Europe
EU divided on how to handle Moscow - Sarkozy says Russian policy is "perfectly normal"
EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels today to discuss the next steps following the cessation of hostilities in Georgia. Le Figaro reports that EU member states are "divided between firmness and moderation towards Moscow". The paper notes that Poland, the Baltic countries and Sweden favour a tough line, with Warsaw seeing the issue in terms of nothing less than a battle to stop Moscow reconquering its former empire. "I hope the European Union could remain united ... but I expect that will be the hardest part," said Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel of Slovenia, according to Reuters. "The older members are more reserved, while the new members who have their own experiences with Russia, are more energetic," Rupel told journalists yesterday.
According to Reuters, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Petras Vaitiekunas told reporters there must be consequences for Russia's "unacceptable and unproportional" use of force. The country's President warned against a repeat of the 1938 Munich Agreement. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband also said Russia should realize it could pay a price for its actions. "We've got to make sure that the Russians realize that they do have rights in the international system but they must be allied with responsibilities," he said. "And when responsibilities are not upheld, there are political consequences for Russia" he added. On the BBC Today programme, Miliband accused Moscow of "blatant aggression" against Georgia. The Economist blog reports that the Italian government, by contrast, said it was "close to Putin's position. This war has pushed Georgia further away from Europe." Germany is particularly keen to manage Russia as a strategic partner.
According to EUobserver, France's Nicolas Sarkozy said yesterday "It's perfectly normal that Russia would want to defend the interests both of Russians in Russia and Russophones outside Russia." The website notes that Italy and Germany are both constructing major natural gas pipelines with Russia - the South Stream and North Stream projects.
A leader in the FT argues, "Vladimir Putin, re-emerging as Russia's real leader over the past week, has achieved nearly all of Moscow's war aims, in the face of a feeble western response. Russia looks in no mood to negotiate anything. This is going to be a difficult crisis to manage."
Le Figaro Le Monde Guardian IHT IHT-divisions Irish Times ITN RTÉ Times Reuters FT Spiegel EU observer EUobserver Deutsche Welle FT Deutsche Welle Economist blog
Ackerman: Georgia war will make ratification of Lisbon Treaty more likely
Bruce Ackerman of Yale University argues on the Guardian online, "While the Irish referendum suggested an exhaustion of the centralising ambitions of recent years, the Russian invasion will generate a new centralising dynamic based on military security... Quite suddenly, the new eastern members of the Union will be clamouring for security. And it will soon become apparent that the United States is entirely unwilling to reassume its Cold War role as guarantor of Europe's military integrity... The Poles and the Czechs will no longer be sceptics about the merits of the Lisbon Treaty. They will become passionate advocates for its rapid ratification... Georgia has decisively placed the security question on the agenda - raising the stakes, and putting a great deal of responsibility on Ireland to reach an accommodation with the rest of Europe that will allow the Union to move forward without another period of anxious renegotiation."
Guardian Ackerman Open Europe blog
'Snooper's charter' to check texts and emails - driven by EU Directive
The Guardian reports on Home Office proposals published yesterday which will allow local councils, health authorities and hundreds of other public bodies to access details of everyone's personal text, emails and internet use. However, the Home Office also admitted last night that because the measure is the result of EU directive 2006/24/EC, the data will be made available to public investigators across Europe. The consultation paper published yesterday estimates that it will cost the internet industry over £50m to store the mountain of data. Although some telecommunications companies already store similar data voluntarily the EU directive makes storage of significant amounts of data mandatory across all EU states.
The Liberal Democrats' home affairs spokesman, Chris Huhne, said, "We will be told it is for use in combating terrorism and organised crime but if Ripa powers are anything to go by, it will soon be used to spy on ordinary people's kids, pets and bins". The Shadow Home secretary, Dominic Grieve, added: "Yet again the government have proved themselves unable to resist the temptation to take a power quite properly designed to combat terrorism to snoop on the lives of ordinary people in everyday circumstances".
In a letter to the Guardian Claude Moraes, a Labour MEP, criticises the lack of parliamentary scrutiny and transparency in these proposals. He concludes by saying that "radical, secretive decisions which are not scrutinised by parliaments or do not take people with them will ultimately fail".
Irish Green Party asks its members: "What do you think the future of the Lisbon Treaty should be?"
The Irish Times reports that the Green Party in Ireland has sent an e-mail to its members asking them: "What do you think the future of the Lisbon Treaty should be?", as part of an attempt by the party leadership to map out a position on the future of the Treaty, following the No vote. Green Ministers supported the campaign for a Yes vote in the referendum campaign but according to opinion polls the majority of party supporters actually voted No.
Brazilian Foreign Affairs Minister regrets WTO negotiations having ended up in political infighting
Looking back at the WTO negotiations in Geneva, Brazilian Foreign Affairs Minister Celso Amorim declares that everyone agreed to focus on the "Triangle of Pascal" (WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy), pointing at three important issues: access for agricultural products to the EU market, access for industrial products to the markets of developing countries and American agricultural subsidies. However he regrets the negotiations having ended up in political infighting but says that there is still a small chance that the Doha round could be successfully concluded.
The ceiling of the main plenary room in the European Parliament in Strasbourg collapsed last week. A reader of the French newspaper Liberation said it was a "bad omen for Europe", whilst another called it a "superb metaphor".
EUobserver
World hunger can never be solved with current EU attitude to GM
In the Telegraph, George Bridges argues that the projected growth in world population by 2050 requires a doubling of world production of food, something which will not be possible without GM foods. He argues that the EU must begin investing in GM foods, which it has thus far been reluctant to do despite the approval of EU scientists and peer reviews.
UK
Gordon Brown faces the prospect of another potentially damaging Scottish by-election after the death of Glenrothes Labour MP John MacDougall.
No comments:
Post a Comment