FOLLOWING THE EUROPEAN UNION

U.N. Mediator Calls for Kosovo Independence
Chief Negotiator Says Kosovars, Serbian Government Will Never Agree on Rule

Washington Post

March 20 -- A senior U.N. mediator has proposed that U.N.-administered Kosovo be granted independence, setting the stage for a diplomatic showdown between Russia and the West over the fate of Serbia's troubled ethnic Albanian province.

Martti Ahtisaari, former Finnish president and chief U.N. negotiator on Kosovo, concluded that U.N.-sponsored negotiations between Kosovo's and Serbia's leaders will never produce a settlement, and that Kosovo cannot continue under U.N. or Serbian rule. He called for a phased transition to independence, initially supervised by a European Union bureaucrat and protected by NATO forces.

"The time has come to resolve Kosovo's status," Ahtisaari wrote in a confidential letter last week to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon that will be presented to the Security Council on Monday. "Independence is the only option for a politically stable and economically viable Kosovo." [..]

In February, Ahtisaari outlined a detailed plan calling for an autonomous Kosovar government with the authority to sign international treaties and a commitment to respect the rights of Kosovo's Serb minority. At the time, he made no explicit reference to independence.

But in a letter last week to Ban -- whose contents were first reported Tuesday by the French daily Le Monde -- Ahtisaari explicitly endorsed independence. He said a formal transition to power would be conditioned on the willingness of Kosovo's leaders to implement reforms, including one that would ensure the protection of Kosovo's Serbian minority, which has been the target of violence. Portions of the letter were read to The Washington Post. [..]

Ahtisaari and other U.N. officials say that delaying a decision on Kosovo could lead to renewed fighting between Kosovo's ethnic Albanian and Serb populations. [..]

[But] Russian concerns over the push for independence have grown increasingly vocal, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov suggesting Ahtisaari be replaced with a new U.N. negotiator [..].

European leaders are concerned that a Russian decision to block Kosovo's drive for independence could trigger renewed violence and the prospects of large new refugee flows into Western Europe. [..]

The Russians "are playing with dynamite," Holbrooke said. "Even a delay in the approval of the Ahtisaari plan will lead to demonstrations and violence in Kosovo that will endanger the Serb minority."

Royal's rather strident socialist rhetoric has made it easy for a strong centrist argument (and candidate) to emerge. That was a bit unexpected here.

TIME: You've said that a defining feature of France is to resist the "American model". What does that mean for you?

Bayrou: For decades, America has been a dream for many French people. But gradually, with the Iraq war being the most recent stage, people have got the impression that the American dream was drying up. American society now seems founded on the laws of the rich and the influential, and that's something French people would never tolerate.

Bayrou: [..] in France for a long time there's been an absence of real democracy. The institutions are locked up, and French people of the middle and lower classes really resent it.

[..] I have an atypical career. I come from far away, from the Pyrenees, from a social class of peasants and workers that usually doesn't have access to power. [..] I want to change French politics. I want a new deal. And obviously everyone who is in on the old deal will defend it tooth and nail. They've had all the posts, all the responsibilities for the last 25 years, and they'll create a sacred union to defend their place. [..]

[These parties are] like big trees that have become rotten inside. All it takes is a good breeze to make them fall. [..]

TIME: In your book you suggest that the political elite has often looked down on you.

Bayrou: I'm not alone. Tens of millions of French resent that up-and-down look they get from the elite. We have to show them that the people who look at them that way are not the voice of France.

Royal, [..] is now pledging to be true to her own ideas. These were given an outing in Provence on Friday when she called for all French people to have the Tricolour at home so they can 'hang it out of the window on national day, as is done in other countries'. Three times last week, 'La Marseillaise' was played at her rallies and she said: 'I am proud to reclaim it from the extreme right.'

The socialist candidate's swing into red, white and blue mode yesterday gave him [..] his latest opportunity to play the sensible arbiter: 'This campaign must not slip into the themes of immigration and the nation. [..] The two [main] candidates have a problem with this nationalistic obsession. It is as though the ideas of Jean-Marie le Pen are beginning to invade their minds. Well, they won't invade mine.' He said Royal's call for the French flag to be more visible 'doesn't sound like my country. It sounds like the United States'.

'I will be a people's President, working for farmers, teachers, workers, nurses and small businesses, not for the rich companies of the stock exchange.'

US and EU back Kosovo independence by May

EU Observer
26.03.2007

The US and EU have backed a UN plan for "supervised independence" in Kosovo despite Russian and Serb opposition, with US diplomat Nicholas Burns calling for a new UN security council resolution within 30 to 60 days.

"It's time to bring a century of peace to the Balkans, to see Kosovo independent and to see a democratic and strong Serbia," the US' number three man on foreign affairs told experts at a think-tank seminar, a few hours before UN envoy Ahtisaari submitted his Kosovo blueprint to UN chief Ban Ki Moon.

The Ahtisaari plan envisages giving Pristina its own army, flag and constitution and the possibility of applying to join international institutions like the UN and EU, but with thousands of NATO and EU troops keeping the peace and an EU envoy that can veto some Kosovo government decisions.

Former dictator Salazar chosen as greatest Portuguese of all time by TV viewers

27 March 2007

Former dictator Antonio Oliveira Salazar was chosen as the greatest Portuguese of all times by viewers of a TV show.

Salazar, prime minister of a repressive right-wing regime also known as the New State from 1932 to 1968, received 41 percent in Sunday evening's final of "Great Portuguese."

The show, broadcast by state-owned RTP, asked viewers to choose people who had contributed to the greatness of Portugal's history. Ten figures were selected for voting, from statesmen like the Marquis de Pombal to explorers like Vasco da Gama.

Salazar's secret police, PIDE, used detentions without trial, torture and kangaroo courts to keep opponents off the streets.

Salazar died in 1970, although his regime continued until 1974, when the regime's unpopular wars against independence movements in its African colonies led to an army revolt, the carnation revolution, which toppled the regime and later gave independence to the colonies.

Pedro Marques Pereira, co-director of Diario Economico newspaper, said that choice of Salazar was due to ignorance. "It's ridiculous, really. It shows the level of development of the Portuguese," he said.

"People vote for what they know and these figures, Salazar or Alvaro Cunhal, are fresh in people's minds. To know more about the others, some studying would probably have needed to be involved."

But 77-year-old Maria Alice Oliveira, in central Lisbon, said the win showed how unhappy the Portuguese were with the current situation in the country.

"People are tired of this corruption now. People my age remember how Salazar brought stability to the country, economic growth and managed to keep us out of World War II," she said.

Jose Alves Mota, 44, agreed. "We are tired of a lack of values. Salazar is a reference of honesty, forthrightness, that is lacking in today's politicians."

The late leader of the Portuguese Communist party, Alvaro Cunhal, came second with 19 percent of the vote. Aristides Sousa Mendes, a diplomat who helped thousands of Jews escape Nazi Germany, came third with 13 percent.

They were followed by the first king of Portugal, Dom Afonso Heriques; poet Luis Vaz de Camoes; King Dom Joao II; Henry the Navigator; Marquis de Pombal; and Vasco da Gama.

The "Great Portuguese" show is based on an original BBC format called Great Britons that was also adapted for the United States, France, Canada and Germany, among others.

Doctor appeals torture verdict

The Prague Post
11 April 2007

The case of Yekta Uzunoglu strikes at the heart of the Czech justice system.

He spent two and a half years in pretrial mprisonment, charged with torture, abduction, attempted murder, robbery, fraud and illegal possession of arms.

Uzunoglu denies all charges, and all but two of them were dropped after he left prison. He explains how he was about to seal a major business deal, when a former communist minister representing a competitor warned him to decline the deal. He refused, and days later was in prison.

He won legions of high-profile supporters including Amnesty International, the Czech Helsinki Committee and Charter 77. Hundreds of people, including Václav Havel, went on a symbolic 24-hour hunger strike in March.

But now the Prague 4 regional court found him guilty of torture. And it did so based on the sole testimony of Göksel Otan, whom media have identified as having worked for the secret police during communism, despite Otan having retracted his testimony.

Uzunoglu also claims he was tortured in prison. Libuše Šilhánová, head of the Czech Helsinki committee, has identified Uzunoglu's police investigator as the man who investigated her under communism when she was imprisoned as a member of Charter 77."

Rights activist John Bok concludes that Czech society, nearly 20 years after the fall of communism, is still grappling with ghosts in its closet.

I think it would be an error to overlook the likelihood of growing dissatisfaction in Sweden with the sclerosis that always accompanies the big government, social welfare policies of social democrats.

Hmm - a sense of proportion is always wise though. The "sclerosis" that you say always accompanies big government of the Swedish kind has relatively caused very little dissatisfaction over time at all. The Social democrats your refer to have won all but two elections in the last 40 years or so - a measure of continuous and consistent satisfaction with their policies that any other party in the West can only dream of. Apparently other political/economical systems cause growing dissatisfaction much more frequently and fiercely.

Social Democrats Continue to Lead

Another public opinion poll gives Sweden's opposition Social Democrats more support than all four government parties combined.

The new survey gives the Social Democrats 46.3 percent support, compared to 39.6 percent for the Conservative Moderates, Liberals, Center Party and Christian Democrats together.

Including the Left and Green parties, the opposition now has the support of 56.4 percent of Swedes.

The increased support for the Social Democrats is credited to the new party leader Mona Sahlin - the first woman in the job. Sahlin has pledged to lead the party back into power in the 2010 elections.

Yes, I am still alive and kicking...enjoying your posts.

Europe's leaders pin their hopes on Sarkozy victory

· Gaullist could win change in EU without referendum
· Blair backs plan to push through mini-treaty

Ian Traynor in Paris
Monday April 30, 2007
The Guardian


Europe's key leaders are rooting for the right in France's presidential contest, hoping that Nicolas Sarkozy, as the new French president, will link up with them to reform the EU and reach swift agreement on a new rulebook for the union.

Mr Sarkozy has a reputation for protectionism and hostility to the European commission, and has attacked the European central bank and indulged in electioneering euro-bashing. Nonetheless, Tony Blair, Germany's Angela Merkel and José Manuel Barroso, the European commission president, all view him as the best hope for striking a new pact on how to run Europe.

Polls give him a lead of about five percentage points over his Socialist rival, Ségolène Royal, in the run-up to next Sunday's vote. More surprising is his clear lead among the European elite, left and right. Officials in Brussels say Europe's key figures on the centre-left and centre-right agree that a Royal victory next Sunday would be a setback for the prospects of salvaging a slimmed-down EU constitution.
While mercurial and difficult, Mr Sarkozy is expected to move quickly to seal a deal on a new constitution with Mr Blair or Gordon Brown, and Ms Merkel, who has made the constitutional project the centrepiece of her current EU presidency.

"Sarkozy has already discussed this issue with Blair, Merkel, and [Spanish prime minister] Zapatero," said Axel Poniatowski, a French MP and aide to Mr Sarkozy. "Our main partners are aware of what he would do if elected."

In the search for a consensus on a new European treaty that would give the EU a president, foreign minister, and new voting system, Mr Blair has in recent days been canvassing the Germans, Dutch and central Europeans.

A common position on an "amending treaty" that is not called a constitution and would be subject only to parliamentary ratification is emerging between the British, Dutch, Swedes, Czechs and Poles, to present to Mrs Merkel who is to finalise a constitutional roadmap by June. With the French election the most crucial event in the EU this year, much hinges on Sunday's result.

"Everything depends on Sarkozy," said a senior government official from central Europe involved in the negotiations. "But Blair is also a bit frightened of Sarkozy because no one knows what the French will do. Sarkozy might be prepared to go further on the constitution than Blair would like."

If Mr Sarkozy wins on Sunday, he is expected to go to Berlin and Brussels within a couple of weeks of taking office to hammer out a deal on the constitution that was set back severely when the French and Dutch rejected it in referendums two years ago. Sarkozy aides say he wants a quick agreement on the new EU regime, one that avoids further referendums, and enables France and the Netherlands to "save face".

"It's a big gamble for Sarkozy," said Philippe Moreau Defarges, a French foreign policy analyst. "He is the only one with a clear strategy on Europe, but that strategy is not credible. He wants a mini-treaty, without a referendum because he would lose it. But it's the same baby dressed in new clothes."

Jean-Thomas Lesueur, a Paris thinktank analyst, agrees. "Sarkozy will sneak a new treaty in through the back door. But Europe is a big challenge for him because he wants to use Europe to protect France against globalisation. He's 10 years out of date"

If fellow European leaders hope a Sarkozy presidency will bring dynamism to reforming the EU, there is also a strong suspicion that the Gaullist may seek to liberalise France while closing up Europe. He is a strong opponent of Turkish membership and lukewarm on further EU enlargement, while his economic policies could put him at odds with a prime minister Brown.

"He is a liberal in France because we need some changes," Mr Poniatowski said. "But Europe today is probably the most open market in the world. He's saying that today the EU needs to decide on its borders. We're not obliged to be completely open, we need some kind of European protectionism."

At a glance

The divisive, robust Gaullist outlook of Nicolas Sarkozy may appear to have little in common with New Labour, but his campaign is believed to have sought and had campaign advice from the Blair camp. Peter Mandelson, New Labour architect and EU trade commissioner, has met Mr Sarkozy three times this year. He has not met Ségolène Royal. In public Mr Sarkozy has criticised Mr Mandelson for "irresponsible" European trade policies and for being the embodiment of an "Anglo-Saxon" European commission. But Mr Mandelson is said to have arranged a Sarkozy visit to Downing Street and in a private meeting with François Fillon, tipped to be the next prime minister of France under a Sarkozy presidency, was asked for tips on election strategy and tactics.

PARIS (Reuters) - France risks violence and brutality if right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy wins Sunday's presidential election, his Socialist opponent Segolene Royal said on Friday.

Romania's Unnecessary Vote
2007-04-29 · Angus Reid Global Monitor

Romania will hold a referendum on the president's impeachment that is most likely to result in his reinstatement. Basescu is popular and likely to garner enough support to return to his job. The referendum is the outcome of the stand-off between him and prime minister Tariceanu. Earlier this year, Basescu accused lawmakers of corruption and criticized Romania's legal system for lacking independence when investigating graft. He chided the government for failing to implement anti-corruption legislation and reforms to the criminal code. Tariceanu did not take it well. He fired eight cabinet ministers loyal to Basescu, including justice minister Macovei - who had been praised often by the EU - and his Liberals allied with the opposition to to suspend the president for abuse of power.

Comment: Time to Stop Dithering in Bosnia
2007-04-26 · BIRN

Under the unsure hand of the outgoing international High Representative Schwarz-Schilling, Bosnia and Herzegovina slid backwards from meeting the requirements for a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU. On police reform, positions have moved further apart. On constitutional reform, differences have hardened since a year ago. Now the decision has been made to extend the Office of the High Representative (OHR) for one further year, what can be expected? Western diplomats do not expect a return to the interventionism of Schwarz-Schilling's predecessors.