Welcome to European Tribune. It's gone a bit quiet around here these days, but it's still going.

Stop Blair!

by afew Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 02:01:14 AM EST

As rumours circulated concerning Tony Blair's interest in the post of President of the European Council (newly created by the Treaty of Lisbon), a number of posters here at European Tribune expressed alarm. It was quickly clear that, on this collaborative site which includes members from all over Europe, opposition to Blair's candidature was unanimous, and the idea of a petition was mooted.

Over the last few days, on the basis of Melanchthon's initial draft, the text of the petition was discussed and translated into, in all, nine languages (with more to follow), and a website set up to host them: fast work, and a genuinely European initiative!

Go here to read and sign the petition (No need to be an EU citizen)

Et ici pour la pétition en français

The English text of the petition can be read below.

Bumped by afew


Petition against the nomination of Tony Blair as "President of the European Union"

We, European citizens of all origins and of all political persuasions, wish to express our total opposition to the nomination of Tony Blair to the Presidency of the European Council.

The Treaty of Lisbon provides for the new post of President of the European Council, to be elected by the Council for a mandate, renewable once only, of two and a half years. Under the terms of the Treaty: "The President of the European Council shall chair it and drive forward its work" and "shall ensure the preparation and continuity of the work of the European Council". Further, "The President of the European Council shall, at his level and in that capacity, ensure the external representation of the Union on issues concerning its common foreign and security policy"¹.

The future President of the European Council will therefore have a key role in determining the policies of the European Union and its relations with the rest of the world. This first Council Presidency will also have a major symbolic weight for both citizens of the European Union and for the image of the Union in the rest of the world. In this perspective, we believe it is essential that the first president embodies the spirit and values of the European project.

For some time now, increasingly insistent news reports have made evident a wish, in some quarters, to see Tony Blair appointed the first President of the European Council. This appointment, were it to take place, would be in total contradiction with the values professed by the European project.

In violation of international law, Tony Blair committed his country to a war in Iraq that a large majority of European citizens opposed. This war has claimed hundreds of thousands of victims and displaced millions of refugees. It has been a major factor in today's profound destabilisation of the Middle East, and has weakened world security. In order to lead his country into war, Mr Blair made systematic use of fabricated evidence and the manipulation of information. His role in the Iraq war would weigh heavily on the image of the Union in the world, should he in fact be named its president.

The steps taken by Tony Blair's government, and his complicity with the Bush administration in the illegal programme of "extraordinary renditions", have led to an unprecedented decline in civil liberties. This is in contradiction with the terms of the European Convention of Human Rights, which is an integral part of the treaty.

The European Charter of Fundamental Rights formalises the founding values of the European project and is one of the pillars of the new treaty. Tony Blair fought its inclusion in the Treaty of Lisbon, and eventually managed to secure an exemption for the UK.

Rather than move European integration forward, the former British Prime Minister set a series of so-called red lines during the Lisbon negotiations², with the intent of blocking any progress in social issues and tax harmonisation, as well as common defence and foreign policy.

Furthermore, it seems unthinkable that the first President of the European Council should be the former head of a government that kept its country out of two key elements of the construction of Europe: the Schengen area of free movement of people and the Euro zone.

At a time when one of the priorities of the European institutions is to reconnect with its citizens, we believe it is essential that the President of the European Council should be a person with whom a majority of citizens can identify, rather than one rejected by a majority³. Therefore, we declare our total opposition to this nomination.


  1. Treaty of Lisbon, Article 1, point 16, inserting Article 9 B into the Treaty on European Union, points 5 and 6 (2007/C 306/17, 18)
  2. Blair sets out EU treaty demands, BBC, June 2007
  3. Table 6 in FT/Harris poll, June 2007

Go here to sign the petition (No need to be an EU citizen)

Display:
I have not been able to follow the discussion fully - so my question is still open: Can anyone sign the petition or only EU citizens?
by Fran on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 04:06:36 AM EST
And I am proud of you all and of ET, this is really a great job you all did. Even more so, considering how little time was available. :-)
by Fran on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 04:07:46 AM EST
[ Parent ]
So am I! Have just signed petition. I think this will prove to be one of the most impotant European political events of the year.
by The3rdColumn on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 04:20:11 AM EST
[ Parent ]
It might be ET's crashing the gate moment.

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 06:02:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]
It's probably a good thing the FT jumped the gun. Otehrwise we would have dithered for another week and not started collecting signatures until we had our own multilingual petition going.

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 06:24:36 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Quite often, "needs to be done for yesterday" is the best form of motivation...

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 06:28:27 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Wouaw, what you did with my 3:00 or so am posting is nothing short of miraculous! And so beautifully executed.

Just wow! ...

Thank you, man!

 

by Loefing on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 02:10:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I did get lazy on the dégradé... It would have been too long to find out how to make that.

And damn IE which doesn't recognize fun border styles !

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères

by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 02:21:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]
No, no. What you accomplished is a tour de force.

I hope the community understands what you did and accomplished, in a matter of mere hours!

Really, truly, totally impressive.

I don't know how to thank you.

 

by Loefing on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 02:46:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Is this the logo? Could we have a link--is it up yet, and where?

Capitalism searches out the darkest corners of human potential, and mainlines them.
by geezer in Paris (risico at wanadoo(flypoop)fr) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 03:50:28 AM EST
[ Parent ]
No, they're talking about the StopBlair.eu site design.

Logo to follow, not sure when.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 05:27:46 AM EST
[ Parent ]
See above. I've posted a new version of the logo in response to a comment by DoDo.
by Loefing on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 11:44:12 AM EST
[ Parent ]
What a pleasure to see such cooperative work done so fast. Congratulations to all, and keep pushing. This is something REAL, something that transcends chat.

The whole is greater than the sum of its words.

Just signed the thing- But since I am not legally a European citizen, it may not be valid--

Whatever. Gotta pee on Bliar's parade somehow.

Capitalism searches out the darkest corners of human potential, and mainlines them.

by geezer in Paris (risico at wanadoo(flypoop)fr) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 09:38:24 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Yes, non-EU citizens can sign. We ask for nationality and country of residence.

"Dieu se rit des hommes qui se plaignent des conséquences alors qu'ils en chérissent les causes" Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
by Melanchthon on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 04:24:34 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Migeru made a good point on this: since we point out that this nomination would damage the EU's image in the rest of the world, we should collect the signatures from everywhere and then sort them in two bins.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 05:31:04 AM EST
[ Parent ]
So do you want it publicising now? or do you want more translations up first?

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 04:32:31 AM EST
We already have signatures coming from the link in the FT paper.

"Dieu se rit des hommes qui se plaignent des conséquences alors qu'ils en chérissent les causes" Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
by Melanchthon on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 04:51:35 AM EST
[ Parent ]
If you're thinking (in terms of contacts) of English language, it's up and working, as is French.
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 04:56:17 AM EST
[ Parent ]
So, got a nice little "stop Blair!" logo yet?
by IdiotSavant on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 06:36:37 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Also, if we get a nice icon, a 16x16 version for the fave would be great ! :)

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 06:43:41 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Oooh, I see possibilities... vBulletin forum avatars :-P

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 07:39:02 AM EST
[ Parent ]
And a Facebook group.  This needs to spread.
by IdiotSavant on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 07:49:10 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Redstar's suggestion would look fine to me: Blair's face within the twelve stars of the European Flag, with four additional stars across his face. Loefing, do you like the idea, and could you do it?

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 08:25:34 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Yes, that would look cool!

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 10:15:57 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Sounds more tasteful than the Stop sign :-)

Sure, I'll give it a go, tomorrow.

by Loefing on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 07:51:36 PM EST
[ Parent ]
See above.
by Loefing on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 11:46:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]
May I use the occasion to ask to the various translators to translate the little texts found mostly on the left column ? So that we can put up their version.

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 04:41:50 AM EST

Unterzeichnen Sie die Petition!

Versionen

Wer sind wir?
Wir sind eine Gruppe von Teilnehmern an The European Tribune, einer gemeinschaftlichen Webseite, auf der wir neben vielen anderen Dingen über europäische und globale Politik diskutieren.

Anmerkung: dies ist eine vorläufige Version der Seite, die wir auf die Schnelle zusammengestellt haben. Wir könnten den Platz, an dem sich die Petition befindet, ebenso wie das Design der Seite, noch ändern. Außerdem fehlen uns noch einige Versionen der Petition in den anderen offiziellen Amtssprachen der EU! Besuchen Sie uns wieder!

Kontaktieren Sie uns: etg@eurotrib.com

Wer redet über uns?
Financial Times, 04/02/2008
Daily Kos, 04/02/2008
Der ursprüngliche Petitionsentwurf

Presseerklärungen
Noch keine!

I took the more formal "Sie" address, which makes the headline look like an order. "Die Petition unterzeichnen" would be more neutral.

"If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles." Sun Tzu

by Turambar (sersguenda at hotmail com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 06:48:43 AM EST
[ Parent ]
The German version is now up. I made some changes, but criticism of the changes is welcome.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 02:53:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
"Stoppt Blair!"
Is the "Du" address, whereas "Sie" is used everywhere else. But I agree that "Stoppen Sie Blair!" sounds weird.

Instead of "ein Mandat das einmal erneuert werden kann":
"ein Mandat, das ein Mal erneuert werden kann". The comma is obligatory, "einmal" should be clear enough.

Left box:
"über vielen anderen Dingen" is incorrect, "über viele andere Dinge"

I'm okay with "völligen Widerstand" and "rote Linien", though it sounds rather unusual. But translations often do.

"If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles." Sun Tzu

by Turambar (sersguenda at hotmail com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 08:06:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]
  • Stoppt Blair: I thought this is must be slogan-like, thus it could be informal. But if it is too incoherent, what about "Stoppen wir Blair!"? (That was also the only way I could solve it in Hungarian.)

  • OK about the comma. Though "ein Mal" is better, I took "einmal" from the Treaty text.

  • Akkusativ, not Dativ... OK.

  • I did hear "völligen Widerstand" before, though it may be local (looking up with Google, there is also "totalen Widerstand", and quite frequently, "Total-Opposition" auf Neudeutsch...). Should I revert back?

  • With "rote Linien", I adopted the translation used in the German media (examples: Spiegel, taz, FAZ, ORF), though it got less into public consciousness than the English version in Britain -- and Brussels. (I note the term was recently used in German politics, too.)


*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 05:34:06 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I'm totally okay with the text as it is, I was just commenting on the changes.

I'm a writer, occasionally, so I tend to think too much about the exact meaning of German words in general. I don't like it when the media just translates things literally even when they look odd in German, as with the red lines ("macht Sinn" is a more common example, widely in use only through sloppy translations).

But even the Spiegel and the FAZ do it, so it's absolutely okay for the site and its purpose.

"If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles." Sun Tzu

by Turambar (sersguenda at hotmail com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 06:46:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Next question then, What languages are needed?

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 05:04:42 AM EST
Done : French, English, Italian, German, Danish, Hungarian, Portuguese, Dutch.
Not updated ? : Spanish.

Still to go : all but English and French for the small texts ;

For the petition text : Bulgarian, Romanian, Polish, Czech, Slovenian, Slovakian, Finnish, Greek, Estonian, Lithuanian, Lettonian (?), Swedish... Irish, Maltese.

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères

by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 05:25:09 AM EST
[ Parent ]
what is the difference between those that are or are not in Ittalics?

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 05:30:55 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Those that I think represent more populated and thus urgent countries, and note this is an entirely uneducated guess.

Also, do we want a 24th language to fill up the flag table ?

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères

by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 05:40:21 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Latin (Vatican flag) has been suggested. Jérôme has been offered an Esperanto translation - what's a flag for that?

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 05:46:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Green with white square top right and green star in it. (Had an Esperanto guy as roommate for a year :-) )

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 05:50:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I mean top left.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 05:52:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I wouldn't do esperanto, imho this would undermine credibility. Love the thought, and the sentiment behind it, but it is sort of "out there" in a way we probably want to avoid if some "mainstream" attention is pushing this way.

Only EU languages makes sense - we could've done Russian and decided against on that score. Ditto esperanto...and Latin too in my view.

The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet. Winston Churchill

by r------ on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 05:54:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I disagree. But maybe the way to do it is to use the 25th place as an 'other languages' link, collecting everything else we get. (Beyond Russian, we should also get Catalan and Welsh, and then we should have at least Basque, Turkish, Arab.)

I also think (but still haven't got feedback from Loefing) that the flags may be better placed below the Stop Blair/Petition... part.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 06:00:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Well, people are throwing around Catalan and Welsh translations and we can't have Russian (spoken as a second language by 6% of the EU population)?

I say we should have Russian, and Catalan and Welsh and Esperanto and whatever else.

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 06:52:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]
If it's a language spoken by a large number of citizens of the EU, it's fine by me, that's for sure. Large number defined in the tens of thousands, think that covers everything listed except maybe esperanto (though aren't their a lot of those speakers in Poland?)

otoh, if someone offers up klingon I think we should say no.

The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet. Winston Churchill

by r------ on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 07:05:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Esperanto does have lots of speakers, though less so among young people.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 07:15:36 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I figured as much...

The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet. Winston Churchill
by r------ on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 07:20:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I'm looking into Irish  - neither of us would be up to it, but I'll see if i can find a friend who is.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 05:33:53 AM EST
[ Parent ]
My contacts Irish might be too medieval for this

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 05:37:36 AM EST
[ Parent ]
That would be interesting. I bet no-one would notice.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 05:39:15 AM EST
[ Parent ]
ok so fired off requests to get translations into Welsh, Irish, and Polish.

Wether they can at the moment is another matter.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 05:50:29 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I think it's Lettish.

I'll do Spanish later today and I'll ask Barbara to do Czech.

We have a Bulgarian friend, my sister might be able to do Romanian though I cannot guarantee it (nor a timeline). Barbara had a teacher married to a Maltese translator, though that's a long shot.

Your list is missing Slovak.

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 05:34:06 AM EST
[ Parent ]
He does have 'Slovakian'.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 05:36:14 AM EST
[ Parent ]
My Mental abilities are severely impaired by the flu this morning.

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 05:42:11 AM EST
[ Parent ]
DO you need help?

Late at night I can work on it...

A pleasure

I therefore claim to show, not how men think in myths, but how myths operate in men's minds without their being aware of the fact. Levi-Strauss, Claude

by kcurie on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 06:47:32 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Lettonian (?)

Latvian. Also: Welsh, Catalan, Romani, Russian, Turkish, and any other people are willing.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 05:39:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Anything with a wikipedia flag with creative commons or public domain licence is ok by me...

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 05:41:56 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Swahili, Arabic, Mandarin, Japanese...

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 05:45:44 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Are you having 'delirium' of grandeur, like feverdreams? :-)
by Fran on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 05:47:12 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Well, if you are serious, maybe bruno-ken can help with the Japanese and the Mandarin, or at least know people who can help.
by Fran on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 05:54:19 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Latin? The Vatican is at least sort of in the Eurozone, and opposition from them might actually make an impression on Blair...
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 08:52:17 AM EST
[ Parent ]
das monde should be able with on of these three: Estonian, Lithuanian, Lettonian (?) - though I don't remember which one.
by Fran on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 05:57:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]
A Greek translation is in the works, due... Do I post it here, or do I send it to someone?

The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom - William Blake
by talos (mihalis at gmail dot com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 05:28:49 AM EST
... due in an hour at most

The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom - William Blake
by talos (mihalis at gmail dot com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 05:29:24 AM EST
[ Parent ]
It's best to post translations here, will also make final corrections possible. Two notes in case you missed them in earlier threads:

  1. Translators should pay attention to quote verbatim what's in their version of the Lisbon Treaty. (Also the correct link and correct 'Article', 'point', page reference in the first footnote.)

  2. If you bother to copy the footnote html (but you can leave that to us), take care to change the footnote IDs in all 12 places.


*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 05:35:43 AM EST
[ Parent ]
And please translate the title (in the top bar) and the left menu.

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 05:37:56 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Ok here it is, I'm sending the Word File to linca:

[Title]Σταματήστε τον Μπλαιρ

[Petition against...] Ηλεκτρονικό ψήφισμα εναντίον της υποψηφιότητας του Τόνυ Μπλαιρ για την «Προεδρία της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης»

Όλοι εμείς, Ευρωπαίοι πολίτες κάθε προέλευσης και πολιτικών πεποιθήσεων, επιθυμούμε να εκφράσουμε την πλήρη μας αντίθεση στην υποψηφιότητα του Τόνυ Μπλαιρ για την Προεδρία του Συμβουλίου της ΕΕ.
Η συμφωνία της Λισαβόνας προβλέπει την δημιουργία μιας καινούριας θέσης, εκείνης του/της Προέδρου του Συμβουλίου της ΕΕ, που θα εκλέγεται από το Συμβούλιο κατόπιν εντολής, ανανεώσιμης μόνο για μια ακόμα φορά, με θητεία δυόμιση ετών. Σύμφωνα με τους όρους της Συνθήκης: «Ο πρόεδρος του Ευρωπαϊκού Συμβουλίου: προεδρεύει και διευθύνει τις εργασίες του Ευρωπαϊκού Συμβουλίου» και «μεριμνά για την προετοιμασία και τη συνέχεια των εργασιών του Ευρωπαϊκού Συμβουλίου». Επιπλέον, «Ο πρόεδρος του Ευρωπαϊκού Συμβουλίου ασκεί, υπό την ιδιότητά του αυτή και στο επίπεδό του, την εξωτερική εκπροσώπηση της Ένωσης σε θέματα που άπτονται της κοινής εξωτερικής πολιτικής και πολιτικής ασφαλείας»¹.
Ο μελλοντικός Πρόεδρος του Συμβουλίου της ΕΕ θα έχει συνεπώς κρίσιμο ρόλο στον προσδιορισμό της πολιτικής της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης και των σχέσεών της με τον υπόλοιπο κόσμο. Η πρώτη προεδρία του Συμβουλίου θα έχει επιπλέον και ένα σημαντικό συμβολικό βάρος τόσο για τους πολίτες της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης, όσο και για την εικόνα της Ένωσης στον υπόλοιπο κόσμο. Υπό το πρίσμα αυτό, πιστεύουμε πως είναι ουσιώδες ο πρώτος ή η πρώτη πρόεδρος να ενσαρκώνει το πνεύμα και τις αξίες του Ευρωπαϊκού σχεδίου.
Εδώ και αρκετό καιρό, όλο και πιο επίμονες αναφορές στις ειδήσεις έχουν καταστήσει σαφές πως κάποιοι επιθυμούν να δουν τον Τόνυ Μπλαιρ να διορίζεται πρώτος πρόεδρος του Συμβουλίου της ΕΕ. Μια τέτοια επιλογή, αν γινόταν πραγματικότητα, θα ερχόταν σε πλήρη αντίθεση με τις αξίες που διακηρύσσει το Ευρωπαϊκό σχέδιο.
Παραβιάζοντας το διεθνές δίκαιο, ο Τόνυ Μπλαιρ ενέπλεξε την χώρα του σε έναν πόλεμο στο Ιράκ στον οποίον ήταν αντίθετη η μεγάλη πλειοψηφία των Ευρωπαίων πολιτών. Ο πόλεμος αυτός έχει προκαλέσει εκατοντάδες χιλιάδες θύματα και έχει εκτοπίσει εκατομμύρια προσφύγων. Αποτέλεσε βασικό παράγοντα στην βαθιά σημερινή αποσταθεροποίηση της Μέσης Ανατολής και έχει αποδυναμώσει την παγκόσμια ασφάλεια. Προκειμένου να οδηγήσει την χώρα του σε πόλεμο, ο κ. Μπλαιρ έκανε συστηματική χρήση κατασκευασμένων στοιχείων και χειραγώγησης της πληροφόρησης. Ο ρόλος του στον πόλεμο στο Ιράκ θα επιβάρυνε ιδιαίτερα την εικόνα της Ένωσης στον κόσμο, αν τελικά ορισθεί Πρόεδρός της.
Τα μέτρα που έχει λάβει η κυβέρνηση Μπλαιρ και η συνέργειά της με την κυβέρνηση Μπους στο παράνομο πρόγραμμα απαγωγών - «έκτακτων εκδόσεων» ("extraordinary renditions"), έχουν οδηγήσει σε πρωτοφανή ύφεση των πολιτικών δικαιωμάτων. Όλα αυτά έρχονται σε αντίθεση με τους όρους της Ευρωπαϊκής Συνθήκης Ανθρωπίνων Δικαιωμάτων, που αποτελεί βασικό στοιχείο της συνθήκης.
 Η Ευρωπαϊκή Χάρτα Βασικών Δικαιωμάτων επισημοποιεί τις ιδρυτικές αρχές του Ευρωπαϊκού σχεδίου  και είναι ένας από τους πυλώνες της νέας συνθήκης. Ο Τόνυ Μπλαιρ αντιτάχθηκε στην συμπερίληψή της στην Συνθήκη της Λισαβόνας και τελικά κατόρθωσε να εξασφαλίσει την εξαίρεση του Ηνωμένου Βασιλείου από αυτήν.
Αντί για την προώθηση της Ευρωπαϊκής ενοποίησης, ο πρώην Πρωθυπουργός της Βρετανίας, έθεσε μια σειρά από λεγόμενες «κόκκινες γραμμές» κατά την διάρκεια των διαπραγματεύσεων της Λισαβόνας², με πρόθεση να εμποδίσει κάθε πρόοδο στα κοινωνικά ζητήματα και στην φορολογική εναρμόνιση, καθώς και στην κοινή αμυντική και εξωτερική πολιτική.
Επιπλέον, μοιάζει αδιανόητο πως πρώτος Πρόεδρος του Συμβουλίου της ΕΕ θα είναι ο πρώην επικεφαλής μιας κυβέρνησης που έχει κρατήσει την χώρα της έξω από δύο βασικά στοιχεία της οικοδόμησης της Ευρώπης: τον χώρο των ελεύθερων μετακινήσεων Σένγκεν και την ζώνη του Ευρώ.
Σε μια εποχή που μια από τις προτεραιότητες των Ευρωπαϊκών θεσμών είναι η επανασύνδεσή τους με τους πολίτες της ΕΕ, πιστεύουμε πως είναι θεμελιώδες ζήτημα ο Πρόεδρος του Συμβουλίου της ΕΕ να είναι ένα πρόσωπο με το οποίο η πλειοψηφία των πολιτών να μπορεί να ταυτιστεί, αντί για κάποιο πρόσωπο που απορρίπτει³. Διακηρύσσουμε συνεπώς την πλήρη αντίθεσή μας με την υποψηφιότητα αυτή.
1.    Συνθήκη της Λισαβόνας [http://eur-lex.europa.eu/JOHtml.do?uri=OJ:C:2007:306:SOM:EL:HTML], Άρθρο 1, παρ. 16, , σημεία 5 και 6 (2007/C 306/17, 18) ↑
2.    Blair sets out EU treaty demands, BBC, Ιούνιος 2007 ↑
3.    Table 6 in FT/Harris poll, Ιούνιος 2007 ↑

Sign the Petition ! -> Συνυπογράψτε το ψήφισμα!
Versions -> Γλώσσες

Who are we ?...
Ποιοι είμαστε;
Είμαστε μια ομάδα πολιτών που συμμετέχουν στην The European Tribune, ένα συνεργατικό ιστοτόπο όπου συζητούμε, μεταξύ πολλών άλλων, θέματα Ευρωπαϊκής και παγκόσμιας πολιτικής...
Σημ. : Η παρούσα εκδοχή του σάιτ είναι προσωρινή, καθώς έπρεπε να την αναρτήσουμε στα γρήγορα. Ενδέχεται να αλλάξουμε την διεύθυνση του ψηφίσματος αυτού, τον σχεδιασμό του ιστοτόπου και χρειαζόμαστε ακόμα την μετάφραση του κειμένου στις υπόλοιπες επίσημες γλώσσες της ΕΕ! Να μας ξανάρθετε!
Επικοινωνία : etg@eurotrib.com

They talk about us -> Μιλάνε για μας
Press Releases -> Δελτία Τύπου
None Yet -> Δεν υπάρχουν ακόμα

The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom - William Blake

by talos (mihalis at gmail dot com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 07:06:21 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Σταματήστε τον Μπλαιρ ! is up !

Thanks for the translation, talos !

You have forgotten two minor things : the title that appears in the title bar of the browser (No to Tony Blair as President of the European Union Council) and the "the initial petition proposal". Greek is a bit long-worded for the site design (I dread German languages), but I have a sans-serif greek font installed, which is nice.

As I've been at it for 15 hours now, I won't be able to do many more cut-and-paste jobs. Translators, please try to edit the html files...

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères

by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 07:39:10 AM EST
[ Parent ]
browser title: Να μην γίνει ο Τόνυ Μπλαιρ Πρόεδρος του Συμβουλίου της ΕΕ!

initial petition proposal: Η αρχική πρόταση ψηφίσματος

The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom - William Blake

by talos (mihalis at gmail dot com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 07:44:05 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Thanks !

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 07:47:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]
A pleasure... Only made possible because I stayed sick at home today! :-)

The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom - William Blake
by talos (mihalis at gmail dot com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 08:41:13 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Get some rest. The time critical stuff is done now.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 07:50:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Do you have some automatic archiving on your server ?

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 07:53:03 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Hi, Linca!

You and Colman have done a superb job! Thanks!

"Dieu se rit des hommes qui se plaignent des conséquences alors qu'ils en chérissent les causes" Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet

by Melanchthon on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 07:56:25 AM EST
[ Parent ]
You mean backups?
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 08:35:33 AM EST
[ Parent ]
yes

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 10:16:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Άρθρο 1, παρ. 16, , σημεία 5 και 6

That's incomplete, see the English version.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 10:28:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]
You're right. Here is the whole footnote again...

Συνθήκη της Λισαβόνας [http://eur-lex.europa.eu/JOHtml.do?uri=OJ:C:2007:306:SOM:EL:HTML], Άρθρο 1, παρ. 16, όπου εισάγεται το άρθρο 9Β στην συνθήκη της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης, σημεία 5 και 6 (2007/C 306/17, 18)

The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom - William Blake

by talos (mihalis at gmail dot com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 05:57:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I just noticed that the first sentence under the bold letters (first sentence of the petition) is missing. It should read...

Η συμφωνία της Λισαβόνας προβλέπει την δημιουργία μιας καινούριας θέσης, εκείνης του/της Προέδρου του Συμβουλίου της ΕΕ, που θα εκλέγεται από το Συμβούλιο κατόπιν εντολής...

[what's missing is in bold]

The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom - William Blake

by talos (mihalis at gmail dot com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 05:34:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]
There is another thing I wanted to ask, which appeared to me when I created the links on top left. You used "Ηλεκτρονικό ψήφισμα" for Petition in the opening, which Babelfish translates as "Electronic resolution". A Google search does give other petitions with "Ψήφισμα". However, there is "Αίτηση", too. Which is what exactly, and is the (longer) original better in Greek?

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 05:43:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Neither is an exact translation. I chose "ψήφισμα" over "αίτηση", because the latter tends to mean dominantly "application" nowadays. So "sign the petition" -> "υπογράψτε την ηλεκτρονική αίτηση" would be understood as "sign the online application form" - though in a more archaic usage it is indeed much closer to "petition". I chose electronic "resolution" because the greek word includes the concept of "voting" - of something you vote (ψηφίζω) for. In fact I googled to determine dominant usage and it does turn out that ψήφισμα is used much more often to describe online petitions than αίτηση is.

The fact that the concept of a petition is rare enough to not have a standard word for it, is (I assume) indicative of something about political practice in Greece, but I'm not sure exactly what :-)

The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom - William Blake

by talos (mihalis at gmail dot com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 06:20:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Thanks for the explanation. Along with the Danish and Dutch translation notes, we learn something about local specialities...

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 06:34:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Hi, talos! Nice idea, thanks! Post it here.

"Dieu se rit des hommes qui se plaignent des conséquences alors qu'ils en chérissent les causes" Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
by Melanchthon on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 05:36:26 AM EST
[ Parent ]
You can post it here, but also send it to linca or colman.

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 05:38:18 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Would it be a good idea to have a signature counter somewhere on the home page so everyone can immediately see where this is all going?
by Quentin on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 05:59:04 AM EST
That may require doing the signature gathering ourselves, which might be in the works.

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 06:06:13 AM EST
[ Parent ]
How about a little script using wget to get the current count from the GoPetition site every 5 or 15 minutes?

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 05:30:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Great idea. Go ahead :)

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 05:41:41 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The number of signatures is rising and, uh ohhh - the comments are fun to read. :-)
by Fran on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 05:59:59 AM EST
Yes! I kept the "comment" field because I thought it could be fun...

"Dieu se rit des hommes qui se plaignent des conséquences alors qu'ils en chérissent les causes" Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
by Melanchthon on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 06:52:53 AM EST
[ Parent ]
To be sure not to forget anything in the translation, and to ease up the workload on those with server access :

Start from the html source of the english version : http://stopblair.eu/indexen.html (it is the one that'll have all the latest formatting) (to see the source, type Ctrl+U in FireFox, don't know about others)

Save that on your computer.

Translate into your language everything that isn't between < >. Keep everything that is between < >, in order to keep the formatting. If possible make sure your text editor is encoding in utf-8 if your language has non-standard letters, diacritics, etc...

Also, download into the same directory http://stopblair.eu/styleBlairPetition.css
Open the translated file with your web browser, check the formatting is ok...

Email the resulting file to me, migeru, Colman.

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères

by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 06:00:03 AM EST
Also, I have only looked at the site with IE7 and Firefox on WinXP... Does the site look similar on other browsers ?

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 06:04:17 AM EST
[ Parent ]
looks the same with Opera on XP

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 06:13:57 AM EST
[ Parent ]
it's fine with konqueror or firefox on openSuse.
by findmeaDoorIntoSummer on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 12:34:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Állítsuk meg Blairt! is up ! Thanks Dodo for following the instructions !

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 07:10:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]
And thanks for the German version :

Stoppt Blair ! is up !

Thanks to Turambar for the translation !

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères

by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 02:20:05 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Antonin, Migeru, Colman, give me a 4 if you received the file. Torres did not saw any flaw at the first glance.
by findmeaDoorIntoSummer on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 12:25:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]
It was already up ;)

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 12:41:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]
how?
by findmeaDoorIntoSummer on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 06:52:51 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Hi,

Possbible (minor) corrections:

"nomeação de Tony Blair à Presidência do Conselho da União Europeia"

maybe

"nomeação de Tony Blair para a Presidência do Conselho da União Europeia"

and

"sobre a imagem da União no mundo, caso fosse ele eleito presidente."

maybe

"sobre a imagem da União no mundo, caso ele fosse eleito presidente."

by t-------------- on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 12:47:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]
your first suggestion is certainly an improvement. the second may be better, however i chose some dramatical style on this sentence - unlike "total" and "opposition [oposição]", by changing the order of the two words, because our brain immediately captures the meaning right from "caso [in case (literally)]". However an far more important principle arises here: be as short as possible; since "ele [he]" can be removed therefore it must be removed. i'll send the corrected file.
by findmeaDoorIntoSummer on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 06:40:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Need to put that stuff on Facebook. I'm on it, but barely use it, so ...

A 'centrist' is someone who's neither on the left, nor on the left.
by nicta (nico&#65312;altiva&#8228;fr) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 06:23:04 AM EST
I told you.. I had no idea about viral stuff.. lucky you do!!!!!

Way to go....

translation to spanish guaranteed....

A pleasure

I therefore claim to show, not how men think in myths, but how myths operate in men's minds without their being aware of the fact. Levi-Strauss, Claude

by kcurie on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 06:49:02 AM EST
Why don't you do Catalan instead? I am polishing my existing Spanish version.

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 07:08:23 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Perfect.

Working on it.

A pleasure

I therefore claim to show, not how men think in myths, but how myths operate in men's minds without their being aware of the fact. Levi-Strauss, Claude

by kcurie on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 08:03:17 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Paremos a Blair!

Petición contra la nominación de Tony Blair como "Presidente de la Unión Europea"

¡Firme la Petición!

Versiones

¿Quiénes somos?

Somos un grupo de participantes en The European Tribune, un sitio web cooperativo donde discutimos sobre politica europea y mundial entre otras muchas cosas...

NOTA: esta versión es provisional, ya que tuvimos que ponerla en marcha a toda prisa. ¡Aún podríamos cambiar la dirección de la petición o el diseño del sitio web, y aún necesitamos más versiones para cubrir los idiomas oficiales de la Union Europea! ¡Vuelva más tarde!

Para ponerse en contacto con nosotros: etg@eurotrib.com

Hablan de nosotros

Financial Times, 04/02/2008

Daily Kos, 04/02/2008

La propuesta inicial de la petición

Comunicados de prensa

¡Ninguno todavía!

Los firmantes, ciudadanos europeos de todo origen y orientación política, deseamos expresar nuestra total oposición a la nominación de Tony Blair como Presidente del Consejo Europeo.

El Tratado de Lisboa prevé la creación de un puesto de Presidente del Consejo de la Unión Europea, elegido por el Consejo para un mandato de dos años y medio, renovable una vez. Bajo los términos del tratado: el Presidente "presidirá e impulsará los trabajos del Consejo Europeo" y "velará por la preparación y continuidad de los trabajos del Consejo Europeo". Además, "asumirá, en su rango y condición, la representación exterior de la Unión en los asuntos de política exterior y de seguridad común, sin perjuicio de las atribuciones del Alto Representante de la Unión para Asuntos Exteriores y Política de Seguridad"¹.

El futuro Presidente del Consejo Europeo tendrá, por tanto, un papel clave en la determinación de las políticas de la Unión y en sus relaciones con el resto del mundo. Esta primera Presidencia del Consejo tendrá también un gran peso simbólico tanto para los ciudadanos de la Unión Europea como para la imagen de la Unión en el resto del mundo. Desde esta perspectiva, creemos que es esencial que el primer Presidente encarne el espíritu y los valores del proyecto europeo.

Desde hace algún tiempo, noticias cada vez más insistentes han hecho evidente el deseo de algunos de ver a Tony Blair nombrado primer Presidente del Consejo Europeo. Este nombramiento, si llegara a producirse, estaría en total contradicción con los valores profesados por el proyecto europeo.

En violación del derecho internacional, Tony Blair comprometió a su país a una guerra en Iraq a la que se oponía una amplia mayoría de los ciudadanos europeos. Esta guerra ha causado centenares de miles de víctimas y ha desplazado a millones de refugiados. Ha sido un factor importante en la profunda desestabilización actual del Oriente Medio, y ha debilitado la seguridad en el mundo. Para llevar a su país a la guerra, utilizó de manera sistemática pruebas falsificadas y la manipulación de la información. Su papel en la guerra de Irak pesaría como una losa sobre la imagen de la Union en el mundo si se diera el caso de ser nombrado su Presidente.

Los pasos dados por el gobierno de Tony Blair, y su complicidad con la administración de Bush en el programa ilegal de "rendiciones extraordinarias", han llevado a un deterioro sin precedentes en las libertades civiles. Esto está en contradicción con los términos de la Convención Europea de Derechos Humanos que forma parte integrante del Tratado.

La Carta de los derechos fundamentales de la Unión Europea formaliza los valores fundacionales del proyecto europeo y es uno de los pilares del nuevo Tratado. Tony Blair luchó contra su inclusión en el Tratado de Lisboa, y finalmente obtuvo una exención para el Reino Unido.

Más que impulsar la integración europea, el anterior Primer Ministro británico estableció una serie de así llamadas "líneas rojas" durante las negociaciones del Tratado de Lisboa², con la intención de bloquear cualquer progreso en asuntos sociales o armonización fiscal, así como en la política de defensa y exterior común.

Es más, nos parece impensable que el primer Presidente del Consejo Europeo sea al antiguo jefe de un gobierno que mantuvo a su país fuera de dos elementos clave de la construcción europea: la zona Schengen de libre circulación de personas y la zona Euro.

Cuando una de las prioridades de las instituciones europeas es reconectar con sus cuidadanos, creemos que es esencial que el Presidente del Consejo Europeo sea una persona con la que una mayoría de los ciudadanos se puedan identificar, más que alguien rechazado por una mayoría³. Por tanto, declaramos nuestra total oposición a esta nominación.

   1. Tratado de Lisboa, Artículo 1, sección 16, que inserta un Artículo 9 B en el Tratado sobre la Unión Europea, secciones 5 y 6 (2007/C 306/17, 18) ↑
   2. Blair expone sus demandas sobre el tratado de la UE, BBC, Junio de 2007 ↑
   3. Tabla 6 del sondeo de FT/Harris, Junio de 2007 ↑

¡Firme la Petición!

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 08:05:43 AM EST
No a Tony Blair como Presidente del Consejo de la Unión Europea
Paremos a Blair!
Now up!

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 10:56:47 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Stop Blair = Stop Blair. Title and final version, here.

Side bar:

Versions

Versies

Sign the Petition !

Teken de Petitie!

Who are we ?

Wie zijn wij?

We are a group of participants on The European Tribune, a collaborative website where we discuss European and world policies among many other things...

Wij zijn deelnemers van de European Tribune, een collaboratieve internetsite waar we onder andere Europees en internationaal beleid discussiëren

NOTE : this version is temporary, as we had to put it up in a hurry. We might yet change the location of the petition, the design of the website, and we still need more versions to cover the EU's official languages! Come back again!

N.B.: dit is een voorlopige versie, die we vanwege tijdsdruk openbaar hebben gemaakt. We veranderen mogelijkerwijs nog de locatie van de internetsite en we hebben nog steeds meer versies nodig om alle officiële EU-talen te hebben

To contact us : etg@eurotrib.com

Contact: etg@eurotrib.com

They talk about us

Publiciteit

Press Releases

none yet!

Persberichten

nog geen!

by nanne (zwaerdenmaecker@gmail.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 08:56:18 AM EST
Still needs the window title.

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 11:14:43 AM EST
[ Parent ]
And "the initial petition proposal"

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 11:19:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Stop Blair (.nl) is up ! (except for the two missing bits)

Thanks for the translation !

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères

by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 11:29:56 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Window: Nee tegen Tony Blair als President van de Europese Raad

IPP: Oorspronkelijk voorstel voor de petitie

by nanne (zwaerdenmaecker@gmail.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 11:58:58 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Updated.

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 12:21:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Nanne, there is one thing with your translation: do you think that commentary in italics (left out in the current version) is necessary? If so, linca will put it up, too.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 04:30:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]
No, it's not necessary. I left it out of the final version. Have to check too many old books for it right now.

If questions come up, explanations can be given. For now the petition is good as it stands, I think.

by nanne (zwaerdenmaecker@gmail.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 06:37:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]
To get a Welsh translation, it might be an Idea to get in touch with Plaid Cymru the welsh nationalist party. after all it was one of their MP's that ran the Impeach Blair campaign. they might be willing to do the translation for us(and push for signatures among their supporters)

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 09:07:08 AM EST
Plus then we get to add perhaps the most beautiful looking flag to the twenty-three already there.

The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet. Winston Churchill
by r------ on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 10:55:47 AM EST
[ Parent ]
In Wales probably has contacts for this. She's offline till tomorrow.
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 11:01:29 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I may have irish gaelic coming, just want to make sure no one else has...

The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet. Winston Churchill
by r------ on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 12:21:36 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Nope.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 12:23:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
havent heard from my translator, but i'll give her earache till she checks it if you get it.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 01:04:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]
mine is a no go it turns out. His sister (who quickly responded) said she thought he'd do it, but he was asking if we thought he was peig sayers...

The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet. Winston Churchill
by r------ on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 01:09:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Two quick last-minute edit suggestions

1st, on the link from the Latvian flag we say "No Lettonian version is yet available," I think the standard English is "Latvian".

2nd, we say on the petition "We, European citizens" but at the signature page we say that one need not be European to sign. Maybe there was a discussion on this I missed, not saying that non-Europeans signing it is a bad thing of course, just maybe the wording on the signature page might be changed to "non-EU citizens are invited to sign in support of this EU citizen's inititiave" or something of the sort...

The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet. Winston Churchill

by r------ on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 10:54:14 AM EST
1rst is corrected...

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 11:06:49 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Yes, the standard English is Latvian. (There's also Lettish, the dictionary says, but I've never seen it used).

That's a good point about the "We, European citizens..." Others can sign up because the nationality and residence fields can be used as filters. But perhaps the text needs altering or a note adding...

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 11:19:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Sorry I butted in at such a late stage, I've been so badly handled by work and illness these past few weeks that I've really been unable to seriously contribute much other than trite attempts at humor of late.

The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet. Winston Churchill
by r------ on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 11:36:15 AM EST
[ Parent ]
You are referring to the Lithuanian version. The Latvian flag is the one with Dark Red-White-Red and the text says correctly "Latvian". Yellow-Green-Red is Lithuania's flag and the text says "Lettonian". Correcting it now...

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 11:38:13 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Thanks. The French names (Lettonie and Lituanie) are quite different so I constantly mix them up in English...

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 11:48:36 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I went and signed...anyway to show progress on numbers of signers? Like a thermometer, like we se on fundraisers?

"Once in awhile we get shown the light, in the strangest of places, if we look at it right" - Hunter/Garcia
by whataboutbob on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 11:43:01 AM EST
We're about to hit 200 signatures, thanks to the Telegraph.

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 12:00:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]
"thanks to the Telegraph"

We don't say that often!

by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 12:01:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I'm shocked and stunned, and we're not far from 300!

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 01:13:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Stop Blair campaign gathers pace in Europe

You're clearly a dangerous pinko commie pragmatist.
by Vagulus on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 11:45:16 AM EST
I updated the "They Talk About Us" section in the English version.

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 11:57:57 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Shouldn't we have a link to the campaign site from the front page of here? maybe left hand somewhere under the ET logo.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 01:14:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Good idea, but I'd put it up once Loefing creates the logo.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 03:10:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Which logo?

I don't understand :)

or do I ..

by Loefing on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 03:42:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The one proposed by redstar, also see downthread. I am serious.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 04:27:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Here you are.

Following is a rendition of the Blair petition logo idea, using EU flag stars and Blair's mug.

I had to fiddle a bit to bring out the 'interdit' aspect, as the stars alone weren't quite enough to get the idea across.



Comments, criticism are welcome.

Hmm, now that I see it in the browser, there may not be enough contrast between the blue paler blue ring [under the stars] and the ground ...

[I like this. h/t to redstar. It'd add an element of humor to an otherwise dry layout].

by Loefing on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 11:36:27 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Or ... someone else come up with an idea if this one is not suitable.

over and out.

by Loefing on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 01:24:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]
That is brilliant!

and beautiful too...

The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet. Winston Churchill

by r------ on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 01:33:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Great work, Loefing, I love it! (Sorry I didn't see it earlier).

If I have a suggestion (but others may disagree), it would be : could you make the "prohibited" bar across his face just a little more opaque? So, at first glance, some people may not take it for a plug for Blair President?

But other people should say how they see it!

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 02:26:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Still not convinced theres enough contrast , maybe the ground should be a lot lighter.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 02:31:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Also, is that the correct yellow for the stars? They appear a bit darkish-pale to me.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 02:38:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]
With a bit more contrast:

by Loefing on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 02:48:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I have been repeatedly looking on the logo, great work loefing. However, everytime I look at it, I feel like the  picture is to nice, or even to friendly. Isn't there a picture were he looks a little more 'devilish'?
by Fran on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 03:02:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]
You don't think that smile is evil incarnated? :-)

But I certainly see your point.

I looked through dozens of pictures of Mr Blair and thought the one I chose was the most characteristic, with that utterly insincere grin. Yuk.

If you want 'ugly', with a touch of militantism, see my  first try

There are other pictures out there. Attention, many of them are copyright. There were some great photos of Tony Blair masks [!], which I'd have loved to use but didn't for fear of copyright issues.

by Loefing on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 03:27:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]
What about a red stripe across as in "no entry" sign -- the logo is pretty which at first glance might give viewer the impressions that logi is in support of a Tony Blair EU presidency. Just my two cents worth.
by The3rdColumn on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 03:40:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I would replace the pale blue with red, also under the outside circle of stars, but that's just me.

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 05:08:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I guess I still remember one picture of him, which has become the symbole of him. It was a very faustian picture, of someone who sold his soul. I have been googling but can't find it. And of course I didn't think of the copyright. :-)
by Fran on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 04:09:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Do you mean the picture from the tory devil eyes poster



Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 04:08:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]
No, but this is a good one. :-)
by Fran on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 04:10:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Yikes!
by The3rdColumn on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 09:26:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Now with more contrast, less blue across the mug and brighter stars ... I hope.

Does that look better on your respective platforms?

by Loefing on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 03:08:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]
That looks fine (xp, firefox and opera)

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 03:10:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I checked on IE and it looks fine to me too. Just wondering, why not make the blue darker over his face?
by Fran on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 03:15:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Cuz afew suggested that it might better be toned down.

see above.

Je demeure là pour toutes les suggestions. :-)

by Loefing on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 03:33:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]
No, I suggested darker blue, more opaque so the bar stands out clearly.

For me, a combination of versions 2 and 3 would be good. The bar across face of 2, the rest of 3.

I like the Blair pic itself, it's typical of him selling himself as a grinning schoolboy.

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 03:51:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]
is this whats being called, being between a rock and a hard place. :-)
by Fran on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 04:11:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]
A final option in response to afew's and Dodo's observations:


by Loefing on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 04:14:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]
That's it, looks great to me.
by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 04:39:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]
To me too!
by Fran on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 04:42:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Cool!

Now, what about a reduced-size version (175px wide) for ET, with STOP BLAIR in it? I was thinking of something like:

...but I have little sense for aesthetics, so this is only intended to give you ideas.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 04:47:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Also now that it is in the Economist, we could use their white against red block motif for the Stop and the Blair...

The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet. Winston Churchill
by r------ on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 06:01:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]
We'll see if this blogger from The Economist is still laughing at us "leftists" when we get one million signatures.

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 06:05:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Don't hold your breath. He still will. If Bliar could laugh about 1.5 million protesters, what about a writer for a propaganda outlet...

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 06:13:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]

British readers of the satirical magazine Private Eye may be reminded of the fictional leftist character, Dave Spart, who was forever to be heard explaining how he "totally and utterly" opposed some reactionary development or other.

Well, he does agree that it is a reactionary development, right? Or he's being too subtle for me. And I thought that nowadays it was the unreconstructed left that was reactionary.

And "leftist" is not an insult anymore - isn't that how they describe all center-left leaders these days?

This gets so confusing...

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 06:15:06 PM EST
[ Parent ]
but you have to remember that in certain circles John McCain is derided and thought not worth voting for because he's a leftist.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 06:17:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Heh, that's true, it's hard to figure out if we're Stalinist reactionaries or leftish extremists or euronuts or whatever else they come up with these days.

Diciphering the ideological content of the invective is becoming an art which might require the same sort of academic study as once pursued during the cold war, filtering the People's Daily for iterations of running yellow dogs of Capitalism and so forth.

Dizzying.

The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet. Winston Churchill

by r------ on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 06:21:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Have a 10!

You should write a diary about that...

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 06:32:36 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Heh. Maybe I will.

Personally, I prefer the former myself...

The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet. Winston Churchill

by r------ on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 06:53:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The Economist guy is an absolute jerk -- has he checked the 'credentials' of every single E Tribuner and the petition signatories?
by The3rdColumn on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 09:34:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]
So, basically, the blogger seems to be arguing that since Blair compares favourably to Bloody Mary, he would make a fine EU president... I think I'll pass on that offer, thank you very much. Something about burning heretics at the stake and all that just kinda sorta puts me off the notion...

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Thu Feb 7th, 2008 at 04:32:45 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Good. This is meant for the ET FP, I gather?

I'll do my best to provide something by tomorrow early pm.

by Loefing on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 06:13:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Yes, thanks in advance, and good night! I should go to sleep, too...

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 06:15:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Ah... that's more like it. Explicitly anti Blair.
by The3rdColumn on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 09:29:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]
If I might be utterly annoying - the design I put up calls for a 5 width, 4 height proportions. Could you (or anybody) add a bit of blue to the sides to reach these proportions ? I'm clueless with graphic edition tools...

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 05:57:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Contact me at my professional gmail address if you would.

I was going to suggest in any case that you set the logo with a left margin, lining it up with the flag menu beneath it ...

It was a design mistake on my part to specify the logo flush left.

But, well, drop me a line.

by Loefing on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 06:30:05 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Há que parar Blair ! is up ! Thanks, findmeaDoorIntoSummer

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 12:25:33 PM EST
It still need to go through a spell checker.. specially the accent... but it is a first.. and I am proud to present it..

Nosaltres, ciutadans europeus de diferents orígens i tendències polítiques, volem expressar la nostra total oposició a la nominació de Tony Blair a la presidència del Consell Europeu.

El Tractat de Lisboa crea  la nova figura de President del Consell Europeu, càrrec escollit pel Consell per un mandat de dos anys i mig, renovable només una vegada. Sota els termes del Tractat: "El President de Consell Europeu encapçalarà les seves discussions i dirigirà els seus treballs" i "assumira les preparacions i la continuïtat del treball del Consell Europeu". A més a més, "El President del Consell Europeu assumirà, en el seu nivell i en la seva consideració, la representació exterior de la Unió en temes relacionats amb la política exterior i la seguretat comuna"

El futur President del Consell Europeu, tindrà, per tant, un paper clau en la determinació de les polítiques de la Unió Europea i les seves relacions amb la resta del món. Aquesta primera presidència del Consell també tindrà un gran caire simbòlic tan pels ciutadans de la Unió europea com per la imatge de la Unió en la resta del món. Davant aquestes consideracions, creiem que és essencial que el primer president representi l'esperit i els valors del projecte Europeu.

D'un temps ençà, s'han incrementat les informacions que fan evident un desig per part d'alguns sector d'escollir Tony Blair com el primer President del Consell Europeu. Si aquest fos el cas, la seva selecció aniria en contra de tots els valors que professa el projecte Europeu.  

Violant la llei internacional, Tony Blair va involucrar el seu país en un guerra a l'Iraq que la gran majoria de ciutadans europeus va rebutjar. Aquesta guerra ha generat centenars de milers de víctimes i desplaçat milions de refugiats. Ha estat un factor principal en l'ara profunda desestabilització de l'Orient Mitjà, a més de debilitar la seguretat mundial. Per tal de guiar el seu país a la guerra, el Sr Blair va fer un ús sistemàtic de proves falses i de manipulació informativa. Si arriba a ser President, el seu paper en la guerra d'Iraq marcarà negativament la imatge de la Unió en el món,

Els passos presos pel govern de Tony Blair, i la seva complicitat amb l'administració Bush, en el programa il·legal de "rendicions extraordinàries" han portat a una forta reducció de les llibertats civils. Això està en forta contradicció amb l'establert a la Convenció Europea de Drets Humans, que és una part integral del tractat.

La Carta Europea de Drets Fonamentals formalitza els valors fundacionals del projecte Europeu i és un dels pilars del nou tractat. Tony Blair va lluitar en contra de la seva inclusió en el Tractat de Lisboa, i finalment va aconseguir una exempció pel Regne Unit.

Enlloc d'impulsar la integració europea, l'ex Primer Ministre Britànic va fixar una sèrie d'anomenades "línies vermelles" durant les negociacions del tractat de Lisboa amb l'intent de bloquejar qualsevol progrés en temes socials, d'harmonització fiscal o de política exterior i de seguretat comuna.

A més a més. sembla poc imaginable que el primer President del Consell Europeu sigui l'antic cap d'un govern que va mantenir el seu país fora de dos dels elements claus en la construcció Europea: l'àrea Shengen de lliure moviment de persones i la zona Euro

En un moment en què una de les prioritats de les institucions europees es connectar amb els ciutadans, creiem fonamental que el President del Consell Europeu sigui una persona amb la qual la gran majoria de ciutadans es puguin identificar, i no pas una persona rebutjada per la majoria de la població. Per tant, declarem la nostra oposició frontal a la seva nominació.

A pleasure

I therefore claim to show, not how men think in myths, but how myths operate in men's minds without their being aware of the fact. Levi-Strauss, Claude

by kcurie on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 02:25:07 PM EST
Salut I força al canut!

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 02:30:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Yepa!!

i would stillsomehow to read it from outside.. someone that has nto seen the english or the spanish version... there must be a tone of english and spanish incorrect expressions (well maybe three or four)...

But to make this change I would need more time.. I do nto know what is best.. to check myself this version adn give it the go... and then fix it.. or wait for an external opinion.

A pleasure

I therefore claim to show, not how men think in myths, but how myths operate in men's minds without their being aware of the fact. Levi-Strauss, Claude

by kcurie on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 02:38:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]
ask over at Booman asked for a diary about the pedition. Maybe it would be a good idea if someone could write the story and then crosspost it on Booman, docudharma and other sited?!
by Fran on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 03:09:28 PM EST
I hit Daily Kos with it last night.
by IdiotSavant on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 04:20:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Do you have a link?
by Fran on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 04:22:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by IdiotSavant on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 05:49:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Your No Right Turn blog post is even ahead of ET on the Stop Blair google query...

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Tue Feb 5th, 2008 at 05:56:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I posted a diary at Booman's, where it's currently top of the rec list.

I'll see about Docudharma later. Perhaps let Super Tuesday talk sag a bit?

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 02:59:37 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I'll post de Gondi's Italian and JakeS' Danish versions after I take J to school. That will bring the total to 10 languages.

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 03:09:10 AM EST
I wake up this morning to see were at 1001

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 05:19:02 AM EST
If you need a Swedish version still, I can try my hand at quickly translating it.

"The basis of optimism is sheer terror" - Oscar Wilde
by NordicStorm (m<-at->sturmbaum.net) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 06:27:10 AM EST
That would be very welcomed!

(Finnish from anyone willing, too.)

Take care to 1) quote the Swedish version of the Treaty verbatim, 2) also translate the other texts on the stopblair.eu page (title, page title, sidebar).

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 06:49:51 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Stoppa Blair!

Protestlista mot nomineringen av Tony Blair som "Europeiska unionens president"

Vi undertecknade, europeiska medborgare av alla härkomster och politiska övertygelser, önskar uttrycka vårt fullständiga motstånd mot nomineringen av Tony Blair som Europeiska rådets ordförande.

Lissabonfördraget förordar inrättandet av en ordförandepost för det Europeiska rådet. Denna ordförande väljs av rådet för en mandatperiod av två och ett halvt år, och kan återväljas högst en gång. Enligt fördraget ska Europeiska rådets ordförande "leda Europeiska rådets arbete och driva det framåt" och "säkerställa förberedelserna av och kontinuiteten i Europeiska rådets arbete". Vidare ska Europeiska rådets ordförande "på sin nivå och i denna egenskap representera unionen utåt i de frågor som omfattas av den gemensamma utrikes- och säkerhetspolitiken".¹

Den kommande ordföranden kommer alltså att spela en nyckelroll i bestämmandet av Europeiska unionens politik och unionens relation till resten av världen. Detta första ordförandeskap kommer också att ha ett stort symboliskt värde för både Europeiska unionens medborgare och för unionens anseende i resten av världen. Med detta i åtanke anser vi att det är nödvändigt att den första ordföranden förkroppsligar det europeiska projektets anda och värderingar.

Under den senaste tiden har allt mer påträngande nyhetsrapporter låtit gälla att det hos vissa finns en önskan att se Tony Blair utnämnd som det Europeiska rådets första ordförande. Denna utnämning, ifall den inträffar, skulle stå fullständigt i strid med de värderinger som det europeiska projekt sägs inneha.

Kränkandes internationell lag drog Tony Blair sitt land med i kriget i Irak, ett krig som en stor majoritet av Europas medborgare opponerade sig emot. Detta krig har krävt hundratusentals dödsoffer och tvingat miljontals människor att fly sina hem. Detta krig har i stor utsträckning bidragit till dagens destabilisering av Mellanöstern, och det har lett till försämrad säkerhet världen över. För att få sitt land med i detta krig använde sig Blair systematiskt av förfalskade bevis och manipulerad information. Hans roll i kriget i Irak skulle kasta en skugga på unionen och dess anseende i världen, ifall Blair blev utnämnd till dess ordförande.

De steg som Tony Blairs regering har tagit, och  Blairs samarbete med Bushadministrationen vad beträffar det illegala programmet för "extraordinära överlämningar", har lett till en hittills oöverträffad tillbakagång för grundläggande mänskliga friheter och rättigheter. Det står också i strid med Europakonventionen om mänskliga rättigheter, som är en intergral del av fördraget.

Rättighetsstadgan formaliserar det europeiska projektets grundvärderingar och är en av grundpelarna i det nya fördraget. Tony Blair motsatte sig dess insättning i fördraget, och lyckades till slut säkerställa ett undantag för Storbritannien.

Istället för att leda den europeiska integrationen framåt, lade den dåvarande premiärministern fram flertalet så kallade "red lines" under förhandlingarna i Lissabon², vars syfte var att blockera alla framsteg vad gäller så väl sociala problem och skatteharmonisering som en gemensam europeisk försvars- och utrikespolitik.

Det förefaller oss dessutom otänkbart att Europeiska rådets första ordförande skulle vara ett före detta regeringsöverhuvud som hållit sitt land utanför två nyckelelement i Europas uppbyggande: Schengensamarbetet för fri rörlighet samt euroområdet.

Vid en tidpunkt då en av de europeiska institutionernas prioriteter är att återvinna Europas medborgares förtroende, förefaller det oss nödvändigt att Europeiska rådets ordförande är en person som en majoritet av Europas medborgare kan identifiera sig med, snarare än en person som en majoritet har förkastat³. Därför motsätter vi oss fullständigt denna nominering.

"The basis of optimism is sheer terror" - Oscar Wilde

by NordicStorm (m<-at->sturmbaum.net) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 07:57:25 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Can you follow linca's translator instructions?

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 08:19:55 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Done and doner.

"The basis of optimism is sheer terror" - Oscar Wilde
by NordicStorm (m<-at->sturmbaum.net) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 08:55:29 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Swedish version now up.

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 09:07:57 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Gaah, forgot to &quot; the quotation marks in the subheader (Namnlinsamling mot nomineringen av Tony Blair som ?Europeiska unionens president?). Curse you, Notepad!

"The basis of optimism is sheer terror" - Oscar Wilde
by NordicStorm (m<-at->sturmbaum.net) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 09:12:11 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Uh oh, I suppose a few responses like this here and there are inevitable as word spreads.

(Digital Spy Forums) Eurosceptics heads to explode: Euronuts take on Blair
These are European federalists at their core, so where should our support lay? Is it a simple choice, can't we oppose Blair but oppose the French plan to discredit and remove Britain's independence?

http://www.stopblair.eu/


The above is from a Google query for stopblair.eu. I suppose a tongue in cheek way to reframe their question could be "OK, he's a bastard, but is he OUR bastard?"

You're clearly a dangerous pinko commie pragmatist.
by Vagulus on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 07:10:55 AM EST
Interesting comments...

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 07:18:17 AM EST
[ Parent ]
The petition obviously challenges the author's worldview of "friend" and "enemy" (their words, not mine). But fear not: in spite of cognitive dissonance, our pigeonholing as 'French' and 'Euronuts' is safe as ever.

You're clearly a dangerous pinko commie pragmatist.
by Vagulus on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 10:48:55 AM EST
[ Parent ]
#1427 has made up his mind. A little weeding may be necessary.
by det on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 10:28:58 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Danish version up, thanks to JakeS!

Jake, why do you prefer "sprog" rather than "versioner"?

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo

by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 07:11:41 AM EST
14 languages to go !

Italian and Swedish are next, I gather ?

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères

by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 07:15:59 AM EST
[ Parent ]
A friend of mine said she's try to do Romanian...

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 07:23:32 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Partly because 'versioner' in Danish implies difference in content. At least to my ears. And my ears are pretty anglicised, so if an anglicism sounds odd to me, then I am willing to bet a bottle of beer that it'll sound odd to other people as well.

But mostly because it's the convention on all the Danish websites I've seen (well, actually, the convention seems to be to not have a headline, simply putting labels like 'english, deutch, dansk' or little flags somewhere on the page, but when a headline does show up, my impression is that it's usually 'sprog' rather than 'versioner').

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Thu Feb 7th, 2008 at 04:11:51 AM EST
[ Parent ]
We haven't talked about dissemination much. We should try to get it viral on most sites listed here. I've hit fark and stumbleupon and am thinking about how one could up what to YouTube. More links from any blogs would be nice, to get a higher rating and more results on Google and Technorati. And political forums should be the place to find those interested in signing.
Of course, sizable attention will probably only come through MSM recognition.

Any other ideas?

"If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles." Sun Tzu

by Turambar (sersguenda at hotmail com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 07:16:49 AM EST
As I said elsewhere we should start the massive viral marketing campaign when the final version where we host the petition ourselves (which also means it'd be available in local languages)...

But your suggestions are good. We should try to get the subject in the talk of our local blogsphers

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères

by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 07:25:36 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Petitie tegen Blair als president van Europa - Sargasso
Het Europese kwaliteitsblog European Tribune is een petitie (nl versie) gestart tegen de nominatie van Tony Blair als voorzitter van de Europese Raad. Dit bestuursorgaan dat sinds 2004 samenkomt in Brussel wordt gezien als het hoogste Unie-orgaan. De Europese Raad stelt de politieke richting van de Europese Unie vast, en is als zodanig een grote stimulator van Europese integratie. Maar nu wordt de Britse oud-premier Blair genoemd als grote kanshebber voor het voorzitterschap van deze raad en dat is gezien zijn staat van dienst onwenselijk zo vinden de opstellers van de petitie.

Can you put the link in the Dutch 'Publiciteit' section?

I'll try getting in touch with some more blogs this evening(thinking of Jan Marijnissen - popular socialist politician).

by nanne (zwaerdenmaecker@gmail.com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 08:43:57 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Done, also in the English version.

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 08:55:44 AM EST
[ Parent ]
There's a short writeup in the Elsevier (right wing weekly magazine - kinda Dutch Economist), at the bottom of this news report:

Elsevier.nl - Europese Unie - Blair overweegt kandidatuur EU-president

Tegenstand
De kandidatuur van Blair ligt bij sommige landen lastig, omdat hij medeverantwoordelijk is voor de inval in Irak. Bovendien ligt Groot-Brittannië nogal eens dwars bij de Europese eenwording. Het land doet bijvoorbeeld niet mee met de euro en het Schengenverdrag.

Het mogelijke voorzitterschap van Blair leidt in elk geval op internet tot hevige discussies. Op stopblair.eu en eurotrib.com kunnen tegenstrevers een petitie tekenen. Als meer dan een miljoen opponenten hun handtekening hebben gezet, moet Brussel de eventuele kandidatuur heroverwegen.

by nanne (zwaerdenmaecker@gmail.com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 09:16:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Anything interesting detail in the Dutch versions you may translate?

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 10:38:02 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Maybe more, later. Elsevier gets it wrong on what the signatures will accomplish (they say Brussels will have to reconsider the nomination, which is false, the citizen's initiative only applies to Commission proposals, though in practice of course a million signatures might just accomplish something).

Sargasso calls us a European quality blog.

by nanne (zwaerdenmaecker@gmail.com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 10:46:35 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Also, proud to be signatory #1098.

"The basis of optimism is sheer terror" - Oscar Wilde
by NordicStorm (m<-at->sturmbaum.net) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 07:58:52 AM EST
No a Tony Blair come Presidente del Consiglio dell'Unione Europea
Stop Blair!
Petizione contro la nomina di Tony Blair come "Presidente dell'Unione Europea"
I translated some of the margin text myself - de Gondi please feel free to point out any mistakes!

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 08:05:39 AM EST
Loads of signatories from Belgium today, have we had some publicity there?

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 10:47:49 AM EST
apparently

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 11:00:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Now added to the "they talk about us" section.

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 11:10:35 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Now also in "De TIJD"

The struggle of man against tyranny is the struggle of memory against forgetting.(Kundera)
by Elco B (elcob at scarlet dot be) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 04:05:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Another paper: "De Morgen"

The struggle of man against tyranny is the struggle of memory against forgetting.(Kundera)
by Elco B (elcob at scarlet dot be) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 04:10:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by nanne (zwaerdenmaecker@gmail.com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 11:38:56 AM EST
Home of The Green Arrow
Now, having screwed up Our Country and then doing a runner, after handing the reins of a dying horse to a man without the courage to stand for election, he now aspires to becoming President of the Soviet Union of Eurabia.

So when at first I read of a site called Stop Blair that is organising a European Petition, with a target of a million people to sign it against the nomination of Tony Blair as "President of the European Union", I thought I might as well add my name.

But when I visited the site, I changed my mind after reading that their objections was to the fact that Blair had not done enough to move European integration (enslavement) along fast enough for some.


We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 11:44:07 AM EST
[ Parent ]
BNP Update:

UPDATE

So do I think we should sign? Well yes. Lets give him a black eye just for the hell of it.



"Pretending that you already know the answer when you don't is not actually very helpful." ~Migeru.
by poemless on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 12:19:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]
some seriously disturbed people there.

(and we can match names on the petition, Dennis)

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 11:57:16 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I think I'm not going to put that BNP blog in the "They talk about us" section...

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 05:02:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]
thank god for that..

(Not that I doubted you wouldnt)

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 05:08:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Wikipedia: President of the European Council
A petition opposing Tony Blair's nomination was launched on 4 February 2008 in the European Tribune internet forum[20][21].


You're clearly a dangerous pinko commie pragmatist.
by Vagulus on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 12:46:18 PM EST
My god though, they list Kwasniewski as a contender!

The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet. Winston Churchill
by r------ on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 12:51:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Why surprised?

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 02:11:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Pleasantly, thought he had been out of favor now with the Twins in charge in Poland.

He's actually an intriguing choice, I wouldn't think it a bad one at all.

The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet. Winston Churchill

by r------ on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 04:07:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Well, he has some shades of Bliar, some shades of corruption and power politics (no wonder from the former communist youth heir-apparent), and practising Atlanticism. But with all that said, given the offing, still an interesting choice from the East.

Though I'd prefer the former Slovenian President - that would be funny, a statesman turned hippy...

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 04:32:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I know he's not perfect but I'm sort of doubting perfect will be available. Although, imho Prodi would be a very good pick, but I don't want to say that out loud yet until after the upcoming elections for fear of giving him bad luck.

The Hun is always either at your throat or at your feet. Winston Churchill
by r------ on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 05:06:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I think it should be someone
  1. well experienced in long negotiations of EU government heads,
  2. not to be expected to try to overshadow every other institution of the EU and gain extra powers,
  3. someone from a small EU member.

Juncker would be just perfect. Prodi not, Merkel not, Schüssel not.

However, the more important position, also coming up for selection, is (should be) that of Commission President, and I'd be fine with Prodi returning. Even finer with a PES candidate, say Rasmussen (Poul Nyrup, not the awful Anders Fogh).

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 05:35:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Say, when did Fjogh Rasmussen become a PES candidate? I know PES is a bunch of right-wingers, but I don't think they've gone that far :-P

'Sides, Fjogh is busy fucking my country over. I mean, I wouldn't mind if someone took him off our hands, but I'd prefer it to be someone like the Siberian Regional Government Mission to Ulan Bator, or something like that.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Thu Feb 7th, 2008 at 04:23:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Say, when did Fjogh Rasmussen become a PES candidate?

I expected that to be the question of those non-Danes not remembering Poul Nyrup.

As for Fjogh, he can hire as cartoonist for a Baghdad newspaper.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Thu Feb 7th, 2008 at 04:35:09 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Does Baghdad have newspapers anymore?

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.

by JakeS (JangoSierra 'at' gmail 'dot' com) on Thu Feb 7th, 2008 at 07:56:04 AM EST
[ Parent ]
That was an anonymous edit... If it was done by an ETer it might be construed as a violation of Wikipedia rules (creating a Wikipedia mention for self-promotion).

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 05:17:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]
It was someone from Toulouse (or environs). Euther Alex is still reading us, or a silent admirer, or afew went rogue.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 05:47:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]


aspiring to genteel poverty

by edwin (eeeeeeee222222rrrrreeeeeaaaaadddddd@@@@yyyyaaaaaaa) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 02:36:19 PM EST
Well that didn't seem to work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw7skSn8Dq8

aspiring to genteel poverty

by edwin (eeeeeeee222222rrrrreeeeeaaaaadddddd@@@@yyyyaaaaaaa) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 02:40:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]
But Melanchthon must deal with a few trolls once he gets back.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 02:48:59 PM EST
2217 Signatures... and counting.

:)

Guaranteed to be plastered all over the Internet Drinking Liberally in New Milford

by Connecticut Man1 (connecticutman1 AT gmail dot com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 04:35:35 PM EST

first supporting a war, then thinking of leadership. It's not done


In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 05:12:08 PM EST
It's petition Haiku :-)
by Loefing on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 07:31:51 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Petiţie împotriva nominalizarii lui Tony Blair ca "Preşedinte al Uniunii Europene"

Noi, cetăţeni europeni de toate originile şi de toate orientările politice, dorim să ne exprimăm totala noastră opoziţie la nominalizarea lui Tony Blair la preşedenţia Uniunii Europene.

Tratatul de la Lisabona prevede crearea noului post de Preşedinte al Consiliului European, ales de către Consiliu pentru un mandat de doi ani şi jumătate, reînnoibil o singură dată. Conform formulării tratatului: "Preşedintele asigură pregătirea si continuitatea lucrărilor Consiliului European" şi "Preşedintele prezidează şi impulsionează lucrările Consiliului European". De asemenea, "preşedintele Consiliului European asigură, la nivelul său si în această calitate, reprezentarea în exterior a Uniunii în probleme referitoare la politica externă si de securitate comună"¹

Viitorul presedinte al Consiliului Uniunii Europene va avea deci un rol esential în determinarea politicilor Uniunii si in relaţiile acesteia cu restul lumii. Această primă preşedenţie va avea de asemenea o mare importanţă simbolică atât pentru cetăţenii Uniunii Europene cât şi pentru restul lumii. În această perspectivă, credem că este esenţial ca primul preşedinte să încarneze spritul şi valorile proiectului european.

De cîtva timp, mai multe articole în presă arată intenţia anumitor cercuri de a-l vedea pe Tony Blair numit primul preşedinte al Uniunii Europene. Această numire, dacă va avea loc, ar fi în totală contradicţie cu valorile profesate de proiectul european.

Violând dreptul internaţional, Tony Blair a angajat ţara sa într-un război în Irak, război căruia majoritatea cetăţenilor europeni îi erau opuşi. Acest război a făcut sute de mii de victime şi a dus la dizlocarea a milioane de refugiaţi. Acest razboi constituie un factor major în profunda destabilizare actuală în Orientul Apropiat şi a slăbit securitatea globului. Pentru a-şi duce ţara în război,  domnul Blair a utilizat într-un mod sistematic manipularea informaţiei şi de dovezi falsificate. Rolul său în războiul din Irak va cântari greu asupra imaginii Uniunii în lume dacă se va ajunge să fie numit preşedinte.

Măsurile luate de guvernul lui Tony Blair şi complicitatea acestuia cu administraţia Bush în programul ilegal de răpiri şi deportări, cunoscut sub termenul "extraordinary renditions", au dus la o deteriorare fară precedent a libertăţilor civile; acest lucru este în contradicţie cu termenii Convenţiei Europene a Drepturilor Omului care este o parte integrantă a Tratatului.

Carta Europeana a Drepturilor Fundamentale formalizează valorile fondatoare ale proiectului european şi constituie unul din pilonii noului tratat. Tony Blair a luptat împotriva includerii acesteia în Tratatul de la Lisabona pentru ca până la urmă să obţină ca această Cartă să nu se aplice pe teritoriul Marii Britanii.

În loc să impulseze integrarea europeană, fostul Prim-ministru britanic a impus un număr de "linii roşii" în cursul negocierilor tratatului de la Lisabona², cu scopul de a împiedica orice progres în chestiunile sociale şi în armonizarea fiscală, precum şi în ceea ce priveşte politica exterioară şi de apărare comună.

În sfârşit, ni se pare de neconceput ca primul preşedinte al Consiliului Uniunii Europene să fie fostul şef al unui guvern care şi-a ţinut ţara în afara a două elemente cheie ale contrucţiei europene: zona Schengen de liberă circulaţie şi zona Euro.

La ora la care una din priorităţile instituţiilor europene este să reînnoade legătura cu cetăţenii, credem că este esenţial ca Preşedintele Consiliului Uniunii Europene sa fie o personalitate în care cei mai mulţi dintre cetăţeni să se poată recunoaşte, nu o persoană respinsă de majoritatea.³ De aceea ne afirmăm opoziţia noastră totală la această numire.



  1. Tratatul de la Lisabona Articolul 1, punctul 16, care inserează Articolul 9 B în Tratatul Uniunii Europene, punctele 5 şi 6 6 (2007/C 306/17, 18)
            ↑


  2.         Blair sets out EU treaty demands
    , BBC, Iunie
          2007

  3. Tabelul 6 în
            sondajul FT/Harris
    , June 2007

I have sent linca the html version, including the left-side text. Sorry for the delay.

by Deni on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 05:32:35 PM EST
Many thanks! We were scrambling to find a translator behind the scenes, and then out of the blue :-)

Could you also translate the other texts on the page? (Page title, top text, sidebar text, link texts)

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 05:37:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Done, in the file I sent to linca. That was what I called "the left-side text" for lack of inspiration.
by Deni on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 05:41:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Forget that, overlooked the final sentence. Only the title may have been left out.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 05:44:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Oh, and is not really that out of the blue. I have been lurking here for a year already.
by Deni on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 05:46:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I meant that you haven't signalled beforehand that you are doing this translation. (I do remember your occasional comments.)

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 05:48:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I forgot to mention: the translation is mainly from the French version; at times I have used also the English and the Spanish ones. I hope the meaning stayed the same.
by Deni on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 05:39:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Did you make sure you were quoting the Romanian Lisbon treaty version ?

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 05:58:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Yes. The text between the "" (carrets?) is copy-pasted from the Romanian translation of the treaty.

http://bookshop.europa.eu/eubookshop/FileCache/PUBPDF/FXAC07306ROC/FXAC07306ROC_002.pdf

by Deni on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 06:36:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]
the Romanian version of the translation is up with three non translated bits : the window title, the "Stop Blair!", and "They talk about us"

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 06:25:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Now also linked from ET.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 06:30:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Spotted a minor error, at the usual location, footnote 1: the 6 is doubled ("punctele 5 şi 6 6 ")

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 06:35:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Stop Blair! is ok in Romanian, I think, at least in the context of this petition.

They talk about us is

Se vorbe& #351;te despre noi

The title:

Nu lui Tony Blair ca Pre& #351;edinte al Consiliului Uniunii Europene

Erase the spaces from the html code to get the "ş"

Sorry for the lacune.

by Deni on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 06:47:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Nothing much to be sorry about, thanks very much for the translation !

(Greek is updated too, talos, can you check ?)

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères

by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 06:57:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]
So now we are finished with beyond 50% of the official languages.

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 07:01:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Thank you so much Deni!!!! and re-welcome to ET!

Our knowledge has surpassed our wisdom. -Charu Saxena.
by metavision on Thu Feb 7th, 2008 at 12:41:06 PM EST
[ Parent ]
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/2/6/171439/2549/178/451364

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 05:55:24 PM EST
http://www.docudharma.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4314

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 06:30:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I've been invited to face Dennis McShane on BBC Radio 4 tomorrow morning - 7:50 London time, the Today programme.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 07:31:35 PM EST
Denis MacShane - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
n 2005 he became a signatory of the Henry Jackson Society principles,[citation needed] advocating a proactive approach to the spread of liberal democracy across the world, including by military intervention.[verification needed] The society also supports "European military modernisation and integration under British leadership".[verification needed] In 2004 he criticised the British Muslim community,[verification needed] saying they didn't do enough to condemn acts of Islamic terrorism.[citation needed] He was a supporter of the 2003 invasion of Iraq and has strongly supported Tony Blair's foreign policy in relation to the Middle East and elsewhere.[citation needed]

Will have to wake up early for that

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 07:35:51 PM EST
[ Parent ]
That wikipedia page isn't exactly conforming to the encyclopaedic rules, but then,

Denis MacShane - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

What a fantastic compliment to the CIA-loving dickweed.

seems to be an apt description...

Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères

by linca (antonin POINT lucas AROBASE gmail.com) on Thu Feb 7th, 2008 at 02:38:06 AM EST
[ Parent ]
ceebs, do you know whether this will be streamed? Can we capture it?

We have met the enemy, and he is us — Pogo
by Carrie (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 07:37:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Well Heres the programmes webpage and you can listen to the program in half hour chunks

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 07:51:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]
capturing, Audio hijack pro is recomended but thats a mac program.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 07:56:04 PM EST
[ Parent ]
just got a bit of software and set up the pc and should grab it in the morning when it's on.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Wed Feb 6th, 2008 at 08:36:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The fact is that Tony Blair committed Britain into the Iraqi war and made a crazy mistake. And that also during his ten years reign on Britain, he has shown to be more pro-american and less european than any european politician.

So honestly speaking I do not see him to be appointed the First President of the EU. This job is probably more for a politician of Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark or Luxemburg, or even a french ( but I do not see anybody at the right level ) or a german.

by Kermitte (uswturlututu@ifrance.com) on Thu Feb 7th, 2008 at 09:14:39 AM EST


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