FOLLOWING THE EUROPEAN UNION

Europe Panel Proposes Torture Trade Ban
Updated: Friday, Jul. 1, 2005 - 12:30 AM

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - The European Commission proposed EU-wide legislation Thursday banning the trade of goods designed for torture and executions, including electric shock belts, electric chairs and guillotines.

The proposal, which needs the backing of all 25 European Union governments, would order countries to impose "strict controls" on those products and multipurpose goods that could be used "to inflict torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment," the EU executive said in a statement. Among the multiple-use goods were leg irons and electric shock weapons that have both a legitimate use but also could be used for torture.

http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=105&sid=537890

Wow. Europe still makes these things? Rather backwards and barbaric, dontcha think?

.)<The capital always has been Berlin, Bonn was the 'provisorische Haupstadt'>

Well, I'm really not sure about how Karlsruhe will decide - 1982 they said, this was wrong but since you did it, we tolerate it ... just this time. (My translation :wink: )

AFX News Limited
EU-sought Turkish penal code takes effect amidst criticism over press freedom

06.01.2005

ANKARA (AFX) - Turkey's new penal code, a key reform demanded by the European Union, took effect today after months of political wrangling and despite criticism that it severely restricts press freedoms.

Controversy has haunted the code ever since the government rushed it through parliament last September as part of reforms that helped Turkey win an EU green light for accession talks, scheduled to start this autumn.

The law has been welcomed for introducing a more liberal criminal justice system, in particular increasing penalties against human rights abuses and torture and significantly improving the rights of women and children.

However some parts, notably those concerning the media, triggered a widespread campaign against the law, forcing Ankara to put it on hold just days before it was due to take effect on April 1, to allow parliament time to amend several provisions.

Parliament passed the amendments last week, but President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who has two weeks to study the articles, had not signed them into law by midnight Tuesday, which means the code has taken effect in its original form.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul played down the prospect of Sezer vetoing the amendments, insisting that the main reforms demanded by the EU are part of the code's original version.

'The issues of concern to the EU -- in other words, provisions related to the (EU) political criteria -- have already been amended,' Gul said.

Turkish newspapers have responed to the introduction of the new code with protests and scepticism.

'Freedom of the press is in danger,' declared the daily Aksam, while Milliyet headlined: 'Sour start to a new era.'

The Radikal newspaper also slammed the government for failing to address the complaints of press groups, which argue that under the new code, journalists may still end up behind bars, despite jail sentences having been purged from the press law in an earlier reform last year.

Experts say legal articles concerning the media contain terms vague enough to leave prosecutors and judges with room for arbitrary decisions that may threaten freedom of expression.

One article of particular concern foresees up to 15 years imprisonment for those who disseminate propaganda via the media against 'fundamental national interests' in return for material benefits from foreigners.

The article raised alarm when it emerged that explanatory notes in the draft said it targets those who may, for instance, advocate the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Cyprus or support claims that the massacre of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire was genocide.

Press groups also say provisions pertaining to the protection of privacy and the secrecy of judicial proceedings until suspects are formally charged are too restrictive and will deal a heavy blow to investigative journalism.

Balkenende's drop in popularity antedates the Constitution referendum campaign by far as well ... its been low for ages.

His Christian-Democratic party, which got 44 seats in the January 2003 election, fell to 35 soon after, when protracted coalition negotiations with the Labour Party collapsed and the present government was formed instead. It hasn't recovered since, hovering between 30 and 35 seats almost continuously, only dipping clearly below that for a few weeks after Theo van Gogh's murder. There was no significant change in it during the referendum campaign either: initially Balkenende's party gained a few seats, then it lost them again as the campaign drew to a close.

The point here was that his actions at the EU summit, which could easily be interpreted as an attempt to ingratiate himself with the voters again, failed to have any impact either way as well.

Blair kicks off EU presidency with new attack

Andrew Grice and Stephen Castle in Brussels
Published: 02 July 2005


Britain has opened a new front in the battle over the European Union's future by mounting a direct challenge to the social protection measures on the continent.

Tony Blair announced that Britain would use its six months in the EU's rotating presidency, which began yesterday, to review the European "social model" covering workers' rights, labour market flexibility, skills and welfare.

The move threatens further conflict with France and Germany, already at odds with Britain over the EU budget, who claim the British system leaves people to the mercy of the market. They offer a higher level of social protection than Britain, which believes the continental model stifles job-creation and growth. Mr Blair won the backing of the European Commission for the initiative when its members visited London for talks with ministers. The Commission is to produce a paper on the "sustainability of the European model" in the light of globalisation.

Jose Manuel Barroso, the Commission's president, said: "To have an ambitious social model, we need growth. Without growth ... we can't deliver on the expectations of social justice that our citizens have."

Mr Barroso said the EU was about "more than markets". He said it was a mistake to pitch the free market against the social market because "we need both". That was a nod in the direction of the "Nordic model" adopted by nations such as Sweden, which have used high taxes to fund huge investment in education, research and development, sparking healthy economic growth. While labour laws are more flexible, allowing employers to lay off workers more easily than in France or Germany, the jobless are supported through generous welfare payments and encouraged to retrain.

At a joint press conference with Mr Barroso, Mr Blair admitted he was "taking a risk" in raising the social model, but said: "I think it is sensible to do it. Everybody knows that is the debate going on in Europe, so let's have it."
The Prime Minister insisted: "Europe is not just about free trade and it is not just about the economy, but it is no use us trying to compete in the tough, changing world unless we are prepared to make the changes necessary, including not abandoning our social model, but updating it." Mr Blair announced that he is call an informal summit of European leaders this autumn to discuss its future direction following the "no" votes in the French and Dutch referendums on the proposed EU constitution.

He admitted that Britain was taking over the presidency at a "difficult moment" and played down hopes of a breakthrough on the budget crisis before another summit in December. "We will do our best to make progress, to reach agreement. Whether it's possible or not, I really don't know. There is no point in pretending there are not real issues and real difficulties."

Mr Barroso, who said it was a "rough period" for European politics, issued a coded warning to Britain. "No one is going to impose its own point of view on the others," he said. Calling for an urgent agreement on the budget to prevent "paralysis", he added: "Everyone has to move." He also appealed to EU leaders to embrace a "culture of compromise" and avoid "nationalist rhetoric". The message was reinforced by Peter Mandelson, the Trade commissioner and close Blair ally, who said Britain could act as an "honest broker" as long as it did not pursue its own interests rather than the EU's as a whole.

Catherine Colonna, the French European Affairs minister, said Britain had "the responsibility to ... work for the general European interest". She added that Britain's £3bn-a-year rebate remains a "problem".

Britain listed amongst its priorities reform of the Common Agricultural Policy and closer co-operation on counter-terrorism and illegal immigration.

(These nations have understandably looked to France and Germany for their European future -- some time must pass for them to align themselves in this new political struggle with the new forces that better represent their own interests.)

Britain's attempts to link a deal on the next European budget to reforms of Europe's farm subsidies were dismissed as "political rhetoric" by the EU budget commissioner.

Dalia Grybauskaite was scathing about British tactics over the seven-year EU budget, and said there was only "a slim chance" of a deal during the UK presidency of the union, which ends in December.

EU commissioner doubts Blair's plan for EU

The European Union budget chief expressed doubts on Monday about Prime Minister Tony Blair's plan to launch fundamental economic reform of the bloc, saying it lacked substance so far and created divisions in the EU.

EU Budget Commissioner Dalia Grybauskaite, who met Blair last week, said she was pessimistic about Britain's ability to steer the EU towards a deal on its 2007-2013 budget during its six-month presidency which started on Friday.

She said Blair's liberal reform agenda, unveiled at the European Parliament last month, had so far produced only a theoretical debate, which could distract the EU's 25 members from reaching the budget deal this year.

"Today, I can see only the willingness to engage in a battle, to engage in the discussion about reforms, without really identifying the substance of reforms," Grybauskaite, a former finance minister of Lithuania, told reporters.

"Any European discussion on reforms is a long process ... If the goal is to restore the damaged image at home by fashionable discussion on reform, if we will see that by December, I can evaluate it as an example of irresponsible ... populism," she said, but declined to blame Blair directly. [..]

"It's mainly a war of words, maybe more political rhetoric which we hear at the media level. All sides do not yet engage in real discussions about reforms," said Grybauskaite.

Grybauskaite said the EU crisis would deepen if the bloc failed to agree on the budget by December, the end of Blair's presidency, and if Britain's reform drive did not bring results. [..]

[Blair has] pledged efforts to secure a budget deal, which is crucial for the EU's new member states from eastern Europe to receive billions of euros in the bloc's aid to modernise their economies damaged by decades of communist rule. [..]

[Grybauskaite] warned that new member states such as Poland and the Baltic republics would lose billions of euros in EU aid unless the budget agreement is reached by December.

If it is not, Austria would seek to clinch a deal at the end of its presidency in June.

And then there was this ...

Quote:

Berlusconi rubs salt in Finnish wound at food body

PARMA, Italy (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi repeated one of his most famous diplomatic gaffes on Tuesday by insulting the cuisine of Finland which Italy beat to host the new European Food Safety Authority.

"I've been to Finland and I had to endure the Finnish diet so I am in a position to make a comparison," Berlusconi told local dignitaries ahead of the inauguration of the EFSA in the northern Italian town of Parma.

Chirac serves up next dish in war of words

Jacques Chirac, French president, has opened a new front in his war of words with Britain, claiming that the UK's main contribution to European agriculture was "mad cow disease".

In another example of the flourishing entente cordiale, Mr Chirac is also said to have poured Gallic scorn on British cuisine during a meeting with Gerhard Schröder, German chancellor, and Vladimir Putin, Russian president. "You can't trust people who cook as badly as that," he said. "After Finland, it's the country with the worst food."

The exchange on the margins of a meeting in Kaliningrad, Russia, was reported in Monday's Libération, and was not denied by Mr Chirac's spokesman.

The comments come after Tony Blair launched his campaign to reform Europe's farm subsidy regime, of which French farmers are the biggest beneficiaries.

Mr Chirac's culinary jibe adds further spice to this week's confrontation with Mr Blair in Singapore, where Paris and London are battling to stage the 2012 Olympic Games. British cuisine is a regular target of French jokes in spite of the rising reputation of British restaurants and the popularity in France of British television chefs like Jamie Oliver.