FOLLOWING THE EUROPEAN UNION

Austria aims to revive EU constitution

By Stephen Castle in Vienna
Published: 09 January 2006

Austria has pledged to help bring Europe's constitution out of cold storage as its EU presidency started amid calls to salvage key elements of the treaty.

With no sign of agreement among EU member states on how to proceed, Ursula Plassnik, the Austrian Foreign minister, yesterday promised new consultations before decisions in June on what to do next.

Ms Plassnik called for a "new step in the debate on the future of Europe" under the "constitution process which has slowed down and which is now covered in a blanket of snow, waiting for Spring". She added: "What we need is climate change." But divisions in Europe's capitals on the constitution are mirrored by strains within the Austrian government. While Ms Plassnik called for wide-ranging consultation and refused to spell out any favoured solution, Hubert Gorbach, the Austrian Vice-Chancellor, suggested redrafting the text "from the beginning" with new emphasis on the powers of member states.

He said that after "two very strong 'no' votes, for us to re-edit in places then force a 'yes' vote would be illusory". Mr Gorbach, who comes from the BZO (Alliance for the Future of Austria) Party, which is the successor to the far-right grouping of Jörg Haider, added: "It has many good ideas enshrined in it and we must not forget these ideas but we need to have a strong foundation." Many believe that no decisions can be taken until after France's presidential elections in 2007. That leaves Austria with the unenviable job of securing agreement on the way forward.

Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, has floated the idea reviving the constitution with a new annex on social values designed to reassure French voters.

Others favour a declaration emphasising national sovereignty. And integrationists have called for a hard core of nations to press ahead via the group of 12 countries that are signed up to the euro.

The constitution, signed by EU government chiefs in October last year, would create the posts of president and foreign minister for the EU Council (where member states meet), enhance the powers of the European Parliament, revamp the voting system, streamline the legislative process and add a human rights charter.

So far the document has been ratified by 13 countries with positive referendum votes in Spain and Luxembourg. But to come into force all 25 member states need to approve the treaty, and there is no prospect of the same document being put before voters in France and the Netherlands again. Some nations want to press ahead with ratification, but there is growing support for the idea of "cherry picking" elements and drawing up a less ambitious, new, treaty.

Key figures have begun debating the future. In an interview in E!Sharp magazine, Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, argues that "some elements" of the constitution could be agreed by the member states - but did not discuss the post of EU foreign minister for which he was nominated. He said: "I can tell you that the sooner the elements that are contained in the constitution relating to the decision-making structure are put in place, the better for the EU. Time is important."

Nicholas Sarkozy, the French Interior minister and a likely presidential candidate, argued in a recent pamphlet for more co-operation among the EU's six biggest nations.

He added that the treaty contains "important advances which improve the functioning of Europe, and would move towards a political Union", including the creation of new EU president and Minister of Foreign Affairs. He added: "Our objective must be to implement these advances, whilst respecting the democratic vote of the French people. One way or another, we must give Europe the procedures that will enable it to make decisions in a quick and effective manner." Salvaging elements of the treaty is fraught with difficulties however.

Several countries would find it hard to agree on innovations such as the creation of an EU foreign minister without a referendum.

Some diplomats think that crucial issues may be put off until 2008-9 to coincide with a review of EU spending. Rules on the size of the European Commission need to be revised before Croatia joins the EU, probably in 2009, and that would provide a pretext for a smallscale re-writing of the EU's rulebook.

Maybe the entire EU should be given the chance to vote on it, so we can ALL have our "democratic vote" taken into consideration,...

When the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad - including one in which he wears a turban shaped as a bomb - it expected a strong reaction. But it was unprepared for the global furor that spurred demonstrations in Kashmir and condemnation from 11 Muslim countries. The cartoons spawned a national debate over whether Denmark's famously liberal freedom of speech laws have gone too far, as many in the Muslim community say they reflect an intensifying anti-immigrant climate that is radicalizing young Muslims. Police in October arrested seven Muslim men aged 20 or under in connection with an alleged terrorism plot.

Terrorism experts say the group has played a major role in the radicalization of disaffected Muslim youth. But because its main weapon is ideology rather than explosives, Danish officials say, it is allowed to operate under the same permissive rules that allowed the publication of the cartoons.

Under Danish law, inciting someone to commit an act of terror is illegal, but spouting vitriol against the West or satirizing Muhammad is not. The State Prosecutor's Office investigated the group in the spring of 2004 and decided not to ban it since it was not breaking the law.

...pretty much the only story from Denmark that seems to reach the international news pages

Terrorist Cells Find Foothold in Balkans

Police found a cache of explosives, arms and a videotape pledging vengeance for the "brothers" killed in Afghanistan and Iraq in an apartment in Sarajevo. It was occupied by an underground group that wanted to blow up the British Embassy, intelligence officials said.

Four men were detained, including Mirsad Bektasevic, a Swedish citizen of Bosnian origin who also ran a Web site for Abu Musab Zarqawi and kept in touch with at least three men in Britain who were arrested in November by British police.

The bust confirmed suspicions that Bosnia, and the Balkans in general, are becoming a launching pad for terrorist activities. Islamic radicals are said to be creating cells of so-called white al Qaeda, non-Arab members who can evade racial profiling.

Parts of the Balkans, long a freeway for smugglers of cigarettes, drugs, weapons and prostitutes, are ripe recruitment territory. "All the conditions are present. Embittered Muslims, arms, corruption - everything underground operators need to get established," said an intelligence official.

Last summer, Italian and Croatian police arrested five people who allegedly plotted to bomb the funeral of Pope John Paul II. And Serbian police accidentally came across a key suspect in the 2004 Madrid bombings, Abdelmajid Bouchar, while he was traveling through the country by train.

Bouchar had escaped when police sealed off a Madrid apartment where suspects were hiding. Seven men died then, when they detonated explosives, but Bouchar was taking out garbage. He traveled to Brussels, moved on and spent time in Austrian and Hungarian jails, but was freed.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, the CIA and other foreign agencies set up a joint, fortified headquarters to keep tabs on terrorism suspects in Bosnia. The spy teams operate separately from the chief international overseers of Bosnia, according to the official.

... I'm drinking some fairly strong coffee right now.

Thank you for the offer Walter, but I'm drinking some fairly strong coffee right now.

georgeob1 wrote:

Thank you for the offer Walter, but I'm drinking some fairly strong coffee right now.

Well, that would explain that then ...

(where on earth did that come from? nothing in the actual post, for sure!)

"Iraq is creating a new generation of jihadis looking for places to live in Europe," Johnson said, "and they have this festering resentment that is usually at the core of terrorism. They will take up residence with existing communities or form new ones in Europe."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/3549171.html

nimh wrote:

Well, that would explain that then ...

(where on earth did that come from? nothing in the actual post, for sure!)

Ahhhhhh. I think I know.

Georgeob1 may have read a similar article (I saw it a couple of weeks ago) with a similar title. When I saw your post, I thought you were just being...sensitive (lol)...in your "summarizing".

The article I read said in part:

Quote:

"Iraq is creating a new generation of jihadis looking for places to live in Europe," Johnson said, "and they have this festering resentment that is usually at the core of terrorism. They will take up residence with existing communities or form new ones in Europe."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/3549171.html

So from the quotation marks I gather you dont much trust my "summaries", eh..? :wink:

Portuguese elections hit by phone-tapping scandal

By Elizabeth Nash in Madrid
Published: 16 January 2006
An illegal phone-tapping scandal in which more than 60 politicians and judges are embroiled has overwhelmed campaigning for Portugal's presidential elections next Sunday.

The outgoing socialist president Joao Sampaio and the former socialist prime minister Antonio Guterres are among those whose telephone calls are said to have been recorded during unauthorised investigations into a high-profile case of child sex abuse in the country's biggest orphanage.

Mr Sampaio, who has served two terms and will step down after the elections next Sunday, called in a televised address late on Friday for an urgent and rapid investigation into the phone-tapping allegations.

"Violations of ... private lives, through illegal phone tapping or other intolerable forms of intrusion in the private lives of the Portuguese cannot be allowed," Mr Sampaio told a shocked nation.

The state prosecutor's office reportedly tapped the telephones of more than 200 people and copied the conversations on to five computer disks. The disks were then put into a so-called "Envelope Nine" that was slipped into the case file on the Casa Pia paedophile case, according to Portugal's 24 Horas newspaper.

Such confidential recordings are supposed to be handed to the authorities only on the orders of a judge. The attorney general, Jose Souto de Moura, whose conversations were also reportedly tapped, denied the reports, but agreed to launch an inquiry.

"I think the story has extremely serious elements," Mr Souto de Moura said. "The most rigorous inquiry possible will be carried out which will investigate everything related to this case, and the necessary consequences will be drawn from its findings."

Rumours of widespread phone tapping have flourished throughout the Casa Pia child-sex scandal, which reaches to the top of Portugal's political and social elite. Those on trial since November 2004 over the sexual abuse of minors include a former ambassador, an MP and the country's best-known television presenter.

Many MPs are pressing for increased oversight of police wiretaps, which the authorities say average 8,000 a year. Portugal's judicial investigations are believed to be conducted in an unaccountable manner. For months, Mr Souto de Moura has been under pressure to resign over leaks from the investigation into the Casa Pia scandal.

The phone company Portugal Telecom supplied Casa Pia investigators with records of 79,000 calls made from 208 private phones between December 2001 and May 2002, 24 Horas reported. Portugal Telecom said it had handed over the records in 2003 following a court order, and had provided the phone numbers without the clients' names. But the newspaper said it found no warrants in the voluminous case files relating to Casa Pia that authorised the phone taps.

Main contenders in the presidential poll have treated the furore with kid gloves. Polls put the free-marketeering Anibal Cavaco Silva, 66, an admirer of Margaret Thatcher who was conservative prime minister from 1985 to 1995, far in the lead. Mr Cavaco kickstarted economic growth in Portugal, but entrenched gaping inequalities. The country continues to have Europe's widest economic inequalities.

The socialist warhorse Mario Soares, 81, trails a distant second, but in an interview in Madrid's El Pais newspaper yesterday he predicted that he would prevent Mr Cavaco from winning an absolute majority, and force a second round.