FOLLOWING THE EUROPEAN UNION

Luxembourg's foreign minister had a nice metaphor.

Asked if the "Yes" vote was like giving a dead person a vaccination, he said Europe had had a bad cold but the people of Luxembourg had given it a nice cup of tea with a drop of honey, and the patient was now getting better.

Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, who said that Luxembourg voters had broken the No trend in Europe, rebuffed the idea that the vote was comparable to giving an injection to a dead patient. "This is not the image that has to be used today," said Asselborn, who preferred saying that the Luxembourg people had given a good cup of tea with honey to a slightly ill patient who caught a little cold.

Seven leading US politicians, including three former secretaries of state, are urging Washington to support Ukraine's bid for EU membership.

A breakdown in EU discipline?

By Stephen Mulvey
BBC News


There seems to be an epidemic of rule-breaking in the European Union.

France has been catching undersize fish, and fined millions of euros.


Italy is in trouble for running a budget deficit that violates even the new, "flexible" stability and growth pact.
Greece has been told off for cooking its books in order to enter the eurozone.

And Spain faces a big fine this year if its rivers and lakes continue to breach bathing water quality standards.

Statistics show the number of cases in which countries were hauled before the European Court of Justice for failing to fulfil their obligations jumping by nearly a quarter between 2000 and 2003.



Meanwhile, the European Commission started 2,709 actions against member states in 2003, 15% up on 2002.

French counter-attack

The fine imposed on France by the European Court of Justice was the biggest yet - 20m euros ($24.2m) plus an additional 58m euros for every six months it continues to allow fishermen to catch small fish.



But the men in charge of French fishing have hardly sounded contrite.

"Tonnes upon tonnes of small fish are unloaded in Spain, Portugal," Pierre-Georges Dachicourt of France's National Fisheries Committee (CNPMEM) told France Info radio.
"There is fishing over and above the quotas in Scotland, Britain and elsewhere, and you never hear anything about it. People always point the finger at France."

The idea that France is being unfairly singled out does not really hold water.

It's true that there are infringements in every country - Spanish and Italian fishermen had the worse records in 2003 - but the reason France was penalised was that it had failed to enforce EU fishing law effectively over many years.

The European Court of Justice first ruled that the French authorities had failed to prevent the catching of undersize fish back in 1991.

The European Commission then tried to persuade France to resolve the problem for nine years, before taking the case back to the court.

"France has drawn things out for an incredibly long time, and the court's judgement reflects its frustration," says Richard Whitman, of the UK's Royal Institute of International Affairs.
"There were powerful national interests that made it difficult for France to respond in the way that it should have done.

"Also, in many countries there is a bit of a disconnect - they don't treat a judgement by the Court of Justice in quite the same way that a US state would treat a judgement by the US Supreme Court. The institution does not have that much clout."

In effect, France defied the court in the same way that it and Germany later defied the eurozone stability and growth pact.


At a time when the EU is seeking to connect with citizens - and Dutch voters cited the collapse of the stability and growth pact as a reason for rejecting the EU constitution - the court decision is good news for Brussels.
"It shows member states that they will no longer be able to persistently ignore the rules unless they are prepared to pay a heavy financial price for it," says European Commission fisheries spokeswoman, Mireille Thom.

"This ruling will no doubt have an impact on member states' application of European Union rules."

Enlargement

Greece was the first country to be fined by the Court of Justice, in 2000, for failing to close a tip that had been judged to be breaching rules on toxic waste disposal eight years earlier.

It was ordered to pay 20,000 euros a day until the tip, on the island of Crete, was closed. When this finally happened, the bill had reached 5.4m euros.

Next in line was Spain. The court ruled in November 2003 that it had not done enough to improve inland bathing water quality, despite a 1998 ruling which found that the EU bathing water directive was not being properly implemented.

For every 1% of inland bathing areas in breach of permissible limits on water cleanliness, the country has to pay 624,000 euros, starting in 2005.

Cases where fines may be imposed are currently pending against Ireland, Italy, France, Germany and Luxembourg.


COUNTRIES FACING FINES
Ruled against: Greece (2000), Spain (2003), France (2005)
Cases pending: Ireland, Italy, France, Germany, Luxembourg

But experts say that if you ignore the stability and growth pact, there is no breakdown in discipline in the EU, despite appearances.

One reason for the rise in cases before the Court of Justice is enlargement - the round that took place in 1995 rather than 2004.

Austria, Finland and Sweden were treated gently by the commission for the first few years, and it is only now that cases against them are piling up.

Another factor is the increasing amount of EU law. The more there is, the more areas there are where member states can be found wanting.

Also, most cases handled by the European Court of Justice date back many years, so they do not reflect new trends.

The slow pace of European justice is the main reason why France was never fined for illegally banning British beef between 1999 and 2002.

The ban was lifted after the European Commission asked the court to impose a fine of 160,000 euros per day, but before the court had reached a decision.

If the EU arrest warrant doesn't have any legal status, why do you even bother to have "EU laws?"

Europe's Engine in Need of a Tune-up

Angela Merkel says the Franco-German axis is too dominant


Europe's Franco-German engine has become too dominant and should consider the wishes of other EU member states if the bloc is to succeed, according to German opposition leader Angela Merkel.



German opposition leader Angela Merkel, tipped to be the country's next chancellor after upcoming elections, called Tuesday for an overhaul of the Franco-German partnership to take greater account of the interests of other member states.

Two months ahead of the probable polling date, the head of Germany's Christian Democratic Union used a visit to Paris to give reassurances of her attachment to the EU's central relationship -- but also to signal support for the reform-minded ideas of presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy, France's ambitious interior minister.

In a joint press conference, the two politicians said that the Franco-German axis had become over-dominant and needed to be extended to include other countries.

The Franco-German alliance "is an essential element in the EU but it goes without saying that it must not be directed against others," Merkel said. "We are anxious to make the Franco-German relationship work for the benefit of Europe. The other countries must not have the feeling that we are deciding things above their heads. We need to show our ability to react inventively to renew the Franco-German partnership," she said.

Sarkozy who is also head of the ruling Union for a Popular Movement party, said the Paris-Berlin alliance had "too often been seen as a threat or a cause for concern by our partners."

"We believe this axis must be overhauled, because friendship between France and Germany -- indispensable though it is -- must not be maintained against the interests of the rest, but for the rest," he said.

"We do not want the axis to exclude friendship and collaboration with the others, top of the list Britain, Spain and Italy," the minister said.

The two politicians hold common ground on other EU-related subjects, including the membership aspirations of Turkey, a subject Merkel broached.

Merkel repeated her belief in a "privileged partnership" for Ankara rather than full accession, telling journalists in Paris that a victory of her party would lead to "intense discussions" in the EU ahead of the October target date for the start of membership talks.

"After the failures of the referendums (on the EU constitution) in France and the Netherlands, we need to start worrying about Europe's future. We need to talk about the limits of future enlargement. We need borders. People have to know where the borders are," she said.

Earlier Merkel held separate meetings with President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who was appointed following the rejection of the EU constitution in France's May 29 referendum.

After seeing Chirac, Merkel balanced her remarks on Europe to express her commitment to the Franco-German alliance. "Every initiative which is taken must be open to all the countries in Europe. But France and Germany must be the engine for these initiatives ... European construction depends very largely on Franco-German relations," she said after a 90-minute meeting with Chirac at the Elysee palace.


Merkel described her talks with Chirac as "excellent" and very friendly.

"We want a political Europe -- but above all a Europe which solves the problems of men and women, the problems of unemployment, the economy, growth and innovation, and which makes Europe one of globalization's winners," she said.

Chirac said that "Germany and France share an ambition for a political Europe which responds to the expectations of its citizens and asserts itself in a globalized world," his spokesman reported.

Merkel's trip to France was being billed as a short working visit, but Chirac and other French leaders were aware they were meeting with the woman most likely to become Germany's next chancellor in possible early elections this fall.

The decision to travel to Paris came after Merkel made a brief, one-day visit to Kosovo on Friday for talks with the German military contingent in the province and top international and local politicians. She has also opined recently on other aspects of German foreign policy including Berlin's bid for a seat on the UN Security Council and her reluctance to send troops to Iraq.


Merkel crashes Chirac-Schröder relationship

Although both Merkel and Chirac are conservatives, the meeting was slightly awkward considering the French leader's close friendship with German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.

Merkel has made no secret that she would like to strengthen Berlin's ties to both the United States and Britain if made chancellor. But she will have to walk a fine line if she intends to follow a stronger transatlantic course without causing the French to believe she is doing so at the expense of Germany's historically important relationship with France.

And though her Christian Democrats are currently riding high in opinion polls, Merkel still has to win an election that isn't even certain to take place.

Schröder, battered by a string of state poll losses, deliberately lost a no-confidence vote before parliament on July 1 with the aim of triggering an early election and winning a fresh mandate for his unpopular economic reform drive. But German President Horst Köhler has until July 22 to decide whether to dissolve parliament and call a national poll, and even then the country's highest court could deem the proceedings unconstitutional.

DW staff / AFP (nda)

Thursday, 28 July 2005

[B]Socialists defeated in Bulgaria [/B]

Bulgaria's Socialist Party (BSP) - the winner of last month's election - has failed to form a new government, its leader Sergei Stanishev says.
He wanted to form a coalition with a small, mainly ethnic Turkish party, but MPs voted against the plan.

The BSP won the elections with 31% of the vote, ahead of the ruling centrists led by ex-king Simeon Saxe-Coburg.

Mr Saxe-Coburg might now get another chance to form a government - but analysts say that will be difficult.

Bulgaria is due to become a member of the European Union in 2007, but must carry out a series of reforms to meet the entry requirements.

The European Commission says it hopes "a strong and stable government will be formed as soon as possible and that the government will continue the preparations for accession".

The country's bid might be delayed if the political deadlock forces Bulgarians to go back to the polls for new elections.

"With the lack of a necessary majority in parliament, we have reached the conclusion that the Socialist party's mandate for forming a government has been exhausted," Mr Stanishev said.

Integration

MPs narrowly rejected the cabinet list presented by the BSP and the liberal, mainly ethnic-Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF).

They jointly account for only 116 of the 240 deputies elected in the 25 June polls.

The ex-king's Simeon II National Movement (NMS) came second in the election with just under 20% of the vote, ahead of the MRF with 12.7%.

A radical nationalist group called Ataka won 8% - enough to enter parliament. It challenges Bulgaria's tentative efforts to integrate its Turkish and Roma (Gypsy) minorities.