EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso has said Europe needs to reinvent itself with a "transformational agenda" or the 27-nation club risks sliding "towards irrelevance." Mr Barroso made the comments Thursday (3 September) in a 41-page policy document laying out plans for the EU's near future and designed to woo members of the European Parliament into backing him for a second five-year term in office. The parliament is conscious of its weightier role in the EU's institutional set-up Much of the paper focuses on the current economic crisis, with the commission having been strongly criticised in the past for acting too late and too timidly. In the document, Mr Barroso pledges to push for greater economic policy co-ordination and increase commission surveillance of public finances as well as push for stricter financial regulation and bring banks back to good health.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso has said Europe needs to reinvent itself with a "transformational agenda" or the 27-nation club risks sliding "towards irrelevance."
Mr Barroso made the comments Thursday (3 September) in a 41-page policy document laying out plans for the EU's near future and designed to woo members of the European Parliament into backing him for a second five-year term in office.
The parliament is conscious of its weightier role in the EU's institutional set-up
Much of the paper focuses on the current economic crisis, with the commission having been strongly criticised in the past for acting too late and too timidly.
In the document, Mr Barroso pledges to push for greater economic policy co-ordination and increase commission surveillance of public finances as well as push for stricter financial regulation and bring banks back to good health.
Europe needs to reinvent itself with a "transformational agenda"
That's a new candidate's line, hardly one for an incumbent seeking re-appointment.
irrelevance
A thousand times we've heard this globalising-Anglo-neolib-speak. What does Barroso think he has to gain by using it now?
The document is here. Anyone?
Just cos you know heroin is bad for you doesn't stop a junkie responding to it, loving it. The media aren't even that aware of how utterly co-opted they are. keep to the Fen Causeway
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A group of the EU's major foreign policy players is waiting to find out what happens to the Lisbon treaty before deciding if it should keep or scrap an old "musketeer" defence pact. The security pact is found in Article V of the Modified Brussels Treaty, created in 1954 at the height of the Cold War. Illustration from an 1894 edition of Dumas' book <i>The Three Musketeers</i> "If any of the high contracting parties should be the object of an armed attack in Europe, the other high contracting parties will ... afford the party so attacked all the military and other aid and assistance in their power," it states. The contracting parties are EU and Nato member states France, Germany, the UK, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Greece. The pact is similar to Nato's Article V, which is sometimes called the musketeer clause as it echoes the "all for one, one for all" motto of the protagonists in Alexandre Dumas' novel The Three Musketeers.
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A group of the EU's major foreign policy players is waiting to find out what happens to the Lisbon treaty before deciding if it should keep or scrap an old "musketeer" defence pact.
The security pact is found in Article V of the Modified Brussels Treaty, created in 1954 at the height of the Cold War.
Illustration from an 1894 edition of Dumas' book <i>The Three Musketeers</i>
"If any of the high contracting parties should be the object of an armed attack in Europe, the other high contracting parties will ... afford the party so attacked all the military and other aid and assistance in their power," it states.
The contracting parties are EU and Nato member states France, Germany, the UK, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Greece.
The pact is similar to Nato's Article V, which is sometimes called the musketeer clause as it echoes the "all for one, one for all" motto of the protagonists in Alexandre Dumas' novel The Three Musketeers.
Greek and Turkish Cypriots have hit another snag in efforts to reunite the divided Mediterranean island after the Greek side cancelled talks over what it says was the unfair treatment of Orthodox pilgrims. The talks, which are aimed at reaching a deal within the next six months for a reunification of Cyprus, were to be held Thursday between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders. The meeting was seen as an important step in a previously agreed roadmap to reunification. The latest dispute is over a convoy of over 550 Orthodox Christians from the Greek south of the island. The group was on its way to services in the town of Morphou in the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. The pilgrims were stopped by Turkish border guards who, according to a senior aid to Greek Cypriot President Demetris Christofias, were overzealous when checking the list of names of those seeking to cross.
The talks, which are aimed at reaching a deal within the next six months for a reunification of Cyprus, were to be held Thursday between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders. The meeting was seen as an important step in a previously agreed roadmap to reunification.
The latest dispute is over a convoy of over 550 Orthodox Christians from the Greek south of the island. The group was on its way to services in the town of Morphou in the self-proclaimed Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.
The pilgrims were stopped by Turkish border guards who, according to a senior aid to Greek Cypriot President Demetris Christofias, were overzealous when checking the list of names of those seeking to cross.
A group of cyclists from around Europe are embarking on a tour of the Irish countryside to demonstrate for a higher voter turnout ahead of the 2 October Lisbon referendum. Organiser Grace Cox enthuses about the `yes' movement that's gathering speed - and even Ryanair are getting on board`It's different this time,' Grace from Ireland for Europe tells me breathlessly over the phone. She's organising a 700 kilometre bicycle ride across Ireland, from the Irish Sea to the Atlantic and back again. The aim is to try and bring out the vote for the second referendum on the Lisbon treaty, which takes place on 2 October. As part of the `yes' camp, those at Ireland for Europe are feeling positive. They've co-organised the event with EuroCycleTour, a Brussels group that has been trying to `stir up interest' in European participation since 2008. Momentum for the referendum is building. `There's such a buzz in the office,' Grace tells me. `The walls are cluttered with calendars and upcoming events.' She tells me it's the involvement of young people like her that's making all the difference. `Look at me - I'm a student, and I'm involved. My colleague here is a student too. It's such a big change from last year (53.4% of Irish voters rejected the first referendum in June 2008 - ed).'
`It's different this time,' Grace from Ireland for Europe tells me breathlessly over the phone. She's organising a 700 kilometre bicycle ride across Ireland, from the Irish Sea to the Atlantic and back again. The aim is to try and bring out the vote for the second referendum on the Lisbon treaty, which takes place on 2 October.
As part of the `yes' camp, those at Ireland for Europe are feeling positive. They've co-organised the event with EuroCycleTour, a Brussels group that has been trying to `stir up interest' in European participation since 2008. Momentum for the referendum is building. `There's such a buzz in the office,' Grace tells me. `The walls are cluttered with calendars and upcoming events.' She tells me it's the involvement of young people like her that's making all the difference. `Look at me - I'm a student, and I'm involved. My colleague here is a student too. It's such a big change from last year (53.4% of Irish voters rejected the first referendum in June 2008 - ed).'
An Italian Catholic editor who has been the subject of a sustained media attack by supporters of Silvio Berlusconi for criticising the Prime Minister's "immoral" lifestyle stepped down today. Dino Boffo, editor of Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI), said his name had been besmirched "for days and days in a war of words which has wrecked my family and stunned Italians". He said the "defamatory" attacks by Vittorio Feltri, the editor of Il Giornale, the newspaper owned by the Berlusconi family, had "violated my life" and amounted to "a desire to desecrate which I could not have imagined existed". Mr Feltri, who is leading an aggressive "counteroffensive" to "unmask" critics of scandals in Mr Berlusconi's private life, had unearthed a 2004 incident in which Mr Boffo paid a fine for alleged telephone harassment of the wife of an unnamed man whom Il Giornale claimed had been his gay lover, adding that he was a homosexual "known to the police for this kind of activity".
An Italian Catholic editor who has been the subject of a sustained media attack by supporters of Silvio Berlusconi for criticising the Prime Minister's "immoral" lifestyle stepped down today.
Dino Boffo, editor of Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI), said his name had been besmirched "for days and days in a war of words which has wrecked my family and stunned Italians".
He said the "defamatory" attacks by Vittorio Feltri, the editor of Il Giornale, the newspaper owned by the Berlusconi family, had "violated my life" and amounted to "a desire to desecrate which I could not have imagined existed".
Mr Feltri, who is leading an aggressive "counteroffensive" to "unmask" critics of scandals in Mr Berlusconi's private life, had unearthed a 2004 incident in which Mr Boffo paid a fine for alleged telephone harassment of the wife of an unnamed man whom Il Giornale claimed had been his gay lover, adding that he was a homosexual "known to the police for this kind of activity".
I hope you're right. The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion, but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence.
Remember, they have other means of spreading the word beside the media. If they want to get rough, Berlu has less chance than Robert "Gamorrah" Savianno has of a quiet drink in Naples.
Wrong enemy. Really the wrong enemy. keep to the Fen Causeway
He is not a rational actor at this point. keep to the Fen Causeway
Silvio Berlusconi is accustomed to allegations about his predilections being excitedly received abroad. France's Nouvel Observateur recently published a story titled "Sex, Power and Lies" and the Spanish newspaper El Pais showed photographs of naked guests at the Italian Prime Minister's retreat in Sardinia. (He announced his intention to sue both for libel.) Back home, though, the priapic 72-year-old's influence over the media is such that the slew of claims over his private life usually receives a muted reception - perhaps because they come as little surprise. So when Italy's state television channel refused to show a film trailer which blamed Berlusconi for creating a frivolous media culture filled with "half-naked women" and chauvinistic images (he owns three commercial Italian TV channels), the movie's director interpreted it as straight censorship.
Silvio Berlusconi is accustomed to allegations about his predilections being excitedly received abroad. France's Nouvel Observateur recently published a story titled "Sex, Power and Lies" and the Spanish newspaper El Pais showed photographs of naked guests at the Italian Prime Minister's retreat in Sardinia. (He announced his intention to sue both for libel.)
Back home, though, the priapic 72-year-old's influence over the media is such that the slew of claims over his private life usually receives a muted reception - perhaps because they come as little surprise.
So when Italy's state television channel refused to show a film trailer which blamed Berlusconi for creating a frivolous media culture filled with "half-naked women" and chauvinistic images (he owns three commercial Italian TV channels), the movie's director interpreted it as straight censorship.
Silvio Berlusconi has been accused of using his influence over the Italian media to censor a film about his relationships with women. A state television channel has refused to trail a film that blames Mr Berlusconi for creating a frivolous media culture filled with "half-naked women" and chauvinistic images, prompting the movie's director to cry foul.The ban by the RAI network on the clip for Videocracy - which is showing at the Venice Film Festival - has had the opposite of its desired effect, and led to a surge in interest in the documentary, the Independent reports.
A state television channel has refused to trail a film that blames Mr Berlusconi for creating a frivolous media culture filled with "half-naked women" and chauvinistic images, prompting the movie's director to cry foul.
The ban by the RAI network on the clip for Videocracy - which is showing at the Venice Film Festival - has had the opposite of its desired effect, and led to a surge in interest in the documentary, the Independent reports.
Maybe "Colourful focus"? En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma
Un'ovazione finale per il regista, Erik Gandini, e due applausi a scena aperta: il primo nella sequenza in cui Berlusconi dichiara che il 50% del suo tempo lo dedica a migliorare l'immagine internazionale dell'Italia;
As British Prime Minister Gordon Brown continued to deny striking any deals with Libya in exchange for Scotland's release of the convicted Lockerbie bomber, the Scottish government lost a parliamentary vote on a motion to support the decision. AFP - Britain denied Wednesday any "double-dealing" with oil-rich Libya over the release of the Lockerbie bomber but admitted it had not wanted the former Libyan agent to die in a Scottish prison. Prime Minister Gordon Brown insisted the release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi was entirely a matter for the Scottish government, which freed him on compassionate grounds last month because he is dying of cancer. "There was no conspiracy, no cover-up, no double-dealing, no deal on oil, no attempt to influence Scottish ministers, no private assurances by me to Colonel Kadhafi," he said. A Libyan minister backed Brown late Wednesday, saying there was "nothing to hide" and no deals were done over efforts to secure the release of Megrahi.
AFP - Britain denied Wednesday any "double-dealing" with oil-rich Libya over the release of the Lockerbie bomber but admitted it had not wanted the former Libyan agent to die in a Scottish prison. Prime Minister Gordon Brown insisted the release of Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi was entirely a matter for the Scottish government, which freed him on compassionate grounds last month because he is dying of cancer. "There was no conspiracy, no cover-up, no double-dealing, no deal on oil, no attempt to influence Scottish ministers, no private assurances by me to Colonel Kadhafi," he said. A Libyan minister backed Brown late Wednesday, saying there was "nothing to hide" and no deals were done over efforts to secure the release of Megrahi.
The government is looking into whether the Netherlands, like Great Britain, should allow some kind of Sharia law. The idea terrifies Dutch politicians because Islamic law means inequality between men and women. Everyone in the Dutch political world is also well aware that Freedom Party leader and anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders is bound to make enormous electoral mileage from it. Stoning. Chopping off hands. Whippings and beatings. When people hear the word `Sharia', these are the images that spring to mind, but Islamic justice can also be used in family law, and in divorce and inheritance cases. These areas of Sharia law could be applied in certain Dutch mosques. Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin is looking into the details of the system. In a letter to MPs, he says it is the government's duty "to ensure that no parallel society evolves where people take the law into their own hands or have an independent system of justice. Close down mosques An overwhelming parliamentary majority is fiercely opposed to any form of Sharia. MPs say mosques where imams dispense Sharia rulings should be closed down. Socialist Party MP Sadet Karabulut argues that "Islamic law is contrary to our own laws and regulations". "Islam often places women in an inferior position. They can, for example, be forced to have sex with their husbands. Men are allowed to be polygamous and that is against Dutch law," she explains. Maurits Berger, Leiden University's professor of Islam in the Western world, is also against Sharia, but only where it runs contrary to Dutch law: "No stoning, child marriage or chopping off of hands." Free choice
The government is looking into whether the Netherlands, like Great Britain, should allow some kind of Sharia law. The idea terrifies Dutch politicians because Islamic law means inequality between men and women. Everyone in the Dutch political world is also well aware that Freedom Party leader and anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders is bound to make enormous electoral mileage from it. Stoning. Chopping off hands. Whippings and beatings. When people hear the word `Sharia', these are the images that spring to mind, but Islamic justice can also be used in family law, and in divorce and inheritance cases. These areas of Sharia law could be applied in certain Dutch mosques.
Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin is looking into the details of the system. In a letter to MPs, he says it is the government's duty "to ensure that no parallel society evolves where people take the law into their own hands or have an independent system of justice.
Close down mosques An overwhelming parliamentary majority is fiercely opposed to any form of Sharia. MPs say mosques where imams dispense Sharia rulings should be closed down. Socialist Party MP Sadet Karabulut argues that "Islamic law is contrary to our own laws and regulations". "Islam often places women in an inferior position. They can, for example, be forced to have sex with their husbands. Men are allowed to be polygamous and that is against Dutch law," she explains.
Maurits Berger, Leiden University's professor of Islam in the Western world, is also against Sharia, but only where it runs contrary to Dutch law: "No stoning, child marriage or chopping off of hands."
Free choice
Family law under sharia runs counter to UK law. It's hard to get around that. keep to the Fen Causeway
George Osborne sided with Germany and France today in the dispute over the spiralling cost of the global economic bailout orchestrated by Gordon Brown. The Shadow Chancellor accused Mr Brown of being in "complete denial" over the mounting bill of the financial rescue packages, and agreed with Britain's neighbours that it was time to look for an exit strategy. Britain has been irritated by calls from Germany and France to start reducing the amount of support as their economies have shown signs of an upturn. Britain's own economy has not been doing so well, and today a respected international economic body warned that Britain would lag behind the rest of the world in coming out of recession.This prediction, and the dissonant voices in the EU, come at an awkward time for Mr Brown, who has been striving to present a united front with Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy before EU finance ministers meet in London tomorrow to prepare for the G20 summit in Pittsburgh in three weeks' time.
George Osborne sided with Germany and France today in the dispute over the spiralling cost of the global economic bailout orchestrated by Gordon Brown.
The Shadow Chancellor accused Mr Brown of being in "complete denial" over the mounting bill of the financial rescue packages, and agreed with Britain's neighbours that it was time to look for an exit strategy.
Britain has been irritated by calls from Germany and France to start reducing the amount of support as their economies have shown signs of an upturn.
Britain's own economy has not been doing so well, and today a respected international economic body warned that Britain would lag behind the rest of the world in coming out of recession.
This prediction, and the dissonant voices in the EU, come at an awkward time for Mr Brown, who has been striving to present a united front with Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy before EU finance ministers meet in London tomorrow to prepare for the G20 summit in Pittsburgh in three weeks' time.
German doctors and hospitals are making negative headlines over rumors of widespread corruption. Leading medical sources say hospitals frequently pay doctors premiums for sending patients their way. The allegations, which both the association of German hospitals (DKG) and the central organization of medical self-administration (BAEK) say hold some truth, have sent waves of outrage rippling through Germany. Health Minister Ulla Schmidt has called for a quick investigation into the claims. In an interview with the Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper, she said the practice of hospitals paying doctors for particularly lucrative admissions was harmful to patients. Schmidt stressed that it was now up to medical associations to find out just how deep-seated such corruption is. Deputy Health Minister Klaus Theo Schroeder told public broadcaster ARD that where there was "real evidence," charges would be brought. But he said he did not see any need to change the laws currently in place to protect against corruption in the medical industry.
The allegations, which both the association of German hospitals (DKG) and the central organization of medical self-administration (BAEK) say hold some truth, have sent waves of outrage rippling through Germany.
Health Minister Ulla Schmidt has called for a quick investigation into the claims. In an interview with the Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper, she said the practice of hospitals paying doctors for particularly lucrative admissions was harmful to patients.
Schmidt stressed that it was now up to medical associations to find out just how deep-seated such corruption is.
Deputy Health Minister Klaus Theo Schroeder told public broadcaster ARD that where there was "real evidence," charges would be brought. But he said he did not see any need to change the laws currently in place to protect against corruption in the medical industry.
On 23 August 2009, Berlusconi-the-African went to the studios of Nessma TV, in Tunisia, to take part in a programme called "Ness Nessma". Nessma TV is a commercial TV channel, that has a range covering countries in the Mediterranean Maghreb. Mediaset owns 25% of it. Wild Bathrobe has promised "with a total opening of his heart" to all North Africans listening: "the possibility of work, of a home, of a school for the children, the possibility of wellbeing that means both health and the opening up of all our hospitals to their needs". He can't help it. After the villas to the earthquake victims in Abruzzo, work, home, school, wellbeing and hospitals to the people of the Maghreb ... Male Presenter: "From the attraction that Italy has for the people of the Maghreb, we can go on to the topic of immigration, above all clandestine immigration that unfortunately causes thousands of deaths!" Berlusconi: "The worst things are the criminal organisations and there are so many of them. Today Ben Ali told me about 300 organisations discovered by the Police in your country. They are people who take advantage of the hopes of the others, of people who are destitute and who want to give themselves and their loved ones a better future. And so they put their trust in people who have unsound boats and they set off on the sea and this leads to tragedy at every instant. That has to be opposed. What's necessary is to increase the possibility for the people who want to try for a new opportunity in life and for work, and it's necessary to increase the possibility of entering legally into Italy and into the other European countries. This is what I want to happen, not just in Italy, but in the whole of Europe. And then it's necessary to say that the Italians have been a people who have left Italy and who emigrated to other countries, especially to the Americas. And so this obliges us to look for those who want to come to Italy with a completely open heart. And to give those who come to Italy the possibility of a job, a home, a school for their children, and the possibility to be well that means health as well and the opening of all our hospitals to their needs and this is the policy of my government." Female Presenter : "You are incredible, Mr President. I cannot but applaud."
thus spake zara ~Government budget deficits are not nearly as dangerous as the deficits we have created in vital and complex natural systems.~ Naomi Klein.
In the 2008 elections the PSOE and the PP both increased their seat counts by the same amount with respect to 2004. This left the PSOE only 7 seats away from an absolute majority in parliament, which made their minority government more solid than in the 2004-8 term. However, the PSOE still negotiated with CiU [moderate-right Catalan nationalists] in preference to the left parties.
But now Zapatero's crisis policies are grating CiU the wrong way and Zapatero needs the left parties to pass next year's budget.
That the nationalist/centralist axis is losing strength means that the PP could now potentially work together with CiU and the Basque Nationalists of PNV, were it not for the fact that the PP lobbying to get the Constitutional Court to overturn the new Catalan Autonomy Statute (which would really annoy CiU) and has helped the PSE unseat the PNV from the Basque regional government. En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma
