*Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Designated PM invited parties to negotiate. PSD, PNL and UDMR won't take part - Politics - HotNews.ro
"I invited all parliamentary parties to negotiate at 5 pm", the newly designated PM Liviu Negoita said today. He asserted that he wished to create a national union Government and that the negotiations will last for three days. On Monday, the list featuring the new Cabinet will be submitted to the Parliament. PSD, PNL and UDMR announced that the parties will not take part at the negotiations announced by the designated PM.
(Precedents and context: Presidents vs. Parliaments: now playing in Romania), update.) *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
PM to take signed Lisbon treaty to Rome next Friday Prime Minister Jan Fischer will take the signed Lisbon treaty to Rome next Friday, whereby the ratification process by the Czech Republic will be completed, a government spokesman told the ctk news agency on Thursday. Prime Minister Fischer is due to pay a two-day visit to the Vatican and will use the opportunity to take the treaty to Rome in person, the spokesman said. The Czech Republic is the last country to complete ratification of the Lisbon treaty which is due to take effect on December 1.
Prime Minister Jan Fischer will take the signed Lisbon treaty to Rome next Friday, whereby the ratification process by the Czech Republic will be completed, a government spokesman told the ctk news agency on Thursday. Prime Minister Fischer is due to pay a two-day visit to the Vatican and will use the opportunity to take the treaty to Rome in person, the spokesman said. The Czech Republic is the last country to complete ratification of the Lisbon treaty which is due to take effect on December 1.
Controversy over opt-out Social Democrat senators have slammed the government for negotiating an opt-out to the Charter of Fundamental Rights attached to the Lisbon treaty without Parliament's approval. In a stormy session of the upper chamber, Senate deputy chairwoman Alena Gajdušková of the Social Democrats said it was not the Lisbon treaty but the Czech government which was undermining the country's sovereignty by overstepping its mandate in this matter. Minister for European Affairs Štefan Fůle strongly rejected the accusations saying that the government had acted fully within its mandate. He said that the heads of the upper and lower chamber had both been present at the government session devoted to the Lisbon treaty and had not voiced any reservations with regard to the government's strategy. The opt-out granted to the Czech Republic is to be attached to the next EU accession treaty and is thus not expected to come into force for several years. The Social Democrats have said they will try to prevent it coming into force. Tuesday's fierce two-hour debate in the Senate is indicative of the controversy surrounding the opt-out which was adopted at the eleventh hour as a last minute concession to President Vaclav Klaus.
Social Democrat senators have slammed the government for negotiating an opt-out to the Charter of Fundamental Rights attached to the Lisbon treaty without Parliament's approval. In a stormy session of the upper chamber, Senate deputy chairwoman Alena Gajdušková of the Social Democrats said it was not the Lisbon treaty but the Czech government which was undermining the country's sovereignty by overstepping its mandate in this matter. Minister for European Affairs Štefan Fůle strongly rejected the accusations saying that the government had acted fully within its mandate. He said that the heads of the upper and lower chamber had both been present at the government session devoted to the Lisbon treaty and had not voiced any reservations with regard to the government's strategy.
The opt-out granted to the Czech Republic is to be attached to the next EU accession treaty and is thus not expected to come into force for several years. The Social Democrats have said they will try to prevent it coming into force. Tuesday's fierce two-hour debate in the Senate is indicative of the controversy surrounding the opt-out which was adopted at the eleventh hour as a last minute concession to President Vaclav Klaus.
Poll: vast majority of Czechs dissatisfied with political situation A sweeping 88% majority of Czechs are dissatisfied with the general political situation in the Czech Republic according to a survey published by the Median polling agency. According to Median, the postponement of early elections until next year has played a major part in that dissatisfaction. Respondents said that the politician who best handled the early-election crisis was President Václav Klaus, giving him a below-average grade of 3.1 on a five point scale. Civic Democíbratic party chairman Mirek Topolánek got the worst result in this regard with a grade of four. More than two-thirds of those polled also suggested that the ambiguous political situation in the Czech Republic will damage its position in Europe. Mr Topolánek's centre-right government was toppled by a lost confidence vote in the spring and was replaced by an interim technocratic government. Early elections scheduled for October of 2009 were declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court and put back to their original timeline, leaving the Czech Republic with a caretaker government until that time.
A sweeping 88% majority of Czechs are dissatisfied with the general political situation in the Czech Republic according to a survey published by the Median polling agency. According to Median, the postponement of early elections until next year has played a major part in that dissatisfaction. Respondents said that the politician who best handled the early-election crisis was President Václav Klaus, giving him a below-average grade of 3.1 on a five point scale. Civic Democíbratic party chairman Mirek Topolánek got the worst result in this regard with a grade of four. More than two-thirds of those polled also suggested that the ambiguous political situation in the Czech Republic will damage its position in Europe.
Mr Topolánek's centre-right government was toppled by a lost confidence vote in the spring and was replaced by an interim technocratic government. Early elections scheduled for October of 2009 were declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court and put back to their original timeline, leaving the Czech Republic with a caretaker government until that time.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has acknowledged the decision to let his son Jean seek a job managing France's top business district, the La Defense skyscraper park west of Paris, was "probably an error", a source at the French presidential palace said late on Monday. A 23-year-old second-year law student, Jean Sarkozy had announced in October that he intended to pursue a bid to chair the EPAD agency managing La Defense, home to 2,500 corporate giants such as Total and Société Générale bank. After two weeks of controversy during which critics slammed Sarkozy junior as evidence France was becoming a "banana republic" run at his father's whim, the president's son dropped the job bid. The Elysée source also alluded to a "likely cabinet reshuffling" to ostensibly take place after regional elections in March. Sports Minister Rama Yade was singled out in the statement as a minister who has had "difficulty adapting to any team."
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has acknowledged the decision to let his son Jean seek a job managing France's top business district, the La Defense skyscraper park west of Paris, was "probably an error", a source at the French presidential palace said late on Monday.
A 23-year-old second-year law student, Jean Sarkozy had announced in October that he intended to pursue a bid to chair the EPAD agency managing La Defense, home to 2,500 corporate giants such as Total and Société Générale bank. After two weeks of controversy during which critics slammed Sarkozy junior as evidence France was becoming a "banana republic" run at his father's whim, the president's son dropped the job bid.
The Elysée source also alluded to a "likely cabinet reshuffling" to ostensibly take place after regional elections in March. Sports Minister Rama Yade was singled out in the statement as a minister who has had "difficulty adapting to any team."
(Translation: the puppet is dancing on its own? ...also see yesterday's discussion.) *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Half way through his five-year presidential term, Nicolas Sarkozy has sank to his lowest poll score since he took office. But analysts see no serious challenger to thwart his bid for re-election in 2012.AFP - Sliding in the polls and battling dissent in his own camp, Nicolas Sarkozy is mired in mid-term blues, but analysts doubt his current woes will scupper the French president's chances of reelection. Elected two and a half years ago on a pledge to shake up France, the right-winger sank this week to his lowest poll score since taking office, his image tarred by scandals and his reforms blunted by the global downturn. Sarkozy won plaudits for his dynamic stint at the helm of the European Union last year, his shuttle diplomacy during the Russia-Georgia conflict and his perceived leadership among the Group of 20 on the economic crisis.
AFP - Sliding in the polls and battling dissent in his own camp, Nicolas Sarkozy is mired in mid-term blues, but analysts doubt his current woes will scupper the French president's chances of reelection. Elected two and a half years ago on a pledge to shake up France, the right-winger sank this week to his lowest poll score since taking office, his image tarred by scandals and his reforms blunted by the global downturn. Sarkozy won plaudits for his dynamic stint at the helm of the European Union last year, his shuttle diplomacy during the Russia-Georgia conflict and his perceived leadership among the Group of 20 on the economic crisis.
Nicolas Sarkozy has asked his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy to lower her public profile after complaints about her political influence on the French president, it has been claimed. Last week France's leading society magazine described Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy, 41, as the new Marie-Antoinette. Now it transpires the president has asked her to take a back seat amid a growing chorus of disapproval from his own Right-wing allies about her "luvvy" Left-wing influence. One alleged in l'Express magazine on Thursday that she was responsible for "most of the head of state's woes in this turbulent autumn".
Last week France's leading society magazine described Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy, 41, as the new Marie-Antoinette. Now it transpires the president has asked her to take a back seat amid a growing chorus of disapproval from his own Right-wing allies about her "luvvy" Left-wing influence.
One alleged in l'Express magazine on Thursday that she was responsible for "most of the head of state's woes in this turbulent autumn".
Let's see what we've had in the past few weeks:
As Belgium's prime minister assumes a frontrunner position in the race for the first EU president, his countrymen fear that Belgium wouldn't last long without him. In European Union diplomatic circles, the name Herman Van Rompuy has largely replaced that of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair when it comes to a first EU president. Since Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy indicated they would not support a bid by Blair, the newest leaders in the race for president of the EU are Van Rompuy, the current prime minister of Belgium, and Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende. Sarkozy and Merkel called the 62-year-old Van Rompuy after a dinner in Paris on Oct. 28 "to tell him that they were thinking about him for the European president's job," the Brussels daily Le Soir reported Friday. Unconfirmed sources indicate that the Belgian leader is interested in the position.
In European Union diplomatic circles, the name Herman Van Rompuy has largely replaced that of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair when it comes to a first EU president.
Since Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy indicated they would not support a bid by Blair, the newest leaders in the race for president of the EU are Van Rompuy, the current prime minister of Belgium, and Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende.
Sarkozy and Merkel called the 62-year-old Van Rompuy after a dinner in Paris on Oct. 28 "to tell him that they were thinking about him for the European president's job," the Brussels daily Le Soir reported Friday.
Unconfirmed sources indicate that the Belgian leader is interested in the position.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Iceland this week appointed its chief EU accession negotiator, but the country's application application is already hitting the buffers domestically and Brussels fears that the Arctic nation may "pull a Norway", meaning an application that the government is sincere about, but which the people strongly reject. The country's finance minister, Steingrimur Sigusson and leader of the government's junior coalition partner, the Left Green Movement, said last Tuesday at a meeting of the Nordic Council in Stockholm that while Iceland had applied to join, the people did not want to become members of the EU, a statement that has not been met with great enthusiasm in Brussels. On 1 November, the former Social Democratic foreign minister of the country, Jon Baldvin Hannibalsson, one of Iceland's biggest supporters of joining the EU, told a meeting at the University of Reykjavik that accession would probably be rejected in a referendum and criticised the current government as providing weak leadership.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Iceland this week appointed its chief EU accession negotiator, but the country's application application is already hitting the buffers domestically and Brussels fears that the Arctic nation may "pull a Norway", meaning an application that the government is sincere about, but which the people strongly reject.
The country's finance minister, Steingrimur Sigusson and leader of the government's junior coalition partner, the Left Green Movement, said last Tuesday at a meeting of the Nordic Council in Stockholm that while Iceland had applied to join, the people did not want to become members of the EU, a statement that has not been met with great enthusiasm in Brussels.
On 1 November, the former Social Democratic foreign minister of the country, Jon Baldvin Hannibalsson, one of Iceland's biggest supporters of joining the EU, told a meeting at the University of Reykjavik that accession would probably be rejected in a referendum and criticised the current government as providing weak leadership.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The US will continue to treat EU members on a bilateral basis in its visa regime, but will review its passenger data policy towards Europeans, interior minister Janet Napolitano told MEPs on Friday (6 November). Current US legislation does not allow the Obama administration to lift visa requirements for the five remaining EU countries which are still outside the so-called Visa Waiver programme, Ms Napolitano said in a meeting with EU lawmakers dealing with justice and home affairs. Europeans traveling to the US will soon have to pay a ten-dollar tourist fee Several MEPs had requested a rethink of the US visa policy towards European states, so that all EU citizens are treated equally. Citizens from Poland, Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Romania are required to apply for a tourist visa if they want to travel to the US, while citizens from all other member states do not have to. But Ms Napolitano warned the EU legislature to "be careful what it asks for," as there are numerous voices in Congress that want to scrap the visa waiver scheme altogether, citing security concerns.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The US will continue to treat EU members on a bilateral basis in its visa regime, but will review its passenger data policy towards Europeans, interior minister Janet Napolitano told MEPs on Friday (6 November).
Current US legislation does not allow the Obama administration to lift visa requirements for the five remaining EU countries which are still outside the so-called Visa Waiver programme, Ms Napolitano said in a meeting with EU lawmakers dealing with justice and home affairs.
Europeans traveling to the US will soon have to pay a ten-dollar tourist fee
Several MEPs had requested a rethink of the US visa policy towards European states, so that all EU citizens are treated equally. Citizens from Poland, Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Romania are required to apply for a tourist visa if they want to travel to the US, while citizens from all other member states do not have to.
But Ms Napolitano warned the EU legislature to "be careful what it asks for," as there are numerous voices in Congress that want to scrap the visa waiver scheme altogether, citing security concerns.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Serbia plans to formally apply for EU membership by the end of this year and has pledged it will to apprehend war criminals as soon as possible, Belgrade's foreign minister Vuk Jeremic told European lawmakers on Thursday (5 November). "The basic groundwork is there for Serbia to submit its official application for EU membership. We hope to do so by the end of this year," Mr Jeremic said in front of the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee. Serbian foreign minister Vuk Jeremic told MEPs that Ratko Mladic will be caught The sticking point in EU-Serbian relations is the hand-over of war criminals such as former Bosnian Serb leader Ratko Mladic, who still remain at large. The former general is accused of having ordered the Srebrenica massacre, in which some 8,000 Bosniaks were killed. A government official said earlier this week that a majority of Serbs are still opposed to his extradition to the Hague. Mr Jeremic reassured MEPs that his government was "searching every square millimetre of [its] national territory" for the fugitive. "If we knew where he was, he would not be at liberty, I can guarantee that," he said.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Serbia plans to formally apply for EU membership by the end of this year and has pledged it will to apprehend war criminals as soon as possible, Belgrade's foreign minister Vuk Jeremic told European lawmakers on Thursday (5 November).
"The basic groundwork is there for Serbia to submit its official application for EU membership. We hope to do so by the end of this year," Mr Jeremic said in front of the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee.
Serbian foreign minister Vuk Jeremic told MEPs that Ratko Mladic will be caught
The sticking point in EU-Serbian relations is the hand-over of war criminals such as former Bosnian Serb leader Ratko Mladic, who still remain at large. The former general is accused of having ordered the Srebrenica massacre, in which some 8,000 Bosniaks were killed. A government official said earlier this week that a majority of Serbs are still opposed to his extradition to the Hague.
Mr Jeremic reassured MEPs that his government was "searching every square millimetre of [its] national territory" for the fugitive. "If we knew where he was, he would not be at liberty, I can guarantee that," he said.
A slip of a pen by a British bureaucrat has thrown the sovereignty of Gibraltar into question by allowing Spain to lay claim to its shores in the name of conserving birds and bats. The mistake was made by a civil servant who was applying for European Union protected habitat status for the coast.The official made an error in a map reference on the document and consequently submitted an application for an area of coastal waters near Algeria. Meanwhile, Spain, which has claimed Gibraltar as its own territory for more than 200 years, submitted, without informing London, a successful EU application to create an "Estrecho Oriental" conservation zone that includes the British territory.The mistake, which was made in 2006 but only spotted recently, theoretically gives Spain responsibility for managing the Rock's coastline and waters as a special "Site of Community Interest" (SCI), a development that has dismayed Gibraltar's government.
The mistake was made by a civil servant who was applying for European Union protected habitat status for the coast.
The official made an error in a map reference on the document and consequently submitted an application for an area of coastal waters near Algeria.
Meanwhile, Spain, which has claimed Gibraltar as its own territory for more than 200 years, submitted, without informing London, a successful EU application to create an "Estrecho Oriental" conservation zone that includes the British territory.
The mistake, which was made in 2006 but only spotted recently, theoretically gives Spain responsibility for managing the Rock's coastline and waters as a special "Site of Community Interest" (SCI), a development that has dismayed Gibraltar's government.
DRESDEN -- When Frank Siebler moved from Dresden in the late 1990s to take a job in bustling, prosperous Munich, he thought he was leaving home for good. In 1997, when Mr. Siebler was 25, the outlook for engineers in the former East Germany was so bleak that people like him were leaving in droves, creating a huge brain drain from East to West. But in a sign of just how much has changed over the past decade, Mr. Siebler, like a growing number of other Germans from the region, is back.A start-up telecommunications company in Dresden called Signalion persuaded him -- without too much difficulty, he adds -- to resettle in the city where he grew up."The mind-set really changed for me," Mr. Siebler said. "At the beginning when I left I didn't think about returning."
DRESDEN -- When Frank Siebler moved from Dresden in the late 1990s to take a job in bustling, prosperous Munich, he thought he was leaving home for good.
In 1997, when Mr. Siebler was 25, the outlook for engineers in the former East Germany was so bleak that people like him were leaving in droves, creating a huge brain drain from East to West. But in a sign of just how much has changed over the past decade, Mr. Siebler, like a growing number of other Germans from the region, is back.
A start-up telecommunications company in Dresden called Signalion persuaded him -- without too much difficulty, he adds -- to resettle in the city where he grew up.
"The mind-set really changed for me," Mr. Siebler said. "At the beginning when I left I didn't think about returning."
AFP - Berlin authorities outlawed a rapidly-expanding neo-Nazi group on Thursday, with police staging dawn raids at the homes of its leading members, according to the city's interior minister Ehrhart Koerting.The group, named "Frontbann 24" after a forerunner of Hitler's "storm troops", is "the fastest-growing neo-Nazi organisation in Berlin," according to Koerting.A spokeswoman for Koerting said the group had between 40 and 60 members but was quickly attracting more. No arrests were made during the raids."The ban should be seen in the context of a decisive fight against far-right efforts in Germany and as an important step towards protecting our free and democratic constitutional order," Koerting said.
AFP - Berlin authorities outlawed a rapidly-expanding neo-Nazi group on Thursday, with police staging dawn raids at the homes of its leading members, according to the city's interior minister Ehrhart Koerting.
The group, named "Frontbann 24" after a forerunner of Hitler's "storm troops", is "the fastest-growing neo-Nazi organisation in Berlin," according to Koerting.
A spokeswoman for Koerting said the group had between 40 and 60 members but was quickly attracting more. No arrests were made during the raids.
"The ban should be seen in the context of a decisive fight against far-right efforts in Germany and as an important step towards protecting our free and democratic constitutional order," Koerting said.
Poland has demanded that US troops be based on Polish soil in the wake of Russian war games which simulated a nuclear attack and invasion. Radek Sikorski, Poland's foreign minister, said he was alarmed by recent military exercises conducted by the Russian army in Belarus, a country that borders Poland, and wanted the US military as a counterweight."We would like to see US troops stationed in Poland to serve as a shield against Russian aggression," he said. "If you can still afford it, we need some strategic reassurance." Despite assurances given by US Vice President Joe Biden last month that Washington would stand by its Central-European ally there is growing unease in Poland that its interests have been sacrificed by an America eager to curry favour with Moscow.
Radek Sikorski, Poland's foreign minister, said he was alarmed by recent military exercises conducted by the Russian army in Belarus, a country that borders Poland, and wanted the US military as a counterweight.
"We would like to see US troops stationed in Poland to serve as a shield against Russian aggression," he said.
"If you can still afford it, we need some strategic reassurance." Despite assurances given by US Vice President Joe Biden last month that Washington would stand by its Central-European ally there is growing unease in Poland that its interests have been sacrificed by an America eager to curry favour with Moscow.
