500 km south of Berlin, have found numerous similarities between U.S. "homeland security" and European laws since 2001. "We do not want to attack all EU homeland security policies, but we have found there is a law-making trend across Europe that reduces civil liberties in exchange for more collective security," Koenig told IPS. Finke and Koenig studied Austria, Britain, Denmark, Germany and Sweden. The new European laws reducing civil rights range from introducing biometric control devices such as computerised passports and the digital registration of fingerprints to surveillance and storage of all telephone and Internet traffic and transaction data, including bank operations. Finke and Koenig say the European trend of trading off civil freedoms against homeland security goes against the rights of democratic institutions such as parliaments. "Parliaments are forced to ratify all government decisions in this matter without questioning, and without the right to discuss and eventually reject elements of the laws," Koenig said.
Martine Aubry, the architect of France's 35-hour work week, has won a ballot for the leadership of the opposition Socialists by the tiny margin of 42 votes, the party said in a statement early this morning. Supporters of her arch rival Segolene Royal immediately contested the result and demanded a re-run, raising the prospect of prolonged feuding within France's main opposition party. The Socialists said Aubry won 50.02 percent support in Friday's ballot against 49.98 percent for Royal. Valid votes were cast by only 134,784 of the party's 233,000 members. Royal's lawyer Jean Pierre Mignard said they result was "contested and questionable", while another senior supporter, Manuel Valls, said the vote should be held again next Thursday. Aubry's camp did not appear ready to relinquish victory. "No one can deny the situation is complicated but no one can deny that Martine Aubry is the new first secretary of the Socialist Party," said her close adviser, Francois Lamy.
Martine Aubry, the architect of France's 35-hour work week, has won a ballot for the leadership of the opposition Socialists by the tiny margin of 42 votes, the party said in a statement early this morning.
Supporters of her arch rival Segolene Royal immediately contested the result and demanded a re-run, raising the prospect of prolonged feuding within France's main opposition party.
The Socialists said Aubry won 50.02 percent support in Friday's ballot against 49.98 percent for Royal. Valid votes were cast by only 134,784 of the party's 233,000 members.
Royal's lawyer Jean Pierre Mignard said they result was "contested and questionable", while another senior supporter, Manuel Valls, said the vote should be held again next Thursday.
Aubry's camp did not appear ready to relinquish victory.
"No one can deny the situation is complicated but no one can deny that Martine Aubry is the new first secretary of the Socialist Party," said her close adviser, Francois Lamy.
Marco Mayeux, 42, the bartender of Le Relais, a Paris cafe in the 18th Arrondissement, said the ban alone had cut his coffee and bar business by 20 percent. "A place like mine doesn't appeal to everyone; it's very working-stiff," he said. "There is a coffee-at-the-counter feel that isn't attractive anymore." Before, clients would go inside a cafe, have a coffee, a cigarette and another coffee. But now they go out to smoke, and sometimes they do not come back, many cafe owners said. Gérard Renaud, 57, owner of the Restaurant de L'Église in Marsannay-la-Côte, said that business was down at least 30 percent. "Now people don't eat," he said. "They come in for a coffee or a little aperitif and that is it. We are used to being busy, but now we feel lazy, and it is depressing." Ms. Guérin is trying to sell her cafe, but has had only one nibble in this lovely town of some 3,000 people, much visited by tourists, where the renowned hotel-restaurant Relais Bernard Loiseau is just down the street.
"A place like mine doesn't appeal to everyone; it's very working-stiff," he said. "There is a coffee-at-the-counter feel that isn't attractive anymore."
Before, clients would go inside a cafe, have a coffee, a cigarette and another coffee. But now they go out to smoke, and sometimes they do not come back, many cafe owners said.
Gérard Renaud, 57, owner of the Restaurant de L'Église in Marsannay-la-Côte, said that business was down at least 30 percent. "Now people don't eat," he said. "They come in for a coffee or a little aperitif and that is it. We are used to being busy, but now we feel lazy, and it is depressing."
Ms. Guérin is trying to sell her cafe, but has had only one nibble in this lovely town of some 3,000 people, much visited by tourists, where the renowned hotel-restaurant Relais Bernard Loiseau is just down the street.
